20
keys Activated India Activated India Activated India Activated India Activated India Activated India Activated India Activated India Activated India Activated India Activated India Activated India Activated India Activated India Activated India Activated India Activated India Activated India Activated India Activated India E Activated India To the carnal mind the task before you would seem like a “mission impossible,” but I tell you again, there are no impossibilities to you. This is the day of action. You must not say, “But I don’t have the faith,” for I have put the faith within each of you; it comes with the anointing I’ve given you. It’s your destiny. I’ve equipped you with unwavering faith. It’s within you. You don’t have to worry. You don’t have to try to work it up. All you must do is receive it, act on it, believe it, and loose the gift of faith that is within you! As you step out to take action in this new era, all things will be possible to you. My Spirit in you cannot fail as long as you look to Me, stay focused on the vision I give, and don’t give up. As long as you do your part by having a believing and yielding heart, all that I ask of you is possible. All you need to fulfill the vision I have given, all that I have promised to you in these Last Days—it’s all possible. seize the As you step out to take action in this new era, all GRAB AHOLD things will be possible to you. My Spirit in you cannot fail as long as you look to Me, stay give up. As long as you do your part by that I ask of you is possible. All you need to fulfill promised to you in these Last focused on the vision I give, and don’t having a believing and yielding heart, all the vision I have given, all that I have action action Era t GRAB AHOLD keys Days—it’s all possible. FEEL THE RUSH FEEL THE RUSH 051 February 2001

051 February 2001 Activated India Activated India Activated India … · 2007. 8. 10. · 051 February 2001 An allegory on winning souls By Richard ... vision/demerit chart/Battle

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Page 1: 051 February 2001 Activated India Activated India Activated India … · 2007. 8. 10. · 051 February 2001 An allegory on winning souls By Richard ... vision/demerit chart/Battle

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keys

Activated India Activated IndiaActivated India Activated IndiaActivated India Activated IndiaActivated India Activated IndiaActivated India Activated IndiaActivated India Activated IndiaActivated India Activated IndiaActivated India ActivatedIndia Activated IndiaActivated India ActivatedIndia Activated India

E

Activated

India

To the carnal mind the task before you would seem like a “mission

impossible,” but I tell you again, there are no impossibilities to you. This is the

day of action. You must not say, “But I don’t have the faith,” for I have put the

faith within each of you; it comes with the anointing I’ve given you. It’s your

destiny. I’ve equipped you with unwavering faith. It’s within you. You don’t

have to worry. You don’t have to try to work it up. All you must do is receive it,

act on it, believe it, and loose the gift of faith that is within you!

As you step out to take action in this new era, all things will be possible to you.

My Spirit in you cannot fail as long as you look to Me, stay focused on the vision

I give, and don’t give up. As long as you do your part by having a believing and

yielding heart, all that I ask of you is possible. All you need to fulfill the vision I

have given, all that I have promised to you in these Last Days—it’s all possible.

seize

THE

the

As you step out to take action in this new era, all

GR

AB

AH

OLD

things will be possible to you. My Spirit in

you cannot fail as long as you look to Me, stay

give up. As long as you do your part by

that I ask of you is possible. All you need to fulfill

promised to you in these Last

focused on the vision I give, and don’t

having a believing and yielding heart, all

the vision I have given, all that I have

action actionEra

t

GR

AB

AH

OLD

keys

Days—it’s all possible.

FEEL THE RUSHFEEL THE RUSH

051 February 2001

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An allegory on winning soulsBy Richard

I was looking down a steep slope, when my eyes alighted on abeautiful lily. It stood out among the green shrubbery as if it were ajewel on a dark velvet background. Thinking what joy this lovely flowermight bring to my lady, I started out to get it. Surveying the possibilities, Inoticed that in between the lily and I stood dense undergrowth—thorn bushes,razor-sharp grass, and thistles. The final stronghold guarding this diamond ofthe forest was a poison sumac bush.

Is this lily worth going though all this trouble for? I wondered.Then the answer came to me: Nature guards some of its treasures well, only

rewarding those who are courageous enough to battle adversity.Weighing on the one hand the mishaps that might befall me, and on the other, the

joy that it might bring my lady, my courage mounted and I started down the precipice.Clinging to vines, I struggled through the razor-sharp grass. Though I was cut, I perseveredever closer to my prize.

Reaching the sumac bush, I carefully laid my knife to the stem of the lily. As a conquerorcarries back the spoils of victory, so I carried the lily that I had fought tocapture. Coming to the top, I was exhausted, yet pleased.

I presented the lily to the one I love. And when I saw the joy and happinessthat it brought to my lady’s face and heard the deep gratitude that gracedher lips, I realized the prize won had been worth everyounce of effort it had taken. Elegantly, my lady placedthe treasure into a crystal vase by her bedside to admire.

As the sun’s rays lit the flower in glory, I reflected ona passage from the Canticles (Song of Solomon):

“As the lily among thorns, so is my love among thedaughters. Thy belly is like a heap of wheat set aboutwith lilies. My beloved has gone down to gather lilies.”

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Page 3: 051 February 2001 Activated India Activated India Activated India … · 2007. 8. 10. · 051 February 2001 An allegory on winning souls By Richard ... vision/demerit chart/Battle

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�ntroFZ: Once again we enter theworld of the missionary, thistime coming from India. Haveyou ever written India off as aplace that would not interestyou? Think again!This interview shows youIndia through the eyes ofother young people—fromthose who have been theremost their lives and from thenewer recruits.

Karishma ����������� �� ����

David J.����������� �������

Kathy ���������������������

Tim���������������� ��������

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John ���������� ���Beth �������

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FZ: Seeing as this is our firstinterview with you, can you tell usa little bit about yourselves? Alittle background on where yougrew up and how long you’vebeen together would help paintthe picture for our readers.

Kathy: All of us, except forBeth and Michelle, grew up inIndia and have known each otherfrom before the first ChildcareHandbook was published. Tim,David J., John, Karishma and Iwere all together in a large schoolvision/demerit chart/Battle Hymnof the Revolution inspirationtime/feeding the five thousand

for morning snack/100-manteams for capture the flag/triple and quadruple bunkbed bedtimes era severalyears ago. (Does thatconjure up pictures of groupbathroom runs?)

Scenario: “Announcement!Could all the Word Worms,yes all fifty of you, pleasereport to toilet #21 in sectionB of Grandpa’s Birdie Zonein the south part of thecamp, for your five minutepotty run. Please make surethat you don’t walk too far tothe right as you may end upin the Mountain Maids

Nursery group’s only toilet. Sincethey have twice as many childrenas we do in our group, we need toprefer our brethren. If by the timeyour turn comes you find there isno tissue paper, please proceedto…”

We interrupt this narrative toreflect on and appreciate all ourmentors from that time. An ode to

interview�������

teachers comes to mind, but we’llsave you our diction mistakes and“misspellings” and just leave youwith our thanks for yourdedication, and tell you we havewarm remembrances of thoseinstructional yet special times.

(Disclaimer: The abovescenario is an exaggeration, ofcourse.)

After the Charter, our familiessplit into field Homes for a coupleof years, and then, via God’s chessgame we wound up togetheragain here in Bangalore. We’vebeen in this Home for four yearsso far.

FZ: Could you more recentrecruits to India give us a littleinsight into what it was that madeyou decide to go to India?Integration into a distinct culturelike the Indian one can bechallenging at times. Was it foryou? And if you were to compareit to other places you’ve lived andworked in, what would be themost noticeable differences?

Michelle: Being on the fieldof India has totally “done me”! Idon’t think my life’s ever beenhappier than living and workingwith the sweet people here. I findthe Indians very open to things ofthe spirit and the spirit world, andextremely receptive. It has beenvery liberating for me to be ableto pour out the Word in suchabundance, in comparison to myhome field of Australia.

I actually was not planning oncoming to India at all. I had beenduped by the popular yet highlymistaken rumor that India was a

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get the picture?get the picture?

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he band in traditional dress (L-R)Kathy, Karishma, David J.,Michelle, Tim.t

get the picture?

dead-end as far as life for a youngperson was concerned. When I decidedto leave Australia, my motives weren’tcompletely pure. I was looking for achange, some excitement and a chanceto dig in to a “real” ministry. So Iplotted my course to Japan, and startedraising my fare. But true to His nature,the Lord had other things in mind forme. To be honest, at the time, sacrifice,forsaking all, hard work and dedicationweren’t exactly part of the rosy pictureof a star-studded future.

At a Teen/YA meeting, one of mydear friends “indoctrinated” me withthe idea of going to India, and wouldn’tlet go of it until we’d brought it to theLord and confirmed that indeed it wasHis will, and made definite plans to getto India. Maria, I am forever indebtedto you for that! Three months later, inAugust ’97, the two of us landed inBangalore; I’ve been here ever since.

Becoming one is something that Iam still working on, and probably willbe as long as I am here. It’s not anunattainable goal, by any means, andhas more to do with getting rid of myspiritual baggage and hang-ups, thanadjusting to “native life.”

Physically speaking, I found it veryeasy to adapt to the way of life and theIndian customs. Indian people are veryeasygoing and surprisingly tolerant offoreigners. They actually look up toforeigners, and that gives you a lot ofroom to show our love for their countryand people. I’ve had to learn a lotabout working alongside the dearveterans here who have such a wealthof experience after their many years onthe field. I have really questioned attimes, whether or not I had the faith tokeep going on here. Then the Lordwould remind me that as long as I keptyielding to His will and letting go of myown will, He would pull me through.And He has each time. Being in theLord’s highest will is the greatest kickyou can get!

India is very different from Australia,in that India is just begging for awitness. In my opinion, there isn’tanything more exciting than witnessing

here—whether it’s teaching orphans,feeding the hungry, singing in shows,teaching the kids at home or personalwitnessing to young people. It’s thehottest thing going and people in theworld, young and old, envy our free andloving lifestyle. Here people respect andadmire the Lord’s Spirit in the Family,from the toddlers to the FGAs. Theycome to us looking for the Lord’sdirection and love.

Bangalore is the IT (InformationTechnology) capital of India, and one ofthe world’s IT superpowers. There aretons of incredibly smart and wealthypeople, companies and organizationshere. We know some of the mostimportant people in the city as well assome of the poorest. The successful,wealthy, and powerful people have toldus time and time again that everythingelse pales in comparison to what we inthe Family have.

Beth: I’m not copying the above, butfor me India was the also last place onmy mind, before I came here, that is. Iwas on my way to Africa, and lo andbehold, without getting into too manydetails, like a flash in the night the Lordsaid to go to India and to check it out. SoI did, and well, I’ve been here ever

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since—nearly four years later. Time does fly! Icame when not many people were thinking ofIndia. At that time, in all of India there wereonly three new young people (all the otheryoung people here had been here since …forever), so it was pretty freaky at times. Thanksguys for making me feel at home, and not tooout of place. In fact, I like you!

A friend of mine once told me, “Culture shockcomes in stages.” I think it did for me. First, theysay you supposedly don’t have any sort ofshock, everything is new and exotic, your bodyregisters that you’re on vacation or something.This stage lasts for about four or five months.Then reality begins to strike, the culture shocksyndrome hits you, and you realize “Hey,maybe I missed the plane back home. Am Iactually living here now?”

“Earth to Beth! Yes, you are living here now.”So I faced the fact and realized that I was not onvacation and needed to get down to someserious business as to whether I was ready tomake the changes necessary to find fulfillmenthere in India. It took some squeezing and goingthrough a few real difficult and humbling spotsto finally be able to tell myself that, come what

may, I believed I was meant to be here in India and that itwas the Lord’s will for me right now, so to hell with the Deviland his tactics of trying to fool me that I wasn’t making adifference and wouldn’t find fulfillment.

In the third stage you learn how to adapt. The cultureshock fades slowly, and eventually, I started to think ofmyself as Indian. My adaptation was getting involved inmore outreach and witnessing. I’ve been hooked ever since!

I stayed in the Rose Garden Home for about three years. Iwant to say “thank you” to each of you for being suchwonderful friends. Not a day goes by that I don’t think aboutall the fun and exciting times we had together. So now I havebeen here at the Service Home for almost one year, andwhew … it’s sure a fast-paced Home, with lots of excitementand things going on. I’m glad to be a part of it in my smallway.

FZ: In contrast to your new recruits—Beth and Michelle—most of you have spent the major part of your life, if not yourwhole life, in India. What is it like to grow up in India? Doyou ever feel like there’s a world that’s beckoning youbeyond the subcontinent? Or have you committed to stayingput for now?

Kathy: My family moved to India when I was three,bringing me to a grand total of 17 years on this field! Myearliest memories are somewhat vague, but if I recollect a fewthey would have to include building sandcastles in our frontyard with the natives for recreation; having memory andreview/school under the coconut trees on our makeshiftschool desk/dining surface cum table tennis table, etc.; livingin beach cottages, roughly a couple centuries old; and ouronly mode of transportation being the ever-present andcompletely indispensable rickshaw-carriage, driven bywhatever beast of burden was most readily available.

On account of that, I wouldn’t say I have anything at all tocompare to in relation to another field choice, except byhearsay. Nevertheless, life was definitely fun, as you neverquite knew what adventure would rise unexpectedly.

To give some background: As a kid, I never questioned myparents’ choice of field. Naturally, as I got a little older, intomy OC and JETT years, the comparing really set in hard, andwhen our family had to leave to a nearby country due to alegal situation, I was no less than overjoyed! True, we weregoing east, but we were out of India, and for me that was allthat mattered!

I had no real idea of what I wanted to do or where I wantedto go, but, as is often the case when peer-pressure sets in, themain thing that seemed to be going around, told me thatIndia was not a cool place to be. That was to be my mindsetfor the next while.

A couple years later, however, we returned to India. Afterthat life went on as usual. I joined a new group, re-madefriends with my old ones, and eventually when the Chartercame around I went with my parents to pioneer a city, and

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avid J. at a CTPorganized forChildren’s Day.D

consequently we opened a new Home.At the time I was 15 and this is when I

really started to wonder where I was andwhy. My brother was already halfway to theStates, and I started to do some seriouscontemplation as to the reality of mywhereabouts. To make a long storyreasonably shorter, a couple years and manytrials later, after seriously taking up the bigquestion of “Should I?” to the Lord (for thehundredth, or was it thousandth time?), Hemade it fairly clear where He wanted me tobe regardless of where I felt I needed to be.

At first, it was hard for me to accept. I feltthere had to be something more to it all.Guess I figured I’d given over 15 years of mylife to the Lord on the field, and now Ideserved a little slack—or something to thateffect. In the beginning, remaining in Indiawas all by faith. But now looking back overmy life in India, I can’t say I’d do it overdifferently, ever! I mean, what better placecould I be in, and definitely where elsewould I be happier besides in the center ofHis will?

True, life does have its inconveniences attimes, such as the ever-present powerfailures, or sharing the jogging track with aherd of buffaloes. However, when comparedto the eternal dividends, it seems a meretrifle, and is definitely worth it all!

FZ: Recently your Home was noted in theGrapevine with the second highest number of

Activated subscriptions sold (GV #100). Are outreachand Activated your main Home focus? What otherministries are you involved with and how did theycome about?

Tim: Yes, outreach andActivated are our mainministries! It’s the lifeblood ofour Home—inspiration-wise,as well as financially. Nomatter what we are doing on aday-to-day basis, our hearts’desire is to move full steamahead with the era of action.

Kathy’s ministry ischildcare, and Karishma isresponsible for the kitchen.Beth is a VS, and the rest of usare full-time outreachers.We’re usually out five to sixdays a week. What’s made thisall possible is that everyone inour Home has a greatcommitment to witnessing—from the childcare personnelto the cooks—who put up withour running in and out of thekitchen and coming home toeat at odd hours.

David J.: To bring insome more details about ouroutreach, none of us were evertop-notch outreachers. But asActivated became a worldwidepush, we put a lot moreemphasis on it. I know for me,I didn’t want to get left behind

and not know how to shepherd the sheep as theystarted coming in closer.

We have a paid subscription goal to reachevery month, which frankly, stretches our faith!

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lightsT im and David J.with atraditionallamppost at afestival of lights.

Every month we try to up our lastmonth’s number of subscriptions, and ittakes some big “mustard seeds,” but weare trying our best. In order to meet thatgoal, it’s not a matter of whether it’spossible or even doable, rather a matter ofobeying what the Lord has told us to do …GET FOLKS ACTIVATED!

Practically speaking, we have everyonein the Home, from JETTs on up, prayabout their personal Activated goal forthat month. Then we put that amounttogether and come up with our collectivegoal.

One month, we were in the middle ofthe busiest time of our lives. We had somany projects going on, our schedule wasalmost non-existent and everybody wasgiving in ways unprecedented. In themidst of it all, the alarm was raised by oneof our shepherds that, “Activated is beingleft out in the cold!” We got together as aHome and read “For God’s Sake FollowGod” (ML #4, Vol. 1), had desperate prayerand prophecy, swallowed our fears about

the budget, the humongous projects,performances, etc., and agreed to lay offall else until we’d met our Activated goal.

The next morning we felt a little likeAbraham, “going out not knowingwhither we went.” The burdens we had toentrust the Lord with were real-lifedeadlines which wouldn’t go away. In theback of our minds, some of us werewondering how many days it would betill we’d meet our Activated goals, as theway things were going, even millisecondswere precious. As always, the Lord camethrough with such a miracle; we are stilltrying to catch our breath! By the timeevery single team came walking throughthe door, we had reached our entiremonth’s goal of …

60 ACTIVATED SUBSCRIPTIONS INONE DAY!

John: My main passion has beenestablishing a fruitful youth ministry.Over the last few years we’ve tried to getone going, but nothing concrete was ever

established. Since the era of action kickedin, and we’re stepping out to try newthings, our dreams are coming to pass.

Before, discussing the establishment ofa weekly Church of Love (COL) and youthmeeting was a topic that came up at everyoutreach meeting. It remained a“permanent” agenda point without everdeveloping. But now, as we’ve obeyed andstepped out—changed our schedules,made the sacrifices, and most of allhumbled ourselves—it’s happened, andit’s great!

One of our dear friends gave us the useof his restaurant as the location. So once aweek, 10:00 AM—1:00 PM, supporters,directors, and CEO’s from prestigiouscompanies around Bangalore gather tohear the Words of David. Then in theafternoon, from 4:00-7:00 PM we have a

youth meeting, where the topics areheavier and more for the youngergeneration.

All of these people are from severelynon-Christian backgrounds. Six monthsago, they only saw us as a social workorganization. Now it amazes us to seethem clapping along to the Songs thatMade the Revolution, reading MO Letters,saying love words and praise kisses to theLord, receiving prophecy and learning towitness!

The Activated mags and books havebeen a real hit. It’s not unusual to walkdowntown to the main hang outs and findone of our friends there, who quicklyshows us his My King and I and Apocalynein his pocket, which stay with him always.

In our classes, we normally sing songstogether and then read a MO Letter. After

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that we discuss it together and try andapply it to our day-to-day lives. We’vebeen learning to keep it very personaland not come across preachy in anyway like, “We have all the answers,man,” but to just speak from our heartabout what the Word means to us, andwhat we, as a group of young people inthe world today, are going to do aboutit.

Just to give credit where credit is due,the Lord is the One Who’s brought eachof these folks in, and gives us thecommitment to keep going. At times wehave had to just keep on with theclasses even if only one sheep showed

up, until now,months down theline, we have morefolks than ourlimited space canhandle!

Karishma:We’re also involvedin a lot of the CTPsin our Home, andwe have ongoingprojects with sevenorphanages. Also,my mom, Joy, andan SGA or nationalgo out every week tovisit hospitalpatients. Besides

that, we have a few bigger projects that wework on together with the other youngpeople in the city from time to time. We’veorganized medical camps for the poorand handicapped children frominstitutions we work with. That was reallyfun. We all took turns weighing the kids,or organizing games while the otherchildren were getting their teeth checked,and so on.

August 15th is Indian IndependenceDay, a celebrated and major event forIndians around the world. The FamilyHomes in the city united to make it a trulyunforgettable day for all theunderprivileged children we work with.The vision the Lord gave: Gather athousand underprivileged childrentogether in Bangalore’s largest and mostmodern auditorium, where each institutewould put on an Independence Dayperformance. It took many hours of usmeeting together and planning. And theLord blessed the unity of the Homes, aswe all did our best to get behind thisvision and make it a testimony to manypeople.

The end result: Each of theunderprivileged children performed—withthe glare of 140 stage lights trained on

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a maximum of four recorded beatsand a variety

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them—for an audience of hundreds of children, sponsors,and family members. The CTP teams provisioned buses totransport the kids. Also a delicious lunch, snacks, newclothing from leading fashion houses for each of the children,gifts, household maintenance hampers, and fully sponsoredsets of our videos and tapes were given out.

We have now decided to continue projects like this on aquarterly basis, as many of our contacts and friends want tobe involved in these projects. Several of the attendees ofour youth classes came along, and they really enjoyed

themselves.A couple of times, we’ve done CTPs with Homes

in other parts the country, like once Tim and Johnwent with the teams going to the cyclone-strickenstate of Orissa this year (FAR #126). They plantedtrees and dug house foundations—lots of manuallabor. We girls were dying to go, but changed ourminds when on their return we heard that the 20 ofthem that went, slept on sheets on the bare floorwith every kind of creepy insect climbing over them.God bless them. They also ate dahl and rice everynight for 20 days!

People in India always seem to be extremelyimpressed when we, as young people, are out therehelping others, as in many ways the westerninfluence of “take care of yourself” has rapidly set in.Because of it, many business people are eager to getbehind some young people who are actually doingsomething. Colleges will also ask us to give musicalseminars to their students, and talk to them aboutwhat happiness it brings us to reach out to others.

FZ: From what we’ve heard, you have a band. We werewondering how your band went from the initial concept tobecome reality? What type of venues do you perform at?

Often bands in rather traditionally countries flavor theirshows with well-known or popular numbers. Do youperform popular local songs? Starting a band usuallyrequires a lot of prayer and work; how did that work for you?Do you have any tips for start-up Family bands?

Kathy: The band originally came into being about sixyears ago. Of course, we weren’t really “a band.” However, theLord had opened up the doors for us to perform in quite afew places, from restaurants to outdoor concerts withthousands of viewers. We started practicing what little weknew and eventually it grew from there.

Initially, it was just four of us—Kathy, Karishma, David J.and Jono (David J.’s brother)—together with a tiny Casiokeyboard, containing a maximum of four recorded beats anda variety of only ten voices to choose from. We also had a setof decorative Zulu striped congas, which served as our“percussion.” As the years went our performance improved,as did our equipment, some of the original team moved on

and others came to stay. It’s been a steady team ofMichelle, Tim, David J., Karishma and me for the lastthree years now.

The places we perform at are extremely varied. Indiaholds a wide assortment of people, traditions andcustoms, so many of our shows vary. Often they holdnew and exciting challenges for us like having to learn asong in a local tongue we can barely pronounce thename of, or putting together a traditional dance, etc. Amajority of our shows are performed for corporate

functions and lunches, some restaurants, clubs, private parties,and occasionally bigger concerts such as Valentine’s Day,Christmas, and the host of traditional Indian celebrations.Then, every month, we try to organize at least one big CTPbesides our regular weekly appointments, either as a Home oron a city level, in which we do something for all in attendance.

What we really enjoy are the shows for colleges and youth,because that’s where we can truly burn free, no holds barred!Activated also opens up tremendous doors to get out the Wordinto the hands of the needy through our shows.

As far as getting in with the local fever, this is definitely a bigpart of each of our shows, and something that we’ve discoveredis a tremendous key to winning our audience. In fact, we rarelyperform a show without having some percentage of it being inthe local languages. Notice I mentioned languages, that’sbecause of the immense variety of languages in India,everyone usually wants you to perform something from theirown back yard. For some shows we end up doing songs inseven or eight different languages—which, as you can imagine,calls for a fair amount of spirit help!

Starting our band was certainly not fair weather and sunny

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skies the whole way through. Each of us had to gothrough (and might I add, are still going through), ourfair share of breakings and re-makings, before we gotto the point where the Lord could begin to use us.Every decision that we make has to go through variousshepherds, and of course hearing from the Lord abouteverything comes in first place. And now with theActivated vision in full gear, we’re aiming to keep thatour first priority when it comes to deciding on whatshows we take. If there’s an open door for doing a showwhere Activated is involved, then great! And if not, wemake doubly sure it’s what the Lord wants us to bedoing it, as Activated is our focus point right now.

We don’t consider ourselves quite in the position tooffer professional advice as such, but one thing we doknow is that you’ve gotta have a glory in the thing youdo. Even if you don’t think you have all that muchmusically, vocally, or even talent-wise, if you just goout there desperately praying for the Lord to shinethrough and give it your best shot, it’s guaranteed He’lldo some mighty things. And don’t be discouraged ifyour dream of being a pro just doesn’t seem to behappening, just keep plodding along faithfully andgive the Lord and your talent some time to work; you’resure to get results!

And above all, as a team we constantly have to keepthe main vision in mind of why we’re a band and Whowe’re doing it for!

FZ: Do you find it necessary to make the effort to bemore like the Indian people? Does it make a differencein your interaction with your contacts and friends?

Tim: In our outward appearance, it seems thatalthough India is quite open in some places such asBangalore, and most young people wear very westernclothes, we have to remember Whom we represent. Alot of the time that means dressing in traditionalclothes (which, by the way, I think look pretty neatwhen they are well made and a nice design!), or notwearing something that sends the wrong message.Most of the time it means testifying of our love for thiscountry and the people. It also means using ethnicmusic and dance in our programs, and trying to learnthe local language.

We have to be very careful not to come across in acondescending manner with the locals, as this wouldnot only cause hostility, but I’m sure it saddens theLord as well. A lot of times our friends or contacts askus to compare India with our western home countries.It is a real witness when we are able to honestly pointout the good points in their culture and the areas inwhich they have succeeded where others have failed.

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If you’re asking a question about our local bard,Well, here is the answer, the whole nine yards.

In Goa as it were, many moons ago,A family of musicians got up a show.

David, Karishma and Jono too,Were dutifully playing under Daddy Andrew.From there the vision has continued to grow.

Kathy came, then Tim, and Michelle also.All piping and playing the best they knew how.

The Lord’s using it as a witnessing tool now.From corporations to kids, to witnessing meets;

We try to follow where the Big Man leads.Maria, Ang, Aly and Jewel are the dancing team,

And the rest of us are the band(or so we’d have you believe)!

It’s a difficult ministry with plenty of pitfalls;Not one of the least is pride, the worst of all.Plenty of shepherding helps keep us in line,

As we’re all just folks of the sinning kind.At times we’re on stage for thousands or more.

And at others we’re singing with orphanson a tiled floor.

But the Lord uses us as we give Him the room.The dancers are “Heart Beat” and we’re

“Harvest Moon.”—Michelle

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We are honestly able to saythat we don’t support themoney-minded, extremelyselfish, cold cultures that theWest promotes, in contrastwith the simplicity andbeauty of the Indian peopleand their culture. Ourcontacts and sheep are wonover more and more by thelove and care we show fortheir country, and every effortwe make to become one paysoff in many ways.

Folks here don’t have a lotof the hang-ups andprejudice towards spiritualthings that people in the Westhave, and they open up a lotmore to the Lord and HisSpirit. In witnessing, the Lord has shown us to keep themessage very personal and to stay away from coming acrossas a group, denomination, or whatever. The Indian peopleare very respectful of people’s personal beliefs, so ourwitness comes across well when we share our personaltestimonies about prophecy and the Lord working in ourlives. This is probably good training for the Endtime, whenwe may not be able to rely so much on the name of theFamily, but more on a personal testimony and connectionwith the Lord.

FZ: How does prophecy fit in with the daily run of thingswithin your Home, personal lives, etc.?

Kathy: Prophecy is a growing part of our daily activities;we’d be clueless without it. With budgets to raise, Activatedgoals to meet, children to care for and the rapidly increasinglist of responsibilities, we’re finding out just how essentialthis new weapon is to our everyday work routines.

It’s been real neat, and convicting at times, when anoutreach team will come home and tell a testimony of howthey didn’t know what to do or where to go, and the Lord toldthem, and when they obeyed they met a precious person, orsomeone took tools, etc.

Of course, we still have light years to go and are by nomeans perfect—to the contrary. But with the steady stream ofawesome input, counsel and instruction which the Lord,Mama and Peter are putting out to the Family, it sure makesliving the prophecy life a dream!

Thank you also, Mama and Peter, for “UnderstandingProphecy, Part 3!” (GN 913). It has helped each one of us!

FZ: Can you give us rundown of a typical day’s work inyour Home?

Tim: Being the reveille man, I have the unenviabletask of waking the troops first thing in the morning.And slowly but surely folks eventually crawl out of thewoodwork.

Michelle: After Home cleanup and devotions, wehave private prophecy time. Dear Sam (FGA) gives us a15-minute Hindi class. And after that it’s pretty muchevery man or team to himself. During this time, youwill usually see the kids in faithful search of theirschoolbooks, lost pencils and erasers, and the teachersin hot pursuit of the kids. The outreach teams head out,or are on the phone making calls, ironing clothes, etc.

Beth: After devotions is a real busy time. I usuallydo my office work on a landing at the top of the stairswhere I can hear and see everyone getting ready foroutreach, making bribes to get to use the phone, etc.David and Michelle have been doing outreach togetherlately, and then there’s Tim and John, who have been ateam ever since I came to India.

Nowadays it’s hard to stay home when any of usneed to, as we all cherish our weekly attack days, whicheveryone participates in.

Kathy: At the end of the day when everyone returns,we have dinner together. And after dinner, it’s not unusualto see the dining room turned into a table tennis venue.

John: Home meetings can actually be a lot of funsometimes. There are opinionated people, buteveryone is trying real hard to be prayerful and all. It’scolorful, and we actually find out a lot about each otherthrough them.

Usually we’ll ask the Lord about whatever it is that

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we need to make adecision on, and if it’s areal mindbender we’llhave a committee checkin about it more in-depth. The next stop is tobring the propheciesbefore the Home, andthen we vote on thesubject.

Michelle: The era ofaction GN series hasrevolutionized this! It’sthe biggest thing going;we have all these schemesset up to make sure thatwe are getting with thetimes. A lot of this hasmeant big changes for theHome, but the best part isthat it’s brought a lot moreunity into our Home.

Kathy: The boys are talented actors, and if we everhave any activity you can be sure they have a skit uptheir sleeve. And early Sunday morning at breakfast weget entertained with their skit preparation for the COL,

which normally theyfigure out about fiveminutes before the COLstarts. It’s pretty funnywatching it come togetherand we have some goodlaughs.

Beth: We have a bighouse—four bedroomsand three makeshiftrooms. The boys sleep inwhichever rooms theycan find. Actually they’veslept in the living roomfor the last three yearsand their belongings arein other rooms, as theyhave so graciously giventhe preference to others.

We have 32 people in our Home. Nearly half of ourHome is made up of young people—14 in all. There areeight FGAs and ten kids.

John: Our Home is a bit different in its make-up, asthe six India VSs live here, and the ABM office operatesfrom here as well. We get a lot of up-close-and-personalshepherding, and we’ve come to appreciate it. It helpsus to be a lot more fruitful and to grow and progress.

Since the Activated push, we’ve put together differentways to get the whole Home involved in witnessing andActivated. It’s helped to boost the unity of the Home ingeneral. For example, some of the things that we arebeginning to put into practice are: the parents takingtheir kids out witnessing on Family Day, inviting oursheep over for Sunday fellowships, having unitedFamily Days with our sheep and their children, invitingyoung people to our Home devotions a few times aweek, getting the outside young people to set theirActivated goals and inspiring them about witnessing.

Kathy: When we have visitors over, we’ve beentrying to get everyone involved rather than just theoutreach folks. The kids’ singing troupes perform forthem, the band does some acoustic witnessing songs,the preschoolers display what they’ve been learning forschool such as reading, or quoting poems, andsomebody will share their personal testimony, etc.

We try to have a lot of united activities in our Homewhen we can. We all love dancing, some of us likegames or at least organizing them for others toparticipate in, snacks, and fun for everyone. All of ithelps to gel us together and enjoy each other’scompany. We’ve been trying to have heart-sharing aswell, and though it’s pretty humbling for all of us, Imust say for me, it’s helped me to see everyone withmore compassion and understanding. We’re all in thesame boat, striving to do our best for the Lord.

Karishma: With a big Home and lots of people,we have to make regular pushes on the Homecleanliness, which is one of our main NWOs. We’ve trieddifferent methods, and we continue working on it.

David J.: We also try and have a Home vacationonce a year, with about a week off for everyone to rest,read, and get refreshed for the year ahead. Last year wewent to Goa and the Lord worked it out for us to stay ata beautiful place. We went to the beach, performed for

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the resort as well, and came back re-envisioned to tacklethe mountains ahead!

FZ: What do you find most intriguing about India and itspeople? If you were to give advice to someone planningon going to India, what would it be?

Beth: India in itself is intriguing. I’ve walked out of thehouse and come eye to eye with a cow roaming the streetsand sidewalks. I’ve walked on claiming I won the staredown only to step into … well, you know … you’ve heardthe stories of India. (I heard once that there is this famouslocal temple praise that goes something like, “Be glad cowsdo not fly!”) I walk away from there wondering if I am onthe right part of the planet. But this question does not lastlong when I meet up with a young person waiting for herclass, with her list of questions to ask the Lord about andget prophecies on.

A noticeable thing in India is the contrast of wealth—there are the multitudes of the poorest of the poor andstarving people, but there are people who are rolling in thedough. You find many extremes—in the way that peoplelive, and even their traditions. You have a very Christianstate, Kerala, in the southwest where many of the Catholicscome from. In the north, there are places like Punjab andGujurat, which are traditionally Hindu and quiteconservative. Main cities, like Bombay and Bangalore havemore of a Western influence, with software companiescoming to set up here, and stuff.

Before I came to India, I remember thinking that theIndians were pretty simple-minded, and you have to “talkon their level.” But that isn’t true—there’s a wholegeneration of very intelligent Indians, who probably speakEnglish better than I do, and many of them are computerwhizzes and programmers. People can come across a bitignorant at times, but are really checking you out to see ifyou are for real. They can almost sense sincerity, or thelack of it, as there is a lot of corruption in the governmentand in the society, so obviously people like to know whereyou’re coming from and what is the real purpose for whatwe do.

Indians love a story—if you can tell stories of thechildren you helped bring a smile to, or tell them ananecdote from the Good Thots about almost anything, theysometimes ask you to repeat it while their secretary typesit out, and in a minute or two they have it plastered ontheir office wall.

I guess what I would say to anyone coming to India is:Be ready for anything, and be adaptable. Speak from yourheart and get involved in witnessing and follow-up. I washappy to be in India, but I didn’t find real fulfillment until Igot involved in outreach and witnessing. When I startedhaving people I was responsible to feed and meet withregularly, that’s when I knew India was the place I wantedto be.

FZ: What are your future plans as a team and Home?

David J.: DISCIPLES … ASAP! To build a solid

structure of support and a lasting work!

Tim: India Activated as common as D’ Spicy curry!

John: Network of young people, live-outs, andcatacombers who can help us do our job!

Michelle: To grab ahold of the era of action withboth hands and feel the rush!

FZ: Do you have any closing words for our readers?

Kathy: If you’ve made it through this article, youhave got the qualities needed for the field of India—stick-to-itiveness, endurance, longsuffering, etc. We dolove you guys. India is a fun place; you have to be hereto really understand.

Mama and Peter, thank you for Activated, forreceiving the vision and not giving up on us even whilegoing practically bankrupt. After all this talk, we knowthat we’d be lost if it weren’t for you! You are our heroes!We are sorry about all this flack that you have beengetting from those who are without, and we want you toknow that we’re right beside you as your flock and willdo our very best to keep going on for the Lord andreceiving the Words that He gives through you.

Farewell to all. Until we meet!

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