Emails from India
August 2004 - March 2005
Ken
Grimm
Here are most of the emails I sent during this mission trip. A few have been left out, either because there were very, very personal, or because they were nuts-and-bolts details of money transfers, etc. Some names have been removed, mostly by reducing them to a single letter. Likewise some passages have been deleted; usually where I have done this, a summary of the deleted material is between brackets in smaller typeface.
Thu, 19 Aug 2004 02:51:24 -0400 |
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From: |
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To: |
[India mission mailing list] |
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Subject: |
Safe Arrival in India |
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Hi everybody!
This is just a quick note to say that I arrived safely and
uneventfully last night and I am comfortably settled in at Panchkula,
near Chandigarh, Haryana, India. Telephone via [omitted]
God keeps providing everything I need.
More later,
Ken
Fri, 27 Aug 2004 06:42:25 -0400 |
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From: |
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To: |
[India mission mailing list] |
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Subject: |
Arrival in South India |
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Latest pictures at
http://kag.to/missions/india2004album.html,
access to Internet has been surprisingly difficult here. I am
now in South India for a week, tomorrow I go to Vijayawada to search
for the family of my old friend Elisha M. Peter. Pray that
phone service be restored to the school in Panchkula, then my
Internetting can become more regular. Panchkula is the suburb
of Chandigarh, Haryana State, where I live now.
Ken
Fri, 27 Aug 2004 06:53:00 -0400 |
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To: |
[my mother] |
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Cc: |
[my brother] |
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Subject: |
Big Black Book, Big Black Bird |
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Mom:
I have positively identified the Common
Indian Crow, known to birders as the House Crow, Corvus splendens.
I
have also seen either the Common Myna, the Bank Myna or the Jungle
Myna, or, I think now, all three. They don't match the book,
naughty birds. Positive on the Cattle Egret, and surprisingly,
on the Red-Wattled Lapwing from one quick but unforgettable
encounter. Red bill, yellow legs, remarkable neck pattern. The
rest of the many birds are variations of black-white-brown-grey, a
confusing hodge-podge. The black book was meant to be
left behind, in the "Very Last Minute" box. What I didn't
mean to leave behind was my Lonely Planet Tour Guide of India, and my
various letters, brochures, and slips of paper with India addresses
on them. Oh, well.
Love,
Ken
Sun, 29 Aug 2004 04:01:39 -0400 |
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From: |
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To: |
[my mother] |
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Subject: |
addresses and blue birds |
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Mom:
Don't worry about the addresses or try
to dig for them, there was only one that was really important and I
obtained that a different way yesterday (see general email to
follow). Perhaps God does not want me to visit the others, they
were all Indian preachers seeking American financial support.
Train trip to Vijayawada from Hyderabad yesterday saw many new
birds. Volcanic hills, scrublands, croplands, rice paddys, jheels
(Indian wetlands, probably similar to the sloughs of the American
west). I can't give the names because I left my bird book in
Chandigarh in my room (on purpose). But there was one waterbird
straight out of Dr. Seuss (or however you spell him); a blue
basketball with wings that performed the impossible by flying. If
you can imagine an obese, bright blue guinea-hen...
Love,
Ken
Sun, 29 Aug 2004 04:09:21 -0400 |
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From: |
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To: |
[India mission mailing list] |
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Subject: |
Elisha Peter family |
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Amazing Success Story!
Yesterday I was able to find the family of the late
Elisha M. Peter, my former translator on my previous trips to India.
They are still in the same place, still faithful, but in
difficult circumstances. Please pray for them.
After that brief day-trip to Vijayawada yesterday, I am
back in Hyderabad, A. P., late this week I return to Chandigarh.
More later, but I want to get this note out quickly, so
I will end now.
Ken
Wed, 1 Sep 2004 03:56:54 -0400 |
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From: |
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To: |
[a friend] |
Subject: |
all well |
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C:
...
Matchmaker, matchmaker make me a match... Everyone I meet is
trying to set me up. My hosts here in Hyderabad were trying to
set me up with a girl in her 30s whose form and voice were quite the
thing for a man whose tastes run toward Clydesdale.
Pray for me; many wonderful things have happened, but also I am under
tremendous spiritual attack day by day.
Yours in Christ
Jesus,
Ken
Fri, 3 Sep 2004 05:14:03 -0400 |
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From: |
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To: |
[India mission mailing list] |
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Subject: |
Here in Hyderabad |
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Greetings from Hyderabad, South
India.
A little of what is happening here.
The plan was that D. and I would travel to Hyderabad to arrange
for a shipment of donated clothes from the USA. We expected to be
gone for less than a week, because we needed to be in Delhi on 6
September for the arrival of G. L. from the USA. (G. L. is the
man who first introduced me to D.) Then D. needed to visit Chennai
(Madras) first so he flew there and I took the train to Hyderabad to
await D. here.
While waiting here in Andhra
Pradesh for D., I was able to take a side trip to Vijayawada and find
Elisha M. Peter's widow and sons and daughters. That was last
Friday - a week ago. On Tuesday Elisha's son Vijay Samrat and
daughter Sarada Devi visited me here in Hyderabad. In the
meantime, I have been taken around to various prayer-meetings and the
homes of church members in the slum districts. Where I am
living is actually considered a slum, but I find it perfectly
wonderful. Except for the loudspeakers on the mosque half-way
up the block. Normally they are tolerable, I am awakened every
morning by the muslim call to prayer, and I have learned to sleep
through the midnight prayer-call, the other three can be ignored.
But today is Friday, the muslim sabbath, and as I write we are
flooded with sermons at full volume. As they are in Arabic
and/or Urdu, I do not understand a word, but they are loud. Now
the imam is leading the boys in some responsive song; a sort of
children's choir.
My Telugu is beginning to
come back. I recognize words here and there in speech,
sometimes I even remember what they mean. Not so with Hindi.
My hosts are J. and [her husband],
pastors
of an independent ministry loosely connected with the Methodist
church of their childhood and loosely connected with various
Pentecostal churches in the USA "As Seen on TV". D's only
connection with them is that they were introduced to him as experts
at getting shipments from USA past the Indian Customs Office. I
would say that things were a little bit awkward doctrinally if there
was any doctrine.
Tonight I go to some villages
to bring bible lessons with yet another independent minister.
D. meanwhile has gone from Chennai to Mumbai (Bombay) then on
to Delhi where he will meet G. L. who is now due in today and not the
6th and bring him to Chennai for a medical mission. D. says now
he does not know when he will be able to come to Hyderabad, which was
the whole purpose of my being here. Now G. L's plane is delayed
and so are my plans. Once G. L. is here and I speak with him we
will decide if I go to Chennai to help with the medical mission or
return directly to Panchkula. Either way I will be back in
Panchkula by Sunday a week hence.
In Panchkula
things are a little more organized than here, I had a regular routine
of preparing and delivering the daily devotional for the school
staff, and preaching on Sunday. I was also beginning to get to
know the young ministers I will be mentoring.
The
service in the mosque is now over and everything is quiet; everyone
with any sense is taking a nap in the heat of the day. At about
dusk this town will come alive again.
Yours in Christ
Jesus,
Ken Grimm
Sat, 25 Sep 2004 02:14:45 -0400 |
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From: |
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To: |
[mission team] |
Cc: |
[shepherds] |
Subject: |
responses |
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Hello team!
Sorry
I haven't responded to your emails as promptly as I would have liked
or you would have wished. I know how frustrating it can be when
emails are unanswered; when I was in Hyderabad and had good Internet
access, I was checking my email twice or more a day and no reply, no
reply, no reply. I did not know if people back home were
considering how to answer, were too busy to write an answer (I know
how that can be) or had not even seen it yet. It is nice to
know that your email is received, even if the response only
acknowledges receipt without any answers or comments. So I will
try to acknowledge each email I receive as soon as I see it, if only
with just the word "Received" at the top. And I would
ask each of you to do the same for me.
Internet
access can be difficult, phone service to the school was out for
several weeks, and even now it won't support Internet. Coming
to this Internet cafe involves being driven an hour each way, which
ties up a vehicle and a driver both for the travel time and for the
whole time I am typing. So please pray that Internet service is
restored soon, the I will be better able to communicate with all of
you.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Ken
Sat, 25 Sep 2004 02:54:35 -0400 |
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From: |
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To: |
[family and close friends] |
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Subject: |
Alipur |
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Hi folks!
Things are
going much better now, the culture shock is pretty much worn off, and
I feel fine. I have gotten very comfortable in my room in a
house in the little village of Alipur, the landlord's little daughter
brings me tea every morning.
I seem to have picked up
a touch of malaria in Karnal. When I got to Ludwa, I felt sick,
so I came home. Then three days later (fourth day in medical
parlance) I felt sick again. General malaise, abdominal
distress and emotional depression, lasting about twelve hours
and ending with an hour or so of fever followed by an hour or so of
cold sweat. Then I would feel fine. I began to suspect
quaternary malaria, so on the next "fourth day" I was ready
for it, and it came right on schedule. Confirmed. The
good news is that each bout has been less severe than the previous,
so the medicine and/or the immunity from my first contact with it in
1983 are working. I have increased my quinine (and continued
the doxycycline), so I expect that on the next "fourth day"
it will be gone. To put it in perspective, I get sicker than
this twice every spring in Maryland, once when the maples are
blooming, and again when the oaks are blooming.
I was
in Chennai on the day of the (late) arrival of the monsoon, it was
quite spectacular, I had always wanted to see it.
That's all
for now,
Ken
Mon, 27 Sep 2004 06:12:32 -0400 |
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From: |
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To: |
[a friend] |
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Subject: |
answered prayer |
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C:
Thanks for all
your prayers. Things are going MUCH better here. And
things are going well in Westminster as well; the elders are being
VERY supportive. From the things you said in your last email, I think
your prayers are right on target.
On Monday a
week, Lord willing, I shall be going south again for a few weeks.
Probably staying in Vijayawada, with side trips to Hyderabad;
the last time it was the other way around.
Yours in Christ
Jesus,
Ken
Tue, 28 Sep 2004 02:37:39 -0400 |
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From: |
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To: |
[family] |
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Subject: |
re: Re: Alipur |
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Hello, family!
Mom, Avdi, thanks for the notes. Mom, the answers to most
of your questions will be in the general epistle I am about to write.
But I wanted to put a few personal notes to the family
first.
First a quote from an email I sent someone else,
explaining something else to somebody else (you don't even want to
watch the reruns of THAT soap-opera):
<<begin quote>>
Quite to my surprise, I suffered for a severe case of culture shock
for the first three weeks of my stay here. It did not interfere
with my ministry, for I only felt its effect when I was idle, it
subsided to the background whenever I had something to do. But
in India, as in the army, it is always "hurry up and wait".
I had a lot of idle time, and not by choice.
.......
I think the reason think the reason the culture shock was so bad can
be easily understood. I had rather severe culture shock the
first time I came to India, but the second time as I recall I had
none at all. Also on my trips to the Philippines and to Jamaica
I experienced very little culture shock. So I expected none
this time. But every previous trip had been only a visit.
When
I became overwhelmed by the strangeness of it all, I could just say
to myself "I will be home in two weeks" and I would be OK.
But this time it is my intention, if God provides the
resources, to be here for the rest of my life (except short visits).
So I was feeling "Ken, what have you done to yourself. You
will be spending the rest of your life in this mess, a stranger in a
strange land. Why did you make this choice?" But all
that is past now. It may return, but I can deal with it, by
God's help.
<<end quote>>
The the
thing that has been hard here is that some people from elsewhere,
when they heard about my ministry here, decided they needed to do
"something about it". So they contacted my church.
.... And so on. Fortunately, everyone at my church has
been TOTALLY supportive. And I do mean EVERYBODY. ....
But I think the crisis is past now.
This
is why my emails suddenly stopped. Actually I was emailing a
lot, hours every day, but the whole time was consumed with detailed
defenses of my ministry and answering groundless charges. Read
II Corinthians.
....
But everything is
past now. Some other people may still have problems (of their
own making) but it is behind me. But as I told one friend in
USA "I went through hell for a few days." And as the
scripture says, "all those who will to live godly in Christ
Jesus shall suffer persecution". One positive outcome is
that it has freed me of some obligations that might have become
burdensome.
That's all for now, for the rest see
my general epistle.
Love,
Ken
Tue, 28 Sep 2004 03:48:59 -0400 |
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From: |
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To: |
[India mission mailing list] |
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Subject: |
going south |
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Hi, everybody!
The day the malaria was due back came and went without symptoms, so
that is behind me. Is was good to have it so soon, actually,
because now I know the medicine works. Otherwise I would have
just assumed I hadn't been bitten yet, and worrying about how bad it
would be "when the shoe finally dropped".
So much
has gone on, I haven't been able to tell you all about all of the
things that have been going on in the ministry here. So I'll
try to give the highlights. When I first arrived, I was leading
the Bible-study part of the devotional the school staff has every
morning, a series of lessons out of Isaiah. Plus I preached in
the local church. Then in Hyderabad I went to many, many prayer
meetings, and made many home visits. These are the two major
foci of evangelistic efforts in the current flood of evangelism that
is sweeping across India. Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims are coming
to Christ in unprecedented numbers. The usual progress is that
friendships are built through repeated home visits, just social and
pray for the family and bless them at first. (In India,
everyone wants their house blessed, but the other religions charge
money for the blessing.) I also taught at Prayer House
Ministries, a non-denominational gathering for new Christians at the
YWCA, just praise and worship and prayer with a little basic Bible
teaching to give encouragement and fellowship for those who have just
left Hinduism or Islam.
I preached to several hundred
people at the Hyderabad Mennonite Brethren Church, on Communion
Sunday morning, which is a big deal, and FROM THE PULPIT, which is an
even bigger deal. The text was from Isaiah, "What God has
purposed, He will accomplish".
The trip to
Chennai was only to observe another ministry (and learn from it), and
to see a friend as he was passing through.
On return
to Alipur, I was immediately sent to central Haryana to help two
young ministers there. Geographic note: I live in (and the
school is near to) the village of Alipur, in the borough of Barwalla,
in the district of Panchkula (the cyber cafe where I am sitting is in
Panchkula City) in Haryana state. Panchkula is next-door to
Chandigarh, the state capital, and is the farthest north point of
Haryana.
So I went to a village in Karnal district,
25 K south of Karnal City, where I stayed for three days. No
running water. No latrine, only the rice fields to fertilize.
No door on my room. The water-buffalo tried to get in bed
with me one night. Really. Treated a five-year-old boy
for acute malaria, successfully. Taught a daily children's
Bible-story hour. Visited homes, prayed for homes, disputed
(gently) the "equality of all religions" with a Hindu
gentleman who was at first hostile but now is interested in the
gospel, answered the questions of a Hindu young lady who wanted to
know about this "Christian God in the Bible" and gave her a
Gospel of John the next day.
Then to Ludwa in
Kurukshetra District, the legendary source of the Bhagavad Gita.
Taught at a prayer meeting there, encouraged the minister.
Then I came down with malaria and went home to Alipur, many
hours by crowded buses.
A few days later went to
Beas, 40 K from Amritsar, saw Amritsar, wept at Jillianwallahbagh
(see the movie "Ghandi"), and taught in prayer meetings,
blessed households, etc. The Sikhs in that neighborhood are one
by one becoming Christians.
Then back to Alipur
again.
Now I am preparing to go to Vijayawada for a
few weeks to stay with Elisha Peter's children. Also visit
Hyderabad again. After I return to Alipur, late October, I
expect to visit Nepal for a few days (required by my visa), then I
will probably permanently relocate to Hyderabad. A Telugu tutor
has been found there for me, and the need to know the vernacular has
become painfully clear. From everything which has
happened I have become convinced that somehow God will provide the
resources for me to stay in India for many years. I don't know
how, but I have begun to have faith that He will. (And faith
has never been my strong suit.) So I am making my plans with
more of a view to the long-haul than to short-run trophies.
Yours
in Christ Jesus,
Ken Grimm
Thu, 30 Sep 2004 02:37:11 -0400 |
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From: |
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To: |
[a few close friends] |
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Subject: |
angst |
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Hi all!
Why is it
that when things are getting better I don't feel better? Maybe
it's the roller-coaster ride. After the pit I was in over the
recent crisis, I was elated as things worked out well and everyone
who mattered was so supportive. But today I feel miserable.
Nothing I can put my finger on. Just a vague sense of
dread. I have had this before. I feels as if my
subconscious knows that something I have done is about to have
horrible and inevitable consequences, but my conscious mind is not
allowed to think about it because it is so bad.
Maybe
it is related to that this morning as I lay in bed I imagined I was
"home" in America. (Not that America seems like home
any more. But India isn't yet either.) I knew where I
was, but for once there were no noise that were uniquely Indian; only
dogs barking, cars driving by, airplanes overhead. It was like being
back on Madison Street, as long as I kept my eyes shut.
But here I am. This is not homesick, as I have felt it before.
Perhaps that is because before, there was someplace else that
felt like home, where I could imagine a simple and pleasant life of
the old familiar routine. But nowhere in America feels like
home any more. I guess I am really coming to grips with just
how much I never fit in in American suburban culture. Or maybe
it is the anxiety over the changes of scene I will be experiencing in
the next few weeks.
Perhaps the new immigrants to
America felt this way, when they saw all the strangeness around them
and fondly remembered the steppes of Russia, then they remembered how
poor and hungry they had been there, and the Cossacks...
So,
pray for me. Maybe it is just the enforced idleness of this
week. I needed the rest, but I feel like a fifth wheel.
Ken
Sat, 9 Oct 2004 09:06:17 -0400 |
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From: |
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To: |
J. [a preacher in Hyderabad] |
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Subject: |
preachers meeting |
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Dear J. and ...:
Greetings in Jesus name! I have prayed about the meeting we
discussed in our phone conversation today, and I have also discussed
this with Vijay Samrat. I believe it is God's will for me to be
at the meeting, and to accept the invitation to speak. I expect
to arrive in Secunderabad by train on 20 October; I will send you
details after I have booked my ticket.
This will only
be a short visit, 5 or 10 days, but while I am there we can discuss
my long-term plans for work in Secunderabad. After I stay with
you I must go north again, before I make my permanent move to
Andhra.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Ken
Sat, 9 Oct 2004 09:11:41 -0400 |
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From: |
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To: |
D. |
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Subject: |
Fwd: preachers meeting |
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D:
[J. and her husband]
want me to address a huge preacher's meeting in Hyderabad 22-24 Oct
so I am going there before coming north. In the mean time Vijay
Samrat has a busy schedule for me starting tomorrow, I will be
speaking every evening at different churches all over Krishna and
Guntur districts in coastal
Andhra Pradesh.
Yours in Christ
Jesus,
Ken
[email to J. (above) included here]
Fri, 15 Oct 2004 06:30:33 -0400 |
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From: |
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To: |
[India mission mailing list] |
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Subject: |
Ken goes modern |
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Hello, world.
I
have finally joined the 21st century - I have a cellphone. For
those of you in India, the number is [omitted].
From the USA and the Philippines it is [omitted].
(I am trusting my memory for the Philippine international
prefix, and trusting a local informant for India's country code.
You
might want to double-check in your local phonebook.)
From USA, please remember the time zones are different, and try
to call between 10 PM (22:00) and 1 PM (13:00) EST. Those times
are not backwards. Afternoons and early evenings in the USA are the
middle of the night here. Call late at night or in the morning.
Philippines, just don't call early in your morning and we'll be
OK, the time zones are close.
Ken Grimm
Fri, 15 Oct 2004 06:55:57 -0400 |
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From: |
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To: |
[India mission mailing list] |
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Subject: |
more careful next time |
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We wuz robbed! Very skillfully,
actually. Whoever took the money out of my purse took only the
500s and left the 100s, so it looked at first glance as if nothing
was missing. So I don't when it happened; Monday mid-day I had
the money when I went to the chemist downtown, and yesterday
afternoon it was gone. About $200 US. So was my wallet
picked on the street (it has a belt-loop, I sometimes wear it there)
or did someone enter my room while I was sleeping or while I was out?
We'll probably never know. However, now my hosts take
seriously my concerns about the lack of security of my room. And
I will learn to be more careful with my wallet. It is back to
being on the neck-string under my shirt. Uncomfortable and
sweaty.
The really good news is that the really
valuable things - my passport and VISA in my wallet, the computer in
the room - were untouched. Praise the Lord.
I
have a cellphone now - [omitted] - so you can
wake me up in the middle of the night and say "Ooops! I forgot
about time zones".
More small-church and
home prayer meetings to speak at the next four days, then on to
Hyderabad, which I am nervous about, I am to speak to a pastors
conference of over 2000 expected attendance. Pray.
Yours
in Christ Jesus,
Ken Grimm
Sat, 16 Oct 2004 04:27:52 -0400 |
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From: |
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To: |
[India mission mailing list] |
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Subject: |
more on more careful |
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Hello everybody, thanks for your
prayers.
Today has been a depend-on-prayer
morning, and God has answered, but certainly not how I expected.
The
culprit has confessed, and it was not who anyone thought. I had
said yesterday that if it was an adult, we would probably never know
who it was, but that if it was a child, within a week he would begin
to spend the money and the whole neighborhood would take notice of a
child with too much money. (Relative to the local economy, it
would be like a kid in America walking into a toy store with
ten-thousand dollars in his hand.) So yesterday evening the
street was buzzing that a certain 11-year-old from a very poor family
had a new tape recorder, new clothes, a new video game, etc., etc.
What was so distressing to me (and all of us) is that this was
a boy I had prayed over and blessed in his mother's arms as an
infant, his sister was a special friend to Benjamin and me ten years
ago and is my friend today, they have been a part of the congregation
here for a decade, no-one has ever suspected any member of this
family of dis-honesty. But there was no explaining his sudden
wealth, and he had been my guide to the chemist, he knew where I kept
my money..
So this morning there was a huge
commotion at the gate, accusations poured out, it was a mess.
finally Vijay Samrat arrived. I am very impressed at how
he handled the situation. Very mature, always calm. He
kept interrogating the boy, who denied
everything, but could not explain the expensive knew items he had
been showing his friends. "I know nothing. I know
nothing." for two hours. I retired to pray. As I
prayed that God would bring the truth to light (for only He knew the
whole truth) it finally spilled out. The teenaged brother whom
no-one had suspected confessed everything. He had been in my
room with a number of others to look at photographs with me, and
while we were all focused on the computer screen, he had found my
wallet and extracted the money. The younger brother had been
covering for the teenager out of fear of being beaten. So now
Vijay is dealing with how to bring justice in this situation, and I
am leaving that to him.
However, I am still
concerned about how this will affect the church here, in
relationships between those who attend, and the relationship between
the church and the neighborhood. So keep praying.
Yours
in Christ Jesus,
Ken Grimm
Mon, 25 Oct 2004 20:37:41 +0530 |
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From: |
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To: |
[India mission mailing list] |
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Subject: |
Hyderabad again |
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Greetings in the Name of Jesus!
Now I am in Hyderabad, in Ramnagar slum, at the home of J. and
[her husband] and two very bouncy little boys.
I
spent about two weeks in Vijayawada, of which eight days was spent
traveling to villages and speaking at prayer meetings. Most
were independent ministries; two or three were Churches of Christ
started by Americans. Then I came to Hyderabad. On the
20th I was chief guest speaker (at least that's what the sign said)
at a gospel rally in Kodada. A complete surprise to me; I was
not ready for 7 hours each way on a bus.
Would
you believe I am now "The Reverend Doctor Kenneth A. Grimm"?
They asked me what title went before my name, I told them
"Brother" was good enough for Paul so it was good enough
for me. But it wasn't good enough for them. And this is the
land where the sign painter frequently misspells "Toilet"
as "To Let" and just as often mis-spells "To Let"
as "Toilet"; the results of such mistakes can only be
imagined. But come to think of it, I always handle the Word of
God reverently, and my commission is to expound doctrine from the
Scriptures, which is the original meaning of Doctor, so maybe it
isn't all that bad. But I am still more comfortable with
"Brother Ken".
22nd and 23rd were the
Pastor's Conference here; the speaking schedule kept changing
and my "keynote address" became a street gospel sermon.
And "2000 attendance" was closer to 500. This
is India. Later this week I travel again, arriving in Panchkula
on Friday. There are a few things I need to take care of there,
then I expect I will gather up all my things and make my permanent
move to Andhra Pradesh.
Probably I will be
staying in the apartment around the corner here in the Ramnagar slum.
Something feels very right about this place. From here it
is an easy commute (for me) to Vijayawada, and I will be only five
minutes from the station. The overnight train, Sleeper Class,
would be purgatory for most Americans, but for me it is just a good
night's sleep. So I can be at the church in Vijayawada whenever
I want; I will probably be there almost every Sunday. And
Internet communications are excellent here in "Cyberbad",
as the Twin Cities of Hyderabad/Secunderabad now call themself.
Some notes about all this rail travel. It is not
expensive. I can travel from one end of this country to the
other, nearly two-thousand miles, for ten bucks. And it
provides a much needed relief from the pressures of staying in homes
here, where the American concepts of privacy are totally foreign.
It
is some of the only time I get totally to myself. It is a good
place to pray and meditate. Buses are another story. In
the USA they would be banned as "cruel and unusual
punishment".
My Telugu is coming back.
Every day a new word becomes clear to me. I can tell if a
translator is translating a sermon literally or not in many cases.
Sometimes I can follow the general drift of a sermon by the key words
I hear. The other day I read a sign on a store as we drove by and
would have sworn it said "PRIYA" (a brand name of pickles
here) in English. I told my companions I wanted to go back and
buy. When we got back, it said "PRIYA" alright - but
in Telugu letters. So the Telugu letters I learned 15 years ago
are still in my subconscious.
Just night before
last a muslim young man came to a street meeting we had in front of
the house here with questions about the Bible. He seems
genuinely interested. Once I am permanently here, I expect he
will be coming to see me with his friends. The Lord seems to
already be starting the work on this corner. I have great hopes
and expectations of what the Lord will do here.
Your servant
in Christ Jesus,
Ken
Mon, 25 Oct 2004 18:50:41 +0530 |
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From: |
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To: |
[shepherds] |
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Subject: |
Hyderabad plans |
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Greetings to my shepherds!
Now I am in Hyderabad. I spent about two weeks in
Vijayawada, of which eight days was spent traveling to villages and
speaking at prayer meetings. Most were independent ministries; two or
three were Churches of Christ started by Americans. Then I came
to Hyderabad. On the 20th I was chief guest speaker (at least
that's what the sign said) at a gospel rally in Kodada. 22nd
and 23rd were the Pastor's Conference here; the speaking
schedule kept changing and my "keynote address" became a
street gospel sermon. This is India. Later this week I
travel again, arriving in Panchkula on Friday. There I will try
to meet with [deleted] (a doubtful proposition)
then after a few other side trips to tie up loose ends I will
make my permanent move to Andhra Pradesh.
I am
in negotiation with [J. and her husband] to rent
the vacant apartment in their house. I think this is an
excellent location for long-term ministry. The essential point that I
now see is to avoid becoming the personal property of any Indian
preacher; they hold on to their foreigners jealously. The
danger is that every contact with India becomes filtered through
their prejudices and ministry aspirations. For that reason, I
will actually be more effective in the Vijayawada region if I am
stationed in Hyderabad; I can go visit a Krishna District
preacher without [deleted] saying "Why are
you going there? Why are you working with him?".
I had considered maintaining two apartments to also make me
more independent of [J. and her husband]; I
found
an apartment I liked a few blocks from my friends in Vijayawada, I
think I could afford both. So I prayed "Lord, if You want
me to rent it, keep it available while I consult my elders."
Within days, the "To Let" sign was removed, so I
don't think it is God's will at this time. But I do think that
eventually I will want to maintain residences in both places. Flats
like this run $40 - $70 per month.
"permanent
move", "long-term ministry", "eventually" -
I think you see where this is leading. I am more convinced than
ever that the best way to make use of the gifts God has given me is
to maintain a house and teaching location in one place for a long
time here, to focus my first priority for three years on learning
Telugu fluently, and so to train young men for ministry. Already
I have some possible students, even when the first requirement is
fluent English, which is rare here. But I cannot offer to teach
them if I will not be here long enough to complete their training.
So my question is, [what are the fundraising
prospects?] Will I be able to return to India after a
two-month furlough next spring? [Are there any
other ideas for raising the funds?] I suspect I will be
getting some offers of help from some U.S. and Swiss pentecostals in
the future, but I am a more than a little uncomfortable about that.
It would be nice to be able to say "Thanks, but no."
[I know that the future cannot be known for certain],
I just wanted to get a feel for what the odds are that I will be able
to [return to India soon].
My
Telugu is coming back. Every day a new word becomes clear to
me. I can tell if a translator is translating a sermon
literally or not in many cases. Sometimes I can follow the general
drift of a sermon by the key words I hear. The other day I read a
sign on a store as we drove by and would have sworn it said "PRIYA"
(a brand name of pickles here) in English. I told my companions
I wanted to go back and buy. When we got back, it said "PRIYA"
alright - but in Telugu letters. So the Telugu letters I
learned 15 years ago are still in my subconscious.
Just night before last a muslim young man came to a street
meeting we had in front of the house here with questions about the
Bible. He seems genuinely interested. Once I am
permanently here, I expect he will be coming to see me with his
friends. The Lord seems to already be starting the work on this
corner.
Your servant in Christ Jesus,
Ken
Tue, 26 Oct 2004 14:19:03 +0530 |
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Dear
Brethren:
This morning J. and I came to an
agreement about my living arrangements here in
Secunderabad(Hyderabad). It turned out we both had the exact
same ideas about how the rooms will be set up, my exclusive use of
them, how we will separate them from the rest of the house, necessary
repairs, etc. I had been praying fervently about this, for I had
feared that J. would want to retain more access than I am
comfortable with. But God has answered all my prayers.
We have yet to talk money, but I am sure with God's help we will come
to a mutually satisfactory arrangement for that as well.
I keep seeing God bless every step of the process of
establishing a ministry here on this streetcorner of Ramnagar slum.
I am hoping for many years of fruitful ministry at this
location. The Christians here, and the visitors from abroad who
have seen it, have great faith that God will provide all that is
needed to make this ministry prosper.
Your servant in Christ
Jesus,
Ken
P.S. Attached is a picture of the house, the
brown door on your right is [the front door of where I
am staying now], the blue door on your left will be my front
door.
Fri, 29 Oct 2004 13:57:00 +0530 |
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From: |
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To: |
[my mother] |
Cc: |
[friends] |
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Subject: |
Why Hyderabad |
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Dear Mom:
I am on
my way "home" from Hyderabad, just stopped to check email.
So, quick answers...
Here is a piece of
what I wrote to my elders about the move to Hyderabad:
"
I am in negotiation with [J. and her
husband] to rent the vacant apartment in their house. I
think this is an excellent location for long-term ministry. The
essential point that I now see is to avoid becoming the personal
property of any Indian preacher; they hold on to their foreigners
jealously. The danger is that every contact with India becomes
filtered through their prejudices and ministry aspirations. For
that reason, I will actually be more effective in the Vijayawada
region if I am stationed in Hyderabad; I can go visit a Krishna
District preacher without [deleted] saying "Why
are you going there? Why are you working with him?".
I had considered maintaining two apartments to also make me
more independent of [J. and her husband]; I
found
an apartment I liked a few blocks from my friends in Vijayawada, I
think I could afford both. So I prayed "Lord, if You want
me to rent it, keep it available while I consult my elders."
Within days, the "To Let" sign was removed, so I
don't think it is God's will at this time. But I do think that
eventually I will want to maintain residences in both places. Flats
like this run $40 - $70 per month."
I hope that
helps answer you question; cut-and-paste is quicker than composition.
As for why moving to Andhra (state w/ both Hyderabad and
Vijayawada) remember my email "re: Re: Alipur" when I spoke
of "some people from elsewhere" who were making trouble?
Well one of them is the big-shot at a church in the USA which
[supports a certain ministry], and said big-shot
has forbidden D. to work with "that non-instrumental missionary"
(me). Pure sectarianism. So, no more missionary
excursions throughout Haryana and Punjab, no more speaking at
Cambridge International School, in short, nothing to do long-term in
North India.
As to your question about am I
happy all the time, well, no, sometimes I think "My God! What
am I doing in this place!" . But then I remember I had
some pretty black days at time back in Maryland, too. These
last few days I have been a bit homesick. But I think when I
get more settled and have more of a routine established and can see
steady progress in what I am doing, the dark hours will be less.
Right now my mission work resembles a line from "Vietnam
Pot-Luck Blues" - "We called the roll, then we all set out
for a long patrol...swatting flies, and firing the odd shot here and
there" A regular campaign with a distinct goal will be
better that the "odd shots here and there" I am doing
now.
I am CC'ing this a few others because I am too lazy to
compose a separate note to them.
Love,
Ken
Fri, 29 Oct 2004 15:11:16 +0530 |
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From: |
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To: |
[mission team] |
Cc: |
[shepherds] |
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Subject: |
prayer request |
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Dear missions team:
It
is very heartening to me to know that you are all meeting together to
pray for me. It can get kind of lonesome out here sometimes.
So here is a prayer request. Please pray that God give me some
kind of assurance that this will be a long-term mission. Then I
can feel more comfortable making plans (apartment, Telugu lessons)
that contribute greatly to a long-term mission, but offer little
pay-back in the short-run.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Ken
Fri, 29 Oct 2004 15:01:13 +0530 |
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From: |
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To: |
[India mission mailing list] |
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Subject: |
Barwala |
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Greetings from Barwala!
Now I am sitting if the Cyber-Cafe in the village of Barwala
(chief wide place in the road of the sub-district of Barwala, in
which is my apartment in Alipur) on my way home from Hyderabad.
This
is my most adventurous "all by myself" journey so far. I
had to change trains at Hazrat Nizamuddin,
deal with a wait-listed ticket (simple solution - ignore it.
Nobody
checks tickets on this train) Find the right bus at Ambala
Cantonment, change buses at Derabassi (look for the man shouting
"Barwala! Barwala! Barwala!") and voila,
I am almost "home". Now all I need to do is hire an
auto-rickshaw to Alipur, and that's it. 1500 miles.
So, that's the news. As my plans to relocate and start up
the ministry in Hyderabad finalize, I will keep you all informed.
In
the mean time, keep up the prayers.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Ken
Fri, 29 Oct 2004 15:21:48 +0530 |
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From: |
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To: |
[shepherds] |
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Subject: |
house in Hyderabad |
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Dear brothers:
[J. and her husband] and I have come up with a
tentative agreement on the house. I want your advice. They were
asking $55/mo (which some think is a little high) but they do not
have the capital to make needed repairs; primarily new doors and a
new roof. Total cost $1000 (one-thousand US). so they
propose $33/mo rent and I put up the capital for the repairs. I
break even or better if I stay four years. I am minded to take
the offer, but it will put me a little tight for funds for a month or
so. I haven't been spending much. We almost went ahead so
they could have the work done when I return, but I think I should
take D's advice and be there while the work is done, even though it
is very inconvenient for me.
Your thoughts...
Yours
in Christ Jesus,
Ken
P.S. If
I don't stay four years, at least the money will have helped a couple
who are working full-time to spread the Gospel.
Mon, 1 Nov 2004 14:06:14 +0530 |
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From: |
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To: |
[Lifeline of Hope] |
Cc: |
[shepherd] |
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Subject: |
orphanages in Andhra Pradesh |
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Dear Jeff:
Thanks for
writing to me. It was especially nice to hear that someone
actually looks at my website. I am curious how you were
directed to it. All of the locations you mentioned are
within the region that my friends in the church of Christ here are
familiar, so I can ask them about these preachers and these works.
As many churches are continually asking for me to come and
teach in their churches (if only for the novelty of having an
American) I have opportunity to visit all of these places sooner or
later.
One of my purposes in India is to
photo-document Christian charitable works here in India and post
reports on my website to encourage Americans to be generous to these
works. This is the reason for being in India which I put in my
application letter for my ten-year visa to India. So I am
particularly anxious to visit these works. So if you could give
me more exact contact information, I in return will do all I can to
help. In the meantime, I will see if Vijay Samrat can guide me
to them. One further question; there are two cities here with
similar names, Guntur and Gunder, is the "Gunter's Children
Home" in one of these?
Your servant in Christ Jesus,
Ken
Mon, 1 Nov 2004 14:31:25 +0530 |
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From: |
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To: |
[a friend] |
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Subject: |
re: Re: prayer request |
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C:
Chatty letters like
these are very heartwarming; the remind me of "home", but
sometimes make me homesick when I realize Maryland isn't really home
any more. I wonder if it ever will be again. I think I should
give over all vision of the future to God, and not try to see beyond
the row He has me hoeing just now. But do you really expect me
to answer all those questions? However, I am glad you are
interested.
When I get the weblog up and running I
hope to be answering questions like those on a regular basis. But
for now, just a few.
For myself, my prophylactic
anti-malarial is doxycycline, I brought some from the USA and I can
also buy it here. The emergency kit Deborah gave me is
mefloquine, which I can also get here. For others, I have
stocked up on quinine, some bought, some free Govt. of India issue,
this is the first line of defense for suspected cases. If
recurrent fever confirms the diagnosis, I would give
doxycycline+quinine or mefloquine (not both); I have stocked up on
these as well. But in the cities of Andhra, this is not
necessary, as the G of I anti-malaria program is quite efficient
there. It is only in the poor rural areas that I need to be the
doctor. Right now I am giving my gut a rest as it is too cold
for mosquitoes here near the Himalayan foothills now; no doxycycline
for a couple of weeks.
Your friend,
Ken
Sat, 13 Nov 2004 14:17:34 +0530 |
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From: |
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To: |
[family and close friends] |
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Subject: |
Safe arrival |
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Hello, everybody!
After
a long and at times very difficult journey, have arrived, safe and
sound, at home with my friends. More later.
Ken
Sat, 13 Nov 2004 15:15:39 +0530 |
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From: |
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To: |
[shepherds] |
Subject: |
Knowing too much |
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Dear brethren:
I
feel like the man in the Alfred Hitchcock thriller "The Man Who
Knew Too Much"....
...
Myself, I am
just beginning to recover from the emotional devastation that began
when...
...
As you know, every time I arranged a
way to get a train reservation south, somehow it got blocked.
Finally the man who runs the phone booth called his cousin to
take me to town for twice the going rate "just to book a
ticket". In the morning, an hour before I was supposed to
go, my landlord, who turns out to be connected to [deleted],
knew that I was going, and was pumping me for details. I faked
bad English and misunderstanding, then went back in my room. A
little later, I hear a horn and come out, thinking it is my taxi.
But it is the... driver with an urgent summons to come to
[deleted] at [deleted].
When
he becomes insistent. I fake a belly-ache and dash back into my
room. Ten minutes later, my ride arrives, and is surprised when
I pack all of my bags into his car. Somehow he has heard that I
am booking a ticket to Delhi so I can catch a flight home, he offers
to help with this. But I have him take me to Ambala Cantonment
train station, about 25 miles. When the only ticket I can get
is for the next day, I book a room in a hotel and pay my driver
double again with the instruction "you saw me get on the train
today." Later I will tell you all the ways my trip south
was blessed by God; there were Hindus who asked me about my faith and
I was able to outline the Gospel to them, one of them has my Bible
and is reading John, there were Christians on the train who
introduced themselves to me and encouraged me, and I was able to
teach them as well. So in all, my faith in God is strengthened,
I am beginning to see that I can trust Him in any and every
situation.
...
Still victorious in Christ
Jesus,
Ken
Fri, 19 Nov 2004 19:32:13 +0530 |
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From: |
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To: |
[friends and family] |
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Subject: |
Elisha Peter's children |
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Dear friends and family:
Several of you have asked about Elisha's children, and for others of
you knowing the situation here will make other emails make more
sense, so I will try to explain.
As some of you know,
Elisha M. Peter started a Church of Christ in his home sometime in
the 70's. He was at that time a canal inspector for
the government irrigation project. Sometime around 1980, he was
in a truck accident on the job, spent ten days in a coma, and was
retired on a medical pension. I met him in 1983, and worked
with him again in 1994. In 1997 he died of liver failure,
leaving a widow and four grown children. The eldest, Vijay
Samrat, just turned 45. He has no children; his wife was just
recently operated on (ten years late) for fibroid ovarian tumors.
The next is a daughter, Sarada Devi, never married, there was
never enough money for a dowry. Next is a son Rajkumar. The
youngest daughter, Anita, is about 35, also never married.
Vijay Samrat and his wife and brother-in-law operate a primary school
which is partially subsidized by the government. But the
officials in the Bd. of Ed. always want part of the subsidy back as
bribes. This is India. Vijay also serves as minister of
the church his father started. Vijay and his wife live at the
school, about a kilometer away. I think his wife and/or her
brother inherited it from their father.
At about the
time Elisha died, the family was able to get a govt. loan on the
basis of their status as "scheduled caste" (untouchable) so
Rajkumar could go into business as a auto-rickshaw driver. This
was no small feat, such scheduled caste set-asides are normally not
available to Christians. With the money he earned as a "auto"
driver, Rajkumar worked his way through college, earning a pre-law
degree and getting accepted into law school. He was scheduled
to graduate on 5 July 2001. On the 2nd of July 2001, three days
before his graduation, Rajkumar was driving a motorcycle and was
struck by a bus. He received only one injury; his skull was
pierced by the bus's license plate bracket just above his left eye.
Because the family could not afford the best hospital care, he
was never operated on. He remained in a coma for almost three
years, most of the time at home. The back room of the church
building has been converted into a makeshift hospital room; his
sisters now know most of the procedures of nursing, including how to
give transfusions. (Until recently, whole blood for transfusion could
be obtained over-the-counter at drugstores).
Three
months before I arrived (six months ago now) Rajkumar woke up.
But
he is severely brain-damaged. He is able to get up on his feet
with help, he sometimes can bring food to his mouth with his hand, he
answers some questions by nodding his head. Just in the last
month he has begun to speak two or three words, his name, his
sister's name, that is all. He is not as functional as Holly,
but probably a little better than Lissa. His sisters are
occupied full-time as nurses for him, in addition one neighbor woman
works full time for them as a nurse and several neighbors work part
time. All of this has been a severe drain on the family
finances. It also leaves the family very drained emotionally.
For the last several weeks Rajkumar's seizures have been
getting worse, today he is seizing
violently for 30-40 seconds every 1/2 hour. The family is
trying to get him hospitalized, but they owe so much already to the
doctor that he does not want to admit him.
Normally
Rajkumar stays in the main room of the church building now that he is
no longer comatose, he lays in his cot or sits in his swinging chair
all day. That way those who stay with him can come and go
without disturbing those resting in the house. Also, that is
where the phone is, and in the back room are the hospital supplies.
But with me here he has moved into the house, as they are
putting me up in the church building. (It wouldn't do for me to
stay in the house with the three women, especially since people keep
starting rumors that I am about to marry one of the sisters) Last
night he was moved back into the church building; by the end of the
night it seemed like half the neighborhood was sleeping on the floor.
Every time his seizures got really bad all the lights went on,
etc. I slept (if you can call it sleeping) in my clothes. I
have been at the Internet Cafe all afternoon, partly to be out of the
way as they care for Rajkumar. Just now I got word by cellphone
that he is doing worse.
So that is the situation.
Somehow they all manage to be in reasonably good spirits most
of the time, but the strain is telling. Especially Grace
Janaki, Elisha's widow, seems particularly distraught lately.
Yours
in Christ Jesus,
Ken
Sat, 20 Nov 2004 15:57:11 +0530 |
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From: |
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To: |
[friends and family] |
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Subject: |
Rajkumar |
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Dear friends and family:
Since yesterday's email, the condition of Rajkumar's health has
deteriorated. When I got home from the Internet cafe,
Rajkumar's seizures had increased to one every 5 minutes, by the time
I went to bed it was one seizure every 3 minutes. Rajkumar is
now back in the coma he woke from 6 months ago, but with seizures
added. We can't tell if the seizure medicine Rajkumar is taking
(Ofloxacin and Sodium Valproate in Lactated Ringer's, I.V.) is
helping or not, or if that is what is keeping him unconscious. We
are hoping the neurosurgeon will come and look at him this
afternoon.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Ken
Sat, 20 Nov 2004 18:49:30 +0530 |
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From: |
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To: |
[shepherds] |
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Subject: |
re: RE: house in Hyderabad |
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Dave:
In answer to your
question about time frame for decision, the best time to have made
the decision would have been Sept 14th., when I first proposed
relocating south immediately. It would have saved me a lot of
grief, and two months lost time. The next best time would have
been Friday a week ago, when I arrived here. But I opened the
above referenced email, and felt I needed to give my reasoning in
detail. But each time I got to the Internet Cafe and found it
working (maybe one time in three) there were other emails to answer
first, to get them out of the way, and then the Internet connection
would crash. At the beginning of the week, Vijay and I could
have gone to Secunderabad and gotten the necessary renovations
properly started and returned. But now Rajkumar is in critical
condition, and that has all of Vijay's attention. I was hoping
to avoid having to make the arrangements by myself without Vijay at
my side to counsel me.
As soon as I arrived in
Vijayawada, I spoke with Vijay about the house in Ramnagar. He
is in complete agreement that this is the best ministry for me. He
pointed out to me that the kind of Telugu teacher I am looking for is
not available in Vijayawada, but only in the Hyderabad, the state
capital, because the normal clientele for
these tutors are relocated federal civil servants. Vijay agreed to go
to Secunderabad with me for two days to handle negotiations with the
[landlords] and with craftsmen; but while we
delayed so that I could explain all this, Rajkumar's health crisis
hit.
It may be hard to understand in Maryland how
everything takes so long, and why I couldn't just whip out a quick
email last Saturday. In the first place, I type very slowly.
I
can't do anything about that. The email I sent you yesterday
about Elisha's children took me 3 hour to type. I was at the
Internet cafe for 6 1/2 hours yesterday. Second, the Internet
keeps crashing, and all all unsaved work is lost. Each "save"
has about a 50% chance of returning a "lost connection to
server" message, which means praying and hoping that the power
will stay on and the computer won't crash before connection is
restored and the unsaved message can be reconstructed using
control-V.
But just getting out of the house can take
hours - "please wait for this" , "please wait for
that". Then after walking to wherever, it is closed, or
not working. It is a wonder that anything ever gets
accomplished in this country.
But now to the
explanation of the ministry opportunity here. First I will
discuss the situation here in Vijayawada, in the "Andhra"
territory of coastal Andhra Pradesh (Andhra Pradesh contains three
distinct Telugu-speaking ethnic groups, each in its own region: The
Andhras in the eastern coastal plain, the Telenganas
on the Deccan plateau in the center of the Indian peninsula, and the
people of Rayalasima, the southern hills.) Then I will discuss
the opportunity among the Telenganas
streaming into "Cyberbad", the metropolitan area of the
twin city Hyderabad/Secunderabad. To get an idea of the scale
of things, when I first came to Vijayawada in 1983, it was a city of
250,000; at that time it and Nashville were the same size. When
I came in 1993, it had more than tripled, to 800,000. Now it
has 1,100,000 people, as you can see, the rate of growth has slowed.
When I first passed through Hyderabad in 1983, it was a sleepy,
backward city of under a million. Now it is sprawling out the
size of Los Angeles, with 9 million residents and growing fast.
Hundreds of thousands of poverty-stricken displaced Telengana
farmers and peasants stream into Hyderabad every year.
Most of the Church of Christ missionary activity in India for the
last three or four decades has been in coastal Andhra Pradesh,
particularly the districts of Guntur, Krishna, and East and West
Godavari. Vijayawada is in Krishna District, immediately across
the Krishna River from Guntur District. The main reason that
there has been so much success in this area is that these four
districts contain one of the highest concentrations of nominal
Christians in all of India. The Portuguese brought Catholicism
to Machilipatnam 400 years or more ago, and by the mid-20th century a
hundred and fifty years of Protestant mission efforts, plus the
effects of new political independence had resulted in a thoroughly
confusing hodge-podge of Christian denominations and sects. It
was ripe territory for the Restoration Gospel of just following the
Bible. However, almost all of the mission successes occurred
among nominal Christians. For twenty-five years I have read
almost every Church of Christ India mission report that has come my
way, and without exception they have reported dozens or hundreds or
thousands of baptisms, many denominational preachers converted, and
then, almost as a footnote, "Please pray for so-and-so, a Hindu
we have been studying with for almost a year". Hindus and
Muslims have accounted for less than one-tenth of one percent of the
baptisms in most works, although they are at least two-thirds of the
population in this district. I say all this, not to criticize
the work here, but to lead up to my next point, the condition of the
church here. With most of the white-haired old preachers
re-baptized preachers of other denominations, the doctrine is
hard-line "we are the only church". I went to the
funeral of a young preacher last Sunday, and afterwards the presiding
minister asked "Are you a member of the Lord's Church?" as
the first thing he said to me. He would not have spoken to me
at all, I think, if he had not seen that I was with Vijay Samrat; he
had been a friend of Elisha, and when he saw that the American was
with Elisha's son, he thought maybe I might be a real Christian.
[A certain very conservative Church of Christ preacher]
might be too ecumenical for them. Vijay, as his father did
before him, does not circulate much among the other Church of Christ
preachers, largely because they neither one could stomach the degree
to which visiting Americans control the church through the
distribution and withholding of money. But his doctrine is very much
like theirs. The church here is second and third generation.
Their fathers or grandfathers, like the Bereans, studied the
scriptures to see if these things were so. This generation does
not need to study the scriptures, they already have known these
things are so from childhood. The church in this region seems
to be following the lead of Firm Foundation. That is where they
post their requests for support. I went to the website of a
church in East Godavari, I found discussions of what is wrong with
Jubilee and why Antioch Church of Christ is no longer a Church of
Christ.
The C of C where the young preacher had
died was just four blocks from the C of C where I am staying.
Every
block has at least one little church of some brand or another.
With
the connections that I currently have, I fear that any attempt to
make use of these connections to build a teaching ministry would at
best open up more very heated debates with seasoned preachers than
mentoring of young preachers, and at worst would have me ostracized
as a troublemaker. I have not had one person come to me in all
of my church visits and teaching in coastal Andhra this time and ask
me a single Bible question. This is quite different from 21
years ago, when everyone I met had some tattered sheet of lesson
notes and would come to me saying "Is this right doctrine"
or "How can this be disproved" or would ask "what does
the Bible teach about...". Elisha was like this, always
asking questions, always wanting to learn something new. But his son
Vijay Samrat has been to a Church of Christ Bible College; he already
knows all he needs to know.
There is a new
translation of the Bible just published; it is actually readable.
It
is like the transition from King James to New International. I
bought myself a copy; while I was there, I bought copies for [three
church members]. They were all sitting in the church
building when I gave them their Bibles. That was three days
ago, the Bibles were never taken home, they are still in their
wrappers. And I know that these three can only read the old
translation with great difficulty. I remember when the New
International first came out, I was living in Boyertown. One
person would show up with a copy, and everyone would be looking over
their shoulder to read it too. We wanted to know and understand
what the Bible said. I expected that kind of reaction here.
But this is now a settled middle-class now, and we see settled
middle-class reactions.
Then there is Hyderabad. The
most striking thing I have seen out the train windows in all my
traveling has been how empty the countryside is. What had
struck me about India in 1983 had been how full of people the rural
countryside was. Every acre had somebody in it doing something.
But now, the people are miles apart. Every grove of trees
between fields that in 1983 would have had a cluster of palm-frond
huts under it now is just a vacant group of trees. What does
this have to do with Hyderabad? The missing people are all
there. The tractor and the ten-ton truck have driven them out
as effectively as the dust-bowl drove the the Okies to L.A. in the
Thirties in America. Every tractor replaces fifty ox-driving
farmers, and every truck replaces fifty oxcarts with their drivers.
All of them are the displaced poor of slums like Ramnagar in
Secunderabad. The way of life that had been unchanged for their
family for 400 years has vanished. All the old certainties are
up for question. This is the kind of people who are ripe for
the gospel. One-million old-family Hyderabadites probably
cannot be reached, but among them are 7,000,000 displaced poor
looking for new answers, and racing through the streets on
motorcycles are a million more young technoids living a lifestyle
their parents could never have imagined in Cyberbad, the Silicon
Valley of India.
It is in Hyderabad that young
people have been asking me questions. It is in Hyderabad that I
have the opportunity for long-term mission. The house at the
Ramnagar well is the kind of Godsend that does not come very often.
(Like being stranded at Elisha's house for three days 21 years ago.)
It is close enough to the main streets that I can get anything
I need by walking. I will have a Christian family next door who
have volunteered to help me in all the practical interfaces to this
alien society, but I will still be able to maintain my independence
from them. It is hand to the train station. I could
search for months and never find a place as suitable as this. As
a matter of fact, I have been trying to find a place as suitable in
Vijayawada and I have not yet found one. As for access to
Vijayawada, if [a Westminster church member who lives
far from the church] couldn't drive, it would be much
harder for her to be a part of the Westminster church than it will be
for me to be in Vijayawada every Sunday morning until a church is
started in Ramnagar. And every day, every poor family in the
neighborhood sends someone to the well at my door to get water, and
it is time-honored custom in Telugu culture to sit outside ones door
on the stoop and socialize. It is the perfect place for young Muslims
and Hindus to discreetly ask "What does your Bible say about
God". I have already had that question asked to me on that
corner by a young Muslim. He said he will be back with more
questions when I live there. And if he does not return, there
will be others. Also, the [J. and her husband]
are very well networked among many of the Christians who are trying
to evangelize Hyderabad's slums. So there is a constant stream
of visitors from all over Telengana to
their house; young preachers, Christian students, new converts. I
have already had opportunities to begin Bible teaching with some of
them.
Back in Vijayawada, if I stay here, I
must find other quarters soon. The room where I am staying is
needed for other purposes. Sarada and Anita need to concentrate
on caring for Rajkumar, not waiting on me. I think that if I
stay in Vijayawada, my only real focus for the next three months will
be to work on learning Telugu. That is a worthwhile purpose,
but only if I am going to return long term to Andhra Pradesh. And
if I am going to be long-term in Andhra, I do not want to lose the
opportunity that the house in Ramnagar offers. The plan,
then, in practical, step by step terms. Vijay and I have found
a way to reduce most of the initial outlay for the house in Ramnagar.
The rainy season is now over; it will not rain again until
August. So the roof can wait until July. I want to
re-negotiate with the [J. and her husband] (I
hope with Vijay's help) to do only the renovations absolutely needed:
doors and window-screens. Then I will move in. I will still be
in Vijayawada most if not every weekend, at least for Sunday. I
will continue learning Telugu. I HAVE ALREADY STARTED. I
am translating Mark from Telugu to English, word by word, letter by
letter, learning each new letter and word as I reach it. I am
surprised at how much I already know. I only have about 550
more letter-forms to learn. (Each letter changes shape as the
vowel and/or adjacent letter changes.) But in Hyderabad I
should be able to find a skilled tutor with references. Then I
will return to America for several months. Then back to
Ramnagar long-term. [discussion of the funding of my
return to India] More about that later. Then
replace the roof, and continue my Telugu studies. I expect it
will take three years to become adequately fluent in Telugu.
Until
that time language will be my first priority. However, within
three to five months of intensive, submersed in the culture study, I
should be able to hold one-on-one conversations. During that
time I expect to slowly build up at least one weekly
prayer-meeting-bible-study in my home. I expect that I will
begin to form some one-on-one mentoring relationships as well.
When
I am fluent in Telugu, I expect to build on these relationships and
the home meetings to build up a church in that house. Based on
the experience of others in ministry-of-presence work in Andhra, I
will not be surprised if there are no baptisms in the three-year
language period, or even in the two years that follow. If after
that there is is not the beginnings of visible success, I will begin
to be disappointed. Yes, it is possible to work in India
without learning the language, and yes there are ways to get quicker
visible results. But you should hear what the experienced local
preachers say about these ways once you gain their confidence.
About fundraising. [a discussion of available
funds and fundraising possibilities] I am no skilled
fund-raiser, and I doubt if anyone in our congregation is. So
God has got to find another way if He wants me to do this work.
That
is His problem, not mine, not yours. [a
discussion of how perceived mission "success" affects
fundraising]
Well, I have been typing
non-stop for four hours now on this one email, and I think it is time
to go home and see how Rajkumar is doing. I am sure there is
more that I should have said, that would answer your questions
better, but I need to quit here.
Your servant in Christ
Jesus,
Ken
Sat, 27 Nov 2004 19:33:36 +0530 |
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From: |
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To: |
[family and friends] |
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Subject: |
Rajkumar update |
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Dear friends and family:
Rajkumar's condition is still critical. The doctors have
told the family that he is in his last days. When I went home
after the previous email, Rajkumar was in status epilepticus,
continuous convulsions. He was taken to the hospital (if you
can call it a hospital) and his antibiotic was changed from Ofloxacin
(which was not working) to Cephtriaxone.
Rajkumar had an infection of the left eye, a lung infection,
septicemia, and bacterial encephalitis. Which one was first and
spread to all the other infections no-one knows. Within 24
hours the convulsions stopped, but he is now paralyzed on his right
side, in addition to all his other problems. He was sent home
from the hospital, not for medical reasons but for the hospital's
convenience; they had another use for the room. The doctor says
"all of his resistance is gone". He is being cared
for at home by the family.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Ken
Sat, 27 Nov 2004 19:57:28 +0530 |
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From: |
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To: |
[shepherds] |
Subject: |
No Hyderabad mission |
Brothers:
God has very
definitely and firmly closed the door to the ministry in Ramnagar,
Hyderabad/Secunderabad. J. raised the rent, changed the terms,
and demanded a loan for her ministry's latest cash-flow crisis. I
forestalled the last by saying for such a large financial decision I
must consult my shepherds, she probably guessed that I fully expect
you would advise me not to make such a loan. Vijay Samrat is
happy to see me back in Vijayawada. We are all praying together
now about how God wants us to proceed with ministry here in
Vijayawada. Yesu Das, the pastor/translator who accompanied me
to Hyderabad at Vijay's request, has some very interesting ideas
about how to proceed. So it may be that God has a definite plan
of work for me here in Krishna District after all.
Your
servant in Christ Jesus,
Ken
Fri, 3 Dec 2004 14:07:10 +0530 |
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From: |
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To: |
[a friend] |
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Subject: |
Re: saying hello |
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M:
Hi! Good to hear
from you. Right now #1 request is prayer for wisdom as we make
new plans for ministry here in Vijayawada.
Yours in Christ
Jesus,
Ken
Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:32:26 +0530 |
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From: |
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To: |
[shepherds] |
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Subject: |
why Hyderabad failed |
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Brethren:
I did not
want to mention until I cooled down why the trip to Hyderabad failed.
After a hopefully beginning, but many unexplained delays in
sitting down to talk, the prices of everything suddenly shot up.
Das
and I excused ourselves and retreated to the house of Das's uncle.
There Das confided in me what he had been told not to. Each
of the delays was J. calling D. for further instructions. It
seems that before my arrival, D. had called J. and told her I was
deceiving everyone about my finances. He said he had been in
contact with you three directly, and that you had told D. that "Ken
Grimm receives (and withdraws in India) $1600 from Westminster Church
of Christ every month." I had been very open with D.; he
knew I had only $800 or less available to me each month after USA
expenses. So then D. told J. that "she deserved to get as
much of that money as she could." So the prices tripled.
Her mistake was that she confidentially let Das in on the
secret, and encouraged him, as my translator, to line his own pockets
as well. But he is too honest for that.
So perhaps D.
has done me a favor, by exposing J's character.
However, since [an American preacher] has
assured
me that D. is his loyal employee who only does exactly what
[the American preacher] tells him, no more and no
less, perhaps you could call [the American preacher]
and ask him to kindly call off his dog.
Yours in Christ
Jesus,
Ken
Thu, 9 Dec 2004 15:59:27 +0530 |
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From: |
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To: |
[shepherds] |
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Subject: |
Back to Vijayawada |
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Brothers:
It's kind of
embarrassing, after all that promotion of the opportunity in
Hyderabad, to be outlining a plan of work not there but in
Vijayawada. But that is what I must do. Actually, it is
not now as discouraging as all that, but for the last week I was
pretty low. I am feeling better now that we are making definite
plans. Come to think of it, I have had a lot of disappointments
in the last half-year. Africa plans failing when [a
church in America], after many delays, dropped out. Grace
breaking our engagement. Finding that my good friend Rajkumar
is a vegetable. Being turned-out of the ... ministry by [an
American preacher]. Being personally betrayed by D.. And
now having my ministry plans for Hyderabad collapse. As Jacob
said "Why do these things keep happening to me." As
far as Hyderabad goes (to get it out of the way first) there are
still tremendous opportunities for evangelism there. Perhaps
God is sending me elsewhere because He has others in mind whose gifts
are more specifically tuned to church planting. And I still
think that the corner in Ramnagar is a prime spot for a ministry of
presence. But only if someone can either afford J's new prices,
or can bargain her down. And only if they can do the ministry
without needing to depend on [J. and her family]
for interface; that is, there must already be a fluent Telugu speaker
in the new ministry. Das and I briefly considered looking for a
new location in Hyderabad. We quickly came to the conclusion
that while it would be easy to find a place to live cheaper than what
we had just walked away from, it could take many months to find a
place with the same community exposure. So we used the time to
pray and make plans for ministry in coastal
Andhra.
When I first called Vijay Samrat from
Hyderabad and told him all of the negotiations for my house there had
collapsed, his first words were "Great! Wonderful news!"
We arrived back in Vijayawada Saturday morning, the next
morning in church Samrat announced me as the principal speaker
(without warning me). I have been giving the sermons now,
Samrat will resume on 19 Dec. Samrat, Das and myself have
planned a series of 3-day meetings for pastors, preachers etc. in
December, January and February; one here in Badavapeta 16-18 Dec,
then across the river in Guntur district next month (Das's church)
and then one in Machilipatnam. They are a bit expensive, but I
think they are worth it. They will build up the church workers,
and so will build up the churches. Plus, they give me the
exposure I need for the next phase of my ministry here when I return
next spring.
The entire attitude here has changed
since I called Samrat from Hyderabad. Before, they expected I would
be moving on (I think they resented that, at least a little) and so
they treated me as a temporary guest. When returned, they had
moved my things into the back room of the church building, the room
Benjamin and I had shared as our private quarters ten years ago.
There was a lot of symbolic meaning in that. Samrat sees
me as senior man here, I see him as senior man here, and that's the
kind of friendly disagreement we can all live with.
I
think I will be preaching at the church Das started in Guntur most of
January; an independent church with no American Restoration Movement
roots. I am beginning to have a strong influence on Das and on
his understanding of the Bible. He has also become a good and
trustworthy friend. He has Samrat's highest commendation.
We are making plans for the future. We envision this
congregation evolving toward a mutual-edification model. This
gives equal prominence to Samrat and myself, cultivates a
responsibility for personal bible-study among the other members, and
has some desirable legal ramifications under India's anti-conversion
laws and visa restrictions. We also envision that when I return
we will begin a Bible school here on an informal, personal mentoring
model. This is more in line with India's cultural heritage than the
seminary model imported from the west.
To this end we
have begun making plans to renovate and expand the church building; a
much more expensive proposition than the house in Ramnagar. God
only know where the money will come from; I certainly have no
idea.
As God closes one door He opens another. While
I was deep in prayer in Hyderabad, after all my plans there were set
to naught, at that very moment God was working events in Kakinada
that may completely change the situation in the Church of Christ
here. I only learned the following Sunday how God is working to
move His church out of rigid preservation of tradition to a Berean
searching of the scriptures. But that will be in another
email.
Your servant in Christ Jesus,
Ken
Thu, 9 Dec 2004 18:38:47 +0530 |
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From: |
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To: |
[shepherds] |
Cc: |
[mission team] |
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Subject: |
CofC in India |
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Brethren:
Something
very interesting has happened in the Church of Christ in coastal
Andhra Pradesh (which is like saying it happened in the
Tennessee-Texas corridor in the USA). The church here is mostly
aligned with the more conservative elements of the American church.
The favorite paper is Firm Foundation, and the One True College
is Freed-Hardeman. Many of the churches and the preachers, as
well as Bible colleges, are sponsored by Freed-Hardeman. Now that is
interesting, in that it is the firm doctrine of these churches, and
of Freed-Hardeman, that it is unscriptural for mission work to be
sponsored by or supervised by a man-made mission society rather than
a church. But since Freed-Hardeman is not a "mission
society" but a college, it seems to be exempt from that
stricture. That is not my point, but it gives something of the
flavor of things here, as context for what happened.
While I was in Hyderabad, Freed-Hardeman was sponsoring a Bible
Conference in Kakinada, at their Bible College there. They sent
a Freed-Hardeman professor to be chief speaker. And he put his
foot in his mouth. Big time. He said that any preacher
that teaches that women should cover their heads when they pray is
"riding a hobby horse". I think he went beyond that
and said that to teach this is to "go beyond the doctrine of
Christ".
Now if there is one thing that people
in India know, it is that women should cover their heads when they
pray. The Christians know this, the Muslims know this, the
Hindus know this. It is like knowing that getting drunk a lot
is a bad thing to do. Everybody knows this.
What people in India do not know is that American Christian women do
not usually cover their heads when they pray. The missionaries
are usually silent on this issue. Most mission wives cover
their heads in India without commenting on the practice. I just
had some people ask me the other day "How do American woman
cover their heads when they pray, since the don't have a long loose
sari-end to throw over their head?" They assumed that
American women cover their heads at prayer-time in church. Notice
that it is at prayer time, not "when in church".
Now my point is not to belabor the headcovering and ride my own
favorite hobby-horse. But even if you grant the argument
usually used against this teaching and practice, that it was only a
command to conform to the cultural practice in Corinth, it would
apply here, because it IS the cultural practice in India, although it
is no longer the cultural practice in the USA.
My
point is that to the Indian Christians this is not only a fundamental
moral issue, like not stealing, it is also clearly stated as a mark
of the Church of Christ in their Bibles. And they just found
out that this is not a mark of the American churches. This is
somewhat akin to finding out that their sponsoring churches use a
piano and organ on Sunday mornings.
Suddenly the idea
that the Church of Christ was totally and perfectly restored in
America in the mid-nineteenth century, and that spiritual safety (the
ONLY spiritual safety) is found in that American church and the
churches spawned from it, has been brought harshly into question.
If
even Freed-Hardeman is not following the scriptures,
but teaching in direct opposition to scripture...
I
am trying to show you how this appears from the point of view of the
Indian Church of Christ, not to prove one of my favorite points.
It
is hard to convey how shocked the preacher who told me this was.
So what is the upshot of this? It is that while a month ago
there was very little opening in the Churches of Christ here for any
teaching that did not merely echo the teaching of previous American
missionaries, now the test "that's not what Firm Foundation
says" no longer applies. This will be a hard time for the
churches. I expect that over the next few years, some will go
back to the denominations they came out of, some will join or create
strange sects, and some will simply give up and lose their faith.
But some will begin to search the scriptures afresh, indeed
some already are. And in that there is opportunity to do
good.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Ken
Sun, 19 Dec 2004 16:57:05 +0530 |
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From: |
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To: |
[India mission mailing list] |
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Subject: |
Seminar in Badavapeta |
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Greetings in the Name of Jesus!
The seminar for church leaders (pastors, preachers etc.) on Dec
16, 17 & 18 was a complete success. We had 40 men in attendance,
from many denominations; about one-third identified themselves as
Church of Christ. Also represented were Canadian Baptist
Mission, Church of South India (Anglican/ecumenical), Bahkt Singh
churches and various pentecostal and independent churches. All
but two of those attending had high praise for the seminar. (More
about those two later)
The subject was Joshua -
the life of Joshua, and the book of Joshua. The focus was on
lessons for leaders and preachers. I taught the men each day
from about 10 AM to about 5 PM with short breaks, then in the evening
we had a general meeting for the church. The three messages to
the church were "Rachab's decision to choose The LORD",
"Following God Wholeheartedly" (Joshua and Caleb), and
"Decide this day whom you will serve" (Joshua 24:14-15).
I think one of the best ways to judge the success of a meeting like
this is the progress of the congregational singing. At the
beginning, the five women in the back row out-sang the 25 men
present, which is about usual in India. By Saturday afternoon,
the thirty men in our closing session sounded like an army.
On Friday we had one problem; a couple of young men from the Church
of Christ came after lunch (having missed the first full day and half
of the second) and after one hour began complaining that they had not
heard the "Apostles Teaching" being taught. When
asked what they meant, they said that I had left out all mention of
the mode and purpose of baptism, the proper name of the church, the
doctrine of the trinity and the titles, roles and qualifications of
elders. The lesson they had just heard had been a detailed
exposition of the defeat of Israel at Ai, the sin of Achan, and the
subsequent victory at Ai and Bethel. I will grant that it was
not the kind of teaching they were used to; many of the participant
said that they had never heard Bible teaching like this, that focused
on one topic. Also those in other denominations said that they
had never before heard a Church of Christ preacher teach Bible
without concentrating on criticism of others. Anyhow, those two
young men did not return the next day; several people made comments
that their presence was not missed.
On Sunday I
depart for Kishanganj, on the border of Bihar and West Bengal, at the
narrowest point of India between Bangladesh and Nepal. I will
be in Nepal for a few days because of the 180-day clause of my visa
to India. Then I return "home" to Badavapeta,
Vijayawada A.P. In January I have another
seminar like the one just completed, across the Krishna River in
Guntur district, then another one in February in
Machilipatnam.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Ken Grimm
Thu, 30 Dec 2004 20:01:49 +0530 |
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From: |
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To: |
[India mission mailing list] |
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Subject: |
Tsunami |
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Greetings in the Name of Jesus!
I am now in Kishanganj, on the border of Bihar and West Bengal, at
the narrowest point of India between Bangladesh and Nepal.
Tomorrow
I go to Siliguri to check with travel agents about the best way to
get out of India for a couple of days to restart the 180-day click on
my visa. It will probably be a trip to Bhutan, which is nearby,
because the border to Nepal is reported to be temporarily closed.
Last week, when I saw on BBC the trouble around Kathmandu, I
considered canceling this trip and using my backup plan, which was to
fly to Sri Lanka for a few days. If I had followed my "play
it safe" instincts when I saw the Nepal news last week, I would
have been on the beach in Sri Lanka on Sunday morning when the
tsunami hit. Just a reminder that I need to trust God for my
safety, not trust to my own wisdom.
The earthquake
did wake me up in Vijayawada, but because we are about a hundred
kilometers inland there, we avoided the tsunami, which was the real
disaster. Only minor quake damage in Vijayawada. However,
we are in Krishna district, which goes all the way to the coast, and
on the coast thousands died. I had taught in fishing villages
there both in 1994 and two months ago, I do not know if those villages
still exist today. In February I am supposed to hold another
seminar in Machilipatnam, near the coast. I do not know now
whether that being a disaster area will affect our ability to hold
that meeting or not.
It is possible that all of
my plans will be change when I return to coastal Andhra Pradesh, that
being part of the disaster area (even though my city of Vijayawada
was not hit). I expect that the Church of Christ as well as
other denominations from USA will be coming to the aid of the
survivors here. Whether or how I might become involve in such efforts
I do not yet know. Those who have already established contacts
with churches here will of course work through those contacts.
However, for those who have the means to help, but have no
contacts, or who are needing a logistical base from which to work, or
want help interfacing with the locals, or with transportation, please
contact me.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Ken Grimm
Fri, 31 Dec 2004 20:38:30 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[Christian Chronicle mission editor] |
Cc: |
[a list of potential tsunami relief agencies] |
|
|
Subject: |
Re: TO: Workers in Tsunami region and Relief Agencies of churches of Christ - Please keep the Christian Chronicle informed |
|
|
Brethren:
I am in
Vijayawada, Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh, India on a Bible
teaching mission from Westminster Church of Christ, Westminster,
Maryland. (http://www.westcoc.org/)
I will be staying at Badavapeta Church of Christ in Vijayawada
into March, I can extend if needed. We are far enough from the
coast to be out of the disaster zone. However, because
Vijayawada is the transportation hub of the whole region, we are well
placed to be of assistance to other aid workers. (arranging
transportation, translators, place to stay, cross-cultural interface,
making contact with "missing" preachers, etc.) I have
had some training and experience with this sort of thing in the past.
So if I or the church here can be of assistance to anyone,
please let me know.
Kenneth A. Grimm
cellphone
(011)91-984-952-xxxx
Mon, 3 Jan 2005 16:08:27 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[shepherds] |
|
|
Subject: |
Re: Fwd: Tsunami: coastal Andhra Pradesh, India |
|
|
Dave, Mike and Curtis: Hello from
Nepal!
I am now "officially out of
India" so when I re-enter India Thursday my 180-day visa clock
starts over. Very quiet here; the strike died of massive
boredom. I am in a hotel less than one kilometer from the India
border; I'm not going anywhere. The area is sort of like the
back side of Christiana.
Now to business.
[a discussion of extra expenses entailed by tsunami
relief work], but none of us planned for a tsunami.
Both Samrat (a.k.a. Vijay; Elisha's son) my host and Das, my
translator are already canvassing among their extensive Church of
Christ contacts to find out the needs of churches in the disaster
zone on the coast. They are now doing this by telephone. As
soon as I return to Vijayawada on 9 January we will collate the
preliminary list of preachers, churches and needs and send it to Don.
I expect we will set out the next day (10 Jan) for the coast to
contact those preachers unreachable by phone. Das and Samrat
may go to the coast before then, if their presence looks urgent based
on the results of phone contacts.
.....
Your
servant in Christ Jesus,
Ken
Mon, 3 Jan 2005 16:35:23 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[Don Yelton @ Whites Ferry Road Church of Christ] |
Cc: |
[shepherds, Christian Chronicle mission editor] |
|
|
Subject: |
coastal Andhra Pradesh, India |
|
|
Brother Don:
I
have set my host/translator Samrat and my other translator Das to
work canvassing among their extensive Church of Christ contacts to
find out the needs of churches in the disaster zone on the coast.
They are now doing this by telephone. As soon as I return
to Vijayawada on 9 January we will collate the preliminary list of
preachers, churches and needs and send it to you. I expect we
will set out the next day (10 Jan) for the coast to contact those
preachers unreachable by phone. Das and Samrat may go to the
coast before then, if their presence looks urgent based on the
results of phone contacts.
In the mean time I
am making phone and email connects to find another source for travel
funds so I will not be a burden to you.
Your servant in Christ
Jesus,
Ken Grimm
011-91-984952xxxx
Wed, 5 Jan 2005 16:11:03 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[G. David Illankumaran @ Maduma Nagar Church of Christ] |
Cc: |
[Don Yelton, shepherds, Christian Chronicle] |
|
|
Subject: |
Re: News and Request |
|
|
Dear Brother David:
All
the financial help available through me is actually through Brother
Don Yelton at Whites Ferry Road Church of Christ. You already
have his email address, so I think it is best if you direct your
financial requests to him.
I am having my workers
surveying coastal Andhra Pradesh starting in Guntur and Krishna
districts. Do your surveys extend north into Andhra Pradesh?
Do you know if anyone in the Churches of Christ is surveying
the region between your survey and mine? (that is, in southern
coastal Andhra?)
Let us keep one another informed of
our work, so that the efforts can be coordinated and efficient.
Your
servant in Christ Jesus,
Ken Grimm
Wed, 5 Jan 2005 18:35:45 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[shepherd] |
|
|
Subject: |
endorsement |
|
|
Dave:
Thanks for your
endorsement of my ministry to Don Yelton. It really lifted my
spirits. I have much trepidation as I return to Andhra, the job
is much too big for me, it calls for skills in administration...
Please pray for me to have wisdom as I undertake this
task.
Ken
Thu, 6 Jan 2005 17:37:44 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[my mother] |
Cc: |
[family] |
|
|
Subject: |
back in India |
|
|
Dear Mom:
Bhutan
turned out to be not do-able (essentially, it is only open to tour
groups and not individual travelers) so I went to Nepal. I
stayed in Kakkarvita (it may be spelled completely differently on
your map) on the eastern border. I stayed in town, and I was
never more than a kilometer from the border. Everyone there
said that the Maoist strike was over; they wanted me to go to
Kathmandu and back now that the road was open again, but I decided to
play it safe and stay in town. There was a little flare-up
yesterday, but I never saw or heard anything except on the Nepali TV
news. So now I am "safe" back in India. I put
it in quotes, because I think that Indian roads are more dangerous
than Nepali Maoists.
Email may become more sporadic
for a little while. Saturday and Sunday I will be traveling
south. As soon as I am in Andhra again, I take up my new
responsibilities as a disaster relief coordinator. It is
starting to look like I will be the primary American coordinator for
all Church of Christ tsunami relief work in India. I
volunteered to coordinate for two districts, and I have my
translators in the field already gathering information. This is
about like being responsible for the church work on the ocean coasts
of Maryland and Delaware. It is also some of the least damaged
coast in southeastern India. I expected to find that others
were covering the other Andhra districts; I knew that an Indian
preacher had taken it on himself to cover Tamil Nadu, which is the
worst-hit Indian state. Now I have been asked from USA to
oversee the work of that Indian, plus all the rest.
So I will be very busy.
Is Dan working? If not,
I could sure use him over here.
Love,
Ken
Thu, 6 Jan 2005 18:12:10 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[shepherds] |
|
|
Subject: |
Fwd: RE: News and Request |
|
|
Hi guys,
it looks like
my job just got bigger.
Ken
----- Forwarded message
from Don Yelton -----
[in which Don appears to be
asking me to handle the requests
from G. David Illankumaran who was surveying tsunami damage "from
Chennai to Kanyakumari"]
-----
End forwarded message -----
Thu, 6 Jan 2005 18:56:17 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[G.David Illankumaran @ Maduma Nagar Church of Christ] |
|
|
Subject: |
change of plan |
|
|
Dear Brother David:
This email will directly contradict what I said in my last
email,"RE: News and Request". There has been a change
of plan.
Brother Don Yelton has asked
me............... In order to do this, I need some information
from you.
1) What is your schedule for the next week?
I would like to meet face-to-face if possible. Let us
compare our personal schedules and then either you can come to me or
I can come to you.
2) What are the amounts of money
needed for the help of the Churches of Christ (rebuilding homes,
rebuilding churches, providing for food/clothes/shelter while
homeless, etc.)?
3) What are the amounts of money
needed to fund Church of Christ projects to help their neighbors?
Information can be sent to me by email, (simple text only, NOT
Word or Excel) or you can mail it to me.
Kenneth A. Grimm
D.
No. nn-n-nn/n
Badavapeta
Vijayawada 10 A.P.
You can reach me by phone 0984952xxxx
How far
north do your surveys go? Do you know of any needs, or of
anyone surveying the needs, in Andhra?
Your servant in Christ
Jesus,
Ken Grimm
Thu, 6 Jan 2005 19:18:02 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[Christian Chronicle mission editors] |
Cc: |
[shepherds, etc] |
|
|
Subject: |
tsunami India |
|
|
Dear Erik and Lindy:
Don Yelton has asked me to [help him with the tsunami] in India.
So
if you have any of the following, it would help if you could forward
them to me.
1) names and contact information of any
other C of C Americans working this crisis in India
2)
requests for aid from churches in India, or from Indian
Christians.
3) names and contact information of Indian
preachers etc. who are coordinating relief work in India.
I am already in contact with G. David Illankumaran of
Maduma
Nagar Church of Christ, Chennai, India. My workers are trying
to survey the churches in Andhra Pradesh, Bro. David is surveying
Tamil Nadu.
If it becomes appropriate to
publish my email address, publish "kengrimm@kag.to" and NOT
the [email address] you normally use for me. I can't afford to
have my main address clog with every cute devotional poem people like
to send. Here is my phone number in India, use discretion in
who you give it to. From USA 011-91-984-952-xxxx, in India
0984952xxxx.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Ken Grimm
Westminster
Church of Christ
P.O Box 1373
Westminster, Maryland
21158
(410)848-1064
Thu, 6 Jan 2005 19:35:21 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[India mission mailing list] |
|
|
Subject: |
Tsunami Relief |
|
|
Greetings in the Name of Jesus!
Tomorrow I leave Kishanganj and head south, back to Vijayawada and
the nearby tsunami disaster zone. As soon as I am in Andhra
again, I take up my new responsibilities as a disaster relief
coordinator. I will be the primary American coordinator for the
tsunami relief work in India of one of the largest Church of Christ
disaster relief efforts. I volunteered to coordinate for two
districts, and I have my translators in the field already gathering
information. This is about like being responsible for the
church work on the ocean coasts of Maryland and Delaware. It is
also some of the least damaged coast in southeastern India. I
expected to find that others were covering the other Andhra
districts; I knew that an Indian preacher, Bro. David, had taken it
on himself to cover Tamil Nadu, which is the worst-hit Indian state.
Now I have been asked from USA to oversee the work of that
Indian, plus all the rest. So I expect to be quite busy.
This is the situation in India. About 10,000 died.
About 500,000 are homeless. The tsunami hit the southeast
coast of India with the same force it hit nearby Sri Lanka. The
only reason the death-toll is lower is because of the different
nature of the coastline; most people lived farther back from the
beach. But where they did live by the beach, it was as bad as
elsewhere. 3,000 of the dead were in one short section of coastline,
about a mile long, near Chennai. The damage is worst farthest
south, near Sri Lanka, it tapers off as you go north, but continues
for at least 500 miles of coastline. The section Bro. David has
not yet heard from is the section farthest south. In the area
where I usually work, Andhra Pradesh, the damage is much less than in
Bro. David's home state of Tamil Nadu. This coast is the home
of India's major fishing fleet. Of 15,000 boats before the
tsunami, only 3 are left.
The good news for
relief work in India is that the devastation is only in a very narrow
strip and there is a very good infrastructure (by third world
standards) untouched by the flood only a few kilometers inland
everywhere. So once we identify the needs, we will be able to
buy and deliver everything we need using local resources. It
will just take money. Hopefully, the fundraising efforts in the
USA will be sufficient for the needs here and the other harder-hit
countries as well.
So pray for me; this is not
what I expected, or what I prepared for. Pray that somehow
through all this I will still be able to hold the pastor's and
preacher's seminar that is scheduled for 20-22 Jan.
Yours
in Christ Jesus,
Ken Grimm
Sun, 9 Jan 2005 20:56:41 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[my mother] |
Cc: |
[family] |
|
|
Subject: |
Re: More about relief efforts in India |
|
|
Hi Mom:
You
should hear what the locals say about this. Word that we are
getting is that after the first flush of food water and medical aid,
which was NOT from the Indian govt. but from private Indian donors,
multimillionaires who could make a few phone calls and it happens,
there has been NOTHING. This from my workers who just surveyed
the coast. The locals don't expect it to get better. I
think it will take the Delhi monolith time to get its act together,
but the locals may be right, the central govt may fall flat on its
face. The BBC and the local channels both say that the Indian
govt is not accepting any UN or foreign govt help, but that they are
allowing non-profits to help. But this is a big image thing.
India wants to prove it is no longer a basket case but is ready
for a permanent seat at the UN.
I suspect that any
international NGO with a flashy disaster name that holds a press
conference and says they are coming to India will be told they are
not needed. Image. But they are allowing existing NGOs
with a local presence already to pitch in. So if Dan says he is
coming to Calcutta to visit the Saint Theresa site, fine. From
there he can catch a train south.
If all I have to do
is coordinate "repair and replace" aid to the churches and
their neighbors, I'll be "up to my ass in alligators". But
if the Indian govt does not get the food and water situation working
in the next few days, and if I have to try to set up THAT kind of
relief, I will seriously need help from someone who has had either
experience or formal training in "community help".
Today
I arrived in Vijayawada, held my first staff meeting. I think I
have a good crew, but the learning-curve is very steep. Tomorrow
and the next day we go to two different coastal districts on either
side of the Krishna River. After that, my team wants me to stay off
the field for the most part; they are afraid I will wear out.
They
want me to stay here and coordinate, and trust the fieldwork to them.
Good advice, I am glad it came from them, I had wanted to
suggest it myself but did not know how it would look coming from me.
Later this week my contact in Chennai will come here with a
report on the worst-hit area.
Ask R. what she knows
about transferring money to India, what she can find out. ATMs
work fine for Rs 20000 at a time, up to maybe Rs 100,000 per day, but
we will be dealing in tens of thousands of dollars (Rs 45/$1) soon.
If Citibank had a local branch, I could set up an account with
them, but they don't.
Love,
Ken
Sun, 9 Jan 2005 21:07:12 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[an Indian preacher] |
|
|
Subject: |
tsunami |
|
|
Dear Brother:
Suddenly
I am very busy with tsunami disaster relief for the churches of
Christ. But I will do my best to visit you at some time,
although only for a day.
Do you know any churches or
preachers who lived on the coast and were directly affected by the
tsunami? If so, please give me their names, addresses and phone
numbers. I am coordinating aide from American churches, so I
need to know who needs help. Pass this request on to other
preachers you know.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Ken Grimm
Fri, 14 Jan 2005 22:26:18 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[Don Yelton @ Whites Ferry Road Church of Christ] |
Cc: |
[shepherds] |
|
|
Subject: |
India - moving on |
|
|
Don:
Thank-you very much for responding so
promptly. I should have been more clear about what I understood
you to be asking. But all of that we can figure out later.
Looking back at the email record, I can see where each of us
missed things in each other's emails.
I was frankly
rather surprised when you referred Bro G. David Illankumaran back to
me when he was from another state of India, and had taken up the
responsibility of surveying all the damage on the coast of Tamil
Nadu, that is, the entire worst-affected 500 miles of the coast.
At
that time I was only offering to survey the more lightly affected 25
miles or so of coast up here. So when you referred the Indian who
seemed to be handle the whole brunt of the disaster in India back to
me (and I never had heard of Brother David until he was in the same
email list as you and I from Erik T.) instead of to someone like Ron
Clayton, I assumed you wanted me to cover the work he had set out to
do as well. Oh, well, so much for assumptions.
The Internet Cafe is about to close, so I must close briefly. We
are cataloging economic damage to churches of Christ in Andhra
Pradesh. I had intended to pass this information on to you, in
the hope that some US church or church organization could step in and
help them. G. David is doing the same in Tamil Nadu. We
are finding a lot of churches who so far seem to have had no contact
from American churches.
Your servant in Christ Jesus,
Ken
Grimm
Mon, 17 Jan 2005 15:24:41 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[Don Yelton @ Whites Ferry Road Church of Christ] |
|
|
Subject: |
re: RE: India - moving on |
|
|
Dear Brother Don:
It
occurred to me after I left the Internet
cafe that any American would have been as clueless in regard to those
place names as I am about Ethiopia (I know Addis
Ababa is in the middle, and that's all). But, for a
chuckle, over here saying "we are surveying the tsunami damage
from Chennai to Kanya Kumari" is like a church in Orlando saying
"we are covering the hurricane damage from Savanna, Georgia to
Key West, Florida". It is a similar region, in size,
geography, and as well known TO INDIANS. So I was thinking too
much like an Indian when I assumed immediate name recognition.
For
fun, I tried out "Savanna to Key West" on my staff here.
Blank stares.
I don't know of Internet maps,
but I will ask my Internet Guru friends to look into it. In the
mean time, I was already preparing a geographic list of names, which
I will send shortly.
Your servant in Christ Jesus,
Ken
Grimm
Mon, 17 Jan 2005 16:11:01 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[Don Yelton @ Whites Ferry Road Church of Christ] |
Cc: |
[shepherds, Christian Chronicle mission editor, HHI] |
|
|
Subject: |
starving in India |
|
|
Don:
In my earlier
report, I had said that in all communities we visited, food, water
and other immediate needs were already being provided by other
agencies, so that the needs we were finding were primarily loss of
livelihood, and thus could wait a few days or weeks.
However, one of my workers reported yesterday that on Saturday he had
found a very urgent need. He was surveying Krishna District,
Andhra Pradesh, India and it occurred to him that probably no-one had
attempted to reach the communities on the big islands of the Krishna
River delta, where it empties into the Indian Ocean (Bay of Bengal).
On maps this is False Divi Point. With great difficulty,
he found a guide and traveled to one of these islands. It is
known as Edurumondi. Here he found a village of eight hamlets,
in five of which there are churches of Christ. No aid workers
of any sort had preceded him in the three weeks since the tsunami,
none from Indian Govt, none from UN, none from churches or NGOs.
About 1300 families live on the island, about 4000-5000 people.
Their houses are damaged, but everything else they owned has
been swept away: boats, nets, food, household possessions. They
have no properly potable water, and essentially no food. No-one
is helping them, their situation has become desperate. They
have no contact with American churches, and their pleas sent to
Indian churches of Christ have been unanswered. Perhaps this is
because they are Yanadis, one of the
Scheduled Tribes. They can only be reached by boat - and most
of these are gone.
Beyond them toward the sea
is Elichetladibba, but my worker was not able to cross over to this
island as night was falling. The report he heard is that
conditions are worse there.
There may be a
similar situation on the other bank of the the Krishna (the southwest
bank) in Guntur District but we will not be able to investigate this
for another week. Very few people are aware that a tidal-bore swept
up the lower Krishna River as a result of the tsunami.
Geographic
Information:
Edurumondi revenue village
NagaLanka mandal,
Krishna
district,
Andhra Pradesh state,
India
villages and hamlets:
Edurumondi
Harijanwada
Brahmayyagari Moola
Gollamanda
Jinkapalem
Yesupuram
Dhanunjayaporam Colony
These needs are way beyond my ability to alleviate. What Church
of Christ agency working here in India should they be referred to?
Please pass this email on directly.
Anyone
needing a guide to this area can call me at 0984952xxxx or Vijay
Samrat at 0939357xxxx and we can arrange one.
Your servant in
Christ Jesus,
Ken Grimm
Mon, 17 Jan 2005 20:35:20 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[Don Yelton @ Whites Ferry Road Church of Christ] |
Cc: |
[shepherds, Christian Chronicle mission editor, HHI] |
|
|
Subject: |
mid-coastal Andhra, India prelim report |
|
|
Don:
Here is the
collation of the data we have collected in the field, with
accompanying questions. What we have done is to try to work
toward a goal of"no church left behind". To that end,
in each district we combined a network approach and a cold-call
approach. The network approach is to follow the strands of the
net of who knows who in the churches of Christ. The cold-call
approach is to go to a community and start asking if there is a
church of Christ. Both methods leave out some of the churches,
but the combination ferrets out nearly all of them, we think. In
each church, the needs were categorized according to two three-way
divisions, so that the 3x3 matrix gives nine total categories, but
some categories were nearly empty.
The first 3-way division
is:
A) Rebuild (or repair) fixed structures
(homes, church buildings)
B) Replace (or
repair) movable items.
C) Refugee needs (food,
water, medicine, etc.) Category "C" needs were rarely
found.
The second 3-way division is:
1)
Churches of Christ as church - buildings, books, church vehicles,
etc.
2) Church of Christ members
3) Neighbors (we ended up not using this category often)
These categories we found to be useful as we drilled the "IQ"
method on workers and helpers - "Identify, then Quantify".
The resulting lists can be used to summarize needs by district,
state or mandal, they can be used when distribution time comes, and
as follow-up to see that everyone has been reached.
We made no promises. We made it clear that we were only
collecting data to send back to US churches to ask for help.
However, the mere fact of collecting data generates a certain
amount of expectation. In this we are not alone. In some
areas, people said "why are you collecting this data again. You
have brought us nothing." because others had been through the
area on the same task a week before. In other places we were
the first, and perhaps are still the only.
Due
to the now familiar misunderstanding, we had projected our task over
the entire east coast of India. We began in the local
districts, both because it was immediately do-able, and in order to
work the bugs out of the methodology and train workers. At the
same time, we used email and telephones to recruit workers in the
remainder of the coast, with the intent of training them in this
method and sending them out as well.
Once we
realized (on Friday) our misunderstanding of our mandate, we scaled
back our operation to just the three districts nearest us:
1) Krishna District
2) Guntur
District
3) Prakasam District
All are in Andhra Pradesh state of India.
These
districts are close to us, we are more than 60% complete in
them, and in all the information we have, there does not appear to be
a coordinated effort in these districts yet.
A note
on coordination. I know that many USA churches of Christ are
sending help directly to churches they know. This is good, it
cannot by its nature be coordinated, and it would be wrong to try.
However, if we are to reach all of the churches and not just
those fortunate enough to have the address of someone in America,
larger organizations such as WFR or HHI are needed. That is
what I am referring to as coordinated effort.
We
have some requests from churches in East
Godavari and other north-eastern districts. (see attachment
"IndiaCoast.txt")
Question #1: To whom can we hand off these requests for help
from north-eastern Andhra Pradesh?
We also have
one worker we began to train in this method in Tamil Nadu, who was
actually in the field a week before us. That is G. David
Illankumaran, the man whose email started all this. He has
collected considerable (but not complete) data in his area, starting
from Chennai (Madras) and working south. I know from the Goolsby
report that there are workers from the churches of Christ in that
area.
Question #2: To whom should we
hand-off Bro. David for his continuing work in Tamil Nadu?
In all of our data collection with only one exception we found that
immediate needs were being met, but that some members of the churches
of Christ had lost their homes, some their places of worship, but
most of all the loss to Christians was of their means of livelihood,
especially the loss of boats and nets by fishermen. (The one
exception to this is the urgent need we documented in my email
"starving in India" this morning.) I know some of
this data may have more detail than you are interested in, but I
think if I had just said $nnnnn in this district the immediate
question would be "Where did that number come from?".
ALL
OF THE LOSSES BELOW ARE ONLY TO FAMILIES WHO ARE MEMBERS OF THE
CHURCHES OF CHRIST. Note that in rupee figures, comma placement
follows Indian (and not US) custom.
Krishna
District, Andhra Pradesh, India:
21 coastal villages, 100
coastal hamlets, 25 churches of Christ
Boats lost: 319
Boats
damaged: 192
Boat losses:
Rs 73,40,000
Nets Lost/Damaged: 1638
Fishnet losses: Rs
65,52,000
Church Buildings damaged: 8
Building losses: Rs 1,60,000
Other losses: Rs
10,15,000
---------------
Rs 1,50,67,000
We estimate that our survey
is 60% complete in Krishna District at this time. So multiplying by
100/60 we can get our estimate of total economic losses to the
churches of Christ (including individual members):
Estimated total loss: Rs 2,51,12,000
@ 45.6 Rs/$ $
550,700
***
Guntur District, Andhra
Pradesh, India:
18 coastal villages, 60 coastal hamlets, 13
churches of Christ
Boats lost: 51
Boats damaged: 131
Boat losses:
Rs 19,60,000
Nets Lost: 280
Nets Damaged:
161
Fishnet
losses: Rs 16,22,000
Houses damaged or
destroyed: 102
Housing losses: Rs 15,30,000
Church
Buildings damaged: __
Building losses: Rs 2,33,000
Other losses: Rs
10,33,500
---------------
Rs
63,77,500
We estimate that our survey is 70% complete in
Guntur District at this time. So multiplying by 100/60 we can get our
estimate of total economic losses to the churches of Christ
(including individual members):
Estimated
total loss: Rs 91,11,000
@
45.6 Rs/$ $
199,800
***
Prakasam District,
Andhra Pradesh, India:
17 coastal villages, 65 coastal
hamlets, 18 churches of Christ
Boats lost/damaged: 290
Boat losses: Rs
58,00,000
Nets Lost/Damaged: 936
Fishnet losses: Rs 46,80,000
Church
Buildings damaged: 8
Building
losses: Rs 1,20,000
Other losses: Rs 3,75,000
---------------
Rs
1,09,75,000
We estimate that our survey is 75% complete
in Prakasam District at this time. So multiplying by 100/75 we can
get our estimate of total economic losses to the churches of Christ
(including individual members):
Estimated
total loss: Rs 1,46,33,000
@ 45.6
Rs/$ $ 320,900
ESTIMATED
TOTAL LOSSES TO CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN KRISHNA, GUNTUR,
PRAKASAM
DISTRICTS COMBINED:
$
1,071,400
Now, Don, let me make it clear
that I have no desire to handle such sums of money. There are
other Christian field-workers from America, I am sure, who are better
suited both by training and by temperament to gather and to
distribute on this scale. Once we have collected the data, we
want nothing more than to hand it over to those who are capable of
meeting such needs. May the Lord raise them up! What we
do have is detailed lists by district, mandal, and village of the
churches and their needs.
Question #3: Is
there any church of Christ organization who we should pass the
Krishna District information on to?
Question
#4: Is there any church of Christ organization who we should
pass the Guntur District information on to?
(The
Goolsby report mentions HHI is responding to an appeal from preacher
Rama Krishna. We understand that this is in Prakasam
District.)
Question #5: Is there any church
of Christ organization who we should pass the Prakasam District
information on to?
We would be glad to help
in any further way we can. Particularly, my workers are now to
the point of being trainers in this methodology of data collection,
if that is helpful. We expect that if the churches of Christ
are able to meet the financial needs of the Christians in these three
districts (Krishna, Guntur and Prakasam) that we would be called on
to help with transportation, lodging, translation and guides to the
coastal villages, and we will be glad to serve in this way.
Your
servant in Christ Jesus,
Ken Grimm
Mon, 17 Jan 2005 20:47:22 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[Lifeline of Hope] |
Cc: |
[Christian Chronicle] |
|
|
Subject: |
re: RE: orphanages and tsunami |
|
|
Jeff:
It is the nature
of tsunamis that the largest category of dead is invariably children,
next the aged; teenagers and adults are the survivors. What
media reports I have seen on this tsunami indicate the normal
statistics held true; there are very few new orphans. Where we
are there are few deaths, the largest single group was 1 woman and
four children from a church near here. There are perhaps a
disproportionate number of new widows as in many cases the only
persons on or near the beach were fisherMEN.
Yours in Christ
Jesus,
Ken
Mon, 17 Jan 2005 21:35:45 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[Don Yelton @ Whites Ferry Road Church of Christ] |
|
|
Subject: |
RE: mid-coastal Andhra, India prelim report |
|
|
Don:
Just think, here I
was setting out to do this for the whole east coast of India.
Just
a little shepherd boy with slingshot. But I'll leave Goliath
for the rest of you.
I suspect from the much more
scattered data we have north and south of this, that farther north
(east) there is much less damage.
Farther south, the
churches are much fewer. In Tamil Nadu, there are typically
10-15 churches of Christ per district (we are told), with one or two
of them coastal if it is a coastal district, whereas in Andhra there
are typically 500 churches of Christ per district. But for the
first six or eight northern Tamil coastal districts, where there is a
church, I expect the devastation to be total. (see IndiaCoast.txt)
South of a certain point (I will get it to you) the damage
ceases, as the land is in the "shadow" of Sri Lanka.
Yours
in Christ Jesus,
Ken
Tue, 18 Jan 2005 13:20:24 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[Dave Goolsby @ Healing Hands International] |
Cc: |
[Don Yelton @ Whites Ferry Road Church of Christ] |
|
|
Subject: |
phone numbers in India |
|
|
Dave:
Would it be
possible to get names and India phone numbers for one or more
American HHI workers in India? I would be very helpful to me if
I could compare notes directly with some other workers who share an
American perspective on things. I expect I would end up taking
a train to them and spending a half-day watching and learning from
them; I certainly would not want them to stop what they are doing
just to see me.
Your servant in Christ Jesus,
Ken Grimm
Tue, 18 Jan 2005 22:31:38 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[Don Yelton @ Whites Ferry Road Church of Christ] |
|
|
Subject: |
RE: mid-coastal Andhra, India updated preliminary report |
|
|
Don:
I just ducked out of a staff meeting to check
mail, and now the Internet Cafe is closing. Subject of the
staff meeting is: expense reports. So I will let you know
shortly.
We are starting to hear alarming reports
of churches of Christ sending lists of churches and preachers and
villages to USA, getting money for all, then not distributing to the
other churches.
Your servant in Christ Jesus,
Ken Grimm
Wed, 19 Jan 2005 14:02:10 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[Dave Goolsby @ Healing Hands International] |
Cc: |
[shepherds, Don Yelton] |
|
|
Subject: |
re: Re: phone numbers in India - 2 |
|
|
Dave:
That sounds
like a plan. I and some of my team should come down to Chennai
to meet you when you arrive, I think. Do you have a place to
stay arranged?
A. Briggs was able to get me a
ten-year, multi entry visa in three days; they can do it quicker for
an extra fee. The choice at that time was 1-year or 10-year,
but the ten year requires a letter. Tell them you are
evaluating for those who will send money.
Teams
might be split any of these ways (by base of operations):
1) Chennai/Nellore
2)
Chennai/Vijayawada
3)
Chennai/Nellore/Vijayawada
4)
Chennai/Vijayawada/Tanjore (Thanjavur) or some other south T N
city
The reason reason I keep mentioning
Vijayawada is not just that I am based here. (1)It is a major
transportation center; except for Chennai there is nothing else like
it in South-East India. It lags behind Chennai for air
connections, but exceeds it for rail. But it is enough smaller
that you don't loose hours in traffic just trying to leave town by
car. (2) Vijayawada is the center of the Coastal Andhra Pradesh
region where most of our churches are. It is closest to "most of
the affected churches" I think, just as Chennai is closest to
"the worst damaged coast area".
Be aware,
Andhras and Tamils do not work together if they can at all avoid it.
They usually will not learn each other's language. The
each think they are greatly superior to the other. I expect
they will each try to downplay the damage in they other region. I
am very Andhra myself; I expect you will find the damage and the
number of churches will taper off very rapidly once you get very far
south of Chennai.
Also be aware that most, if not
all, Indian contacts will want you to work only through them or
through those they know. An illustration: One of my best
workers here counseled me that I should not be telling people I was
working with Don Yelton of White's Ferry Road Church of Christ. I
shouldn't give out those names, someone might contact Don or WFR
directly. He was not trying to protect Don from a flood of
requests; he was trying to protect MY position (and thus his by
trickle-down). As long as locals don't have a way to get to my
American contacts, I have POWER and CONTROL because of my exclusive
access. He assumed I would want to jealously protect that; he
certainly would.
Maybe the rest of the Third World
operates this way as well, if so, forgive my telling you things you
already know. But each one will try to give the impression that
they have a complete handle on things. And if you prove them
wrong publicly, that is the one thing that will push even a
scrupulously honest Indian preacher to begin fabricating.
Your
servant in Christ Jesus,
Ken Grimm
Wed, 19 Jan 2005 14:17:19 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[Don Yelton @ Whites Ferry Road Church of Christ] |
Cc: |
[shepherds, Dave Goolsby @ HHI, Christian Chronicle mission editor] |
Subject: |
RE: alarming India reports |
Don:
I have made
a point of not learning the names or villages where this
has taken place, as I am not in a position to fix it. Before it
happens, there is only the suspicion that this is the reason a man is
collecting statistics, after it happens it is too late to fix.
The
only confirmed case I know of is in Guntur District, "the
biggest C of C preacher in the area" but he keeps needing to get
new USA supporting churches, it seems he has gotten caught doing this
before.
My reason for passing this on to America
(Attention: Erik, Lindy, Alex) is so that Americans will know that
even if some Indian preacher says "I have such-and-such a region
covered" it may not be true; the poor of that region may still
have received nothing. I am not trying to tell people not to
give lest it be misused; I am saying to keep giving even if you have
heard one report that the need is covered.
I am sure
that once the Healing Hands team is in place in India we will be able
to send a more complete report with recommendations on this.
Your
servant in Christ Jesus,
Ken Grimm
Wed, 19 Jan 2005 14:47:16 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[Don Yelton @ WFRCofC, Dave Goolsby @ HHI] |
Cc: |
[shepherds, Christian Chronicle mission editor] |
|
|
Subject: |
poor fishermen of India - more bad news |
|
|
Dave and Don:
The rich
get rich and the poor get poorer. I have more bad news, just
gotten from my staff. (Sometimes they don't tell me things that
they assume everybody knows.)
But first, bad news of
the rich getting poorer and the poor getting richer.
(1) The
figure I gave you is low by 6% - 10% in dollars. I used an
exchange rate that is three months old. The Dollar is falling
and the Rupee is rising.
(2) The aid many villages are
receiving from UN, Indian Govt. and NGOs is not reaching the tsunami
victims. It works like this. A panchaya
(township, borough, bearing the name of its "revenue village";
subdivision of a "mandal") is declared in need of help.
After the first few days, as things become organized, ID is
required to collect aid. Everyone who is a legal resident of
the panchaya gets equal aid, those flocking in like vultures are
excluded. ID must be Voter Registration Card or "Ration
Card". But those who live on the beach, who were the
actual victims, never get those cards. They are outside of
society for many reasons. So all the shopowners and sugarcane
workers who were not affected by the tsunami get the aid, and the
fishermen who were the actual victims get none.
One major reason the fishermen were never issued ID is that they are
not permanent residents; they are migrants who follow the seasonal
migrations of the schools of fish. The preachers we met in
Krishna district who have churches of fishermen each have two prayer
houses (church buildings); one in Krishna District and one in East
Godavary district. Which leads us to
problem number three:
(3) At the end of February, in a
normal year, all of the fishermen will pack their families and all
their possessions into their boats and move north to their other
village. Only a few are left behind to guard the houses from
vandalism. So all of our "who has what needs where"
data will become scrambled, only resuming its present geographic form
next August. But this year the migration will be chaotic, as
some are able to move, some stay behind because they have no boats,
some broken boats are towed along as-is, etc. And this is only
a few weeks away.
(4) And so then the way is very open
for pious fraud. A preacher can say
"by the time you sent the money, they were gone, so I put it in
my church bank account. It will be used to spread the
Gospel."
Your servant in Christ Jesus,
Ken Grimm
Thu, 20 Jan 2005 15:35:17 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[Dave Goolsby @ Healing Hands International] |
Cc: |
[Don Yelton @ Whites Ferry Road Church of Christ] |
|
|
Subject: |
customs on container |
|
|
Dave:
We have been getting
urgent calls today from Bro. R. K.. A container has arrived in
Chennai from someone in America, full of clothes, water and medicine.
There the customs officials are demanding payment of Rs
8,00,000 ($18,648.02). They are telling us that you (HHI) sent
this container, and they are asking me to handle the customs fees.
Obviously, I am not in a position to do this. [He]
said to us on the phone that there should be no duty on this
container because this is tsunami aid. I am passing the info on
to you and then getting out of the middle, unless someone from USA
calls and asks me to be involved with this container.
011-91-948952xxxx
Some comments,
in case they are helpful. In the HHI write-up las Friday (which
I do not have access to where I sit typing) there was a mention of an
ex-civil-servant in Bangalore. Perhaps he could cut through the
red-tape.
What I have learned about India
customs duties: Just because goods are supposed to be duty-free
does not mean that you will not have to pay duty. There is generally
a "special customs inspection fee" or some such like
required. It is not legal, but it is universal. It is a
bribe, but not a bribe for a customs inspector to break the law;
rather, the customs inspector must be bribed to follow the letter of
the law. Generally churches here who bring in occasional
containers of donations from abroad do it this way: After the
container is packed, sealed, and sitting on the church parking lot in
USA, the certifications that it should be duty free are sent to the
church in India (letter certifying it is donated, list of contents,
etc.) These are taken to Chief Customs Inspectors in Mumbai,
Chennai and Visakhapatnam to determine the "special customs
fees". First price given is generally $5000 for a maybe.
Then, by taking it to competition in other ports, it is driven
down to $2000 for certain. A skilled bargainer can get it
down to $500-$800 per container by several trips to each city.
Then
(and only then) the shipping from USA to the chosen port city is
arranged.
But if a container arrives without such
prearrangements, there is no chance to bargain with the threat of
bringing it in through another port.
Your servant in Christ
Jesus,
Ken Grimm
Sun, 23 Jan 2005 20:21:43 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[India mission mailing list] |
|
|
Subject: |
Tsunami and Seminar |
|
|
Just briefly....
In
the midst of surveying and documenting tsunami damage, we held the
Pastors and Preachers Seminar in Guntur District as scheduled. I
taught for three days on Paul's letter to Titus. In the
evenings we held evangelistic meetings, which resulted in three
baptisms.
Three of my tsunami damage pictures
appear in the February issue of Christian Chronicle. While
surveying tsunami damage on the coast, local preachers gave me
photograph they had taken; one of these appears on the Christian
Chronicle website, http://www.christianity.com/christianchronicle,
click on "Waves take deadly toll on churches".
Now I am putting together the itinerary for a tsunami team from
the USA.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Ken Grimm
Tue, 25 Jan 2005 20:57:04 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[G. David Illankumaran @ Maduma Nagar Church of Christ] |
|
|
Subject: |
Re: Please |
|
|
Dear Brother David:
I
am sorry for the delay. We were waiting for information from
America about how the Americans would be responding to this
situation. Now we know that they are sending an evaluation
team, which will work in three regions to cover the entire coast.
This team is expected to arrive in India on 15 February.
One
part of the team will be based in Chennai. I am hoping that you
will be one of the guides for that team. We are just now
receiving contact information on other
Church of Christ preachers in Tamil Nadu who have requested help from
the USA churches. As soon as we get phone numbers for all of
them (maybe as soon as tomorrow) we will schedule a meeting in
Chennai for ALL of the Indian church leaders who want to be part of
this relief effort. I expect that this meeting in Chennai will
occur next week.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Ken Grimm
Tue, 25 Jan 2005 21:58:07 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[India mission mailing list] |
|
|
Subject: |
political turmoil |
|
|
Prayer request:
Tomorrow (tonight for most of you) is Republic Day in India - big
political parades, etc. Yesterday a major local political
leader was killed, and the ruling political party is accused of
conspiring with the police to do it. There was a demonstration
and road-blockage on the main street near our house yesterday, and a
"bandh", a general strike, in the entire state today, all
businesses and schools closed. It could get nasty here.
see
http://www.deccan.com/ "Paritala
dies by the gun"
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Ken Grimm
Thu, 27 Jan 2005 20:53:51 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[India mission mailing list] |
|
|
Subject: |
all quiet |
|
|
Republic Day passed reasonably quietly
here; the second day of "bandh" did not materialize. On
the first day, about 400 government vehicles (mostly buses) where
damaged or destroyed by mobs. But I have heard of no serious
injuries (except for the assassination that started it all). My
Indian friends say I was exaggerating the
potential for violence on Wednesday.
Yours in Christ
Jesus,
Ken Grimm
Sun, 6 Feb 2005 17:51:45 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[mission team member] |
|
|
Subject: |
Re: hello |
|
|
J:
It is the nature of
tsunamis that most of the dead are children and the aged. This
one is a little unusual in the high number of grown men dead because
they were working in fishing boats either just inside or just outside
the normal surf zone. But very, very few children have lost
both parents. But many children died. So it is not
surprising that the surviving infants are fought over.
I thought I had it all set up to send pictures, but it fell apart on
the Westminster side. I will send you the technical
instructions, they are long, and thus intimidating, but no single
step is too hard, I should think.
I was completely
successful in sending over a hundred pictures the same way to
Christian Chronicle; three appear in the February issue, and one on
their website.
Your servant in Christ Jesus,
Ken
Mon, 21 Feb 2005 16:55:05 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[India mission mailing list] |
|
|
Subject: |
fading Madras |
|
|
Hello everybody!
The
HHI team has been in India for a week now, and I have been running
around with them as they assess, evaluate and make long-term tsunami
relief plans. Exhausting, on top of the hectic and exhausting
preparation for their arrival. So naturally, I got sick. Sinus
headache so bad I could not think straight. So I went to bed
and now I am slowly getting better. But it was worth it.
The
HHI team is getting a lot done, and they are very happy with my
preparations. They even complemented me on how organized we
made it for them. (Those of you who know me well know how much
of a miracle THAT is.)
Now they are all connected up
with Indian contacts and I can relax a bit. But I am still stuck in
Chennai in case they need me for anything, which is one of my
un-favoritest cities. When I get back
to Vijayawada I will be a lot happier.
Yours in Christ
Jesus,
Ken Grimm
Tue, 22 Feb 2005 22:39:47 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[shepherds] |
Cc: |
[mission team] |
|
|
Subject: |
returning |
|
|
Hello folks!
I will be
returning to USA (Dulles) via London around 2 PM on 7 March 2005.
For the last month I was on-call to stay on as the on-the-scene
representative of Healing Hands International (HHI) between the
departure of the assessment team on 27 February and the arrival of
the long-term relief team in late-March or April. But now they
have found an Indian who is much better suited than myself for that
task, so my responsibilities with HHI end this coming Saturday.
So
I shall return to USA as planned. The Healing Hands team that
is here now have commended the advance-work I did for them very
highly. However, the work that remains in tsunami relief is neither
what I am skilled at nor anything I desire.
Could you
arrange for someone to pick me up?
More details very
soon.
Your servant in Christ Jesus,
Ken
Wed, 23 Feb 2005 10:08:37 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[India mission mailing list] |
|
|
Subject: |
Travel plans |
|
|
Dear friends and family:
My work for the tsunami is wrapping up. There is a lot
more to be done, but it requires other skills than mine, and others
are stepping in to take up the work. My role for the past few
weeks has been almost entirely to prepare the way for the team from
Healing Hands International; now that they are here and their work is
well under way I can step back. Others are doing their part as
well; I especially want to mention Don Yelton at Whites Ferry Road
Church of Christ, and Erik Tryggestad and Lindy Adams at Christian
Chronicle, as well as the folks at Christian Relief Fund.
Back in September I had tentatively set my travel plans to return to
the USA on 7 March 2005; I had rebooked my ticket accordingly.
This
would give me and Westminster Church of Christ time together to
evaluate the work so far and plan for the future, with a hope of
returning again to India a few months later.
Then
came the tsunami. From that time until two days ago, I had no
idea at all whether I would return on that day or not. I had
clearance from my elders to stay on as needed for tsunami relief.
For the last month I was on-call to stay on for Healing Hands
International (HHI) between the departure of the assessment team on
27 February and the arrival of any long-term relief team. But
now they are handling that in a different way, so my responsibilities
are winding down.
So 7 March is the day of my return.
I will be returning from Chennai to Vijayawada on Saturday
26 Feb, then leaving Vijayawada for Delhi on 4 March. I expect
to reach Delhi very early 6 March and leave for USA 7 March via
London, arriving at Dulles Airport (Washington DC) the same day.
Once in the USA I will take care of all the odd details, speak at
churches, consult with my elders and mission team, and plan for the
future. I am hoping that this future will include a return to
India for a longer stay before summer is very far along.
Yours
in Christ Jesus,
Ken Grimm
Fri, 25 Feb 2005 20:48:46 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[shepherd] |
|
|
Subject: |
Re: Return Plans |
|
|
Dave:
As I have
discussed long-term plans for my work in India with church leaders
here, there is one absolutely consistent note. That is, that
the most important thing for me to do first is to learn Telugu
fluently enough to converse and to preach. This is a
three-year, full-time project. (That figure is from Janet
Choate's literature.)
The Church of Christ in
India is, as a whole, a very sick church. Dave Goolsby, of HHI,
who has done relief missions in 40 countries, says he has never
before seen such vicious and all-pervasive division and
back-biting.
The main underlying cause for this
is that (as far as I can determine) not one single missionary in
forty years of the Church of Christ in India has deliberately set out
to learn the vernacular. That makes the work of the missionary
like the man who was arrested in Tennessee for driving on the highway
while totally blind, guided by his three-year-old grandson sitting on
his lap.
The reasons that I went ahead with the
preacher's seminars after the first two plans for ministry
(Chandigarh and Hyderabad) collapsed were (1) I thought they would
not much interfere with my Telugu study which I had undertaken.
(2)
I knew that there was not enough time remaining to really master
Telugu, and I wanted to be able to say that I had accomplished
something in my time in Vijayawada. (3) My hosts did not
understand the concept of a missionary who did nothing but study for
months at a time. In (1) I was wrong, in (2) and (3) I was
successful.
However, at this time I believe
that when I return to India it should be with a vision toward
completing the mastery of Telugu before engaging again in a
deliberate teaching program, even if the actual financial plans of
such a return involve stepping out in faith.
At
this time, because of the endorsements which I have been promised by
those I have worked with in tsunami relief, and because of the
interest in hearing about the tsunami relief effort, I believe there
is a window of opportunity to enlist the cooperation of other
churches in this mission.
[my
opinions on church finances and mission funding]
..... I have seen both the congregational-oversight model of
the Church of Christ and the mission society model of the Christian
Church in action here in India, and for all the flaws of the
congregational system, the mission-society model is worse. I
can understand now why those who split in the late 19th century were
so vehemently opposed to it. The problems of the congregational
model are problems of application; sending churches were factional,
impatient and unwilling or unable to support adequately, and in many
cases those who have come are more enthusiastic than spiritual.
But
the problems of the mission society model appear to be inherent in
the model itself. I think that these inherent problems
contributed greatly to the disasters of the first half of my tenure
here.
[a question about plans for
long-term support of this mission]. As for my own plans,
I think that that any plan I would be able to formulate and fully
endorse would envision my return to India for at least four years in
total (although it would probably include short returns to report).
Even if that means it must be totally or largely by faith in relation
to financial support.
Your servant in Christ Jesus,
and
your brother,
Ken
Thu, 3 Mar 2005 18:40:09 +0530 |
|
From: |
|
To: |
[India mission mailing list] |
|
|
Subject: |
Preparing to go |
|
|
Dear friends:
Tomorrow
I leave one set of friends to travel to another. Friday and
Saturday will be spent on the train to Delhi, Sunday is slack in case
the train runs late, and at 3 AM Monday morning I get on the
airplane, arriving Washington DC around 2 PM. 22 hours of
travel but it only looks like 11 because of time zones.
Once I am in the USA, I will be updating my website so you can
all see what I have been seeing these last six months, and putting
together a PowerPoint presentation so you can see it on the big
screen. Of course, if you want to see it on your big screen you
need to invite me. I am looking for opportunities to speak
about the work here, because for it to continue, more funds will need
to be raised.
I am hoping that I will be able
to return India no later than July 2005. But all of that is in God's
hands.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Ken Grimm
Thu, 3 Mar 2005 19:42:10 +0530 |
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From: |
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To: |
[India mission mailing list] |
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Subject: |
Hatikva |
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Dear family and friends:
Let me share with you the hope, or perhaps the dream, that is on my
mind and my heart as I return to the USA. This last half-year,
spent in all parts of India, but especially in coastal Andhra, has
clearly focused for me the needs of the church in India, and the
place where I can be useful in meeting some small part of those
needs.
While my tsunami work was very successful, and
highly commended by all, it was a once-in-a-lifetime event. So
looking at the rest of my work, the two projects which stand out as
successful and holding promise of continuing success are the
mentoring of young preachers, and the seminars preachers and pastors.
Although I did not do as much mentoring as I would have liked,
and none of it was scheduled or otherwise done in an organized
fashion, each time God provided an opportunity the one-on-one
sessions were highly profitable and well received. If I am able
to return to India assured of a longer stay, it will be possible to
pursue this mentoring in a more organized and continuing way. The
seminars taught expository preaching by the method of worked example,
and thus served a double purpose, as an entire book of the Bible was
covered in an expository fashion in the course of each seminar.
The
first, on Joshua, had over 50 registrants, the second, on Titus,
about 30. I was highly commended by the participants after each
seminar and there is much demand for me to continue this work.
However, there was one drawback to both projects. I can only
speak and understand a very small amount of Telegu.
At this time my mentoring is limited to those who have fluent
English. The seminars required the use of a translator, and
there were always complaints about the translation. In some
cases, it was because the translator did not understand my English,
or did not understand the subject matter I was explaining. In
other cases, it came from the translator not wanting to translate
literally what I said because I was disagreeing with his own views on
the subject. Sometimes I was able to understand enough of the
Telugu of the translation to detect when it was inaccurate, but too
often I only learned of it later from others.
So it
is my hope and desire and dream to spend the next three years devoted
to nothing else than the study of the Telegu language. From the
literature on the scientific study of how language is learned, in 3-5
months a person can, by immersion in a language, get to the point of
holding one-to-one conversation in the language with a patient native
speaker. But it takes about three years of such effort to come
to the point of being able to speak extemporaneously in the language,
answer questions under pressure, in short, conduct a seminar for
preachers in Telugu. This is why I want to devote the next
three years of my life to this task.
I fully expect
that if I am able to devote myself to this, it will be the hardest
thing I have ever done in my life. While the grammatical
structure and way of thinking of Telugu seems almost instinctive to
me, the acquisition of vocabulary and learning to hear, differentiate
and pronounce sounds which are very unlike any European language is
agonizingly slow for me. But I believe I am called to this
work, and I believe that by God's strength I will be able to
accomplish it.
The Church of Christ has been active
and growing in India for the past forty years. In the process
of preparing the way for the Healing Hands International tsunami
relief team I have come in contact with many, many Church of Christ
preachers and missionaries and heard of the work of many more. In
all of this, and in all of my learning about missions in India over
thirty years, I have not heard of one person from outside India who
has deliberately set out to learn the local language in order to be
more effective as a missionary. (I have heard of four men with
American missionary parents who grew up in India). Thus every
message from an American or European preacher in India has been
filtered through the understanding of the translator. And
everything the foreign preacher knows about India, and about the
situation in front of him, is likewise the translator's version of
the story. Many preachers I have spoken to in the past weeks
have expressed that this is the root and source of very many problems
in the church in India. Every worker for Christ with whom I
have shared this desire to learn Telugu has embraced the idea
wholeheartedly as something long overdue. Even those for whom
Telugu is not their language (and Indians are always jealous over
their native language) have encouraged me to pursue this course, even
though it means that I would not be focusing my work in a way that
would directly help them. It takes a lot to cause a Tamil or
Hindi speaker to encourage someone to learn a language other than
theirs, but their desire to see God's church built up exceeds their
pride in their own language.
This, then, is my
desire, my hope, my dream, my goal. I ask all of you, then, to
pray for me that this may be made possible.
Your servant in
Christ Jesus,
Ken Grimm
Sat, 12 Mar 2005 00:41:19 +0530 |
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From: |
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To: |
[India mission mailing list] |
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Subject: |
pictures |
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Hello, everybody!
Now
I am back in the USA, the jet-lag is almost over but the
culture-shock will take a while to get over.
I
have begun to put my pictures from India on the website. Go to
http://kag.to/missions/india2004album.html
and click on the subject you find most interesting. Over the
next few weeks I will be putting more pictures up and posting a more
complete report, so check http://kag.to/missions/
from time to time.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Ken Grimm
Thu, 24 Mar 2005 13:46:03 -0500 |
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From: |
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To: |
[India mission mailing list] |
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Subject: |
sneak preview |
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Hi, folks!
If you have not been to http://kag.to/missions/india2004album.html
since 17 March 2005, there are new pictures there, especially in
"Orphanage".
Also, you can see
the "work in progress" of my mission report at
http://kag.to/missions/india2004.html
Yours
in Christ Jesus,
Ken Grimm
Edit: 08 April 2007