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Emails from India
August 2004 - March 2005
Ken Grimm

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Copyright Notice

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.

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Date: 

Thu, 19 Aug 2004 02:51:24 -0400

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[India mission mailing list]



Subject:

Safe Arrival in India



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

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Date: 

Fri, 27 Aug 2004 06:42:25 -0400

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[India mission mailing list]



Subject:

Arrival in South India



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

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Date: 

Fri, 27 Aug 2004 06:53:00 -0400

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[my mother]

Cc: 

[my brother]



Subject: 

Big Black Book, Big Black Bird



Part(s): 


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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

Indian house crow

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Date: 

Sun, 29 Aug 2004 04:01:39 -0400

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[my mother]



Subject: 

addresses and blue birds



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

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Date: 

Sun, 29 Aug 2004 04:09:21 -0400

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[India mission mailing list]



Subject:

Elisha Peter family



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

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Date: 

Wed, 1 Sep 2004 03:56:54 -0400

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[a friend]

Subject: 

all well



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

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Date: 

Fri, 3 Sep 2004 05:14:03 -0400

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[India mission mailing list]



Subject: 

Here in Hyderabad



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

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Date: 

Sat, 25 Sep 2004 02:14:45 -0400

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[mission team]

Cc: 

[shepherds]

Subject: 

responses



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

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Date: 

Sat, 25 Sep 2004 02:54:35 -0400

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[family and close friends]



Subject: 

Alipur



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

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Date: 

Mon, 27 Sep 2004 06:12:32 -0400

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[a friend]



Subject: 

answered prayer



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

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Date: 

Tue, 28 Sep 2004 02:37:39 -0400

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[family]



Subject: 

re: Re: Alipur



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

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Date: 

Tue, 28 Sep 2004 03:48:59 -0400

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[India mission mailing list]



Subject: 

going south



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

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Date: 

Thu, 30 Sep 2004 02:37:11 -0400

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[a few close friends]



Subject: 

angst



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

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Date: 

Sat, 9 Oct 2004 09:06:17 -0400

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

J. [a preacher in Hyderabad]



Subject: 

preachers meeting



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

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Date: 

Sat, 9 Oct 2004 09:11:41 -0400

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

D.



Subject: 

Fwd: preachers meeting



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]

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Date: 

Fri, 15 Oct 2004 06:30:33 -0400

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[India mission mailing list]



Subject: 

Ken goes modern



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

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Date: 

Fri, 15 Oct 2004 06:55:57 -0400

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[India mission mailing list]



Subject: 

more careful next time



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

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Date: 

Sat, 16 Oct 2004 04:27:52 -0400

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[India mission mailing list]



Subject: 

more on more careful



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

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Date: 

Mon, 25 Oct 2004 20:37:41 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[India mission mailing list]



Subject: 

Hyderabad again



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

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Date: 

Mon, 25 Oct 2004 18:50:41 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[shepherds]



Subject: 

Hyderabad plans



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

Top



Date: 

Tue, 26 Oct 2004 14:19:03 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[shepherds]



Subject: 

rooms in Hyderabad



Part(s): 


2

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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.

house in Ramnagar

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Date: 

Fri, 29 Oct 2004 13:57:00 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[my mother]

Cc:

[friends]



Subject: 

Why Hyderabad



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

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Date: 

Fri, 29 Oct 2004 15:11:16 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[mission team]

Cc: 

[shepherds]



Subject: 

prayer request



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

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Date: 

Fri, 29 Oct 2004 15:01:13 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[India mission mailing list]



Subject: 

Barwala



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

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Date: 

Fri, 29 Oct 2004 15:21:48 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[shepherds]



Subject: 

house in Hyderabad



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.

Top



Date: 

Mon, 1 Nov 2004 14:06:14 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[Lifeline of Hope]

Cc: 

[shepherd]



Subject: 

orphanages in Andhra Pradesh



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

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Date: 

Mon, 1 Nov 2004 14:31:25 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[a friend]



Subject: 

re: Re: prayer request



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

Top



Date: 

Sat, 13 Nov 2004 14:17:34 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[family and close friends]



Subject: 

Safe arrival



Hello, everybody!
   After a long and at times very difficult journey, have arrived, safe and sound, at home with my friends.  More later.

Ken

Top



Date: 

Sat, 13 Nov 2004 15:15:39 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[shepherds]

Subject: 

Knowing too much



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

Top



Date: 

Fri, 19 Nov 2004 19:32:13 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[friends and family]

 


Subject:

Elisha Peter's children



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

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Date: 

Sat, 20 Nov 2004 15:57:11 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[friends and family]

 


Subject: 

Rajkumar



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

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Date: 

Sat, 20 Nov 2004 18:49:30 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[shepherds]



Subject: 

re: RE: house in Hyderabad



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

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Date: 

Sat, 27 Nov 2004 19:33:36 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[family and friends]



Subject: 

Rajkumar update



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

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Date: 

Sat, 27 Nov 2004 19:57:28 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

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Date: 

Fri, 3 Dec 2004 14:07:10 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[a friend]



Subject: 

Re: saying hello



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

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Date: 

Sun, 5 Dec 2004 19:32:26 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[shepherds]



Subject: 

why Hyderabad failed



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

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Date: 

Thu, 9 Dec 2004 15:59:27 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[shepherds]



Subject: 

Back to Vijayawada



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

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Date: 

Thu, 9 Dec 2004 18:38:47 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[shepherds]

Cc: 

[mission team]



Subject: 

CofC in India



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

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Date: 

Sun, 19 Dec 2004 16:57:05 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[India mission mailing list]



Subject: 

Seminar in Badavapeta



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

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Date: 

Thu, 30 Dec 2004 20:01:49 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[India mission mailing list]



Subject: 

Tsunami



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

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Date:

Fri, 31 Dec 2004 20:38:30 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

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Date: 

Mon, 3 Jan 2005 16:08:27 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

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Date: 

Mon, 3 Jan 2005 16:35:23 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

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Date: 

Wed, 5 Jan 2005 16:11:03 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

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Date: 

Wed, 5 Jan 2005 18:35:45 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

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Date: 

Thu, 6 Jan 2005 17:37:44 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

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Date: 

Thu, 6 Jan 2005 18:12:10 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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 -----

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Date: 

Thu, 6 Jan 2005 18:56:17 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

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Date: 

Thu, 6 Jan 2005 19:18:02 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

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Date: 

Thu, 6 Jan 2005 19:35:21 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

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Date: 

Sun, 9 Jan 2005 20:56:41 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

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Date: 

Sun, 9 Jan 2005 21:07:12 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

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Date: 

Fri, 14 Jan 2005 22:26:18 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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



Date: 

Mon, 17 Jan 2005 15:24:41 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

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Date: 

Mon, 17 Jan 2005 16:11:01 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

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Date: 

Mon, 17 Jan 2005 20:35:20 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

Top



Date: 

Mon, 17 Jan 2005 20:47:22 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

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Date: 

Mon, 17 Jan 2005 21:35:45 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

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Date: 

Tue, 18 Jan 2005 13:20:24 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

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Date: 

Tue, 18 Jan 2005 22:31:38 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

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Date: 

Wed, 19 Jan 2005 14:02:10 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

Top



Date: 

Wed, 19 Jan 2005 14:17:19 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

Top



Date: 

Wed, 19 Jan 2005 14:47:16 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

Top



Date: 

Thu, 20 Jan 2005 15:35:17 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

Top



Date: 

Sun, 23 Jan 2005 20:21:43 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

Top



Date: 

Tue, 25 Jan 2005 20:57:04 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

Top



Date: 

Tue, 25 Jan 2005 21:58:07 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

Top



Date: 

Thu, 27 Jan 2005 20:53:51 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

Top



Date: 

Sun, 6 Feb 2005 17:51:45 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

Top



Date: 

Mon, 21 Feb 2005 16:55:05 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

Top



Date: 

Tue, 22 Feb 2005 22:39:47 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

Top



Date: 

Wed, 23 Feb 2005 10:08:37 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

Top



Date: 

Fri, 25 Feb 2005 20:48:46 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

Top



Date: 

Thu, 3 Mar 2005 18:40:09 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

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

Top



Date: 

Thu, 3 Mar 2005 19:42:10 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[India mission mailing list]



Subject: 

Hatikva



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

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Date: 

Sat, 12 Mar 2005 00:41:19 +0530

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[India mission mailing list]



Subject: 

pictures



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

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Date: 

Thu, 24 Mar 2005 13:46:03 -0500

From: 

"Kenneth A. Grimm" <kengrimm@kag.to>

To: 

[India mission mailing list]



Subject: 

sneak preview



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

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Edit: 08 April 2007