I love our meetings more now...

 Worshiping is something built into us as humans. Leave us to our own designs, and we will worship a tree. Heck, we might even worship our bowels! We see this all around the world in different ways. People worship people, money, demons, themselves, or statues. 

Some people hate to admit this. But it is true. 

As we are preparing the final stages to leave Lucknow (this will be in two parts), I am thinking about how I love our worship of Jehovah.

An Elder does NOT go on and on and on about himself or who we should vote for. We do not get lorded over by elders or ministerial servants who give Bible-based talks. Bible-based talks that give glory to Jehovah. Words that teach us and guide us. At times those words discipline us. There are so many reminders! I now understand we need those reminders!! Oftentimes we forget things we studied or read two days ago. 

So I love our worship of Jehovah. It is not heavy and stressful. We get daily reminders of the day we are living in and ways to deal with this time. Some parts of our worship are training for preaching work.  

Sometimes we learn new things about bible verses that were not so well understood before. 

I look at others here on a hot or cold Sunday, complaining about the length of the worship at the church they attended. Sometimes they are upset because the message was in part hypocritical. 

It is stressful in this world but still we can enjoy the spiritual nation we have here on Earth. 

/tata

Moving soon...

 So, major update time, Yogita got the job in Chennai with a Korean company. As it is in Chennai, we will have many congregations around us. There are two English congregations located there. In South Korea, the nearest English congregation was more than 100 kms away. 

So this will be good for us for a few big reasons. One language barrier goes away. Two, many more of our people are there. For us, this is a big help. As I have only recently returned to Jehovah and his people, it is needed for me to associate more with them. In Lucknow it was ok, but the language issue caused a distance.

Three supporting ourselves is easier in this southern coastal city. 

However, there is a bigger, more important reason...distractions! Here in Lucknow, where we are staying, there are many distractions. Of course, playing video games, or listening to music, watching reels, these are there, and we do well to reduce and manage our time doing these things as much as possible.

Yet, with two other families who do not make the kingdom a number one priority, there are other hidden distractions. Politics, false religions, holidays, not actively putting on the new personality, and the mind of Christ. This causes a hidden, dangerous distraction. One member talks about immoral things and bad practices openly! We informally witness to this person, but there comes a time when it becomes yet another distraction. 

I am not saying moving to Chennai or moving to another rental property in Lucknow will solve the issue of distractions. But, it will be easier to be conscious of our spiritual need without those distractions.

In both families there is much shouting that can goes on. In one family much more than the other. There is a constant loss of peace. So when we do leave we will use the examples that we saw see clearly why Jehovah's way is the best way.

Personally, I need to fight against the distraction of reels, short videos that really pull you in and wastes dangerous amounts of time!

Ok now I will try to comment during the watch tower study.

/tata

How can one tell if they have a truth while attending church or a Kingdom hall of Jehovah's witnesses

 Which one does Jehovah use? Does Jehovah use both? No! Jesus stated that those who show love among each other and have unity would be the ones we should seek out. In addition, when someone is on the stage, ministering is ONLY about the word or that person's will or opinions. 

Jesus always gave praise to his father, Jehovah. He never called himself father or Jehovah. He stated that they are one in the way that when people are united, they are indeed one in spirit. When a man and woman marry, they become "one flesh". Do we merge into one organism? No! We live in harmony with Bible-based principles. 

We have our roles within the family as outlined in the Bible. 

I feel bad for Mom and Dad; they listen to people prattle on about themselves. Often, it is hypocritical and self-serving. Meetings can last for a very long time in the heat or cold. 

Our meetings are focused and to the point. Providing much for mediation in the days after the meeting.  When we come home, we feel light. We have just finished examining some portion of the bible with valuable reminders. When Dad and my brother-in-law and his family return, I often hear them complain how long some part of the program took. 

In Jehovah's Kingdom halls, you do not hear anyone praising one political party over another. Or someone praising themselves or another in the congregation. We receive reminders and thought-provoking Bible-based discussions. Even our songs are taken from the bible or giving praise to Jehovah. 

Our meetings are short and sweet not long and drawn out with useless information coming from men. Some of these men are even paid large sums of money to "minister" things that were given to use free from Jesus, God's first born son. 

When Jesus comes again many will be in big trouble but the religions of the world many of them actually know the truth but train their priests to not teach it to congregations. 

/tata

To the south?

 So we got a very good offer in Chennai, and unlike the previous offer, this location is perfect for our family. I can see Jehovah helping us. Now things are not set in stone as of yet. But they are looking very, very promising.

One Yogita will be working with a Korean company as a translator. So this places us in a familiar language and culture. Of course, just because it is Korean culture does not mean it is not full of nonsense, like all cultures here on Earth. 

In the Korean work culture, they are hamstrung when it comes to problem-solving. We saw many cases where an assembly line was shut down. They had an engineer on site who could have replaced a spare part. But due to company policy, they HAD to wait for the support engineer to arrive from another city in South Korea. So the entire management staff was just sitting around playing on their cell phones.

This is just one of many examples we saw while in South Korea working for over 25 years.

Another major positive is that there are two English language congregations and I think two or three Hindi language congregations. 

I am excited to see the new episodes of The Good News According to Jesus in English.

Also this area is a costal area with wonderful beaches and seafood. There is also a Korean town there. There are many Korean companies operating factories in Chennai. 

I must say the thing that excited me the most was the number of available Kingdom halls.

We will see what happens very soon.

/tata

An offer turned down...an update

 So now we are in May, and we are looking to relocate for work. Maybe we will stay here in Lucknow, or move to South India. Personally, my entire family is leaning towards going south. The areas are cleaner, people are more literate, jobs are more comfortable, and they pay more. The roads are better. 

The food is amazing all over India. But, Kingdom Halls are everywhere in the South. In the Northern regions, there are fewer English congregations. Depending on the region very few Hindi congregations as well.

In our hunt for a job, Yogita was able to find two jobs that came with housing for the entire family! We had the interviews they went really well. An offer is to come on Monday. Then we felt we needed to look closer at the exact location. To our dismay, we found that there are no kingdom halls in that region. The nearest one is in a language we do not know. Yogita can not translate for us. I felt a feeling of worry. Without this, there is no way we can go there. It could cause us to become far from Jehovah. This is scary. It means that without regular meetings, field service activity would take a major hit. Yogi and the boys would not be able to pioneer. Many who have left Jehovah have truly missed out on the fellowship we get from attending meetings, field service, and parties with fellow brothers, which builds faith. This is a part of rooting ourselves in the truth. If we went there, we would be isolated and end up spending time with others who do not share our beliefs. Actually, this danger is everywhere, even within the congregation. But in that location Gujrat there are no congregations we could join. Bad association waits at the door! 

So today I will send a message stating we can not take their offer as the location is too remote. We have no kingdom halls in that area. My old personality I would have jumped for joy! Now! It frightens me! 

We are by no means out of woods so to say we are still in this system of things. George and Jeyo will enter the work force so this will be a new challenge for them. 

Some things I like about the second offer and the location Chennai is that is it costal region so great seafood beautiful beaches. Here in Lucknow seafood well there isn't much variety and it will not be very fresh. Seeing the ocean is something we have all enjoyed in South Korea. Also there is a large number of Koreans living and working in Chennai as many South Korea companies are located there. 

Looking forward to the interview tomorrow as it will help see what challenges we will face there. 

/tata

When given advice by those in the lead follow it!

 I have had some really nice counsel given to me by elders and circuit overseers. I was even angry but respectful when I expressed some frustrations with one overseer. He listened closely and then gave me counsel. I was deeply moved by it. I have been following that since. When we arrived in India about two months ago, the circuit overseer who serves this circuit gave me some counsel. It was unexpected, even a little strange, but lathered in love and respect.  

This counsel I am working to follow as well. I have seen only good things result from this. When I was working in South Korea, the academy had a really strange and unnatural approach to teaching English. Even so, I had a hard time following the guidance I was given. In short, I was not being humble. Personally, I struggled to show humility. It paid off; I was able to clearly communicate my objections to their approach in a mild, polite manner. There was no fighting, although my boss lost sleep trying to see what she could do to help me. The details of this are well known in Iksan and among those who know me and them (the couple I worked for). So those details I will not share here. My reason? What good will it do in the future? When Jesus comes, and we are all being taught and restoring the Earth, I will not speak of these things. 

People today hate to take advice. Many get angry. Many become unreasonable. To many rely on the stupid traditions of men that do not have roots in bible based principles. Instead those principles are based on "it is how we do it here". Or in my family this is how it was done. 

We must become like a reed ready to bend to the will of Jehovah when expressed by his son our King Jesus Christ. Many, will survive Armageddon. The scriptures state "a number which no man is able to number comes out of the great tribulation.". 

So it is better to ignore some traditions of men especially those that leave a person feeling bad,  embarrassed, or that elders are treating younger people partially. 

/tata

Hot weather in India

When I arrived in India many people in the congregation kept going on an on about the impending hot summer that was coming. At one point I got annoyed. Now that we are here in this early part of the hot season I can see I was being too sensitive. You see the weather today is getting more and more out of hand. Strange is a good way to describe it. It is out of order. One cause of the critical times we are living in which Jesus warned us about in Matthew chapter 24. 

The friends are afraid. I can see why. It has been averaging 106 degrees F for more than a week. Many in the congregation have become ill or very careful. My father in law became sick, the boys and Yogita became ill. I was not sickened though. I think the heat waves of Philadelphia helped me for this. 

It annoys me when Indians and Koreans we throw Americans in this boat as well assume things because a person is not from their country. In Korea one brother told me "Jemal you need to sweat!" This is popular in South Korea but here it will kill you. I had to just nod and smile. Here though I see more of people expressing their fear by trying to give helpful tips. It is truly not normal. I too fear what the temperatures will be in May and June. I am worried that it will kill my parents here in India. I fear that can seriously hurt Yogita as well.

So for this week we are joining the meetings on zoom and ministry is only in the morning hours. Next week we will go back to 3 or 4 days of ministry and attend the meetings in person. The reason? This heat wave looks like it will end. So we will take advantage of it. 

ok time to go our food is almost here.

/tata