Jehovah supports us all. An encouraging visit.

So it was a Sunday and after the meeting a couple invited us over to their home. 

They have a very nice comfortable home. They never once bragged about it or told us how much it is worth. They were very down to Earth. 

We ate a very tasty lunch together and talked at length about thier experience. I wanted to share ours but I discerned it was not the time for our story to be told.

Our sister has a background that would make is difficult to learn the truth about the bible and Jehovah's will for us on Earth.

She prayed to Jehovah to help her. She received the help she needed. But she had to really work hard and think outside of the box to take advantage of the help she was given.

She then had to make a choice to give up her comfort at that time, rely on Jehovah and take a leap of faith. She did this and every prayer was answered.

Every, single, one, was answered. The prayers were not only answered in a timely way others were taken care of before she made the request of Jehovah. 

This experience has taught me by yet another living account that our prayers are answered. Just not always in the way that our lower level of thinking and knowledge feels it needs to be answered. At the end of her story she was living comfortably with her husband thankful to the true source of her comfort.

/tata

Teaching here shows us a reality.

Teaching in South Korea is good way to support oneself or a family.l

In, South Korea there was a prestige that came along with it. The community gave a lot of respect to teachers. Now, over 26 years later teachers are getting little to respect. They are bullied by students and parents. 

Today there have been a few famous cases where teachers have committed sucide. They did so in such a way that the school authorities could not cover it up 

Now, we do not work for private institutions. We work for a private English Medium School.  

The education is terrible. There are so many events that take time away from education. Frequently, we have to pause what we are.doing. Many of these events have no real educational purpose. Teachers often use the time to chew the fat and just relax.

In South Korea many private schools rely on what I call a script. As students learn it or rather memorize it they become like parrots. They seem to understand but ask them anything outside of that script and they are like a person who never never spoken English before.

Here, teachers have such poor English, they pass poor English speaking habi5s to the students. It is crazy. The principal sees it and tries to turn things around.

This tells me one thing; we do not know what we are.doing. The bible tells us that learning needs to be at home. Most kids I see really want to spend time w8th thier families. 

Where I was in South Korea wasting class time checking homework here I am in another broken system. We need Jesus's kingdom to show us how to live.

We have no clue!

/Tata 

When will the end come?

 The funny thing is, the end has already come for many millions of people. The end that crept on them came in the form of death. Yet, the bible speaks of an ending of a system of things. That Satan is very angry because of this. He misleads many, and in fact, his activity has been intensified. 

Many people around the world have read Matthew chapter 24, and other passages that accurately show us the season we are living in.

But when will it come? The Bible tells us! It gives us a word picture. It is written that it will come like a thief in the night. I still remember a friend of mine telling me that certain prophecies have not come true yet. He then told me, exiting my car with a grin, "Brother, we have time!" 

If I am to stay awake and keep a watch for the thief who will in the end surprise me, which mindset should I have? I think listening to the faithful and discreet slave and the elders is the way forward. They point to the bible and remind us that one: there are things about the prophecies we do not understand at this point in time. We are also told that this is ok not to get stressed out about it. 

It is dangerous to think we can accurately track Jehovah's movements. What is to prevent me from focusing on matters of making more money? Or perhaps go back to my old way of life, just for a short time. I would be making a snare for myself based on my own sinful desires and neatly placing my neck in it and then locking it tight. I am sure that friend of mine will come to his senses. 

/tata

Bible principles and Jehovah's law

Bible principles pull from the foundations of Jehovah's laws. Today, many people play around with immoral acts, thinking that they are not violating the Bible law.

Under the law, a man and a woman once married are allowed to have sexual relations. 

The world's view using the penis to physically enter the vagina violates this law if the two people are not married.

Bible principle: sex outside of marriage is wrong. When people engage in behavior that results in both persons feeling sexual release outside of marriage, this too is wrong!

One way I saw this is when a family relative told me it is ok to engage in these sexual like practices. I then asked that person, "How would you feel if they did the same thing with someone else?" 

The response was a strong view that the act itself, being done with someone else, would upset them the most. Ah, so we can see if it was OK, why feel bad if others are doing the same thing with the person we did the act with initially? This tells us that marriage and sexual relations belong only there! 

These things are all of a sexual nature. The law stands strong, the principles makes us think of similar situations in which we should or should not do something.

There is another area where, when we meditate on biblical principles, we can help others around us and even ourselves. 

Drinking in moderation is one that comes to mind. In, South Korea, it is a point that people are proud of if they can drink a few or more bottles of soju without "feeling or looking drunk".

The bible tells us to use moderation, and that there is a time for everything under the sun.

If my friend can only drink one bowl of rice wine, and I can drink five. I will drink one bowl slowly with him. Then, once finished a short time later return to my home with my family. 

The world's view? Drink and be merry, for tomorrow we will die. 

The result? That friend gets sick drunk, and causes a scene. I then go home and cause even more problems for my family.

Moderation? I go home enjoy some leftovers from our pot luck party. Maybe drink some more with my wife and sons (moderation is the key). 

The result? The next day we are all happy recalling the events from the day before. The next day we all carry on our regular activities with no ill effects. I remember Sunday mornings having breakfast with my family, then making our way to our Sunday meeting in a peaceful manner. Then after the meets sometimes going on in the ministry, or returning home and enjoying our evening. 

I am happy to obey and eager to learn more about bible principles. With out them...it is truly a nightmare!

/tata

Kerala a beautiful place!

We have been  here over 3 weeks. We went to the local kingdom hall last Sunday. It felt like home. Our brothers and sisters helped us to get to a store to buy some groceries. Later we ordered burgers ...it was not all that good. I know the boys will not enjoy it. The French fries were good. The pizza was not good at all. We could have made it more delicious at home. 

The place we're we live is really nice and cool. The weather is much better than lucknow! I think the hottest months here will pass much easier than the 40 to 44 degree weather in lucknow. We don't even need an AC, just the ceiling fan.

In this area we are surrounded by forests which are rich in greenery. Here are some pictures: 

The last picture is of the event being held today.

The food is very interesting as well. I will be posting some pictures of the food of Kerela here as well.

The boys are still in Lucknow and will join us in about a month or two. They will enjoy it here as well.

Ok I have.to go.

the road pauses in Kerela

Wow what a roller-coaster these past two monthes have been. First we got a good offer but there were no kingdom halls in the area. So we had to turn that offer down. Then we got a very good offer with a Korean company. However, then location was just.too isolated. In the future when we have a car that location could work out. 

So then the original people who we had to politely refuse before found another place that needed tow teachers urgently. Apparently, the teachers who were here before got caught drinking and partying on school grounds. 

The principal really had many doubts about us and I am sure she still does in her heart. But, over time she will understand that we are not like that at all. 

We have been teaching here since yesterday and it has been much better than South Korea in some ways. However, in others South Korea can not be beaten.

If return to South Korea I will try to work at a kindergarten or public school. It allows more time for the more important things. Like making meetings, family worship and evening ministry. The typical hogwon jobs are too rigid in that whike ministry is possible in the mornings, the mid week meeting is hard to attend or even impossible. 

So I should say public schools verus private schools are the issue here.

South Korea even with its frozen wages a teacher can earn more than enough (if they teach on the side). 

This school has been challenging but I feel that I am learning from mistakes I made in South Korea. If I do return to South Korea it will be even easier that before. Just avoid schools that do things in extremely odd ways, and make sure the school does it's papers correctly and is stable. Finding such a school is even harder today which is why public schools are the best bet!

/Tata

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