best laid plans of mice and daniel

In laying plans to make this Great Controversy movie, i had decided quite long ago that India would be the best place to do it. There are friends in India who would be willing to have me stay with them. There are lots of animation schools, and many young SDA people who not only already have been trained in this area, but they would be happy to work for a decent salary to use their skills for the glory of God. I thot. The reality is, while the first parts of the equation worked out well enough, the last item did not. I just can’t find anyone willing to work for a “decent” salary. The young people i’ve met all want to work for a big company, making wages that far exceed what their parents make.

Along with the difficulties of living in this place, police killing innocent people to get promoted, people getting run over by motorbikes or cars very often, people throwing trash just everywhere, the general attitude of doing the exact opposite of “do unto others as you would want them to do unto you”, the lack of coherent thinking, the cheating, the noise, the filth, the ridiculousness of what is said and done and believed — it is all very hard to take. But if for Jesus, of course we take it. This whole world is a crazy place compared to what he made it like, and i’m sure it was difficult for him to live in this hell-hole of a planet.

Just this week, the man who lives in this house said he went to vote, but when he got there, they told him he had already voted. He protested, but they showed him the book with his name already marked off. Finally 5 drunk policemen carried him out of the polling place. There is no democracy here it seems. Oh yes, it seems that votes are costing about 4usd each, and even our SDA brethren are congratulating themselves at making “easy” money. Have they not learned anything from the Bible?

So around three weeks ago i started getting serious about finding a new venue to carry forward this animation work. My friend in Tbilisi gave me a good idea of working in his English language school, then i could have plenty of free time for this project, and perhaps he could find some people interested in helping. But there were two sticking points, and they were not satisfied. I MUST be able to walk in harmony with anyone i link up with. I cannot, and will not, spend my time trying to give glory to God, while working with someone who is not following God.

After sending out feelers to friends in 5 countries, i got back positive responses from all of them, especially from Sabah Malaysia, and northern Thailand. Praise God, he has moved on hearts, and there are already 4 young people, and 2 adults in Thailand willing to work on this project basically for food and a place to stay. The response from the person there really thrilled my heart when she wrote “those youngsters dont think first about money, but their own spiritual thing”! My heart was really uplifted by that statement! These kind of young people are very rare.

Then the Sister in Sabah, (strangely enough, with the same first name as the Sister in Thailand!) wrote saying that i could teach English sometimes, help in the oil palm orchards sometimes, and would have plenty of time to work on the animation, and with the Brother there who runs a computer-training school. She even said she would make me fat – ha! Good luck on that 🙂 Really tho, my heart was/is very touched.

But the greatest opportunity to give glory to God looks to be in Thailand. In conjunction with this animation work, we plan to work towards starting a little “homeschool”, based on the counsels from the Spirit of Prophecy, and the Bible. Along with the 4 young people, that Sister and her husband are saying that they will work for no remuneration at all. I don’t know how long they can last on that, but that heart, that attitude, is very, very encouraging.

So the plan now is to leave India after the SAYJ camp around the end of December. I’m hoping against hope that i can meet someone who will have a booth at the General Conference session in Atlanta next May, that will let me have some space. So i’m praying that the Lord will move on someone’s heart.

Please keep this in your prayers.

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