A Life in Mission

Hi again,
I’ve been praying again about going to India. I would like to go to Thailand after I finish in India, and spend a couple weeks or so there, maybe up in the Thai-Burma border area, and get some stories on video of people that are there in the refugee camps. I’ve never been to Thailand before, or Asia for that matter, so I’d like to make the most of the trip.

I thought I should give you some figures on what is needed for me to go…

I’ve been looking at tickets, and it looks like it’s going to cost somewhere around $2500 including the trip to Thailand. I don’t have the dates pinned down yet, so I don’t know exactly what the prices will be yet.

I also need some kind of camera to record video with. I’ve decided after seeing some of Jon’s footage from the 7D that I’d’ like to use a Digital SLR for video. The quality of the video is just hard to surpass in something with such a small package, price, etc. There are a few other options as far as DSLRs, but I’m leaning toward the 7D at this point for several reasons. I have some lenses that I can use with the 7D, but they don’t have Image Stabilization (IS) which is a pretty much a necessity for shooting video. So I’m going to need to get at least one lens with IS that I can us as a main lense. So to get the 7D with an all around lens that I can use for video that has IS, and a couple high speed memory cards, (I’ll need these to record video) I’m estimating will be somewhere in the ballpark of $2200.

If God moves on your heart to give of your means to make this trip possible, you can send your donations to Jesus for Asia and mark them Daniel Hill’s Missionary Fund. Their website is www.jesus4asia.org .

May God bless you all,
Sincerely,
Daniel

Hi again,
I’ve kept very busy the last few months volunteering here at MissionTV. I’ve almost finished editing FaithCamp 2009! It is a big project, and there have been a lot of challenges and set backs with it. But praise the Lord, it should be finished before long. Give me several weeks though before calling for your copy on DVD!
We’ve kept busy shooting MissionTV shows also. One show that we did a couple weeks ago was with a Pastor Jeff Jordan, a deaf pastor at Southern Deaf Fellowship, just down the road from here. I have yet to edit that so it can air.

I’ve been going to the deaf church just down the road where Pastor Jeff preaches. I have to say that it was a surprise when I went there for the first time and learned that there were 19 million deaf people in India! And in some of the places out of the cities they don’t even know sign language! They have no way to communicate! How can we tell someone about Jesus when they don’t have any way to communicate? Pr. Jeff has taken a couple of trips to India, and trained people there working with the deaf. When I found out that he was wanting to go again next February, I started getting an idea. Since people here in North America to a large extent don’t know about the needs of the deaf work, I thought of a way I could help. What if I could make a documentary on the deaf work in India, and the needs that are there? What if I could bring it to the attention of people here in North America? I decided that if God opened the door I would do it. I told Pr. Jeff that I was interested in coming with him with a video camera to document the work and the needs there. He was open to the idea. But he didn’t know yet if he was actually going to go. He told me that he would keep me posted. Just about 10 days ago I received an email from Pr. Jeff saying that he got the green light for the trip to India. He has appointments starting Jan 31 and going to Feb 8. So I’m planning to go with him, to document the needs there. I need to get a visa, and plane ticket, and I need to get some kind of camera to shoot video with. I don’t know how I’m going to pay for the expenses yet, but God is opening the door so far, and I’m sure that He will continue to provide the way.

I would ask you to pray for me as I plan this trip, pray for God’s blessing on it and on the video. If the Lord moves on your heart to donate to help make this trip possible you can send your gifts to Jesus for Asia (www.jesus4asia.org) and mark it Daniel Hill Missionary Fund.

Thank you all,
May God richly bless you,
Sincerely,
Daniel

Hi! I’m back after a long absence.

I’ve been busy doing a lot of different things. The Internship at Weimar went well, I learned many things during my time there. I did a lot of subtitling for the NEWSTART NOW show, as well as shooting and editing it. I got quite familiar with Final Cut Pro, and really enjoyed working with it. We webcasted the Friday night vespers services, and Richard put me on the switcher there in the Chapel and had me direct. I enjoyed getting some good experience with that. Probably the biggest project that I helped with during my time there was helping another intern put together a promotional video for Weimar College. It was a challenge, something neither of us had done before. We did interviews with the faculty and interviews with the students, and got lots of B roll footage. It was a lot of fun, and was we learned a lot at the same time. And then to top it off, we had several big events in the month of June that we did filming for. All in all it was a very good program, and I learned a lot more about media, and how to use it effectively.

At the end of the internship I drove home to Washington, and the next week I was off to Young Disciple Camp. I was a counselor for both weeks of Camp, and I had many challenges, but the reward was wonderful. We had a wonderful time there, and many youth dedicated their lives to God. I know that God is using YD Camp to reach many youth. I really appreciate YD for their ministry to the youth.

After YD Camp was over I spent a week or so at home before I was off again, this time to Tennessee. I traveled with my brother Josiah who is taking Theology at Ouachita Hills College. Josiah had a National Park Pass so we tried to hit as many National Parks as we could. We spent Friday and Sabbath in Yellowstone park, and had a wonderful time seeing the beauty of God’s creation. When we left Sunday morning we drove through the Grand Tetons National Park. The sunrise on the mountains was just gorgeous. Later that day we drove through the Rocky Mountain National Park, and again wondered at God’s majestic creation. After spending the night at Eden Valley we drove a very long day across eastern Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and finally to Arkansas where Ouachita Hills College is located. I stayed there for a day before one of the pilots from Gospel Ministries International who was training and needed hours flew out from TN to get me. It was not a picture of luxury by any stretch of the imagination! He flew an old Cessna 150, but it was a good flight weaving around the clouds, watching towering cumulus clouds pass by. When we landed in Collegedale, I was thankful to have arrived. It was only a short drive out to the GMI office where I would be staying in one of the houses there.

I’ve been here since the first part of August, working with MissionTV. Mission TV is a TV channel that is streaming on the internet 24-7 and soon to go on Satellite. The goal of MissionTV is to re-engage North America with foreign missions. There is so much work left that needs to be done. People are dying out there with no opportunity to know Jesus. Many don’t even have access to the Bible! Do we take for granted so easily the easy access we have to the Bible? Do we take advantage of the opportunities we have? Do we learn all we can so we can share with others? and then actually share with others? I afraid I have to say that I don’t. I have a long ways to go. It’s so easy to just sit back and forget about all the people out there that haven’t heard. It’s so easy to just get absorbed in our own little world, not considering the multitudes that are dying without Jesus! What are you willing to sacrifice to save someone? What is one soul worth to you?