Taking God's Word to the India-Bangladesh border

The OneMessage.tv production team has just returned from India. By all accounts, it was an exciting and effective trip.

The Ushoi or Brung people are an indigenous tribe from the region that is now Bangladesh. They speak the Kaobrung language and are scattered across Southeast Asia. But wherever they are found, they are considered a micro-minority. To them, that has meant that they are overlooked and have no voice, no matter where they live.

Kaobrung speakers are primarily an oral people group who didn't even have an alphabet or a written language until about 10 years ago. The New Testament was the first book ever translated into their language just 5 years ago. And they have never had a video of any kind produced in their language–until now! This is why they were so excited to have OneMessage.tv come and record video Bible stories with them.

God set this relationship into motion more than two years ago, and it was one year ago that we agreed on a date to come and be with them. Between that time and our team's arrival, the different villages held 10 meetings to prepare for the production, and it showed.

The villages were ready! They had their actors prepped, the costumes picked out, and the locations scouted.

Over the course of a week, our team recorded in eight different villages. And wherever we went, most of the village would follow and watch intently. Many would record what we were doing on their own phones. It was a great way for the village to be exposed to these stories from the Bible even during the production process.

We recorded the Crucifixion story on the first day. The Kaobrung version has some of the most stunning images a OneMessage.tv production has ever recorded. It was an emotional experience for many from the village and from our ministry team.

India is a nation of nearly one-and-a-half billion people, so you might expect everywhere to be crowded. But in the areas where we were traveling, it could actually be remote and spread out. The people live a very simple lifestyle with few amenities and often in mud houses.

Despite that, whenever we visited a new village, the people would roll out the welcome mat with all that they had. Their generosity and hospitality was next level. There was a multi-course meal at every stop, and we were also seated at the head of the table.

Here’s an interesting tidbit. When we did visit, the people would not eat with us because that would mean they couldn’t serve us. Only after we ate, would they then eat their own meals.

If you missed any of our six daily update videos during our trip to India, visit our Facebook page. You'll see behind the scenes footage of our project, learn more about this people group, and see clips from an interview with our mission partners in India.

There were many partners who made this trip possible. There are our faithful donors who give every month. There are new individuals and churches who gave specifically to this video library for the Kaobrung speakers. And there are those who faithfully prayed for our journey and for this project.

All of you made this project possible. If you gave, you have planted the seeds of the gospel that will be spreading higher and farther for years to come among these precious people.

Thank you!