CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Jayasudha Kapoor was born on December 17, 1958 as Sujatha Nidudavolu in Madras, Tamil Nadu, to a Telugu-speaking family. Her mother, Joga Bai, was an actress and her father's first cousin, Vijaya Nirmala, was a famous actress and director who was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records in 2002 as the female director with the greatest number of films in the world. Jayasudha's paternal grandfather was an eminent scholar and literary historian, 

When Jayasudha was eight years old, her aunt, Vijaya Nirmala, would take her to the movie sets with her while she was acting. Jayasudha loved watching how movies were made, what the actresses wore, and how they did their makeup. She knew that was what she wanted to do with her life, but her father wasn’t convinced it was right for her. It would take her aunt’s persuasion and promise to look out for Jayasudha personally to get him to relent.  

At age 12, Jayasudha made her acting debut in the 1972 Telugu film, Pandanti Kapuram. Then, receiving critical acclaim for her performances in K. Balachander's Tamil films, Arangetram and Apoorva Raangalal, paved the way for lead roles. Jayasudha became a leading actress in Telugu cinema with the 1976 film, Jyothi, for which she won her first Nandi Award for Best Actress. Today, she has won several awards and has acted in approximately 350 films.

PERSONAL LIFE

In 1985 she married producer Nitin Kapoor (cousin of famous actor Jeetendra), with whom she had two sons, Nihar and Shreayan. In 2017, after 32 years of marriage, her husband lost his battle with bipolar depression and took his life. Jayasudha was devasted. She looked to her family and her faith for solace and comfort and she continues to raise awareness for depression. 

FINDING JESUS

In 1985, while on her honeymoon in Thailand with husband Nitin Kappor, they decided to go to the beach. Nitin participated in all the water activities and asked Jayasudha to join him. Due to her fear of water and never learning to swim, she declined. Near the end of the day, Nitin finally convinced her to go for a short ride on the jet ski. She reluctantly agreed. Not long after they took off, they hit a rough patch of water and she flew off the back, sinking to the bottom of the ocean. While drowning, Jayasudha thought her life was over. She explains, “In that moment, I could have cried out to any Hindu god but when I opened my mouth, the name of Jesus came out.” When she opened her eyes, she saw the face of Jesus. A divine sense of peace overcame her, and she kicked off the bottom of the ocean floor and rose to the surface to find her husband frantically searching for her.

After that experience at 25 years old, she knew that Jesus was real. She accepted him as Lord, but she wasn’t ready to surrender fully. Jayasudha had a difficult time convincing her family of her conversion and asked Jesus to wait for her until she turned 50. Then, she would live for him. In 2001, Jayasudha couldn’t wait any longer. She decided to risk it all and gave her life to Christ fully. While it took some time to convince her family to accept her conversion, they made peace with it and so did her fans. Several people have given their lives to Christ after hearing her testimony. 
 

“Before Daniel could kill himself, we had to intervene.” Doug Hugill and his wife, Kim, had to make a heart wrenching decision - to turn their son, Dan, over to bounty hunters. “It's terribly hard. Terribly difficult to make a decision where someone you love so much and you're going to be the one that that tells on him and eventually gets him sent to prison. Words can't describe the depth of how broken your heart is.”

The oldest of four, Dan adored his parents, especially his dad, a high school physics teacher and cross-country coach. “He and I were really close,” Doug recalled. “We fished together; we went to do outdoors together.”

“My dad was my hero when I was a kid,” said Dan “It's not that my dad ever did anything to make me feel unaccepted. I just think he was a lot to live up to and I was really shy.” While Dan’s parents took their family to church and taught them about a loving God, Dan didn’t see it that way. “He was a disciplinarian.I didn't feel like I was good enough.”

At thirteen, Dan found that drinking made the pressure of not measuring up disappear. “It made me feel strong,” he remembers. “It made the shyness go away. It hid the whole part of me that didn't feel like I was good enough. I found a path of less resistance where I felt accepted.”

By the time Dan was a sophomore in high school, he had a fake ID and was drinking every day. Then, a buddy got him hooked on meth. “It almost felt like Popeye, you know, when Popeye eats the spinach,” Dan recalled. “It made me feel like I was sober and I was powerful. And so, I had the liquid courage of the alcohol, but then this euphoric burst of energy from the meth. People kind of thought I was crazy because I'd fight a lot. I liked how this makes me feel. I liked the respect that comes with it.”

A short time later, he was kicked out of the high school where his dad taught and coached. Doug wasn’t sure what to do. “It was embarrassing, and it was hard. I was afraid of him at times. I would talk to Daniel sometimes and I wasn't talking to the same Daniel. One night, he threatened to kill me, and it was tough 'cause that's not the Daniel I knew.”

Dan started selling drugs to support his meth habit and working as a bouncer in a bar. Before long, he was feared as an enforcer for drug dealers. Watching helplessly as their son destroyed his life, his family prayed. "He left us bankrupt in more ways than one,” said Doug. “They had an altar call every week, and I would go forward and say, ‘Lord, I'm praying Your Word back to you because we need a miracle here.’”

Dan knew he was in rebellion. “They were trying to help me. I just would not listen. I didn't want to hear it. I was violent; I was aggressive.” By the time Dan was twenty-nine, he was a fugitive from the law, considered armed and dangerous. His face was all over the local news. It was then his parents decided to tell authorities where they could find their son. Dan was arrested and convicted on drug charges.

While awaiting sentencing, he found himself reaching for a Bible. "It was a desperation moment, and I didn't know where to turn. I was just like, ‘God, talk to me.’ When my finger hit the verse, it was Psalms 18. This psalm hit me so hard. Seeing what God did for King David in that, that broke me. I was like, 'Are you good? Can you please help me?' Because I didn't feel good enough. It says you're good and I've been so bad and I don't know what to do and I need you. Are you willing to take me back?’” Dan says he rededicated his life to God that day. “After that I was repulsed by drugs. I don't want to touch alcohol. I don't want to touch meth. I want nothing to do with it.”

At sentencing, Dan was given twelve years. Immediately after arriving in prison, he went to a church service where he professed his faith in Christ and was baptized. He said when he returned to his cell, God was there. "I smelled rain. And I was just like, ‘What is going on?’ I felt the presence, the Holy Spirit literally sitting next to me on my bunk. And I remember Him just like speaking to my spirit. He's just like, 'I'm with you. I'm gonna be with you. It's okay.' And I found calm and I found comfort in that.”

Now, facing over a decade behind bars, Dan pleaded with God for an early release. Then, just over a year into his sentence, he changed those prayers. "I was like, ‘You know what, God, I trust You. If I need to be in prison for these next multiple years, I know this is where You want me to be. I am turning my will over to You.”’

Two months later, his sentence was overturned and Dan walked out of prison a free man. His dad saw the change immediately. “That was amazing because he comes out, gives me a big hug, and he's the Dan that you see now. He's joyous. He's full of happiness, he's full of the Holy Spirit. He loves God,” Doug smiles. “I feel like I have my son back.”

Dan acknowledges the changes God has made in his own life. “I never take it for granted. I love what He's done for me.” Dan has since married and started a family. He is very active in his church and his community, coaching others who are in recovery. He and his dad are back to creating great memories.

“Prayer is powerful. God is faithful. God is good,” Doug exclaims. “He wants our best and He cares for our children. So, parents and grandparents keep praying for your kids. cause those prayers are heard.”

“You don't have to be cleaned up for Him to come in and start working,” Dan adds. “Jesus stepped in, and that blood covering you, it makes you right with God. As much as I screwed up, God looks at me and loves me like He loves Jesus. I don't even think I still fully comprehend that, but that right there is the most freeing thing in the whole world. And that can literally be anybody's experience.”

For more information about addiction recovery centers and communities Dan is apart of, please visit: The Phoenix.org, and PeaksRecovery.com.

Every day, Dular walks four miles to get drinking water for her family.

Dular explained, “The water from the stream is dirty, so I dig a little hole and wait for it to fill with water, then I strain it through some cloth into my water pot. It takes about one and half hours to fill the pot. Then I must walk all the way back home with it."

Dular’s family is poor, part of one of the lowest castes in their society. Discrimination against them permeates every aspect of their lives, even having access to water.

Dular said, “I used to go to an open well to fetch water, but people there dumped out my water vessel, and told me never to come back. That’s when I started going to the river. At the time, I was pregnant. Later, I had to carry my baby with one hand and use my other hand to balance the water pot on my head. It was very difficult.”

The desperate family dug their own open pit well. Dular said, “The water was very bad for us, and would get frogs and insects in it. It made our children very sick.” 

Dular’s family are faithful Christians, so they turned to prayer. “In the midst of our crisis, we begged God for clean drinking water,” said Dular.

Their prayers were answered through the local church and Operation Blessing’s Clean Water program. When a pastor told us about the family’s dire need for water, we dug a well near their home, and brought hope to Dular’s family and their village.

“We were all filled with joy, especially the children. What a wonderful gift from God,” exclaimed Dular. “The whole village celebrated, and this well became a symbol of unity among us. No one is discriminated against here. All have access to this well.” 

The Operation Blessing team also taught people about sanitation and prevention of waterborne diseases.  

Dular said, “We work together to keep our homes and the area around the well clean and safe. Now my children and our animals drink pristine water, untouched by illness. And the water is so close to my home I have plenty of time to work around the house. My heartfelt gratitude goes out to all who made this gift possible. May God bless you abundantly.”
 

“I started going to other witches, other warlocks. And it was like an everyday thing. I was told by these witches and warlocks that I was supposed to be one. That this is what I was called to do.” Richard Lorenzo thought he had finally found his purpose in life, something he’d been searching for since he was a young boy. He recalls, “What's the purpose of this life? Why, why do we live to die? That was always in my mind. And it used to torment me a lot.”

Initially, making money was Richard’s goal. What it could buy and who it could influence. Soon he was chasing the life he saw on TV and in the movies. Richard says, “Wanting to have the girls, wanting to be popular, wanting to get the car and...and see the things. And, you know, have the things that I see in music videos.”

He rarely did drugs yet started selling marijuana in high school. Richard saw it as the easiest way to make money so he could invest in legitimate companies. He recalls, “I had this drive again, to always get money in every situation, legal or illegally try to get on top, try to make it to where I could start a business or something, make the millions of dollars or whatever it was. And make it. I wanted to do something with it and not just be another one of those statistics locked up in jail or killed.”

After two years of college, Richard dropped out and joined the Navy, looking for some stability. What he found was a new market to sell marijuana. Before long he was buying weed in bulk and shipping it across the country. He says, “So, in my mind, I thought success or money, or, you know, having the financial, like freedom would bring that fulfillment.”

Then, in 2018, a drug package worth $20,000 went missing. Although it was a small fraction of what he was making, Richard flew into a rage. He recalls, “For some reason, I wouldn't let go of it. I felt rejected. Like how I used to feel when I was younger. When I had a friend that stole from me or when I was bullied. Like, it was that feeling of rejection that fueled that drive to figure it out.” Seeing Richard’s obsession with finding the thief, his girlfriend, Carline, suggested they visit her uncle, a Haitian voodoo priest.

After Richard’s discharge from the Navy in early 2019, the two flew to Haiti to meet the priest. He recalls, “When I met the guy, I felt it, you could feel like a presence. It felt eerie. You just, you could feel like it was, it was off. He had to drink alcohol and do a whole ritual dance and all that stuff to summon an ancestral spirit. And then the spirit will possess him and begin to speak. And then, the spirit started speaking about my past and the spirit only spoke in Creole. So, then the girl I was with had to translate. And then she would tell me things like, he said this, he said this. And it was some spot-on stuff about my past.”

Richard never got an answer about the missing drugs, but his curiosity was piqued. So, when he returned home to California, Richard dove into witchcraft and forgot all about his missing drugs. He says, “I would see different rituals they would do. It was weird. I felt uncomfortable. It didn't feel comfortable at all. It was exciting and it was, again, it was like a satisfaction to the flesh. I thought that this was the purpose to life. I thought that this might be my calling. This is what God wants me to do, you know, whoever God was.”

A couple months later Carline got pregnant and the two moved to Florida to be closer to family. That’s when Richard noticed something odd: Christians started showing up in his life. He says, “I met a barber, his name is Paul. I was telling him...him about my, the voodoo I was doing. He was like, 'I don't do that. I'm a Christian.' He stood firm on the gospel. He didn't waiver.” Richard also met another man who invited him to church. After several weeks, Richard finally relented and went. He recalls, “And as I was walking in the church. I felt an overwhelming feeling of peace. The atmosphere was light, which is the complete opposite of how it was in those witchcraft stores. I looked to the stage, they were practicing for worship. And I see my barber on the stage, it was like, this is too coincidental. I started feeling like, this might be real, this might be real. When they opened up for service, they started playing “Reckless Love,” how he leaves the 99 for...for the one. That was the first time I felt the presence of God. I began to cry, to weep. The pastors laid hands on me, prayed for me at that service. And I still didn't believe.”

Despite his doubts, Richard bought a Bible and started reading it in search of that peace he had felt. Then, a month later, alone in his apartment, something clicked. He says, “I put down the Bible and it was this real realization that hit me in my mind. I just was like, it’s Jesus. It has to be. And then it, like, it hit my mind and my heart, like, I felt like this faith, I felt faith, belief. I was like God, Jesus, He really is the answer. He’s the way. I fell to the ground crying profusely and I just felt like everything shifted. Everything shifted. I just knew that it was Jesus Christ. When I encountered that light, that love, that peace, everything shifted, like the desires of my heart literally changed.”

Richard threw away all his witchcraft paraphernalia and surrendered his life to God. He started going to church and sharing his testimony with everyone around him, including Carline. He recalls, “She broke down crying, gave her life to Christ too. And then eventually we both got baptized together. And we went and we got married at the courthouse alone on her lunch break.”

Today Richard is a pastor and street evangelist who wants everyone to find their purpose in a loving relationship with God. He says, “The whole meaning to life is to love and serve because we're here temporarily. Nothing that we attain in this world. Traveling, women, cars, clothes, success means anything because we're gonna all die and we can't take it with us. Don't get caught up in culture and the world and, and the things that don't matter. Really embrace that question. What's the purpose of life? And it'll lead you to start seeking and you will find that is Christ.”

Discover more about Richard Lorenzo and his ministry by visiting his YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@RichardLorenzoJr-RROC