Valen completed his graduation in Agriculture from Allahabad Agriculture College in 1979. He had a great desire to continue as a faculty in the same college. The Principal too wanted him because his life in the Campus had a great impact on the students. The miraculous change from a drug addict to a Bible Study leader at the EU cell groups was seen by all the teachers as well as the students. So, the Principal was keen in having him back at the Campus. Moreover, Valen too had a great burden for the North, and he felt that the Lord had given him the gift of teaching. Unfortunately, at that point of time, there was no vacancy, so the Principal had asked him to wait for a couple of months till he could create a vacancy and call him back. In the meantime, Valen started applying for jobs and he was called for an interview with “The Pioneer Seeds Ltd.” He went for the first interview and was selected and was called for a second interview. He got through the second interview as well, and was given an appointment order. Though he wasn’t very keen to join, since he was hoping for a call from Allahabad, he had to take a quick decision and agreed to take up this job. After about a month, he got the letter from Allahabad to join the college faculty, but regretfully, he had to refuse as he had already committed to join the company.
About a month or so, the company after having scrutinized his bio-data, realised that they had selected the wrong candidate. But having given the appointment order, they could not sack him immediately. No one wanted him in his department so he was made Asst. Marketing Manager. His boss never took a liking for him right from the beginning, and so he harassed him so much hoping that Valen would resign on his own. But the Lord gave him the strength to withstand all the pressures because he knew that God had brought him into this company, not by accident, but had a clear purpose.
Since this company was dealing mainly with maize hybrid seeds, their main sales were in Bihar. Bihar being such a notorious State, none of the company employees wanted to be posted there. All of a sudden, Valen’s boss decided to post Valen to Bihar, thinking this would be the ideal way of making him leave the company. When the orders came, we were married just for 3 months. We prayed about it and felt that the Lord was asking us to take up this transfer. It was in April 1981. We moved to Muzaffarpur.
As there had been no company staff in Bihar till we moved, the company was doing their production and distribution through a local dealer. Unfortunately, this local dealer happened to be a thug. He was considered to be a ‘King’ in that whole district. Even the Police and the district Judge fell at his feet. He had been taking this company for a ride. Every year he would claim compensation in lakhs, saying that his crops were ruined by hail storm, etc. None of the company executives even dared to question him and they simply paid what he asked.
Now, into this kind of a situation Valen was asked to work. It was a tough situation. Travelling in Bihar, either by train or bus, was equally bad. He had to go to interior villages for demonstration and meeting with the farmers. Only, the Lord sustained us.
The local Producer & Distributor at first tried to bribe us into becoming partners with him, saying that what the company was paying us as salary could be just our pocket-money and that he would look after us well. When Valen refused his offer, he threatened us by saying, that he would make our lives miserable, and that he had everything in his power to harm us and no one else would know anything about it. Somehow the Lord gave us the courage and the boldness to stand against this man’s threats. We wanted to be loyal to the company. Later, we realized that the company had double-crossed us. All the secret information that Valen was sending to the Head Office regarding this Producer & Distributor, the company was sending it back to the dealer. So, he knew exactly what Valen thought of him. Velen often used to wonder how his Producer & Distributor knew all the secret information!! So Valen was being made to look like a fool. During this time the Lord was our only source of comfort. Inspite of this treatment, Valen continued to be honest in all his dealings and worked hard for the good of the company.
Already 4 years passed by. Our first daughter was born. Valen used to tour a lot leaving us alone for days. There was no social life, or friends with whom I could share. Anyway, I praise God even for that situation because we had only our Lord. As a family, we drew closer to Him, and experienced His never-failing love and faithfulness.
In early 1985, the company had to buy back all the left- over seed from this dealer in Bihar. Valen was asked to do the germination test and it proved that the seed was now worth only to be sold as fodder or grain. This upset the Producer & Distributor and he threatened all the company directors of dire circumstances, if they did not pay him, as he wanted. Now Valen was the one in Bihar, so he was the first target. He issued all criminal cases against him and court orders were issued against us. One fine morning, two uniformed officials appeared at our doorstep. It was God’s providential care, that at that time Valen was out on tour. They asked me to tell the names of places he had gone, and when he would return. I answered them truthfully. [Later, I came to know that they had arrest warrants with them and if Valen would have been at home, they would have taken him to jail.] Since, they could not get Valen, they went to the office and got Valen’s assistant, abducted him and put him straight into the jail. This Producer & Distributor made sure that bail would not be granted. He had greased the palms of the police as well as the judge. Now, since he had one of the company staff in jail, he could arm twist the Directors to meet his demand. The moment the money was paid to him this assistant was released.
We had to literally run for our lives, as Valen too could be arrested anytime. The company then transferred him to Hyderabad but that year they did not give any promotion or increment saying that Valen had been irresponsible by coming away from Bihar. But, we just thanked the Lord for His mercies upon us.
We were in Hyderabad from 1986-90. Strangely, every 2/3 years, the General Managers used to change. The company could not get a proper replacement for Bihar, after we left. No one dared to live there for more than a year. When a new G.M. came, he asked Valen to go back to Bihar. We refused flatly after all the nightmarish experiences which were still fresh in our minds. But, the company realised that Valen was the only honest hard-working person, they could depend on. Somehow the new G.M. coaxed us to base ourselves in Lucknow, so that Valen could look after the Northern States. We prayed about it and our fellowship in Hyderabad sent us to Lucknow as missionaries promising to pray for us.
Lucknow was a far better place than Bihar. We had a good Church and good Christian fellowship Very soon, this new G.M. realised that Valen was not a person who could be manipulated. He wanted to do a lot of underhand things, which Valen flatly refused. He even accused Valen one day, by asking “who made you the company’s conscious keeper?” He made life miserable for Valen. He gave him unattainable targets to achieve and always found fault with the way he was working. During these trying times, our church and Christian fellowship upheld us with their prayer support. This new G.M. somehow wanted Valen out of the company.
By now Valen, had completed 12 years of service and was one of the senior most staff. The harassment was so much, that if it was anyone else, they would have had nervous breakdown. But it was the Lord who gave us the strength and courage. His comfort was so real to us. The G.M. himself was under stress as he could not think of anymore ways of harassing us. The last one, that he tried was, he wanted Valen to sell a particular type of seed in the Northern region. This seed was not good for the northern climate and it would be like cheating the farmers. So Valen refused saying that it would be against his conscious. The G.M. was so mad, that he gave him an ultimatum – “You either sell the seed or resign.” Valen could not understand, why he should resign like a coward, for not doing anything wrong. So, the G.M. said, “If you don’t resign, I’ll terminate you.” He tried telling us, that if we opt to resign, then he would give us a lot in terms of settlement, but if we refused to resign, he will not give us anything. We prayed about it and felt that we must not resign. So, the next day, the G.M. hoping that Valen would resign, had prepared Valen’s resignation letter ready for him to sign. He was rather taken aback, when Valen refused to sign. He was so shocked to see, that here was a person who was willing to be terminated without getting any benefits from the company. In an hours’ time Valen was asked to clear his desk and leave. The Lord had given us much peace. Somehow, we did not worry about the future. We continued to pray for the G.M. and we were able to forgive him for all that he did to us. We did not have any bitterness against him. In fact, when Valen shook his hands, before leaving, he was able to witness to him saying, that our living God would take care of us. The G.M. could not even look into Valen’s eyes. He was visibly shaken.
This happened on 14th May. The children had just finished their exams and were having their annual leave. As usual, we had booked our tickets to come to Madras for our summer vacation in June. And now, we had to leave the company accommodation, and were packing up all our things, not knowing where to go. Deep down, we know God was in control he would lead us one step at a time. The company staff, about 4 or 5 of them, who were sorry for all that had happened to us, were amazed to see the calmness in our face even as we witnessed to them. Our pastor, asked us to transport all our belongings to the parsonage and he had a surprise waiting for us. He and his family took us to Mussoorie for a 10 days holiday – all paid. It was so thoughtful of them and we really enjoyed this long deserving holiday. It kept our minds off from any kind of anxiety or fear of the future. In fact, this was the Lord’s doing and we were so thankful to God for being so mindful of us. After we returned, it was time for us to leave for Madras, so we left for south.
We went home. When our parents asked us about all our belongings, we said that we did not bring. Till then, we hadn’t even realised what we would do in Lucknow, now that we had no job. Somehow, we did not worry.
Valen started applying for jobs, to other seed companies. We were specifically praying, that the Lord would open only one door for us, so that we may not be confused about God’s will. Mr Lee, from Haggai Institute came to know that Valen was without a job and he immediately offered us to join Haggai India. Actually, way back in 1989, Mr. Lee had asked Valen to resign the company job and join Haggai. At that time, we did not feel the leading of the Lord, and so never gave it a second thought. Now, that he was offering us again, Valen was not at all happy because he felt that now because he didn’t have any job, he was joining Haggai India as full- time worker. Amazingly, we did not get any response from any seed company and it was only Mr. Lee who would keep asking us whether we have decided to join Haggai. We were not at all clear about God’s guidance, but this was the only door that was opening. Mr. Lee was asking us to take over the Northern Region, keeping our base at Lucknow itself. Reluctantly, we agreed on an adhoc basis because the Board was supposed to meet in about 3 months and then the final decision would be taken by the Board about Valen’s recruitment. So, we prayed that in those 3 months, the Lord would clearly show us His plan for our lives.
In October the Board met. At first, they were not happy to take Valen as he being a South Indian would not be suitable for North India. They discussed and debated a lot and finally, it must have been the Lord’s intervention that they agreed to take Valen as their North Indian representative. This was the first confirmation for us that the Lord brought us to be with Haggai. Then in November, Valen had to attend the International Seminar at Singapore. Before, that we had been praying, that the Lord would anoint Valen with the gift of the Holy Spirit, so that he would be more effective in his ministry. Especially, as Valen did not have any theological background, he felt inadequate to do the Lord’s work. At Singapore the Lord heard our prayers, and Valen received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. This was our second confirmation, that the Lord had called Valen into full- time ministry.
In January, barely 6 months after we left the company, we got the news that the great multinational Pioneer Seeds had been closed down. SPIC, a Madras based company had purchased Pioneer Seeds and it became the Seed Division of SPIC. In February, the new M.D. of SPIC seed division came for a market survey to the North. When he came to Lucknow, he visited us at our home and offered Valen the job that he had lost. He was willing to give us any of our demands even to the extent of transferring us to South. He was very surprised as to why we should refuse such a good offer. We were able to witness to him and tell him that the Lord had specially called us to do His work. Anyway, he could not understand much, but while going he said that his offer still stands and at any point if Valen changes his mind, his offer will be open!! This could have been a real temptation for us, had it not been for the Lord who confirmed his calling this third time. When Valen had lost his job and joined Haggai, he felt that because he was no good in the secular job, he could not even keep his job, he joined full time. And he felt very guilty. But these confirmations strengthened us and we knew that we work in the centre of God’s will.
We have never regretted this change. We have not lacked anything after joining full time. The Lord has been blessing us abundantly not just our family but the ministry as well. Praise the Lord!!
-Mrs. Rita Valentine