Nestled in the Himalaya Mountains between China and India, this small nation of nearly twenty-nine million people is still basically Hindu although the king was recently removed from power and a secular democracy put in place.  Hindus still make up seventy-two percent of the nation.  Buddhists claim nine percent, and Muslims comprise four percent.  Christians trail at fourth, with four percent.  However, Christianity is growing twice as fast as other faiths, and the church is growing faster there than in any other nation in the world.  In 1960, missiologist Patrick Johnstone reported just twenty-five believers.  Today the number has risen to more than a million, and that number is projected to double within the next quarter century.
William Carey’s Serampore Mission group prepared the way for evangelization activities in Nepal when it translated the Bible into Nepali in 1821.  The legendary Sadhu Sundar Singh trekked through Nepal on several trips to preach in the early 1900s.  Early mission attempts into Nepal included Scottish missionary William MacFarlane’s Eastern Himalayan Mission that focused on education and evangelism in the late nineteenth century, and the Australian Nepalese Mission that was founded in Melbourne in 1911.  Ganga Prasad Pradhan, born into a wealthy family in Kathmandu in 1851, became the first ordained Nepali pastor.  He was expelled in 1914 by the royal decree, “There is no room for Christians in Nepal.”  Some forty years later, his grandson, Rajendra Rongong (our personal friend), was among the first group of Darjeeling Nepali Christians to return to Kathmandu.  It was at that point that Christianity really began to take root in the country under the leadership of our dear friend Rev. Robert Karthak.  Other close friends of ours who came into Nepal at this same time to do social work and to spread their faith included Eileen Lodge who has given more than fifty years of service to the lepers of Nepal and Elizabeth Mendies who has cared for the country’s orphans for the same amount of time.  In addition, a group of mostly Western missionaries formed the United Mission to Nepal (UMN) in 1954, focusing on medical and educational work.  UMN missionaries signed a required agreement with the king not to proselytize.  However, some ethnic Nepali Christians were determined to be more open about their faith.  For example, the late missionary Prem Pradhan proclaimed, “Christ died for me openly before all; how can I proclaim Him privately?”  He received a six-year prison term for baptizing nine believers in 1960, but was released under amnesty rules on the king’s birthday, after serving four-and-a-half years in prison.  Despite hardship, Prem Pradhan established a missionary school in Kathmandu with support from US-based Christian Aid Mission.  However in 1972 royal troops closed the school and killed one of the teachers.  Prem was again sentenced to prison; this time for twenty thousand days (53 years), but he was eventually freed after paying a ransom of one rupee per day ($2,000).  While in jail, at least a dozen political prisoners became Christians who, after their release, helped spread Christianity and to establish churches.  Another missionary, a former Hindu priest, began circulating a Bible correspondence course in the 1980s; more than four hundred thousand Nepalis eventually subscribed to the course.

Today more than half of all Christians belong to independent groups, and charismatics number some six hundred fifty thousand.  When Every Home for Christ began its outreach into Nepal in 1982, it was illegal for Christians to share the gospel, but former EHC Director Solon Karthak began working with a handful of courageous believers with the vision of visiting every home in the country to share their faith.  To date, EHC has reached every home, even in the most remote villages and has more than halfway completed a second coverage of the country.  They report more than three hundred fifty thousand responses to their literature outreaches and have established almost nine thousand Christ Groups, which are essentially pioneer church plants.  The growth of Christianity in Nepal has occurred exactly the way it did as narrated in the book of Acts or in the gospels–through healing the sick, casting out demons, forgiving sinners, reconciling families, and giving the hope of eternal life.  Evangelism is easier in the cities because people are less connected than in the villages where everyone in part of a corporate whole rather than nuclear families or individuals on their own.  In the villages, Christians are considered unclean because they don’t participate in the Hindu, Buddhist, or Muslim rituals of the locality.  Those who eat meat, especially those in Hindu villages who eat beef and those in Muslim villages who eat pork, are banned from touching the community water supply and other facilities for fear that they will “contaminate” the other villagers.  The result is that they are essentially outcasts and wind up being excommunicated.

Though there is a tremendous revival spirit throughout the country, not all is peaceful.  Nepali Christians have faced all kinds of abuse and isolation in recent years.  Many have even paid the ultimate price for their faith.  Our translator recently wrote concerning an experience in which one of his pastor friends visited his home to share the gospel and show the Jesus Film.  Unfortunately, our translator’s father became very angry and forced the guest to turn off the film and run from the house.  But this kind of hostility is not only localized in a few homes here and there; it is widespread throughout the country.  Several months ago a bomb was detonated inside a church, killing two believers and injuring fourteen others.  Miraculously, the kingpin behind the bombing plot was arrested and placed in a prison where there is a very active Christian Bible study and fellowship.  Recent reports we have received from that group tell us that the man behind the bombings is now attending their fellowship meetings and responding to the gospel.  He has repented for his deeds and has extended an official apology to the church and asked for their forgiveness.  In addition to the religious hostilities the believers have experienced, the country as a whole has suffered greatly under the Maoist insurgency that has cost the country thousands of lives and untold difficulties through strikes that have totally shut down the government and economy of the country.  The people have experienced extreme shortage of daily supplies, and the prices of daily essentials have been increased unexpectedly.  However, Nepal’s churches are not shutting down despite the political turmoil in the country.  In fact, churches in Nepal are actually growing while the Maoist party continues strikes and protests.  At one point, the insurgents implemented a policy of extortion of Christian leaders in which demands for large sums of money were accompanied by threats of kidnappings or burning of homes if the funds were not delivered.  Very close personal friends and co-workers of ours in Nepal were targeted in these extortion plots; however, they were protected through God’s grace and the prayers of the saints.

The political system of the country has been in a constant state of flux during our entire experience there.  At present, there is no active constitution in place, though a constitutional congress of six hundred five delegates have been selected.  Unfortunately, there are no Christian representatives among them.  Although this body’s first task is to be to install a new prime minister, eleven attempts have failed to place a chief executive in power.  While extreme forces attempt to return the country to a Hindu state and a popular movement wishes to reinstate the royal family, the Maoists are claiming a commonality with the Christians because they both want a secular state based on a democratic process.  Presently, Christians have total freedom, Christmas is now recognized as a legal holiday, and in a recent public display (even broadcast on television) the government honored the Christian leadership for their contributions to the country; however, all that can change overnight if a new constitution is adopted which returns the country to its Hindu roots.

C
harisma Magazine reported Nepal as the hottest spot on the planet for the gospel at this moment.  The article said that the church is growing there faster than in any other place in the world.  We can certainly confirm this report from having been an active part of the revival for the past thirteen years.  We have friends in the country who can personally remember when they could count the entire Christian population on the fingers of their hands; today, the number of believers is pushing one million!

Since religious freedom was granted in the nation in the early ’90s, Teach All Nations has been dedicated to going into Nepal to train leaders for this emerging church.  On our first mission into the country, we were asked to start by explaining what the word “hallelujah” means.  Since that time, we have been able to teach the leaders many principles including such practical truths as the operation of the gifts of the Spirit, spiritual warfare, and deliverance.  In addition, we have been privileged to publish a number of books and teaching materials in the Nepali language as well as to provide materials in English for those who know the language.  The following articles chronicle our work in Nepal over the years of our involvement.

1990
“Ask of me, and I shall give the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” (Psalm 2:8)  When the Psalmist penned these words under the prophetic anointing, he was speaking forth the very words of God flowing from His heart to the nation of Israel.  Perhaps those words rang as notes of national superiority and territorial expansion in the ears of the Israelites some three thousand years ago.  Certainly, the Jewish people did not hear this message as a promise that the pagans would convert to Israel’s monotheistic faith.  On the contrary, the Jews at that time took a more defensive stance than an offensive one in the confrontations between their faith and the pantheism that surrounded them.  They protected their faith in a large degree by isolating themselves from the heathen world and certainly had very little interest in an evangelistic outreach to the world.  Hence, this Psalm must have conjured images of the defeat of the Canaanites by the sword of the Lord and of Joshua as one pagan tribe after another fell before the invasion forces of the Hebrews.  Perhaps these words inspired visions of the soon-to-come golden era of Israel’s triumph as the territorial boundaries would expand and international influence would reach its apex under Solomon.  Yet, the real message of these words was likely unheard for nearly a millennium.  It was only with Jesus’ Great Commission that the true essence of this message came forth–the world is laid at our doorstep.  Yet, after two millennia of having the promise of the eternal souls of mankind as our promised inheritance, perhaps too many in the church have failed to ask for our possession.  The Lord directed that we ask and He promised to do the giving.  It’s always interesting how easy He makes the yoke, and how light He makes the burden.  This past month, I saw God sovereignly fulfill His word in the nation of Nepal.  A number of years ago, I committed myself to pray daily for this Himalayan nation.  It’s not much more that a small blob of color splashed between the great nations of China and India.  Yet, this tiny kingdom contains the highest point on planet Earth, Mt. Everest–but more importantly, millions of souls held captive by pagan darkness.  The nationals hold their king to be a reincarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu and all non-Hindu religions are outlawed in the nation.  Although a few citizens do embrace the Christian faith, conversion carries a severe prison sentence and all the associated brutality.  In fact, the college supports an orphan in a Christian home where the director is presently serving a sentence for witnessing.  For several years, I have targeted Nepal with daily intercession that it would open itself to the gospel.  I have confronted the Hindu principalities that held that nation in bondage.  Ephesians 6:12 says that these spiritual forces are in high places and Nepal certainly qualifies.  Then suddenly, the door began to crack and the principality began to crumble.  The king has announced that he will allow a more democratic type government to be instituted in the nation.  I believe that this is a physical manifestation of a spiritual reality.  Certainly, these changes are going to result in a new openness for the gospel.  The fascinating timing of it is that the government will be changing just as LeSEA Broadcasting is building its new shortwave radio station in the Hawaiian Islands with a twenty-four-hour-per-day gospel message beamed right into Nepal! The spiritual principality will crumble just as God releases His Word to engulf the nation!  Let me encourage you not to faint in your intercession.  Your effectual, fervent prayers will avail much.  Target your family, your community, our nation, and the heathen who are scattered to the ends of the earth.  Their souls will be your inheritance.  That’s the only possession you can take with you beyond the grave.

1992
For centuries the doors were closed, but in 1990 things changed. The kingdom of Nepal, nestled in the Himalayan Mountains, has suddenly opened its doors to the gospel.  King Birenda rules this tiny Hindu state not as man–but as god.  He is considered by the populace of this unreached nation as a reincarnation of their deity Vishnu.  Yet, in May and June of 1990, he miraculously reversed centuries-old policies of persecution, imprisonment, and torture of Christians.  Religious prisoners were suddenly released and granted amnesty.  Prior to this point, simply being seen with a Bible resulted in arrest.  Today, gospel literature can freely be transported, distributed, and even printed in Nepal.  This new freedom was thrilling news to me because, a number of years ago, I had committed myself to daily prayer for Nepal.  For several years, I targeted Nepal with daily intercession that it would open its doors to the gospel. I claimed the promise of Psalm 2:8 that if I would ask God, he would give me the heathen nations as an inheritance.  I reminded God that the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord (Proverbs 21:1), and I asked God to move on his heart to release the people.  I confronted the Hindu principalities that held the nation in bondage.  Praise God! It worked. Now, there is freedom to preach the gospel and freedom for the Nepalese to respond.  Recently, the Lord has given me a burning desire to personally go to Nepal and see the results of this effectual, fervent prayer campaign.  He has opened doors for me to not only pray the gospel into Nepal, but also to personally bring the good news through those once-locked doors.  In May, I will be carrying a large supply of Nepali-language Christian literature and holding gospel services throughout the nation.

I wish that you could have been there!  I promise you that you would never have forgotten the scene.  One lone white man (me) in the middle of a huge mob of close to fifty cute little brown school children begging and grabbing for “ONE.”  Dubar Square, the temple plaza and city center of Kathmandu, Nepal, echoed with the chatter of these children as they all cried out for “ONE.”  They were pleading for gospel tracts!  In a nation where two years ago I would have been arrested for even owning gospel literature, I was allowed to freely distribute the little Nepali versions of the gospel pamphlet Help From Above.  In fact, on a couple of occasions, the police even helped distribute the Good News booklets to individuals we had missed.  The people so eagerly reached out to receive the tracts.  Their eyes and hands demonstrated a sincere hunger and a humble appreciation for our witness.  Our six-member team distributed over five thousand of these tracts during our visit.  We could have easily handed out ten times that quantity had they been available.  We only saw two or three of the pamphlets discarded.  Usually the people would stop and begin to carefully read the literature as soon as they received it.  Buddhist monks, Hindu sadhus, Hari Krishna devotees, the guards at the king’s palace, and even a few Americans who were in Kathmandu to study Eastern religions received our witness.  As we moved throughout the city and the remote villages, we could sense a real spirit of-freedom and revival in the land.  We considered it prophetic; the gospel of the kingdom of God was being preached in Nepal fulfilling the Lord’s words that it would reach every nation before the end of this age. (Matthew 24:14)  Our team preached in churches, testified in home groups, shared the gospel with a professionals group, ministered at a leprosy hospital, and freely witnessed on the streets, in the shops, and at the hotel.  In every sector we found a genuine desire to hear the gospel message.  Many could understand English well enough to talk personally with us and then be led in the sinners’ prayer.  One believer sized up the revival by saying that when he became a Christian some twenty years ago he personally knew every believer in the whole country.  Now, he says that he can’t even keep up with those who belong to his congregation.  God is truly pouring out His Spirit in Nepal!  Many of the believers have paid a dear price through imprisonment and other forms of persecution to bring this revival to their land.  Now, they are bringing in the precious harvest that was sown in blood, sweat, and tears.

Among those who had a real interest in Nepal was World Harvest Bible College who had sponsored an orphan there for the last four years.  With new freedom to proclaim the gospel, the college rushed in to assist in the revival.  One highlight of the trip was a visit at the Mendies Haven where we met Kaji, a young man whom the college has sponsored in the orphanage.  He is a handsome young man who really loves the Lord.  Our visit with him was an emotion packed experience as he attempted to express all the love he felt for his sponsors.  We laid hands on him and blessed him as we parted in joy.

Mary Ann Stewart reflects upon her experience:  The thing that stands out in my mind are the many opportunities we had to meet the native people.  We passed out tracts in Dubar Square and spent time visiting with the people who sold their wares.  Young children through adults, they were very persistent.  Riding a church bus and sitting scrunched up in an upper room for a professional men’s meeting was an unforgettable experience.  Visiting an orphanage, a leper colony, a hospital, and having dinner with several families also afforded us experiences that gave us an insight into the peoples’ lives.  At one church service I couldn’t squeeze into the meeting so I sat on the balcony and later found myself, to my astonishment, sitting in on a discussion by the speakers of the meeting from America and another man from Holland who came to film the revival in Nepal which he felt was second to the one that took place in South Korea.  When we met Solon, an apostle Paul for Nepal, driven with zeal to reach every home with the Gospel and he’s doing it.  Our leaders, Dr. Delron Shirley and Pastor Chris Strube, together kept us on the move doing lots of exciting things, from riding an elephant, to flying near Mount Everest, and taking a tantalizing ride up the side of a mountain on a very narrow road.  We always got to where we were going on time.  My final blessing was to be able to spend an evening and a morning with Mrs. Elizabeth Mendies, the founder of Mendies Haven. She is truly a gracious servant of God, who is very, very practical and loves her children so much and is helping them to grow into independent adults in the Kingdom of God.  I’ve heard of testimonies of saints going out and the Lord providing the opportunities–well it happened for us in Nepal.

Richard Laskowski evaluates the trip: I thought to myself, “No way, Buddy, not to India, that’s where they have things like cholera, malaria, and cold showers.”  Delron has asked me for the sixth time if I was going to go on the mission trip to Nepal, India, and Sri Lanka.  I told him I would think about it, but in my mind there was just no way.  One day a strange thing happened, I started to change my mind.  The strangest thing of all was when I decided to go, or I should say, God changed my heart, giving me the desire to go.  The words sounded foreign as I listened to myself tell Delron I would go.  India was a place I never thought I would see, but here I am writing this on a jet somewhere over India.  We started this trip in Katmandu Nepal where we distributed five thousand gospel tracts.  How exciting it was to almost be knocked down by the crowds of people pressing in to receive the booklets.  A place that once put people in jail for the very thing we were doing was now free and receiving the Gospel with joy.  Buddhist monks were chanting their prayers with Gospel tracts sticking out of their pockets, and Hindu sadhus were posing for pictures holding our tracts up with a smile.  In one instance a policeman who had received a tract came back and asked for another one for his friend.  The churches are strong in Kathmandu; many have attendance in the hundreds.  One church we visited had a new building and it was filled with over nine hundred people.  We left Kathmandu and went on to Calcutta, India.  While we were there two things were very evident.  First, that the devil hates people with a passion.  Calcutta, a city given to poverty and sickness as the result of worshiping false gods, is dedicated to the bloodthirsty goddess Kali.  We witnessed animal sacrifice and people taking the blood of the goats and placing it upon their foreheads in worship of the Hindu god.  The second thing that was evident was that God really loves these people.  He has raised up through Mark Buntain’s ministry a shining light in the form of a hospital, schools for children, a powerful church, vocational school, and feeding programs.  There are many who were once in darkness who now shine with the glory of Christ–their eyes shine with hope.  What a thrill it was for me to stand behind Mark Buntain’s pulpit and preach.  From Calcutta we went to Sri Lanka, a place of beauty and exceptional heat.  After a three-hour bus ride we arrived in a paradise called Kandy.  There I played cricket with children and was somewhat embarrassed by my poor performance.  What a privilege it was to pray with them.  They are exceptional kids.  We’re now on our way home and all the memories race through my mind.  But one thing is for sure, I have learned some important lessons.  First, God can break the chains of poverty and sickness upon a people if they recognize Him as Lord and Savior.  It wasn’t the Christians who were begging for money at the airport or lying sick along the road in Calcutta.  God is lifting the Christians out of those conditions.  The most important thing I learned is that people are the same everywhere.  There are different customs, beliefs, and practices, but a man’s heart in India is no different from a man’s heart in South Bend.  They both have fears, troubles, and challenges of life.  They both have a desperate need for the hope only Jesus can bring.

Chris Strube analyzes the mission: What a privilege it was to have a part in the mission trip to Nepal, India, and Sri Lanka!  We were able to preach, teach, pray for people and distribute tracts almost everywhere we went.  Two of the most memorable events for me happened in Calcutta, India, and Colombo, Sri Lanka.  I was speaking to the Nepali congregation of the late Mark Buntain’s church in Calcutta and ministered on the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  Nearly fifty people came forward for prayer.  About half of these began speaking with other tongues immediately!  In Colombo, I shared my testimony and spoke on tithes and offerings.  After the message, one Buddhist man came forward to accept the Lord.  The pastor later received an offering for me and it came to about thirty-seven dollars, which would be about ten times the equivalent here in the States!  The people had learned how to give themselves out of poverty.  God has been so good to make it possible for me to go into all the world and preach the gospel.  As opportunities arise, I intend on continuing this missionary outreach ministry.  If you have never travelled outside of America, you owe it to yourself to go and take part in at least one such mission.  If you need any assistance or would be interested in coming on any of the college mission trips, just give the office a call!

One American evangelist who has been involved with the move of God in many areas throughout Asia and the world declares that the outpouring in Nepal is the closest to the “Book of Acts” experience that he has seen.  Please continue to pray for this great move of God.  After revival must come discipleship to establish the church.  Pray that the Lord will send the right teachers and teachings into Nepal to nurture these new believers.  Pray that the right national leaders will be raised up in strength and anointing.  Especially pray for me as I am making plans on how to continue to bless this nation through repeat mission trips and producing radio programs which will be beamed into the country via shortwave radio.  On that first mission, we were thrilled to meet many of the Christians who had stood so defiantly against the satanic oppression in their nation.  Now, these believers have the opportunity, privilege, and responsibility of ministering freely in Nepal.  Some anti-conversion laws are still on the books–just enough to remind us of the urgency for our mission.

Let me introduce you to one of the apostles of the faith in Nepal. Solon Karthak will be working with our mission group as we travel and minister in Nepal.  He also serves as the interpreter for “The Voice of Joy,” a half-hour daily Nepali short-wave ministry which the Lord led my wife and me to begin.  For seven years EHC’s Director for Nepal, Solon Karthak, led a courageous underground crusade in his homeland.  Solon and his co-workers endured beatings from angry villagers and risked jail terms of six years or more to share the Good News.  During those dark years Solon and the crusade warriors reached more than half a million families with gospel booklets and planted two hundred village fellowships.  They have also rejoiced over the thirty thousand written responses received as a result of the distribution.  In 1990 restrictions on evangelism were lifted.  Today more than two million “paper missionaries” have changed hands, resulting in over sixty-two thousand responses and the formation of seven hundred sixty-eight village fellowships.

1993
“Kathmandu, Nepal.”  To me those words are almost musical. They have somewhat of a lilting, melodious ring.  They conjure up the most vivid and intriguing images: housands of cute, little, bright-eyed, brown children; majestic snow-capped mountains; bustling public plazas; ancient Buddhist stupas; and massive Hindu temples.  Those words hurl my memory back to the day I was mobbed at Dubar Square by eager school children begging–not for coins or gifts, but for gospel tracts.  Those words propel me to the thoughts of cramming over a hundred professional men and ladies into a tiny upper chamber that would comfortably seat less than half that number–brothers and sisters in Christ packed together to hear testimonies of their common faith and messages from the Word of God.  Those words trigger my memories of policemen, who only months before would have arrested me for simply owning gospel literature, stepping out of the crowd and asking that I give them copies of the Nepali Help From Above tract to hand to those in the back who had been missed in the distribution.  Thronging crowds of believers rejoicing in their new-found faith which was legalized only two years before, eyes and hearts hungry for the gospel message, and a tiny Himalayan lady cautiously reading word-for-word a Gospel tract as the crowded busload of humans, goats and chickens bumped over mile after mile of primitive highways–these are the memories bound to those magical, mystical words, “Kathmandu, Nepal.”

This June, we are going back and we’re going back in force! We intend upon making a lasting impact in the nation of Nepal!  Now that the government had granted freedom of religion in Nepal, we are heeding the call to help equip the emerging church with a thorough understanding of the Gospel.  Since returning to America, I organized a shortwave radio ministry to penetrate the nation with simple, but thorough, teaching on foundational Christian doctrines. The Lord provided the interpreter and a system for correspondence follow-up to all who respond.  The teachings from the first forty programs are being published in Nepali as a study guide for the Christian pastors and leaders of Nepal.  My wife, Peggy, has joined in the outreach and will be accompanying me to this once-forbidden Hindu kingdom.  This June, two leadership conferences are scheduled–one in Kathmandu for the Christian women and one in Pokhara for pastors and Christian workers.  In conjunction with these conferences, we are planning to take a team of Christians who will travel the area distributing tracts, ministering in home groups and churches, and assisting with the conferences and associated evangelistic crusades.

He was a tall, stately gentleman.  Just to look at him made you sense that he was someone important.  And it turned out that he was; he was the head of the Pokhara Buddhist Religious Association.  But tonight he was standing at the front of the City Hall Auditorium before more than eight hundred local residents who recognized him and knew his position in the community.  Boldly, in the eyes of his followers, he was praying the sinner’s prayer to receive Jesus Christ as his Lord and Master.  Someday, in heaven, he’ll walk up to you and thank you for your part in leading him to eternal life. It was your gifts and your prayers that made the Mission to the Rooftop of the World a reality.  Because of you, he heard the gospel that has changed his life and destiny.  This was just one of the testimonies that came out of our gospel crusade and Christian leaders’ conference in Pokhara, Nepal.  The evening area-wide gospel rallies drew hundreds into the beautiful auditorium for special music by Christian groups and evangelistic messages by Rev. Christ Strube.  During the daytime teaching sessions, nearly two hundred selected Christian leaders were instructed by Dr. Delron Shirley on how to wage spiritual warfare to free themselves, their families, and their nation from demonic control.  At the close of each service, the altars were packed with those seeking the laying on of hands as our entire team prayed for them for salvation, healing, and deliverance.  Thanks to you, our mission was a great success:  Over seven thousand Nepali gospel tracts were distributed to eager hands in the markets, on street comers, in school yards, in villages, and along the highway as we traveled across the Himalayan nation of Nepal.  Even a breakdown of our van served as an added opportunity to distribute literature.  National Christian leaders were so motivated by the openness of the people to receive the gospel literature that they are planning follow-up distributions.  Preaching and ministry services were arranged in every area of our itinerary. Regular services in the churches, home meetings with believers, a chapel service at the Bible college, children’s meetings in the churches and at the Mendies Haven Orphanage proved to be encouraging to the local believers.  Even a “pit stop” along the highway to Pokhara turned into an open-air crusade as Chirs caught the attention of the villagers and began to share his testimony.  In personal counseling sessions with pastors we helped encourage and instruct them in matters of moving in the Spirit in their ministries.  The women’s conference in Kathmandu drew capacity crowds from the capital area.  Everyone present reported a life-changing encounter as Peggy and the ladies of our group ministered to them.  Several received Christ, many were healed of various diseases, at least one blind eye was opened, a number were delivered from demonic oppression, and all were motivated to become prayer warriors and soul winners.  The crusade and training conference held in Pokhara, the second largest city in Nepal, were labeled as a great success by all who participated.  When we asked about the crowds who responded to the crusade altar call, we were informed that very few were Christians coming for rededication or reassurance.  Almost all were new converts from Hinduism and Buddhism.  Delron’s new book The Voice of Joy, a Nepali teaching on the basic doctrines of the Christian faith, was released at the conference and received with great acclaim among the Christian leaders.  The teachings for the book were taken from transcripts of the tapes that he made for a shortwave radio outreach that will penetrate Nepal as soon as the new KWHR Asia antenna is in operation.  A second book, based on the teachings from the women’s conference and the leaders conference is also planned.  Shortwave radios to be distributed to the top Christian leaders were purchased from the budget of the mission.  It is our goal that the national leaders become well versed in the gospel by hearing the excellent ministry to be aired on the new LeSEA Broadcasting outreach.  Those who understand English will be able to profit from all the programming of twenty-four-hour-per-day gospel while all can be blessed by Delron’s daily half-hour show in Nepali.  Let me encourage you by confirming that your support was exactly what was needed.  The amount that was received toward the trip was almost to the penny the necessary budget.  A couple of the team members fell short on raising their total support, but extra came in through other gifts to cover their deficit. The crusade and book publishing expenses exceeded the projected budget; but, again, the Lord provided through last-minute donations that were sufficient to cover them.  In addition, we had been believing God to supply extra finances to help fly Solon, our interpreter, to the US to record more shortwave radio programs–and exactly the amount we had been believing for was left in the budget when all other expenses were covered!  We serve a great big wonderful God!  Praise Jesus!  Thank you for your obedience to His direction to give and pray to make our mission into Nepal so profitable.  Also pray with us that the Lord will supply the total two thousand per month needed to keep the Voice of Joy radio broadcast blasting away to Nepal.

1994
“Dr. Shur Lee, Dr. Dell Run,” they all politely requested as they came to me one by one to describe their ailments and diseases. Then–as I followed Jesus’ directions to lay hands on the sick–they were all healed.    It wasn’t until the second day of the conference that I realized that these humble Nepali people were coming to me thinking that I was a medical doctor.  Actually, they were surprised that I was treating them with prayer rather than medicine.  At the next meeting, I explained that the healings were coming not because I was a medical doctor, not because I was an American and not even because I was a preacher.  I explained that any believer could see the same signs follow his faith.  This was the kind of supernatural manifestation that accompanied our ministry in the city of Tansen in western Nepal.  Here on the campus of a nursing college that literally hangs off the ledges of the majestic Himalayan Mountains, over two hundred and fifty hand-picked Christian leaders had gathered for three and a half days of intensive training on the power of the Holy Spirit to renew and energize their ministries.  Many came from great distances traveling, in many cases, two or three days in rickety busses over treacherous mountain roads to attend this historic conference.  Never before had such a training session been held in this part of the country.  We believe that it will serve as a catalyst to stir the Christians to more aggressive and anointed ministry.  After all, this is exactly the report that has been received from the Pokhara area where last year’s conference was held.  The principal of the college welcomed us and commented that she felt that God had personally arranged for the conference to be in their facility–we were the first outside group to be granted use of their property in its twenty-year history.  All the local brothers who had helped organize the meeting agreed–every other facility they had tried to arrange (including erecting a tent) ended in a closed door.  During the three sessions each day, the appointed delegates hungrily latched on to every word as Chris Strube and I taught on the baptism, gifts, fruit and anointing of the Holy Spirit. In the evening meetings, the crowds swelled beyond the conference hall’s capacity as local Christians poured in for training, inspiration and anointing.  Chris and I felt like Peter and John on their mission to Samaria to impart the Holy Spirit to the believers there as we saw countless Nepali Christian leaders receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and begin to operate in the gifts of the Spirit.  A number were also slain in the Spirit, something that they had never experienced before.  As we moved from Tansen back to the capital city of Kathmandu, we found that the same outpouring of the Holy Spirit had occurred at the women’s conference which Peggy, Linda Easton, Mary Ann Steward, Andrea Owens, and Angela Germanceri were holding while we were in the western mountains.  Healings, deliverances, and miracles had been daily occurrences. The same anointing followed us to the Holy Spirit conference that we conducted for the Kathmandu Valley churches.  A thousand or more eager believers packed the hall to be trained and anointed–and they were not disappointed. Again, we witnessed a mighty outpouring of God’s Spirit as the conference delegates responded in faith to the promises of God.  In addition to the three conferences, our team also split up each Saturday to minister in the local congregations.  In Nepal, Sunday is a regular workday so the churches meet on the official weekly holiday–Saturday.  Again, each team member returned with overwhelming reports of God’s blessing.

At one youth meeting where Angela ministered, over one hundred of the kids received the baptism in the Holy Spirit!  On the streets and in the markets, we distributed thousands of gospel tracts to eager hands begging for the bread of life.  Some people even offered to pay us for the precious gospel we shared with them.  An added blessing was the personal ministry we were able to share with the leadership in Nepal.  One pastor had encountered such difficulties that he was ready to quit, but our prayers and encouragement rekindled his fire for the Lord.  His face physically showed the difference that was now in this heart.  An American missionary was divinely directed across our path at the critical point that could spell victory or defeat for the mission.  Of course, victory was the plan God had in mind when He made our paths to cross.  One of our missions on this trip was to deliver a load of toys that we had collected for the children at the Mendies Haven orphanage.  One item that we had felt led to buy was a volley ball set which caused us real problems in trying to pack the poles–they just don’t make suitcases to fit volleyball poles–but we felt that it was necessary that we get that particular equipment there regardless of the difficulties.  When we arrived at the orphanage, we were greeted with the news that only a couple of hours before they had finalized the purchase of a small plot of land which they would use as a playground and were thinking that they would like to have a volleyball court on it!  It has only been four short years that the doors to Nepal have been open to the gospel–and in these four years the Lord has allowed me to lead three teams of witnesses, publish a basic Christian doctrine text book in Nepali, produce and air a daily Nepali short-wave broadcast and now a Nepali textbook on the Holy Spirit is nearing completion.

God was speaking to me about you the other day!  Yes, it’s true.  Let me tell you the story.  In morning prayer last Friday, I suddenly got a direction in my spirit.  I knew that the Lord wanted me to build a building in Nepal.  Last May when I was there, Solon Karthak (the local leader with whom I work) showed me a piece of ground that he has been able to purchase.  The property is located in one of the more progressive parts of town where there is actually electricity, phone and running water.  He explained his desire–dream–vision–to build a three-story facility on the grounds.  His plan is to have a large meeting room on the ground level.  This will serve as a Bible school classroom and training center for the young men and women he is equipping to become the next Christian leaders of the nation.  On the second floor will be the offices that will serve as the nerve center for reaching the whole of the nation.  The third floor will be his home.  The surprise came when he said that he only needed fifteen thousand dollars to put up a simple but totally functional facility.  I was shocked at the idea that such a small investment could bring such a big return.  Of course, the very deflated economy in this third-world country is the explanation.  The national average income is only one hundred sixty dollars per year; yet Solon presently has to raise twice that much each month to rent a facility for his office and home.  As more and more international businessmen are moving into Kathmandu, the demand for the buildings with electricity, phone, and water is outstripping the supply.  The result is that the landlords continue to raise the rent and evict the local tenants any time they are able to get a foreign offer that is beyond what the nationals are able to pay.  Since the work of evangelizing the nation demands modern equipment such as computers and tape duplicators, Solon is forced to keep up with the demands placed on him by the greedy landlords.  Well, what does this have to do with you?  When I felt the witness in my spirit about raising the money to help him build the needed facility, my soul responded, “And exactly where can I get fifteen or twenty thousand dollars?” As quick as a flash, my spirit man responded, “From all the churches that your students are pastoring.”  As I thought about that response, I began to realize that this was indeed God speaking.  First of all, I was happy that the Lord wasn’t asking me to approach any individuals personally because all my personal friends have given so generously and sacrificially to help sponsor my mission trips and other outreaches into Nepal.  I really was hesitant to even think of approaching anyone to give again for this ministry.  But with God’s plan, not one single individual will have to make a commitment to the project.  Next, I began to question why this feeling came upon me with such urgency in October since I had known of the need for over five months.  The answer can back so clearly that this is the time of year when churches are planning their budgets for the next year and this is the time that the need must be presented. I also questioned why I was the one that was chosen to raise this money from my few friends–most of whom are pastoring small, struggling churches…some just in the birthing stage.  Again, the answer was unmistakable.  Those pastors who have sat under my teaching know that I am sincere in what I do.  They can trust that what I say is what I’ll do!  Well, to come to the punch line, you are one of the ones that the Lord directed me to write.  What I’m asking is that your church pledge one thousand dollars from its 1995 missions budget to build this headquarters for reaching the nation of Nepal.  Even though Solon only asked for fifteen thousand dollars, I feel that we need to raise twenty thousand dollars due to the fact that Nepal is beginning to develop and one of the side effects of development is inflation.  I’m sure that we will need the extra funds before the project is completed.  I am sure that many of you are as shocked as I was when the figure one thousand dollars was mentioned.  I questioned the Lord and reminded Him of a couple of the names that He had suggested…churches that are just starting and don’t even have congregations yet!  As you would expect, He had an answer: “Anybody can have faith for twenty dollars a week; that makes thousand dollars by the end of the year!”  Will you have your church leaders consider this proposal and become part of the great outreach in Nepal?

Last Saturday night I had the opportunity to meet Rev. Dick Eastman, president of Every Home for Christ International.  I introduced myself and thanked him for playing a very important role in my life.  It was his organization that had helped me get in touch with Solon before my first mission to Nepal.  Bro. Eastman then began to tell me some very exciting news.  He said that he had just heard of a doctoral student from Wheaton College who had gone to Nepal to do his dissertation on the growth of the Christian faith in the nation.  The end result was that his paper contained two sections: the work that was going on through Every Home Concern (Solon’s ministry) and non-EHC work.  Solon’s work was so far-reaching that it had to be considered in a category all its own!  At that moment, I knew that God had answered the prayer that I had prayed daily from the moment that He had directed me to go to Nepal–that I would be able to work with the top Christian movers of the nation.  Thank God, I have that privilege!  Now I give your church the opportunity to do so as well.  I have set up a special account here in South Bend under Solon’s name.  Your gifts can be sent to him at my address, I’ll post them in his account and notify him when funds are available.

I’ve got good news!  I recently felt led to try to raise the money to build a building on Solon’s property in Kathmandu.  I’m sure that you know about his dream of having a training center, office, and home on the property.  I asked a number of my pastor friends to donate a thousand dollars each to the project.  It looks like there is going to be a good response.  I mailed the letters out on a Saturday.  The following Tuesday, a pastor came into my office and thanked me for the letter.  Now you know that God must be in it when someone thanks you for asking him for money.  This pastor said that she had been feeling for a while that there was more that their church should be doing for missions and she felt that it was for Nepal.  On Monday she had been in the church office and had looked up at the bulletin board and noticed the report letter that I had sent out after my last trip over.  She went back to her house with a real awareness that the church was supposed to do something for Nepal.  When she got home, my letter was waiting in the mailbox!  Another pastor who is just getting his church started came to see me on Wednesday.  He said that when he read the letter, he passed it to his wife and asked her what she thought that they should do.  She looked back and said, “Is there any question?”  The thing that you have to know is that this is a church of only eight members at this point.  Another one of my graduates who is an associate pastor called and said that he was really excited about the project.  He called back about five minutes later and said that he had talked with the senior pastor and that he had said that the church would give at least a thousand dollars.  I have had a couple of pastors who said that they personally would give into the project even if their churches didn’t want to take up the challenge.  God is at work!

1995
“Eutra matra, eutra matra,” we called–but to no avail.  With the streets lined with eager hearts and eager hands reaching out for the gospel tracts we offered as our rickshaw wound its way through the crowded streets of Bharatpur, we were insistent that each person get only one.  Yet one little lad chased us down the street grabbing all the tracts before the others had a chance to take them.  Finally we asked our driver to have the boy stop.  Unfortunately—or actually, fortunately—our little Nepali chauffeur did not understand and he interpreted our request as a wish to turn around.  Now we had two problems: the young lad was still trailing us and now we were headed the wrong way—or at least what seemed to us to be the wrong way!  Soon, our evangelistic venture was to be beset with what would seem to be a third problem—Andrea was to begin to have leg cramps from sitting in the tiny rickshaw seat which perfectly fit two Nepali customers but not two Americans!  We tapped the driver on the shoulder and got him to stop so that she could get out and walk a bit to ease her leg.  That is when it happened.  That is when we suddenly understood why all the unusual events were beleaguering our literature distribution.  Andrea reached out to offer a copy of Help from Above to a young man standing at the bus stop where we had gotten oft the rickshaw.  When he reached out to receive it, out of his lips came the most amazing response–not “Thank you,” not “Oh, I’m a Christian,” not “I’ve seen this before”–but “I know Delron Shirley.”  Nothing on the tract gave Delron’s name: the only association was that it was the same material that we distribute every year on our Mission to the Roof Top of the World.  You can never imagine the surprise when the next person who walked up on the conversation was the other partner from the rickshaw–Delron Shirley.  It was at that minute that we realized the impact that our mission was having on the hungry souls of the nation of Nepal.  This young man had received a tract four years before as we were distributing literature on the streets of Kathmandu.  As a young believer from Chitwan State, he had come to the capital city for a training conference and had just happened down the street as we were handing out the gospel tracts.  He followed us back to the hotel where we shared more of the gospel with him and gave him a supply of tracts to take back to his hometown.  Now here we were–four years later and a couple of hundred miles away from Kathmandu–when he again just happened to be where we were distributing the little gospel portions!  Even across the miles and years, he still remembered the names of the American strangers who had shares the precious Word of God with him.  It is moments like that that make you know that it is worth all the effort, all the money, all the time, all the prayer, and all the trouble to get the gospel to the hungry souls of Nepal!!!!!

I wish that you could have been there to witness this reunion. There is no way I could ever conjure up words to describe the expression of gratitude that was in that young man’s eyes.  If only I could have bottled the thanks that permeated that moment, I would send you a little sample.  Even though our mission team members physically handed him the tract, it was your financial and prayer support that got that literature into his hands.  You were not there to have him remember your name, but someday on the golden streets of heaven, throngs of smiling Nepali faces will greet you saying that they know you because you were the one who saw to it that the gospel was placed in their hands!  Thank you for your support of the 1995 Mission to the Roof Top of the World.

In addition to distribution of approximately sixteen thousand copies of Help from Above, our team (actually teams–we were so busy this year that we had to split into teams and go different directions to fulfill all the requests) held four different conferences in various cities of Nepal and one conference in Burma.  We also ministered in six different churches in Nepal plus one in Burma and one in South Korea.  In every conference and church meeting, great reports came forth of salvations, healings, deliverances, infilling of the Holy Spirit, and the impartation of the gifts of the Spirit.  In Burma, we had the privilege of inaugurating the new Bible school and dedicating the new church building that had been erected by one of the graduates of Dr. Lester Sumrall’s World Harvest Bible College.  It was such a thrill for Dean Shirley and the other WHBC-ICU alumni who were on the team to see the work that Dong Mang has going in that nation’s capital city.  We also had the joy of visiting with other WHBC alumni Bud Welch in Korea and James Kath who came from Nagaland, India, to see us in Kathmandu.  This trip also marked the occasion of the publication of Delron’s third book in the Nepali language.  This one on deliverance follows the first one on basic Christian truths and the second one on the Holy Spirit.  The pastors in Nepal are requesting a fourth book on the topic of the Second Coming.  Please be in prayer as that one is being written.  Well, this letter could go on and on, sharing with you the miracles that occurred during our trip and the doors that God supernaturally opened to high ranking government officials in Burma and Nepal–but let’s close for now and leave you with the challenge to come with us next year and experience it for yourself!

One of our team members described the experience: “A different world!  Kathmandu is indescribable.  I was truly amazed at what I saw.  It was my first attempt at “window” evangelism.  As we drove along we stuck our arms out of the windows with Nepali tracts and we yelled, “Namasete,” a traditional Nepali greeting.  You see, most of the people were either walking on foot or riding on bicycles.  On one occasion the missionary van was literally mobbed with people wanting the tracts of eternal life telling them about Jesus.  Some of the children were fighting over the tracts.  The police came and disbursed the crowd, and we were able to drive away.  There was a deep stirring in my emotions as I saw a ten-year-old boy standing and pleading for a tract as we drove away empty-handed.  We were able to give away about sixteen thousand tracts total-but that was still not enough.  We also went into some of the villages and passed out tracts.  We walked down the paths through the mud huts giving each person a tract.  The smile that came across their faces sent the message of “Thank you.”  I could not help but think, “They have so little, and we have so much.”  I know that there isn’t anything wrong with being blessed.  I just want God to bless them too!  The teams went to visit Sister Mendies at her orphanage.  What a lady for the Lord. The children in the orphanage have sweet spirits and blossom when they begin to worship God.  My heart was touched by their tenderness toward Him.  God has used Sister Mendies in a mighty way, and He continues to use her to raise those children in His ways.  I think that my most memorable week would he the mountaintop of Chitwan, Nepal.  I looked out at that sea of faces with shining smiles and glistening eyes that were full of Jesus, and I lost my heart to them.  There were about two hundred fifty men and women crowded into a wooden building.  The women sat on the floor on one side, and the men sat on the other side.  Many of the children were with their mothers the first night.  The women would be sleeping at night inside the church on a mat that would lay across the dirt floor.  The men would sleep outside.  Some people traveled days or even a week to get to this conference. This mountaintop was so remote that I listened closely when Delron asked how they managed to direct people to where the meetings would be held.  The people had been told to come to the town and ask, ‘Where is the place where they sing?’  Oh, how these people love to worship God.  They have known what it is to worship idols.  They now have found the true and living one and only God.  They love to sing and worship Him.  I was sitting outside on a bench one day and before I knew it there must have been about fifty children around me.  I would say, Jamahsee.  They would fold their hands and smile and reply, Jamahsee.  Some of them would come up and carefully touch my arm to see what my skin felt like.  These children are so precious.  I had the privilege of teaching them one verse of Jesus Loves Me as well as minister the Word through the story of Samuel.”

1996
It all began in 1986.  Well, actually it all began many years before then.  For certain, it began in the 1950s as I watched the then-popular “Jungle Book” series on TV.  You can read about that whole story in my book Lessons Along the Way in the “Beyond Jungle Book” chapter; but for right now let me simply say that somewhere in my early childhood, the Lord planted a love for India and the surrounding areas in my heart.  Actually, if we were to be really serious about the beginning date, it all began before the beginning of time!  The Bible tells us that it was before the foundation of the earth that Jesus became the Lamb slain for our sins.  Because God so loved the world He sent His only begotten Son to pay for the sins of mankind.  So, it was actually before there were any Indians or Americans or Nepali, that God planted a love for these lost souls in the heart of His Son and created and to redeem them.  But my part in this whole scheme of God’s plan of love for the people of Nepal began some ten years ago now.

A Christian man from Nepal was invited to minister at our church in South Bend.  As he shared about the persecution of the Christians in this Hindu land, he told of imprisonment for simply owning a Bible, of beatings for sharing the love of Jesus, and of death sentences for baptizing converts.  Then be humbly asked that we pray for his suppressed people living in a land of pagan darkness where the king is worshipped as a Hindu god as well as served as a human monarch.  From that day, I began to daily intercede for the precious people of this isolated nation nestled in the lofty heights of the Himalayas.  I claimed the biblical promise that the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord and I asked that the Lord turn his heart!  I reminded the Lord of the Psalm that said that I could ask Him for the nations as my inheritance and I asked for Nepal as mine.  I emphasized the wording in Ephesians chapter six that tells us of our spiritual battle against evil spirits in high places, reminding God of the demons powers that control this rooftop of the world.  Then, suddenly, the whole world changed overnight in the spring of 1990 when His Royal Majesty Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev declared religious freedom for his subjects! Four years of prayer ministry had prevailed over hundreds of years of religious persecution!!  The prayers continued until one day, the Lord spoke to my heart, “Now it’s time for you to go see what you have been praying for.”  Now there was a new tone to the prayers: “Lord, provide the money!” and “Lord, send me to the right people in Nepal!”  And He did just that.  All the finances for the trip–as well as three subsequent trips–came in just at the right moment.  In Nepal, the Lord gave us favor to become close friends with the people who should actually be considered the apostles of the nation.  When Billy Graham sponsored his worldwide satellite crusade last year, he called on the same pastor who always hosts us in the country to be his representative for Nepal.  This same pastor is the man who was invited by President Clinton to represent the Nepali Christians at the Presidential Prayer Breakfast.  Solon Karthak is the brother that the Lord united us with as our interpreter and coordinator of all of our meetings.  This young man is the director of Every Home Concern in Nepal and is the actually the one key person in the nation who seems to cross all lines and hold together everything that is happening in Nepal.  The spring of 1992 was my first trip into this recently opened territory.  When we crossed the border, the customs officers asked what we were carrying in our big boxes.  I answered that we were bringing in Christian literature and ripped open one box and began to distribute Nepali tracts to the officials who, just months before, would have arrested me for possessing the materials.  This same openness prevails throughout the country.  In the four years that I have been privileged to minister in the nation, we have distributed thousands upon thousands of gospel tracts to eager hands. In fact, we have actually caused riots as the people have thronged around our team members begging and grabbing for their piece of the Bread of Life.  On more than one occasion, the police have come to help control the mob of people and have ended up taking handfuls of our tracts and helping us distribute the materials that would have landed us in jail only a few years ago!  On our last mission, we were very close to the end of our tract supply when we decided to just hand them out the window of the van as we drove through one last village.  Within seconds, the road was blocked by the crowds of villagers who came flocking out for their tracts.  The police had to clear a path through the human blockade and escort us out of the village!  Let me share just one illustration of the power of these little gospel messages.

This past year, my sister and I were riding a rickshaw through the streets in a city in Chitwan state, a couple of hundred miles from Kathmandu.  As we meandered through the streets, we were handing tracts to the people along the path.  Suddenly, Andrea got a cramp in her leg from sitting in the seat that was built for two Nepali, but only one and a half Americans.  She jumped out of the carriage and started to walk around to get her feeling back into her legs.  As she did, she continued to pass out tracts.  The first person who received the pamphlet exclaimed, “I know Delron Shirley.”  What a surprise!  How?  Where?  Why?  We had never ministered in this region before.  About that time, I had also dismounted the rickshaw and had walked up.  You will never know the excitement that erupted when he saw me.  As the story unfolded, I had given him a tract on a street comer four years before when he just happened to be in Kathmandu for a training conference just shortly after he had been born again.  He had followed me back to hotel where I gave him a box of tracts to take back and share with the people in his region.  Now he is the associate pastor in a little church with fifty-eight converts!  But after all those years and all those miles, he not only remembered the tract but the name of the man who shared it with him.  To these people, the little gospel portions are not just pieces of paper; they are their lifeline to Heaven!  I suppose that the impact of these mission trips on the lives of these who have accompanied me has been just as significant as the impact that w e have had, in Nepal itself.  Seventeen different individuals have joined us on the missions to the rooftop of the world.  They have all survived the Oriental Revenge, a violent form of traveler’s sickness.  One year, I brought four of our team home in wheelchairs and ran a little infirmary in the back section of airplane.  But they have all seen the power of lives changed and have developed a deep love for missions.  The

Lord has so graciously honored His word that He would confirm the ministry with signs following.  When the host in one meeting introduced me as Dr. Shirley, I really didn’t think much about it.  After the meeting, the people began to come up and describe all their diseases and pains to me, but they weren’t necessarily asking for prayer; they were just reporting on their problems.  But as I laid hands on them, they were all getting healed.  It wasn’t until the next day that I put it all together that these dear people, who have only one doctor per every twenty-six citizens, thought that I was a medical doctor as well as a preacher.  Whether they were expecting a miracle or a pill, they got their needs met.  One morning we rose early and rode to a popular Hindu temple to watch the people bring their offerings the idol.  When we arrived, the line of devotees stretched outside the shrine, around the side, across a bridge, and back around again.  My guide estimated that there were possibly seven thousand worshippers in line waiting to bring their live goats and chickens to slaughter before their pagan idols.  In this land, demonic possession is commonplace.  Rarely a service goes by without the wonderful experience of seeing captives freed from tormenting spirits.  The Lord has given us a wide open door into the hearts and lives of the people of Nepal.  As revival is surging through the land, the one thing that the thousands of new converts need is clear, simple Bible teaching.  One local Christian leader stated it plainly, “Tell them what Hallelujah means.”  In churches, home groups, and special pastors’ conferences, we began to teach and to explain the gospel.  We began at the very beginning with such simple questions as “Is there a God?” and “If so, how do you know which one is real?” and “How can I get to know this God?”  The teachings progressed right through the basic foundations of the Christian faith to cover all the truths of healing, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and deliverance from demonic power.  The people were so hungry for truth that it was overwhelming.  On the one free night we had scheduled for some shopping, the pastors found out what store we had gone to and followed us there.  They began to almost beg for more and more instruction and we wound up sitting on top of a pile of Tibetan carpets explaining the gifts of the Spirit rather than looking for souvenirs!  But what better treasure to bring home than the memory of the light in their eyes as these pastors caught the revelation of the power of God for their ministries!!  The next morning as we were packing for the trip home, the pastors showed up at the hotel pleading with us to give them just a little more time to help them understand the movings of the Spirit.  I thought that I was going to have to leave all my baggage and rush to the plane with just the clothes on my back because they had so many questions.  Again, it would have been worth the trade–my luggage for the joy of knowing that I had helped establish one more truth in the hearts of the leaders of this exciting move of God.

Back in America, the message for Nepal continued to bubble inside of me until I had to know that I was speaking into the lives of these beautiful saints every day. The opportunity came when LeSEA Ministries opened a powerful new voice into Asia through shortwave radio.  The Voice of Joy, a daily half-hour program on which I taught and Solon Karthak translated into Nepali was one of the charter programs on this new gospel giant reaching across the Pacific Ocean and over the Himalayas into the hearts of those humble people.  This broadcast lasted for more than a year until we felt that there were other areas of need where our finances could be more productive.  Just recently, our Lord has proved Himself so wonderfully faithful by providing a way to get the broadcast back on the air through the generous offer of Dwight Hammond’s Cornerstone Ministries to air the tapes on their time slot on the shortwave station!!  Thank you. Dwight and Jesus!  When the Christian leaders in Nepal began to hear the truths in the broadcast lessons, they expressed concern that the people who really needed to know these truths might never hear them because they don’t own shortwave radios or because they wouldn’t know when to listen even if they had radios.  “Put this teaching into a book,” they pleaded. So we did.  And then another.  And then another.  Right now, all three books–one on basic Christian truths, one on the operations of the Holy Spirit, and one on deliverance–are in wide distribution throughout Nepal and other areas where Nepal-speaking people are found.  As I was praying early one morning in October of 1994, the Lord impressed upon me that I needed to provide a permanent facility for the ministry in Nepal. Solon Karthak, who coordinates all our ministry in the country, is continually feeling the growing pains of living in an emerging Third World nation.

As more and more international businessmen move into Kathmandu with their foreign currency, the local people are being more and more abused by their landlords. Homes with running water, electric power, and telephones are at a premium; and the landlords have no reservations about evicting the tenants in order to get renters who can afford to pay more.  To effectively continue the work of the ministry, the offices must be located in a facility with electricity to run the office equipment and telephone service to connect with the outside world.  Plus it needs to be in a place where the workers can securely go about their business without having to worry about packing up and moving ever few months! For just about twenty thousand dollars, we can provide Solon with a permanent facility that will house not only the offices, but also his own apartment, living quarters for a staff member to watch the operation when he is away, and office space that he can rent out to another business or organization to cover his monthly utility bills!  That means, that after the building is completed, he will never have to raise money for the home base needs. From then on, every cent (or rupee) can go directly to the work of spreading the gospel. To date, we have raised just over twelve thousand dollars.  Most of these finds came through the generous donations of churches pastored by alumni from the Bible college and individual gifts.  One couple held a chicken barbecue sale and raised almost a thousand dollars.  Additional finds have come from the sell of my latest book The Will of God at Your Fingertips.  I’m believing God to send in the remaining eight thousand dollars before our trip this spring!!!  But for all this to happen, the Word must be preached.  He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news [the Word] to all creation.  Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.  And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well. ” (Mark 16:15-18).  In reading this passage of Scripture, don’t stop at verse 17: “And these signs will accompany those who believe…”  In other words don’t get all taken up with signs.  The Holy Spirit wants you to get verses nineteen and twenty as well.  After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God.  Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it. (Mark 16:19-20)  Verse twenty says, “Then the disciples went out and PREACHED everywhere….”  We need to realize that the Lord didn’t do anything until the disciples preached the Word.  The next part of the verse says, “… the Lord worked with them… ”  How does the Lord work with those who preach the gospel?  By confirming His word by the signs that accompany it.  Praise God, signs follow the preaching of the Word because God’s Word is not chained.  It will produce fruit wherever it is preached.

1997
Are we ever excited!!!  We can feel it in our spirits!!!  This year we are going to see a really exceptional response on our Mission to the Roof Top of the World!  Let us share with you a quote from a fax we recently received from our coordinator in Nepal: We’re praying and believing that this is God’s timing for the blind to see, lame to walk, deaf to hear and speak, and dead to live again in the power of the Holy Spirit.  In a recent letter from one our team members he told about how God had spoken to him about the mission.  He said that he had a “mini-vision” in which he felt the Holy Spirit gently say “look over your right shoulder at the wall.”  There he saw a map of Asia with one nation shining while all the other countries around it were darker or shaded.  He said that he could do nothing but stare at this “enlightened” little country between China and India–NEPAL.  With this kind of faith in Nepal and spiritual direction from the team members, I know that we are going to have a move of God this year that will even exceed the miracles we have seen during previous missions.  This year’s trip is scheduled from April 29 through May 11.  We will be holding a major training conference on the Holy Spirit and a national women’s conference in Kathmandu followed by a retreat for the top national Christian leadership. One of the highlights of the mission will be a citywide evangelistic crusade in the city of Chitwan that was requested by a personal invitation from a member of the national parliament of Nepal!  Some of us will stay a little longer to go into other regions where the Christian leaders are begging for teaching.  The expenses for the two of us to travel to Nepal and cover our portion of the mission will be in excess of six thousand dollars.  In addition, we still need to raise approximately sixteen thousand dollars to complete the building we are constructing as a headquarters for our director at the rooftop of the world.

Nepal is classified by the UN as one of the world’s least developed countries.  Forty-five percent of the total population is under the age of fourteen.  The total population now stands at twenty-one million. Hinduism is the official religion.  Buddhism comes in second.  Muslims are about three percent and Christians one half of one percent.

Vital Signs
USA           Nepal
Urban Population    76%    13%
Life Expectancy    77 years    54 years
Infant Mortality    9%    88%
Literacy    95:5   27:5
People per Doctor    332    16,667
People per Telephone    1:3    174
People per TV    12    500

She was a nameless face in the crowd–and what a crowd it was.  We had rented the civic auditorium, the largest meeting place in the whole district and it was filled beyond capacity with people sitting on the floor down the aisles and peering in through the doorways.  But back to the nameless face–even without a name, her face itself spoke volumes.  Tattoo markings covered almost every exposed inch of flesh and jewelry piercings left puncture marks in her nose as well as ears.  Her skin was rough and wrinkled far beyond her natural years.  These signs told the story of her life and status in the tribal culture of the Chitwan jungle district of Nepal.  It was a sad story of hard labor, poverty, abuse and–worst of all–witchcraft.  But the most dramatic part of the story was told by the eyes–not her eyes, but another set of eyes that lurked behind them and controlled this helpless woman’s life.  They were the eyes of a demon that had invaded this poor soul as she followed her traditional roll of servitude to the Hindu gods and local animistic jungle spirits.  Now seated in the Mission to the Roof Top of the World’s gospel crusade, this tormented woman heard the message hope for healing and deliverance, and she joined the mass of humans who thronged the stage seeking prayer.  As soon as hands were laid upon her, she began to shake violently and to bounce up and down.  The eyes behind her eyes tried to hide from the anointing by cementing her eyelids together.  But, praise God, through effectual, fervent, persistent, and insistent prayer–the spirit left and her eyes were normal again.  No, not normal–this time there was a ray of hope and a sparkle of joy that had not been there before!  Your gifts and your prayers are the reason that this nameless face half a world away now tells a different story than it did just a few days ago.  So, today, I share with you her message “Dandavat–Thank you very much!”  But hers is not the only message of thanks I have to share.  There are also the little paralyzed boy and his precious mother who say, “Dandavat,” for helping send the messenger who prayed and believed until his limbs began to straighten and joints began to bend.  They ask that you continue to pray as the total miracle manifests; one day, he will run and play like the other children in his village. In addition, there are uncounted Nepali brothers and sisters who send their thanks for giving them the opportunity to hear the gospel as it was shared person-to-person, through gospel tracts, in the church services, and in the great Chitwan Gospel Crusade.  They say, “thank you,” to God and to you for allowing them the opportunity to hear about salvation and hope through Jesus.  Over eighty of the top Christian leaders of Nepal send their messages of gratitude for the opportunity to come apart at a beautiful mountain resort for a time of refreshing and instruction.

Additionally, the entire staff of the hotel send their appreciation for the opportunity to interact with these pastors and the team from America–resulting in each employee’s praying the sinner’s prayer and receiving a Nepali Bible to study.  The many believers who received miracles in their backs, stomachs, ears and eyes all add their voices to the great peel of gratitude and love.  For sure, we must not overlook the politely folded hands and slightly bowed heads of the little ones at Mendies Haven who all received special gifts of candy, clothes, and toys–plus other gifts that will remain secretly hidden away until next Christmas.  Of course, we must mention Solon Karthak and Every Home Concern Ministry who were able to move into their new facility which we have been helping build; the building was completed just a week prior to our arrival and dedicated as part of the mission.  Just two thousand dollars more and the project will be debt-free!  Last, but not least, we personally say, “thank you,” for allowing us the opportunity to, once again, fulfill the call of God in bringing the Good News to the hungry land of Nepal.  Your gifts and prayers have gone farther and accomplished more this year than any of us have ever dreamed or expected. Again, we say thank you and thank Jesus!

1998
It has been twelve years now since the Lord first spoke to Delron about a ministry in Nepal.  The first four years were a period of intensive prayer for the release of the spiritual and political bondages over the nation.  In 1992, the Lord miraculously opened the door for him to begin annual trips into Nepal to teach the Nepali Christians as well as share the gospel with those who had never heard it before.  The following year, Peggy joined the mission and brought a new emphasis–an outreach to the women of Nepal.  In a Third World such as Nepal, the women are second class citizens; this really forces them into a very oppressed status–being second class in a Third World nation could almost be multiplied to result in winding up in sixth place!  But to Jesus, every person is in first place; so, one unique area of our work has been to hold an annual women’s conference in which the Christian women are taught how to advance in the love and benefits of Christ. This special emphasis on a forgotten and neglected element of society has produced tremendous fruit in the individual lives of the women and in the strengthening of the church in Nepal.  In addition to what we are able to do in person, we have been able to leave a lasting impact on the nation by publishing literature in their language and by producing radio broadcasts that were aired via shortwave on a daily basis.

We also have built a headquarters facility that serves as a home and office for the national representative in Nepal.  Over the years, we have been privileged to be able to not only effect the nation of Nepal, but to also to infect a number of Americans with the call of God for missions work in that we always use the trip as a training expedition for first-time short-term missionaries.  None of those who have traveled with us have come back the same.  Their lives have been indelibly marked by the experience of ministering the gospel to the hungry souls of Asia.  In addition, we have even received some wonderful reports from people who have helped support our ministry through prayer and with their finances; they say that they have seen the blessing of God upon their lives because of their love for the souls in Nepal.  It is now time to prepare for the next invasion into this Hindu stronghold–or should 1 say, former Hindu stronghold.  Truly, the church is growing stronger each day–in fact, one Parliament member told us that if current growth patterns continue, half of his constituency will be Christian by the year 2000!  This year, we have been asked to teach on prayer warfare–the tool we used for so many years to open the doors to the nation. We will be ministering this message to the top Christian leaders in the nation at a two-day retreat as well as preaching in the nation’s leading churches.  In addition, we will be presenting the people with material to be translated and published for distribution throughout Nepal and among Nepali-speaking people in other countries.  This year the Lord has directed that we are to go into Tibet as well as Nepal and that we are to bring our entire family-all three boys as well as Mom and Dad. That means that we are looking at a budget of around fifteen thousand dollars!  In addition, most of these funds must be in by March 31 to meet payment deadlines.  We thank God that we know that it was His voice–otherwise we would be afraid to take on such a challenge.  But we know–not just hope–that where He guides, He also provides!

We have just returned form Kathmandu, Nepal–the rooftop of the world.  Again, the Lord granted us a safe and profitable journey.  This year’s team consisted of fourteen team members–including our entire family.  It was a real answer to prayer for us to be able to take all the boys and allow them to understand what it means to see a land held in the clutches of paganism and to see the delivering power of the gospel as it wrenches the souls free from the bondage of the devil. This year, we invited the wives of all the leading pastors to join us at the National Pastors’ Conference that we sponsored.  This was a real “first,” since women in Nepal are considered second-class citizens and are regularly left out of all activities.  Of course, over the past six years that we have been holding women’s conferences, we have seen a real change in the status of women within the churches of Nepal. At the pastors’ conference, we heard pastors quoting some of the teachings we had given them the previous year–proof that the seeds we planted had taken root!  We also received what is possibly the greatest compliment that can be given when the delegates asked for another teaching session in the late evening after all the scheduled activities of the day had been completed!!  Our annual visit at the Mendies Haven was as fulfilling as ever as we were able to deliver several boxes of toys, candy, school supplies, and clothes to the children.  Most of the goodies were hidden away for next Christmas, but we did give out a sampling of the treasures.  The joy of those little children would be worth a million dollars if it could be captured and bottled for sale!  An additional activity this year was a puppet ministry that we were able to add thanks to the children’s ministry at our church that provided several professional puppets.  The boys, along with some excellent help from a couple of our team members, were able to really minister to the children of Nepal through this friendly medium.  As always, we passed out box load after box load of tracts, gospel portions, and New Testaments.

The eagerness of the people to receive Christian literature never ceased to amaze us.  At one hotel, the manager asked for a supply of the literature to distribute to his guests.  During a rain shower, we took refuge under the front awning of a store, but continued to distribute tacts to the others who had joined us in this little dry enclave.  When the owner of the store noticed us outside, he came and asked us for enough tracts to hand out to the people huddled inside his little shop.  Our total time was so booked up with ministry at conferences, churches, Bible schools, and literature distribution that it was almost impossible to find time to take the team to see some of the tourist sights of Nepal.  However, we did slip in a half-day jungle visit where we rode elephant-back to see the rhinos in their natural habitat.  Also, the Lord was very gracious in allowing the weather pattern to change on the last day of our visit so that the air pollution and clouds were blown out of the Kathmandu Valley revealing an awe-inspiring view of the snow-capped Himalayas.  One highlight that will live forever in the hearts of our team members is our visit to the strongholds of the Hinduism and Buddhism in Nepal.  After once seeing the captivity of the souls bowing to, praying to, and sacrificing to the demonic idols of paganism, no Christian can ever take lightly the command to see that they hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.  An even more indelible mark was left by the afternoon we spent with some of the persecuted saints of Nepal.  One elderly gentleman shared the story of his spiritual quest some fifty years ago when there were no Christians at all in the country.  Knowing that there was a spiritual reality he had not found, he searched even beyond the borders of his homeland until he found some people in India who offered him an open door to a new faith–Christianity.  Returning to his native land, he was confronted with a stem resistance to his newfound faith.  Over the next fourth years, he suffered interrogation, beatings, and imprisonment for sharing this “alien” religion and gathering a few followers. Even at the age of seventy-four, he was jailed and mercilessly beaten, resulting in permanent damages to his head and back. It was only the miraculous move of the hand of God in the 1990 declaration of religious tolerance that freed him to practice his faith and build his church.  Thank you so very much for your prayers and gifts to make this mission possible.

A little less than a year ago, I sat in a humble little church building thousands of miles away from here and listened as a precious old saint shared the story of his quest for God.  His story dated back the full scope of my own life.  Born and raised in the Hindu culture of the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal, he knew nothing about any other religion except for Tibetan Buddhism whose followers were interspersed among their polytheistic neighbors.  Yet inside himself, he knew that his prayers to the multitude of Hindu gods had not satisfied his quest; he sensed that there must be a god that was the true and living God; he felt that there must be a way to salvation that he had not found. His journey took him across the border into India where Christians had set up mission stations to reach wayfaring Nepali since it was still illegal to preach the gospel in Nepal.  It was there that this young man came to the end of his quest and the beginning of his pilgrimage.  He re-entered his fatherland with a burning desire for his fellow countrymen to know the same joy and fulfillment he had found.  Now, almost half a century later, he shared with me the story of rejection, sufferings, imprisonments, beatings, but–most of all–of the joys of having led many of his friends and neighbors to Jesus. I felt as if I were sitting with the Apostle Paul who wrote in II Corinthians of the tremendous trials he had endured as a servant of the Lord, yet summed up these adversities as “light afflictions.”  Just nine years ago, the Lord moved wondrously in this nation at the rooftop of the world by causing the government to grant freedom to the Christian ministry.  Since that time, there has been a tremendous harvest from the seeds sown by this and other wonderful saints of God.  The latest guestimate is that there are almost half a million believers in the nation today, and this number is doubling every year!  Again this April, Peggy and I will be returning to Nepal to do the work that has been laid upon our hearts–to help train and equip those who are called to lead these new believers.  We will also be ministering in India and Myanmar (formerly Burma) while abroad.  Will you help us with the eight thousand dollars we need to raise for this mission trip? Your gift will help us with crusade and conference expenses as well as the travel costs.

 1999

The 1999 Mission to the Roof Top of the World was a very successful trip into Thailand, Nepal, India, and Myanmar.  Thailand was just a stopover to catch our breath and get a good night’s sleep before hitting the ground running in Nepal.  We did that very literally as soon as we landed in Kathmandu.  Our first order of business was a retreat for the pastors and Christian leaders along with their wives; this was two days packed with teaching and encouragement for those on the front lines for the gospel in this Hindu nation.  As soon as this conference closed out, we divided the team members into pairs to minister in various churches and Christian groups.  We spoke in at least seven different churches, plus the Christian Professionals Fellowship and three Women’s Aglow meetings.

There was also a two-day women’s leadership conference and a wedding–Delron had the privilege to officiate at the marriage ceremony for Bob Wesley, a long-time friend from South Bend who in living and ministering in Kathmandu now; Bob married a beautiful little Nepali girl.  The national election shut down the whole nation with travel strictly prohibited.  That is, it shut down everyone except the Mission to the Roof Top of the World!  The only vehicles allowed on the roads were emergency vehicles with Red Cross flags–which we managed to get from a Christian hospital.  We were the only ones on the road as we traveled to three different Bible colleges and training centers to teach the students whose regular teachers weren’t even able to get to the classes!  The day after the election, we left Nepal for a three-day training conference for the pastors from the Himalayan region of India.  Well, let us say that we tried to leave Nepal–we were detained at the border because one of jeeps we were riding in had been involved in a hit-and-run accident with a sacred Hindu cow just before picking us up.  The car and driver were held by police for a lengthy interrogation.  When we were finally allowed to leave, we were so far behind schedule that I had to rush right into the pulpit without taking a shower or even changing clothes after the all-day trip in the sweltering heat and dusty conditions.  The pastors were so eager for the Word that they had waited for almost an hour after the preliminaries of the meeting had concluded.  These meetings that were held in Darjeeling, the home of the famous tea, drew pastors and leaders from as far away as the country of Bhutan.

After completing the ministry in the hill country, we headed toward the coastal city of Calcutta to spend a day with Zac Patnaik, a good friend of the ministry who operates a school for the children from the city’s great slums. From there, some of the team headed back to the US while the others stopped in Myanmar (formerly Burma) for a four-day training conference for the pastors and Christian leaders from the capitol city of Yangon.  The meetings were hosted by Rev. Dong Mang, one of the graduates from the Bible college here in South Bend.  In every place we visited, we saw signs of increased persecution of believers; at the same time, we saw tremendous growth in both numbers and maturity within the Body of Christ.  We were repeatedly told that our messages were exactly what the believers were needing and that they felt that our mission was God’s special boost to the church for this specific time.  Thank you for helping to make it possible for us to shout the Good News from the Roof Top of the World.

2000
The millennium year trip will actually be two missions in one.  Delron will be leading a group that will go directly into Nepal to participate in a nation-wide conference and Easter celebration.  There will also be a special service commemorating ten years of religious freedom in the Kingdom of Nepal.  Peggy will be leading a group that will visit the nation of Myanmar to host a national Christian woman’s conference and Easter celebration before joining the rest of the team in Nepal.  Again this time, we will be invading the Himalayan region of India as well as Nepal.  In addition, we will be ministering in a Bhutanese refugee camp in Nepal.  In my little book of Christmas Meditations, the chapter “Where’s Waldo” concluded with the statement: “I pray that it is among these lowly shepherds that I find myself.  May the Christ of Christmas so effect me that I am ready and willing to leave behind the mundane and follow the Great Commission, heeding the command of that favorite Christmas tune, “Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born!”  In just a few weeks, I again have the privilege of seeing that prayer fulfilled by returning to the world’s highest mountains to loudly proclaim that Jesus Christ is born!  Nepal has been experiencing one of the greatest movements toward God in history; yet, it has been said that the church there is growing out, not up.  In other words, there has been a tremendous growth in numbers, but a marked lack of training and maturing in the Christian faith.  I believe that it is for this very reason that I have been called to work among these humble people; every year I am able to help correct the errors that they occasionally fall into through ignorance.

The personal teaching ministry and the literature I am able to provide plus the books that are published from the teachings I give in the country help to establish a solid biblical foundation in their leadership.  In a sense, I am discipling the men who disciple the nation.  This spring marks the tenth anniversary of religious freedom in the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal–a nation that was formerly dedicated solely to Hindu paganism.  It also marks my ninth mission to these lovely people.  On this year’s trip, I have before me what is possibly the greatest opportunity of my life to this point.  I have been invited to teach all of the Christian leaders of the nation in a weeklong training conference.  On previous missions, I have conducted national leadership training conferences in the capital city of Kathmandu and regional conferences in many of the districts of the country.  However, this is the first time we have been able to hold a conference of this massive scale that will encompass every district of the nation and bring their top leadership for intensive training!  I recently heard the statistics of the potential effectiveness of the discipleship and training ministry such as we do.  If an evangelist averages reaching twenty people per week, he can have the incredible results of leading over one thousand souls to the Lord each year.  On the other hand, a teacher may only disciple one person each six months.  However, part of that training will be to teach the disciple how to impart his training to another person during the following six months.  If he will, in turn, teach his charge to do the same during the following six months.  The end result is that within less than seventeen years, every person on the planet will be a trained disciple of Christ as opposed to the seventeen thousand converts that would have been won by the evangelist.  When the work of the evangelist and the work of the disciple are teamed together, completing The Great Commission will become “a piece of cake”!  Also on this year’s mission, Peggy will be ministering in the Buddhist nation of Myanmar to the nation’s top women Christian leaders.  She will then be joining me in Nepal to minister to the Christian women leaders there.

Afterwards, we will be traveling to Darjeeling, India, to hold a training conference for the leadership in than area.  Along the way, we will stop at a Bhutanese refugee camp where we will have the privilege of ministering to one of the least evangelized people groups on the face of the earth.  Our trip will conclude with a shorn stop in Calcutta, India, where we will have the opportunity to bless the little children who are gathered daily off the streets of the slums and brought into a Christian school where they are given hope for a future through the caring love of believers who educate them, feed them, clothe them, and teach them the Word of God.  One other highlight of this year’s mission will be the dedication of a piece off ground which the Lord has helped us buy for the construction of a Bible college in the city, of Pokhara, Nepal, where the next generation of national leaders is to be trained!

Our work in Nepal took a dramatic leap forward this year as we were able to secure a generous grant from a charitable foundation.  These funds enabled us to purchase the land for a Bible college in Pokhara, Nepal’s second largest city. The property already has a building that we will be able to renovate for the college use.  We were also able to help purchase a vehicle for the director of the ministry in Kathmandu.  This all-terrain vehicle will be used to take the gospel from one end of Nepal to the other–across the streams, over the mountains, and through the jungles!  In addition to these two special projects made possible through the grant, we have also seen a tremendous growth in what we have been able to do with the support of the friends of Tower Ministries.  Again, this year, we took a team of missionaries into Nepal, India, and Myanmar (Burma). Delron was honored to be invited to teach in a nation-wide training conference that brought in seven hundred delegates from all over Nepal and other Himalayan regions that are still closed to the gospel.  From the bottom of our heart, we want to thank you for being our friends and wish you a happy holiday season and a blessed year.

2001

Nestled in the Himalaya Mountains between China and India, this small nation of nearly twenty-nine million people is still basically Hindu although the king was recently removed from power and a secular democracy put in place.  Hindus still make up seventy-two percent of the nation.  Buddhists claim nine percent, and Muslims comprise four percent.  Christians trail at fourth, with four percent.  However, Christianity is growing twice as fast as other faiths, and the church is growing faster there than in any other nation in the world.  In 1960, missiologist Patrick Johnstone reported just twenty-five believers.  Today the number has risen to more than a million, and that number is projected to double within the next quarter century.
William Carey’s Serampore Mission group prepared the way for evangelization activities in Nepal when it translated the Bible into Nepali in 1821.  The legendary Sadhu Sundar Singh trekked through Nepal on several trips to preach in the early 1900s.  Early mission attempts into Nepal included Scottish missionary William MacFarlane’s Eastern Himalayan Mission that focused on education and evangelism in the late nineteenth century, and the Australian Nepalese Mission that was founded in Melbourne in 1911.  Ganga Prasad Pradhan, born into a wealthy family in Kathmandu in 1851, became the first ordained Nepali pastor.  He was expelled in 1914 by the royal decree, “There is no room for Christians in Nepal.”  Some forty years later, his grandson, Rajendra Rongong (our personal friend), was among the first group of Darjeeling Nepali Christians to return to Kathmandu.  It was at that point that Christianity really began to take root in the country under the leadership of our dear friend Rev. Robert Karthak.  Other close friends of ours who came into Nepal at this same time to do social work and to spread their faith included Eileen Lodge who has given more than fifty years of service to the lepers of Nepal and Elizabeth Mendies who has cared for the country’s orphans for the same amount of time.  In addition, a group of mostly Western missionaries formed the United Mission to Nepal (UMN) in 1954, focusing on medical and educational work.  UMN missionaries signed a required agreement with the king not to proselytize.  However, some ethnic Nepali Christians were determined to be more open about their faith.  For example, the late missionary Prem Pradhan proclaimed, “Christ died for me openly before all; how can I proclaim Him privately?”  He received a six-year prison term for baptizing nine believers in 1960, but was released under amnesty rules on the king’s birthday, after serving four-and-a-half years in prison.  Despite hardship, Prem Pradhan established a missionary school in Kathmandu with support from US-based Christian Aid Mission.  However in 1972 royal troops closed the school and killed one of the teachers.  Prem was again sentenced to prison; this time for twenty thousand days (53 years), but he was eventually freed after paying a ransom of one rupee per day ($2,000).  While in jail, at least a dozen political prisoners became Christians who, after their release, helped spread Christianity and to establish churches.  Another missionary, a former Hindu priest, began circulating a Bible correspondence course in the 1980s; more than four hundred thousand Nepalis eventually subscribed to the course.

Today more than half of all Christians belong to independent groups, and charismatics number some six hundred fifty thousand.  When Every Home for Christ began its outreach into Nepal in 1982, it was illegal for Christians to share the gospel, but former EHC Director Solon Karthak began working with a handful of courageous believers with the vision of visiting every home in the country to share their faith.  To date, EHC has reached every home, even in the most remote villages and has more than halfway completed a second coverage of the country.  They report more than three hundred fifty thousand responses to their literature outreaches and have established almost nine thousand Christ Groups, which are essentially pioneer church plants.  The growth of Christianity in Nepal has occurred exactly the way it did as narrated in the book of Acts or in the gospels–through healing the sick, casting out demons, forgiving sinners, reconciling families, and giving the hope of eternal life.  Evangelism is easier in the cities because people are less connected than in the villages where everyone in part of a corporate whole rather than nuclear families or individuals on their own.  In the villages, Christians are considered unclean because they don’t participate in the Hindu, Buddhist, or Muslim rituals of the locality.  Those who eat meat, especially those in Hindu villages who eat beef and those in Muslim villages who eat pork, are banned from touching the community water supply and other facilities for fear that they will “contaminate” the other villagers.  The result is that they are essentially outcasts and wind up being excommunicated.

Though there is a tremendous revival spirit throughout the country, not all is peaceful.  Nepali Christians have faced all kinds of abuse and isolation in recent years.  Many have even paid the ultimate price for their faith.  Our translator recently wrote concerning an experience in which one of his pastor friends visited his home to share the gospel and show the Jesus Film.  Unfortunately, our translator’s father became very angry and forced the guest to turn off the film and run from the house.  But this kind of hostility is not only localized in a few homes here and there; it is widespread throughout the country.  Several months ago a bomb was detonated inside a church, killing two believers and injuring fourteen others.  Miraculously, the kingpin behind the bombing plot was arrested and placed in a prison where there is a very active Christian Bible study and fellowship.  Recent reports we have received from that group tell us that the man behind the bombings is now attending their fellowship meetings and responding to the gospel.  He has repented for his deeds and has extended an official apology to the church and asked for their forgiveness.  In addition to the religious hostilities the believers have experienced, the country as a whole has suffered greatly under the Maoist insurgency that has cost the country thousands of lives and untold difficulties through strikes that have totally shut down the government and economy of the country.  The people have experienced extreme shortage of daily supplies, and the prices of daily essentials have been increased unexpectedly.  However, Nepal’s churches are not shutting down despite the political turmoil in the country.  In fact, churches in Nepal are actually growing while the Maoist party continues strikes and protests.  At one point, the insurgents implemented a policy of extortion of Christian leaders in which demands for large sums of money were accompanied by threats of kidnappings or burning of homes if the funds were not delivered.  Very close personal friends and co-workers of ours in Nepal were targeted in these extortion plots; however, they were protected through God’s grace and the prayers of the saints.

The political system of the country has been in a constant state of flux during our entire experience there.  At present, there is no active constitution in place, though a constitutional congress of six hundred five delegates have been selected.  Unfortunately, there are no Christian representatives among them.  Although this body’s first task is to be to install a new prime minister, eleven attempts have failed to place a chief executive in power.  While extreme forces attempt to return the country to a Hindu state and a popular movement wishes to reinstate the royal family, the Maoists are claiming a commonality with the Christians because they both want a secular state based on a democratic process.  Presently, Christians have total freedom, Christmas is now recognized as a legal holiday, and in a recent public display (even broadcast on television) the government honored the Christian leadership for their contributions to the country; however, all that can change overnight if a new constitution is adopted which returns the country to its Hindu roots.

C
harisma Magazine reported Nepal as the hottest spot on the planet for the gospel at this moment.  The article said that the church is growing there faster than in any other place in the world.  We can certainly confirm this report from having been an active part of the revival for the past thirteen years.  We have friends in the country who can personally remember when they could count the entire Christian population on the fingers of their hands; today, the number of believers is pushing one million!

Since religious freedom was granted in the nation in the early ’90s, Teach All Nations has been dedicated to going into Nepal to train leaders for this emerging church.  On our first mission into the country, we were asked to start by explaining what the word “hallelujah” means.  Since that time, we have been able to teach the leaders many principles including such practical truths as the operation of the gifts of the Spirit, spiritual warfare, and deliverance.  In addition, we have been privileged to publish a number of books and teaching materials in the Nepali language as well as to provide materials in English for those who know the language.  The following articles chronicle our work in Nepal over the years of our involvement.

2002

Nestled in the Himalaya Mountains between China and India, this small nation of nearly twenty-nine million people is still basically Hindu although the king was recently removed from power and a secular democracy put in place.  Hindus still make up seventy-two percent of the nation.  Buddhists claim nine percent, and Muslims comprise four percent.  Christians trail at fourth, with four percent.  However, Christianity is growing twice as fast as other faiths, and the church is growing faster there than in any other nation in the world.  In 1960, missiologist Patrick Johnstone reported just twenty-five believers.  Today the number has risen to more than a million, and that number is projected to double within the next quarter century.
William Carey’s Serampore Mission group prepared the way for evangelization activities in Nepal when it translated the Bible into Nepali in 1821.  The legendary Sadhu Sundar Singh trekked through Nepal on several trips to preach in the early 1900s.  Early mission attempts into Nepal included Scottish missionary William MacFarlane’s Eastern Himalayan Mission that focused on education and evangelism in the late nineteenth century, and the Australian Nepalese Mission that was founded in Melbourne in 1911.  Ganga Prasad Pradhan, born into a wealthy family in Kathmandu in 1851, became the first ordained Nepali pastor.  He was expelled in 1914 by the royal decree, “There is no room for Christians in Nepal.”  Some forty years later, his grandson, Rajendra Rongong (our personal friend), was among the first group of Darjeeling Nepali Christians to return to Kathmandu.  It was at that point that Christianity really began to take root in the country under the leadership of our dear friend Rev. Robert Karthak.  Other close friends of ours who came into Nepal at this same time to do social work and to spread their faith included Eileen Lodge who has given more than fifty years of service to the lepers of Nepal and Elizabeth Mendies who has cared for the country’s orphans for the same amount of time.  In addition, a group of mostly Western missionaries formed the United Mission to Nepal (UMN) in 1954, focusing on medical and educational work.  UMN missionaries signed a required agreement with the king not to proselytize.  However, some ethnic Nepali Christians were determined to be more open about their faith.  For example, the late missionary Prem Pradhan proclaimed, “Christ died for me openly before all; how can I proclaim Him privately?”  He received a six-year prison term for baptizing nine believers in 1960, but was released under amnesty rules on the king’s birthday, after serving four-and-a-half years in prison.  Despite hardship, Prem Pradhan established a missionary school in Kathmandu with support from US-based Christian Aid Mission.  However in 1972 royal troops closed the school and killed one of the teachers.  Prem was again sentenced to prison; this time for twenty thousand days (53 years), but he was eventually freed after paying a ransom of one rupee per day ($2,000).  While in jail, at least a dozen political prisoners became Christians who, after their release, helped spread Christianity and to establish churches.  Another missionary, a former Hindu priest, began circulating a Bible correspondence course in the 1980s; more than four hundred thousand Nepalis eventually subscribed to the course.

Today more than half of all Christians belong to independent groups, and charismatics number some six hundred fifty thousand.  When Every Home for Christ began its outreach into Nepal in 1982, it was illegal for Christians to share the gospel, but former EHC Director Solon Karthak began working with a handful of courageous believers with the vision of visiting every home in the country to share their faith.  To date, EHC has reached every home, even in the most remote villages and has more than halfway completed a second coverage of the country.  They report more than three hundred fifty thousand responses to their literature outreaches and have established almost nine thousand Christ Groups, which are essentially pioneer church plants.  The growth of Christianity in Nepal has occurred exactly the way it did as narrated in the book of Acts or in the gospels–through healing the sick, casting out demons, forgiving sinners, reconciling families, and giving the hope of eternal life.  Evangelism is easier in the cities because people are less connected than in the villages where everyone in part of a corporate whole rather than nuclear families or individuals on their own.  In the villages, Christians are considered unclean because they don’t participate in the Hindu, Buddhist, or Muslim rituals of the locality.  Those who eat meat, especially those in Hindu villages who eat beef and those in Muslim villages who eat pork, are banned from touching the community water supply and other facilities for fear that they will “contaminate” the other villagers.  The result is that they are essentially outcasts and wind up being excommunicated.

Though there is a tremendous revival spirit throughout the country, not all is peaceful.  Nepali Christians have faced all kinds of abuse and isolation in recent years.  Many have even paid the ultimate price for their faith.  Our translator recently wrote concerning an experience in which one of his pastor friends visited his home to share the gospel and show the Jesus Film.  Unfortunately, our translator’s father became very angry and forced the guest to turn off the film and run from the house.  But this kind of hostility is not only localized in a few homes here and there; it is widespread throughout the country.  Several months ago a bomb was detonated inside a church, killing two believers and injuring fourteen others.  Miraculously, the kingpin behind the bombing plot was arrested and placed in a prison where there is a very active Christian Bible study and fellowship.  Recent reports we have received from that group tell us that the man behind the bombings is now attending their fellowship meetings and responding to the gospel.  He has repented for his deeds and has extended an official apology to the church and asked for their forgiveness.  In addition to the religious hostilities the believers have experienced, the country as a whole has suffered greatly under the Maoist insurgency that has cost the country thousands of lives and untold difficulties through strikes that have totally shut down the government and economy of the country.  The people have experienced extreme shortage of daily supplies, and the prices of daily essentials have been increased unexpectedly.  However, Nepal’s churches are not shutting down despite the political turmoil in the country.  In fact, churches in Nepal are actually growing while the Maoist party continues strikes and protests.  At one point, the insurgents implemented a policy of extortion of Christian leaders in which demands for large sums of money were accompanied by threats of kidnappings or burning of homes if the funds were not delivered.  Very close personal friends and co-workers of ours in Nepal were targeted in these extortion plots; however, they were protected through God’s grace and the prayers of the saints.

The political system of the country has been in a constant state of flux during our entire experience there.  At present, there is no active constitution in place, though a constitutional congress of six hundred five delegates have been selected.  Unfortunately, there are no Christian representatives among them.  Although this body’s first task is to be to install a new prime minister, eleven attempts have failed to place a chief executive in power.  While extreme forces attempt to return the country to a Hindu state and a popular movement wishes to reinstate the royal family, the Maoists are claiming a commonality with the Christians because they both want a secular state based on a democratic process.  Presently, Christians have total freedom, Christmas is now recognized as a legal holiday, and in a recent public display (even broadcast on television) the government honored the Christian leadership for their contributions to the country; however, all that can change overnight if a new constitution is adopted which returns the country to its Hindu roots.

C
harisma Magazine reported Nepal as the hottest spot on the planet for the gospel at this moment.  The article said that the church is growing there faster than in any other place in the world.  We can certainly confirm this report from having been an active part of the revival for the past thirteen years.  We have friends in the country who can personally remember when they could count the entire Christian population on the fingers of their hands; today, the number of believers is pushing one million!

Since religious freedom was granted in the nation in the early ’90s, Teach All Nations has been dedicated to going into Nepal to train leaders for this emerging church.  On our first mission into the country, we were asked to start by explaining what the word “hallelujah” means.  Since that time, we have been able to teach the leaders many principles including such practical truths as the operation of the gifts of the Spirit, spiritual warfare, and deliverance.  In addition, we have been privileged to publish a number of books and teaching materials in the Nepali language as well as to provide materials in English for those who know the language.  The following articles chronicle our work in Nepal over the years of our involvement.

2005

While traveling between South Bend and the island of Hispaniola for the Dominican Republic and Haiti mission trip, Delron received news of an escalation of political turmoil in Nepal.  The king had ousted the democratically elected government.  During the entire time we have been ministering in the Himalayan kingdom, we have seen the ebb and flow of the various forces that try to dominate Nepal’s delicate political landscape.  Over the last several years, the Maoists have continued to flex their muscles through violence and threats.  These hostilities, added to the already constant instability between Nepal’s monarchy and the democratic parties, have greatly intensified Nepal’s already sensitive balance of power.  Last year, he had to be escorted between the airport and the hotel by armed military patrols.  We had to cancel some of our conferences due to the Maoist-mandated strike that kept everyone off the public roads and away from any form of mass assembly.  On a previous mission, our visit coincided with their national election–a highly charged moment when violence is more than a threat; it is an extremely real possibility.

During the election, all the businesses are closed and no form of motorized transportation is allowed on the streets.  Had it not been for a friend in the hospital who arranged for us to be shuttled to the Bible school in an ambulance, we would not have been able to teach during this transportation ban. On another occasion, we had just left the country when the entire royal family except the presently seated king was massacred.  The present situation in the country is that the king has disbanded the elected government and taken full authority within the country.  Of course, there have been retaliations from the Maoists as well as the general populace.  The conditions have become so touchy that the United States and most European countries have brought their consulates from the country.  Our contacts inside the country and our friends in the deposed government all advised us that the situation is very volatile and that it was uncertain as to whether we will be able to hold any public meetings upon our arrival.  Therefore, we decided to replace our annual visit to Nepal with a mission to the tsunami-effected areas of India and Sri Lanka.  There was no concern or fear that any harm would come to us when we are inside the country.  Our concern is rather one of stewardship of mission funds and time.  We do not want to spend the Lord’s money and commit our time only to be quarantined in our hotel due to travel restrictions in the country.

Even before we received the news of the developments in Nepal, we had already been praying about the possibility of rearranging the schedule to allow us time to stop in India and Sri Lanka to visit some of the ministries we are supporting in their tsunami relief efforts.  As soon as we received the news of the tragedy, we contacted ministries we have worked with in Myanmar, India, and Sri Lanka to ensure that they were safe.  Once we learned how they were responding to the disaster, we immediately sent funds to help in their efforts.  In addition, we were blessed to be able to pay the shipping for a full container of food to be shipped to the tsunami victims in Indonesia.  When I walked into the office of the director of Feed the Hungry to ask him how much it would cost to ship a container of food, he responded with awe.  He had just received the donation of a full container of beans and had just gotten off the phone with the shipping company establishing the charges to transport it.  Now he was at his desk asking the Lord where the funds would come from to pay the freight!  A few days later, Delron was present at the warehouse to see the container loaded and precious life-giving cargo sent on its way.

2006
“I can’t come out.  I can’t come out.”  In perfect English intonation without even a hint of a Nepali accent, these words tumbled out of the mouth of a young man who otherwise couldn’t speak a word of English.  The victim of this demonic manifestation had come for prayer after the seminar in Pokahara, Nepal, reporting that he had some sort of sickness.  Before his interpreter could begin to explain what the young man’s problem was, the evil spirit that controlled him began to cause his whole body to launch into convulsions.  With arms thrashing, legs jerking violently, and head lashing from side to side, the poor subject of this demonic torment fell to the floor in the most vicious demonstration of fiendish control we had ever witnessed.  As we commanded the demon to go out of the boy, his lips became the instruments of the spirit telling us that he could not come out.  Rejoicing in the fact that the devil is a liar, we knew that this was nothing more than an announcement that he was ready to yield to our command.  Within minutes, the boy was again on his feet and calmly speaking to us in his native Nepali language.
This dramatic deliverance seemed like a graphic illustration of how the power of God is dynamically invading the previous strongholds of the devil in Nepal.  It seemed like a divinely appointed visual symbol of the powerful spiritual deliverance and religious freedom the region is experiencing.  Just as the young victim of the demonic possession was freed from his thrashing and restored to his right mind, the nation of Nepal has also experienced a great touch of God–unquestionably the result of the supplications of God’s people around the world.  One of the most significant outcomes of the conflict has been the declaration of the nation as a secular state.  Since Nepal is no longer a Hindu kingdom, the citizens have unprecedented freedom to follow Christ–not only in their own personal lives and convictions but in their freedom to preach and share their faith with others.

While in Nepal, we held a large pastors’ conference at the Bible college we help support in Pokhara.  We launched our visit by hosting a banquet for the local pastors.  In addition to a great meal, they received a challenging message from I Thessalonians concerning the five foundations of a successful ministry (the Word, the power of God, the fruit of the Holy Spirit, assurance, and a godly lifestyle).  For the next two days, the campus became a conference center with the auditorium and two overflow tents packed to capacity with the approximately seven hundred pastors and leaders from the entire surrounding region.  TAN had hired busses to make rounds to bring the delegates to the meetings.  Following seven different routes, the busses picked up the delegates from the congregations within a two-hour drive of the campus.  Some of the busses were so packed that delegates scrambled to the roof of the vehicles to ride in typical Nepali style.

A special highlight of our visit was seeing the new building that we have helped to erect on the campus.  We were also delighted to see that many general improvements had been made around the grounds and in the other facilities on the campus.  We also had the privilege of presenting the school with a tape duplicator, a gift from a church in South Carolina.  They put the duplicator into immediate use by offering pastors the tapes from the conference.  On the day before the conference began and each evening after the delegates boarded the busses for home, Delron and Fred Taylor ministered to the students.
The concluding days of our mission were spent in Kathmandu where we ministered in six different churches.  In one church, Delron had to preach three times due to the multiple services necessary to accommodate the growing congregation. A highlight of our visit was a banquet with about a hundred and thirty-five of the nation’s top Christian leaders.  In addition to being a time when we are able to input into their lives, this get-together also spurs networking among the local ministries.  TAN also held a two-day leadership conference with leaders from area ministries that reach throughout the whole nation and surrounding Himalayan region.  Peggy and Linda Easton were also featured speakers at a full-day Women’s Aglow seminar in Pokhara and a two-day Aglow conference in Kathmandu.  Not wanting to waste a moment of our time in Nepal, we stopped at a local Bible college and spoke in a chapel service even as we were on our way to airport to head home.

The theme of the pastor’s seminars was based on the letters to the seven churches in Revelation chapters two and three with a special emphasis on a pure heart which the Lord searched for in the churches and the open door He had set before the Philadelphian church.  We encouraged the pastors that they, too, have an open door set before them – a door that is getting wider and wider each day.  We drew examples from the initiation of the new Tibetan church and the news of the recently opened door to Bhutan as the king has decided to yield the throne to his son who has pledged to grant democratic government within the next couple years.  Another dramatic example came from the fact that the Nepali government has just given the Nepal Prison Fellowship permission to build a chapel inside the federal prison.

Top leaders within Nepal asked that the messages be transcribed and released as a book in Nepali.  Because of the scarcity of biblical teaching materials in Nepali, the available materials are highly treasured and are shared widely among the leaders.  Your gift toward this will actually have an unlimited impact as each book will pass through many hands and be carefully read multiple times.  Your special gift this month will help us pay some of the outstanding expenses from the recent mission and also help us get the lessons transcribed, edited, and published so that the teachings can be fully distributed throughout the country.

This past year in Nepal was marked by severe conflict, political deadlock, and loss of hundreds of lives. Many feel that it has been one of the worst years in the country’s history! One of our good friends in Nepal summed up the situation, “Killing of men and women has become like killings of birds and animals.  Only prayer can change the situation in our country.”  The king took direct rule and took total control of the country last February, aiming at crushing Maoist rebels who have been waging an armed campaign against the state for the past ten years.  Over 13,000 people have died as the Maoists have fought to turn Nepal into a single-party communist republic.  In addition to the tragic loss of life and the direct suffering and oppression of the people due to the violence, the nation has suffered economically due to the disruption of transportation, communications, and business during the many strikes and curfews imposed on the country and the major downturn in tourism, one of the country’s main sources of income.  The upheaval in the country has also prompted cutbacks in international aid–which finances about a quarter of Nepal’s budget–leaving the country on the brink of a humanitarian crisis.  A ceasefire between the government and the Maoists ended after four months with the Maoists claiming that the king had failed to reciprocate.  In the recent election, two hundred candidates dropped off the ballots after threats from the Maoists.  The light voter turnout and the pro-monarchy results have prompted some observers to claim that the election was rigged. Many leaders fear that the level of violence and abuse will soon escalate beyond control.

In many areas of Nepal, choosing to follow Christ can lead to ostracism, rejection or even death. After confessing Jesus as Lord, they are expelled from their Hindu families, cut off from support and considered unclean. In fact, when a believer visits the house of a strict Hindu, the home must be ritually purified after he or she leaves. In villages, Christians are many times forbidden from using public wells and must walk miles to find other water sources. The physical and psychological toll this rejection takes on new believers is great. Many Nepalese, seeing this harsh treatment of Christians in their homeland, are afraid to follow Christ even if they are convinced He is the truth.

As we have seen one natural disaster after another ravage our planet–from a tsunami in South Asia, to the hurricanes in the US, to the earthquake in Pakistan, to mudslides in Guatemala–this past year has helped us come to the realization that Mother Nature can become brutal and that even the most well prepared nation can be just as devastated as a developing third-world.  Every year, the rainy season ushers in tragic loss of life in Nepal through flooding and landslides.  Because the people live on the slopes of the soaring Himalayan Mountains and in the valleys below the peaks, they are always vulnerable as the streams can suddenly swell into raging torrents cascading down the precipitous mountainsides.  Since most of the country lacks modern early warning systems, entire villages are often inundated without prior notice.  Having seen how a recent earthquake ravaged Pakistan, we should remember that Nepal ranks eleventh among the list of most quake-prone countries.  Seismologists say that the nation is “sitting on a powder keg.”  Speaking of a deadly major earthquake, one expert on the area says, “It might strike tomorrow or ten years later, but it will inevitably strike some day.”  The increasing population, uncontrolled urban development, and the lack of quake-poof construction have made Nepal a very high-risk area.  Quakes in Nepal have been recorded as early as 1255 AD, when one-third to one-fourth of the population of the Kathmandu Valley was reported to have been wiped out.  This was followed by three low intensity quakes in 1408, 1618 and 1810.  But in the famous earthquake of 1833 in which 500 people were killed, the entire Kathmandu Valley was devastated.  The most severe earthquake occurred in the Nepal-Bihar region in 1934.  Measuring 8 on the Richter scale, it killed over 16,000 people.  The country has witnessed two more major quakes since then.  In 1980, a 6.5 tremor jolted northwestern Nepal, killing 178 people.  In 1988, a 6.8 tremor hit southeastern Nepal, leaving 721 dead.

Seventy to eighty percent of pastors in Nepal are semiliterate and, therefore, can’t read their Bibles.  At the same time, the church in Nepal continues to rank as one of the fasting growing churches in the world.  Every building is packed to capacity and many hold several services each weekend.  Our commission from the Lord is to go into all nations and teach the Christian leaders so that they have an adequate foundation from which they can then train their people.  As the dear people of Nepal face such uncertain times and threats on every hand–political, religions, and natural–they must have a solid foundation for their faith.  Our job is to equip their leaders, even though they must deal with almost insurmountable educational and economic hindrances.

We all know the Lord’s statement that the harvest is plenteous but the laborers are few.  However, I would like to suggest a little different consideration of the situation: the harvest is plenteous but the laborers are untrained.  When I see Nepali women harvesting her grain with very primitive implements, it also helps me get a glimpse of the need for training for the spiritual harvest as well.  When we first went to Nepal, I asked the Christian leaders where we should begin in teaching them; the reply was, “Well, start with telling us what hallelujah means.”  From there, we began laying foundations and building block upon block with each return trip.  The church in Asia, and Nepal in particular, has flourished and is considered to be the fasting growing segment in the Body of Christ today; however, there is continuing need for biblical training and leadership development.  This is why we have continued to return as often as possible to encourage and instruct the leadership.   Each trip is an occasion to build another layer on the foundations we have been laying. The missions are demanding and expensive, but we simply remind ourselves of Dr. Lester Sumrall’s vision of the combine tractor and the donkey-pulled plow.  The antiquated system took days to do the same task that the modern equipment accomplished within a few hours.  It is worth the investment to see that our brothers and sisters in Asia are able to adequately reap their harvest.

2007
In the December 25 issue of US News & World Report, Delron ran across a story about Barbara McCuen, a Washington-based web devel­oper who, while vacationing in Nepal, gained an appreciation for how hard the people work and how hard their lives are there.  Barbara said she came home with “a lifelong connection to a place.”  When he flipped the page to read the next article, he was surprised to find the account of Microsoft executive John Wood who had also had a life-changing experience while trekking in Nepal, a country with one of the world’s highest illiteracy rates. When he happened to walk into a school with dirt floors that turned to mud in the rain, he discovered that the school was completely devoid of books.  He was so disturbed by what he saw that he founded a charity that has built almost two hundred schools and over twenty-five hundred libraries in Nepal and other developing countries around the world.

Delron says that he was amazed that this secular magazine carried two separate stories of people whose lives were impacted by their visits to Nepal.  But the reality of these stories was nothing new to him for he has seen it dozens of times as we have taken guests with us on our mission trips to this Himalayan nation.  Delron has often said that the impact the mission trip has on those who travel with us far outweighs the impact we have on the nation.

True, the impact is reciprocal.  Even the first-times who have little experience leave a lasting impact upon the nation.  The gifts they bring give hope and joy to the orphans, the tracts they distribute bring salvation to the people on the streets, the prayers they pray result in healing and comfort to the afflicted, the testimonies they share encourage the believers, and the fact that they invested so much and came so far to share God’s love make everyone feel especially loved.  But we really feel that the most long-lasting impact is in the lives of those who made the trek to the rooftop of the world.  Many of these first-time missionaries are now full-time pastors, others are active in other functions within their local churches, most of them are committed to the fulfilling the Great Commission by prayer and financial support of various missionary efforts.
In Nepal this year, Delron was honored to be able to take part in the Golden Jubilee Celebration commemorating fifty years of Christian presence in the country.  We honored those who planted the first seeds of the gospel in this Hindu land and who nurtured the church through its many years of underground ministry and into recent days of harvest.  In the 1950s there were no Christians in Nepal.  By the 1960s there were a handful of Christians, but in the 70s and 80s, there was explosive growth.  At the present moment, the number of Christians in Nepal is unknown, but is likely approaching one million.  Nestled in the mountains between China and India, this small Himalayan kingdom is a bright spot where the church is growing faster than in any other nation.  The Nepali Christians have faced all kinds of abuse and isolation through the years.  Many paid the ultimate price for their faith.  The old saying, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church,” is true for Nepal.  Yet great fruit has come from their sacrifice.  It was truly mind-boggling to see the crowds gathered for the Jubilee Celebration.  The event was held in the new building of Gyaneswor Church in Kathmandu, which was founded by Pastor Robert Karthak fifty years ago and is still under his active leadership.  The new two-story church building, which was opened just in time for the celebration, was built totally with local funds.  Although a few international ministries such as TAN did voluntarily contribute to the project, the church made a decision to raise all the funds themselves without asking for any outside assistance.  According to the official estimate by the church elders, the building seats fifteen hundred in the lower level and twenty-five hundred in the upper level.  From my personal observation, I’m sure that we had several hundred more than that estimate crammed into the facility for the celebration.  In addition to the awesome celebration service, the congregation also provided a free meal to everyone who attended–an incredible feat in itself!

Before heading to eastern Nepal to lead a pastors’ conference for the leaders in this region that Delron had not visited before, he ministered in a couple churches in Kathmandu.  In the east, he was thrilled to meet more than one hundred and sixty of the young men and ladies who have answered the call to evangelize and pastor their region.  The lessons from the life of King David spoke directly into their situations.  His last stop before reporting to the airport as I headed home, was in the Bible college to teach the students.

2008
Visit #1
This was Delron’s seventeenth visit to Nepal.  His old passport was so filled with Nepali visas that he was once asked by the immigrations officer why he didn’t just move there.  Since his new passport was issued just after his last visit and this trip’s visa would be the first one, Delron thought that he would avoid some of the usual questions about why he was coming back so often.  Instead, the officer asked him the same old question with a new slant, “Is this the first time you have been in Nepal this year?”  Delron says that he guesses that they have become so accustomed to admitting me to the country that they are expecting him to show up all the time.

Over the years that we have been visiting the country, we have seen some remarkable changes.  He has watched the country go through political upheaval with the assassination of the entire royal family and the Maoist-led civil insurgency.  We have seen environmental issues addressed with the removal of the heavily polluting auto-rickshaws, which were once the mainstay of transportation in Kathmandu.  We have observed the economic advancement of the people from year to year, evidenced in the changes in the way they are able to dress.  We have watched a younger, more educated generation move into leadership, obvious from the greater percentage of folks who can communicate in English and the fact that almost everyone now takes notes in the teaching sessions–something that was unheard of when we first began our missions in their country.  We have seen the church prosper and flourish with large, beautiful, new buildings–most of them with sound systems and other modern equipment.  With the recent removal of the monarchy and implementation of a democratic secular government, we have seen abolition of Nepal’s recognition as the world’s only Hindu kingdom.

This past December, the nation of Nepal passed two significant milestones in its attempt to enter the twenty-first century with recognition of human rights and freedoms–one good, and one not so good.  This past Christmas was the first in the history of Nepal which was recognized as a legal holiday; however, just days before the Christian celebration another group of Nepali was celebrating another legalization, the decimalization of homosexuality.  In fact, the Supreme Court went so far as to rule in favor of recognizing an additional category so that individuals who do not wish to identify themselves as male or female can classify themselves as “third gender.”

On April 10, Nepal will take what should be another giant step forward toward becoming a functional democracy as they hold a long-awaited free election.  Please pray that the nation will go through this vote peacefully.  When we were in the country on previous election days, we witnessed the country under martial law with all vehicles ordered off the road in order to deter violence.  Let’s also agree that the right men with the right motives will get into the right positions.  As evidenced by the two decisions that were made last December, it is possible for the attempts at democratic rule to have both positive and negative impact.

The primary purpose for this most recent visit to Nepal was to attend a meeting with the Every Home for Christ leadership from Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.  It was an excellent opportunity to get to know some of these leaders on a more personal level and to discuss how Teach All Nations can be involved in their countries.  Following the close of the conference, Delron taught a two-day seminar for pastors and leaders.  On the first day, approximately, a hundred and twenty delegates were present.  On the following day, about thirty additional students from a local Bible college joined the class.    When the call was given for those who had not yet been baptized in the Holy Spirit, at least forty leaders and students responded and came forward for prayer.  One pastor–in fact, the young man who interpreted for me in one of the sessions–later emailed to say that this conference had been a life-changing experience for him.  He had come to the meetings with real questions in his heart as to what his calling and purpose were to be.  During the time of prayer after the meetings, he received a clear vision of his ministry and is now ready to fulfill it.  We can imagine that that same testimony would be multiplied many times over if the other delegates at the conference were only able to communicate with me.  Delron’s last ministry before returning to the States was to preach at the large “mother church” in Kathmandu where a minimum of 1,500 celebrated the Lord’s Day and participated in the Lord’s Supper.  His friend Minister Potatohead, who had such a good experience on our recent trip to Haiti and the Dominican Republic, shared with the precious folks in the service from Matthew 13:15-16, “For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.  But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.”  He taught them that they must have their eyes and ears attuned to the Word of God because what we hear and see goes directly to their hearts to influence your spiritual condition.

Visit #2
May 2008 marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of Every Home for Concern in the nation of Nepal.  Because of the close relationship between Teach All Nations and Solon Karthak, the national director of EHC, Delron had a real desire to be able to participate in the celebration.  However, since he had just been in Nepal in November to take part in the fiftieth anniversary celebration of the Gyaneswor Church and because Peggy was to be in the country for a large women’s conference in September, he had anticipated not going to Nepal at all this year himself.  But as we all know, the Lord promises to give us more than we can think or ask (Ephesians 3:20), and He did exactly that!  After moving to Colorado Springs, we began to make friends with some of the international staff of Every Home for Christ, including their president Dick Eastman and his wife Dee.  As these relationships developed, it became apparent that there were some areas of ministry in which we could assist the global work of EHC–and the first area where they wanted me to assist was in Nepal.  As a result, Delron was asked to attend a conference for the South Asia leaders (India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) in March.  And then came a follow-up meeting scheduled to coincide with the silver anniversary celebration in Kathmandu.  Before the follow-up meeting was actually on the calendar, Delron had received a number of emails from Solon asking him to be there for the anniversary; each time I responded that I didn’t think that it would be possible.  Finally, Solon replied that he was believing for a miracle; Delron, of course, acknowledged that it would take a miracle for me to be able to come again, especially so soon after the visit which I had not even originally anticipated.  Well, only two days later, Delron received the invitation from Every Home to join them for the follow-up conference.

A transportation strike in the eastern part of the country kept a large contingency from being able to come.  May of them had walked for three days from the mountains and got to the main road only to find that there were no buses operating.  Some stayed for several days hoping that a bus would finally come.  When they had used all their money for food and lodging, they had to start the long trek back.  It was really sad.  There were about thirty or so delegates who arrived late after having found some way around the strike.  I talked with one delegate who came in from India and was stranded for three days at the border crossing.  She finally got a motorcycle to take her around some back roads to get to the airport to fly into Kathmandu.  The delegation from Bhutan was able to take a train through India and then enter Nepal at a point beyond the strike zone.
Even though Delron was not actually ministering while in Nepal, there is no such thing as not being a minister even if you are not officially ministering.  The Every Home for Christ national director for India asked him to pray for since he was suffering from kidney stones and was in severe pain at the moment.  After Delron laid hands on him, the Indian director testified to having received immediate relief.

2010
Visit #1
Linda Easton, a long-time friend and TAN board member who has accompanied us on most of our missions to Nepal, joined Peggy in Chicago by as she headed off on their seventeenth trip to Nepal in fulfillment of their commitment to help develop women of the region.  Peggy says that as she gazed out the airplane window looking for a glimpse of land after traveling for almost two days, she had little idea of the extent of blessing that God had in store for this mission. Linda commented that driving through Nepal and India is quite an experience.  She says that it is like stepping back in time. We traveled over some rugged paths, as well as bumpy, unpaved dusty roads.  Merchants cry out, selling vegetables, spices, and multicolored fabrics.  Pilgrims pray aloud at small shrines.  Rickshaws honk their horns.  Sacred cows wander serenely.  Everywhere you turn, fascinating scenes of life hardly changed over centuries are played out before right before your eyes.  The ladies did face many close calls such as the Maoist-instigated strike that was planned for the day they were scheduled to return to the US.  The strike was called off at the last minute–certainly an answer to prayer!  This attempted strike is just one symptom of the continuing turmoil in the Himalayan nation.  Even though the Maoists have been given a position in the government, there are still terrorist-like activities that flare up from time to time.  In addition, some hard-line Hindus who are not happy with the secular model that the state has adopted are targeting churches and individual Christians, blaming them for the abolition of Hinduism as the state religion and the end of monarchy.  Some Christians actually say they are in greater peril now than ever as they face extortion and threats to be run out of the country.  On the other hand, there was no way they could have envisioned that in each of their seventeen meetings during their fourteen-day mission the Lord would fulfill His promise from Acts 2:18 of pouring out the Spirit upon His handmaidens.  She says that all the people were so spiritually hungry and full of childlike faith that she and Linda just stood back and watched as the Holy Spirit moved, bringing many instant physical and emotional healings as He gave them words of knowledge concerning the people’s needs.

Their first ministry stop was in Pokhara where they ministered over the Easter weekend.  Ten non-believers received the Lord in Peggy‘s service.  At Linda’s church, twenty-two students from the Bible college were filled with the Holy Spirit and one non-believer accepted Jesus.  They also ministered for three days for the Women’s Aglow where Peggy taught about The Great Commission as the heartbeat of God and the fact that He desires for women to step up to be missionaries in these last days.  A large number of the three hundred ladies present came forward to be released as missionaries–some to their own regions and some to the foreign field.

After a quick trip into India, the ladies returned to Nepal for their final stop in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital city.  Peggy was allowed to speak to both the men and the women at a local church–a privilege that is seldom extended to a lady minister in this part of the world.  At the end of her message on getting over offenses, she asked those who were caught in the snare of offenses to stand.  The whole congregation stood up–with the pastor leading the way!  At the Women’s Aglow meeting, Peggy and Linda prayed for a woman who was miraculously healed of a cancerous condition.  When the lady burst into tears during the prayer, Peggy asked the translator what had happened and was told that the lady said that Jesus appeared to her during the prayer.  By the next day, the tumor had started to shrink, and the woman’s Buddhist husband was so excited about what Jesus had done for his wife that he wanted to come join the Women’s Aglow meeting!

Because it is still very common for the women in these developing nations to silently suffer all sorts of domestic abuse, the Lord has led us to always minster healing to their brokenness. To illustrate His concern for these women, the Lord had me take some flowers out of the bouquet next to me on the stage and throw them on the ground and crush them under my feet.  When I did, wails and cries went out all over the auditorium.  I truly had “hit the nail on the head.”  Because Nepali and Indian women keep their feelings very personal, they had never expressed the hurts they had experienced at the hands of their husbands and society in general.  But this day, God wanted the pain and hurt and all that goes with abuse to come out so that He could heal it.  As these poor women continued to cry full of anguish, the Holy Spirit comforted, healed, and restored them to their places in His bridal bouquet!

But it is not only in Nepal that women need this message of healing and the challenge to rise up and be the women of God they were called to be.  Peggy writes about the call to minister to these desperate women: “Since the inception of Teach All Nations, women’s ministry has been a vial part of our vision.  I have also led several women’s conferences in Myanmar and will be returning there again as well as going to Thailand later this year.  In addition, we have sponsored women’s meetings in various locations in Africa—from the capital cities to the remote “bush.”  Of course, “all nations” even includes the United States of America, so we have been careful to minister to the ladies here at home as well—in churches, in women’s Bible study groups, even in prison.  Many times I come home with tear and mascara stains all over my blouse from women who have wept all over me as the Lord ministered to them.  Those tears started out as tears of anguish but turned into tears of joy as He touched them.  At one meeting, I ministered to the wife of a nationally known minister.  The tragic story in that he had walked out of their marriage for another woman.  This poor woman was so devastated that she had not been to church or any kind of Christian meetings for months.  Her life was one of pain and criticism as the blame was somehow shifted from him to her.  I am so happy that she felt directed to come to my meeting because God met her there!  We cried together, and the Lord spoke and ministered to her.  The deliverance and restoration was so powerful that I felt that all the work and preparation for that meting would have worth it had she been the only one who present.”

“Last year, the Lord directed me to host a “Daughters of Destiny” women’s conference here in Colorado Springs.  The Lord proved His faithfulness to my obedience by filling the room to capacity—and with women whom I didn’t know!  In that auditorium, I saw exactly the same thing that I’ve seen all around the world—women hungry to be fed, set free, and encouraged.  I also saw something else that I’ve seen around the world—an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on everyone who was expectant!”

Visit #2
Delron’s October trip to Nepal was his twentieth journey to the country.  Upon arrival in Kathmandu, I was greeted by a living, breathing, walking miracle.  Ravi Rai, who has been our tour guide, friend, and ministry companion since my first visit to Nepal in 1992 met me at the airport.  Nothing unusual here in that he has met us on every visit that Peggy and I have made to the country except for when Peggy visited in April of this year.  At that time, he was totally bedridden with a paralysis that could have actually taken his life.  But, now he is up and walking!  Even though he has a cane, he doesn’t really use it.  What’s amazing is that the elevator in the hotel was out of service, and he walked up three flights of stairs to my room.  Ravi had been suffering from problems in his feet and legs and was examined by a doctor in the Philippines when he was there for a ministry trip.  The physician was trained in regular Western medicine and specialized in cancer treatment.  His parents were also cancer specialists; however, his father died of cancer, and his mother was diagnosed to be terminal with cancer as well.  When the mother received her diagnosis, she refused treatment, stating that she had treated hundreds of patients who died anyway.  She would just as soon die without going through the treatments.  At that point, the son began to explore other treatments and came up with a treatment that combines Oriental and biblical treatments, requiring the patient to follow a strict biblical diet, drink gallons of water, fast regularly, and believe God for healing.  He gave these treatments to his mother, and she lived!  Ravi’s diagnosis was that he had 100% functionality of his heart and lungs but minimal capacity from his kidneys and liver.  In fact, the doctor said that had he not been a walker and swimmer to keep his heart and lungs healthy, he would have been dead long ago.  His main difficulties were a result of poor diet and the pollution in Kathmandu.  During his recovery period, Ravi went through six grueling months of paralysis with periods of mental incognizance.  However, today his is back to traveling the length and breadth of Nepal to train Christian leaders how to effective raise up other leaders within their churches!

After only about an hour’s stop in the hotel to wash his face and change clothes, Delron was off to my first assignment at the Stuti Prasansha Church’s eighteenth anniversary celebration.  The church, which was begun the same year as my first visit to Nepal, now has twelve daughter churches throughout the country and across the border in India.   A hundred twenty delegates from nine of these daughter churches along with the full congregation from the local church were present to praise God for their successful history and to gain inspiration for an even more successful future.  Delron learned that some delegates from the remote areas of the country had traveled for as much as four days—three days of walking and then another day of bus travel—to be present.  What a humbling experience it was to stand before such dedicated believers who had given so much in order to be trained and equipped.  Upon arrival at the church, he was given a program for the conference with the explanation that the other scheduled speaker had been selected as a delegate to the Lausanne World Evangelism Conference in South Africa so Delron was to have the privilege of speaking in all the sessions for the full three days of the program.  The theme of the meetings was based on Ephesians 5:14, “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light,” so he dedicated several sessions to studies on sleeping, waking up, and the power of the light of Christ in the life of a believer.  Since the scriptures often speak of sleep as a time of rest and renewal, he shared on the importance of having times of rest when we are refreshed in our vision and spiritual energy.  However, the scriptures also refer to sleep as a negligent disregard for vigilant watchfulness and activity.  In fact, such non-productive sleep is even likened to death.  Therefore, he shared with the delegates the need to have a proper balance between our renewing rest and our progressive activity for the kingdom of God.  Then, Delron began all the way back with God’s first creative act in Genesis chapter one to show the significance of light in the life of a believer.  What a blessing it was when the coordinator of the conference can to me and shared that his twelve-year-old son had been able to explain to him all the major points of the teaching.  He was certain if this young man had understood that the message must have been clear and relevant.  In the closing session, we asked the Holy Spirit to fill the believers and heard at least two testimonies of delegates who received the baptism in the Holy Spirit during the prayer.  The elders form the church summed up the conference in an appreciation email by saying, “We all have received a new direction to develop our spiritual life.  It was truly a revival conference.”

Once the Kathmandu conference came to a close, Delron was off to the city of Pokhara to minister at the Bible college which TAN has helped sponsor.  The school was founded the same year I first visited Nepal.  When we first visited it, it was in cramped rented quarters.  Miraculously, Teach All Nations was able to raise enough money to buy an old factory and renovated the building as a campus for the school.  We understand that, due to the tremendous appreciation of   property values in Nepal since we first purchased the plot, the property is probably worth a million dollars now!  With the new facilities and encouragement from Teach All Nations, the school has become a vital force in equipping Christian leaders for the Nepali-speaking world.  To date, over seven hundred fifty graduates have been sent out into the harvest fields of the Himalayas, with over ninety percent of them presently active in the ministry.  The current student body represents twelve of Nepal’s twenty-seven districts and also represents the full range of Nepali life from the exuberance of the youngest eighteen-year-old student to the maturity of his oldest sixty-three-year-old classmate.   The director of the school had asked that Delron share on the theme, “Let’s Get Excited About Building the Body of Christ,” a theme which had also been chosen for the city-wide pastors’ conference which was to follow my time at the campus.  On his first day with the students, Delron taught all the classes from eight in the morning until five in the afternoon.  The day was climaxed by a dinner with college’s board of directors.  Since next year will mark the tenth anniversary of the construction of the new campus, we used this opportunity to strategize how to further the work of the college as we move into a new decade.  We identified a number of major needs which need to receive the focus of the board’s attention—the major point of which is the expansion of the dormitory building in order to optimize the student body since classroom facilities will accommodate several times more students than can be housed in the resident hall.  The second day, Delron only had two sessions with the students—one hour for teaching and one hour for ministry.  What a blessing it was to see at least eight of the students receive the baptism in Holy Spirit to empower their ministries!

In addition to the ministry at the campus, he was able to minister in a one-day conference that Teach All Nations sponsored for the local pastors and leaders.  Many of the approximately one hundred sixty delegates representing almost all the churches in the area who gathered for instruction and encouragement shared with Delron how the word that he ministered on was exactly what they needed at exactly this time in their ministries.   He concluded the meeting with a challenge for them to recognize the significance of the Bible college for the Body of Christ in Nepal and to begin to aggressively support it.  He then shared with them the vision for the expansion of the dorm and told them that they should plan to build it with local funds rather than waiting for someone from outside the country to send the money.  As soon as Delron concluded, the chairman of the board grabbed the microphone and challenged the delegates to respond immediately.  The result–a fifteen-thousand-rupee offering.  Although this is far from the two to three million rupees needed to make the vision a reality, it is a great start in a country where needs are great and funds are scarce.

One of the blessings of his time in the country was the opportunity to reconnect with many of the friends we have made over the years.  Since Peggy was in Nepal this spring and her new book has been released in the Nepali language, it was a daily occurrence that the women would come up to me with messages to bring back to her about how much they had been blessed through reading her book.  Delron was also greatly moved by the number of men who came up to tell him about how they had been trained in previous leadership conferences and were now pastors or leaders within other ministries.  The pastor at Stuti Prasansha Church told him that he was at a retreat that Teach All Nations had sponsored for the Kathmandu Valley pastors in the early 1990s.  He then added that that opportunity for the pastors from the various ministries to get together for fellowship and direction was a breakthrough that brought unity among the pastors and revival to the churches.  One significant aspect of our ongoing work in Nepal is the translation and distribution of our books in the Nepali language.  Again, during this visit, Delron was able to meet with the leadership team and submit new materials for review and evaluation for future publication.  He was also able to review the needs for further reprinting and distribution of existing materials.  It was a blessing to receive emails even before I returned to the States reporting that the books are presently be taken to more and more remote areas of the country.

Nepal 2013

After waking up in my hotel room in Bangkok, Thailand, at what would be 2:30 AM in Kathmandu, Nepal, I headed to the airport for the first flight out to New Delhi, India, and onward to Nepal.  Though I had scheduled the earliest possible flight out of Bangkok and the quickest connection in Delhi, I still arrived in Kathmandu too late to catch the last plane of the day to Pokhara.  I did not have the convenience of being able to wait the night in Kathmandu and fly out the next morning because Pokhara was only a transit point on my way to the city of Jamsom in the Mustang district of Nepal on the Tibetan border.  Since the flights to Jamsom must always be scheduled in the early morning hours while the air is still calm in the pass that the planes must take between the mountains, I would not be able to make it Pokhara in time to catch a flight that day, delaying me a second night.  Therefore, I jumped immediately into my host’s jeep and settled in for a seven-hour drive across the mountains.

We had to make two separate stops for dinner on the journey because Nepali culture, as a holdover from the caste system, prevented our driver from eating with us.  In spite of my insistence that he join us for dinner, he waited in the car while we had our meal.  Then we waited for him to eat at another roadside teashop further down the road.  By the way, when I was able to get him to eat in same restaurant with us later in the trip, he still insisted upon sitting at a different table.

When we arrived at our destination for the evening, Ravi (my host) and I commented that the totally clear sky was a good sign that we wouldn’t have any weather delays the next morning.  With that assurance, I crawled in bed for the four hours of sleep I would enjoy before my cold shower and the drive to the airport for the first flight to Jamsom.  We had purposely scheduled the earliest flight so that we would have priority in case there were weather delays and some flights had to be canceled.  Unfortunately, when I walked out the front door of the hotel, I discovered that there had been a total change in the weather.  Instead of the clear sky from the night before, it was pouring rain.  Hopeful that the weather might clear, we checked in for the flight and waited, and waited, and waited–five hours, to be exact.  Even though the skies did eventually clear up in Pokhara, the weather pattern simply shifted to the mountain pass, blocking our way to Jamsom.  Now, our only options were to wait the day in Pokhara in hopes that the planes would be able to fly the next day or to drive to Mustang.  Since we had a two-day conference scheduled in Jamsom and were going to miss one day of it already because of the canceled flight, we knew that we couldn’t afford to gamble on another delay the following day; therefore, we chose Plan B–the drive.  Our choice was based not only on our own logic but also on the fact that I had bumped into an old friend while we were waiting in the airport.  She told me that she had been scheduled to fly to Jamsom to speak at a three-day seminar and that she had been stranded in Pokhara for the entire time, hoping each morning to be able to catch a flight.

The road trip for the day was to take us through two restricted areas for which I had to have special travel permits and the vehicles had to be registered in order to travel the road.  The result was that we wound up using three different vehicles in order to make the journey–the one we had left from Kathmandu in, one to get us through the first restricted area, and another one to transit the second restricted area.  Our nine-hour drive took us through the second-deepest valley in the world on roads–some of which pretended to be paved–requiring an off-road vehicle.

We stopped at a little roadside hotel for dinner, a short night’s sleep, and another cold shower.  When I walked out of the hotel the next morning, I discovered that I was surrounded by a breathtaking panorama of the beautiful Himalayan Mountains.  But there was little time to take in the sight since we still had another two-hour journey ahead of us.  When we finally arrived at the church in Jamsom, I discovered that it was on a hill overlooking the airport, essentially within walking distance of the terminal–AND that the runway was a busy with planes taking off and taxiing in from their flights to Pokhara.

Had we waited, we could have arrived by plane at the same time we did by car.  But we knew that the gamble would not have been worth the risk.  Now we had to make a decision about gambling on the flight back the next morning.  Even though we knew that we could have won the bet on the trip to Jamsom, we now had to determine if we wanted to take the risk on a return flight.  After some careful calculations, we opted to redo the torturous journey.  That meant that we’d have to leave immediately after teaching all day in the conference, drive as far as possible that evening, stop for a short night’s sleep and another cold shower, and press our way over the rugged terrain in order to make the early afternoon flight to Kathmandu where we would be picked up for the five-hour mountain drive to the next conference in the eastern mountains of Nepal near Mount Everest.  In addition to all the factors we figured into the calculation, we had even more unknowns such as a broken suspension rod on our vehicle in the Mustang plateau and an overheated radiator in our jeep on the road to the Mount Everest region – all this on a road where the service station consisted of a teenage girl sitting on the side of the road with a five-gallon jug of gasoline and a funnel.  By the way, we did make the right choice time in that we discovered upon our arrival in Pokhara that all fights from Jamsom that day had been grounded.

Well, I guess you’re wondering why I’m talking so much about the travel and saying nothing about the ministry.  I simply wanted to set the stage so that I could ask and then answer one simple question, “Was it worth it?”  The answer is, “Definitely, absolutely, positively, unquestionably, and unequivocally yes!”

Even though we missed a full day of teaching at the conference in Jamsom and I only had from 9 AM until 3 PM for teaching on the day that I did have with the delegates, the training was pivotal for these fairly new believers in this area where the gospel is just beginning to get a foothold.  The theme of the conference was on becoming disciple makers–the most effective way to penetrate an area with the Good News.  As each believer develops a vital relationship with Jesus and purposefully shares that living faith with other individuals so that they can also pass this new abundant life to another, the Body of Christ grows exponentially and essentially effortlessly.

And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. (II Timothy 2:2)

The delegates from not only Jamsom but also the surrounding towns and villages listened intently as I taught, eagerly interacted during the question-and-answer session, and gladly received the Nepali versions of my books.  It was readily apparent that they were enthusiastic about taking the message to heart and putting it into practice.  The Mustang region of Nepal will soon experience a gospel harvest from the seeds sown during this strategic meeting–a harvest that will be well worth all the difficulties it took to be able to sow the seed.

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.  He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. (Psalm 126:5)

The east Nepal conference drew the pastors and leaders from eleven churches in three districts in the eastern Himalayan region.  These handpicked delegates are the men and women from their area who are determined to take positions of influence and become agents of change.  As I looked around the room during the praise and worship before the opening session of the conference and observed the intensity in each delegate’s eyes, the Lord spoke the words of the Apostle Paul into my heart, “I will very gladly spend and be spent for you.” (II Corinthians 12:15)  Almost all the delegates were energetic, well-educated young professionals, bumbling over with zeal for the Lord.  Recognizing their potential, I immediately knew that the huge financial investment that TAN had made in this mission and the days of grueling travel that I have endured to get to them were well worth it.  The first day I taught from my latest book Interfaces, encouraging and challenging them to step into places of authority and decisive change in their society.  It was only that evening that I learned that this particular area of the nation is quickly developing as one of the most strategic centers of economic power in Nepal.  In fact, it is estimated that within five years it could actually become the center of the nation’s wealth–and when that significance is realized, there will be a core group of leaders with a biblical worldview and scriptural ethic guiding the region’s newfound clout.  The second day was dedicated to training the delegates on discipleship techniques and Bible-study methods, providing them with tools to truly impact their world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

After another day on the road to return to Kathmandu, I had the opportunity to spend some personal time with my long-time friend, Solon Karthak, who for many years was the man of influence who opened the door for ministry for Teach All Nations in Nepal.  Now, he is living and pastoring in India as well as overseeing outreaches into Bhutan.  I also had the privilege of visiting with the director and the new chairman of the board of Pokhara Bible College, the school that Teach All Nations has supported for the last ten years.  The two men had flown down to Kathmandu especially to meet with me because it was not possible for us to connect when I passed through their city en route to Jamsom.  We spent the afternoon sharing vision for the future of the college strategizing the necessary steps to turn the vision into reality.

 

My last day in Nepal was spent with my dear friends at Gyaneswor Church where I ministered in two services.  This church was planted by pioneer Christian workers who entered Nepal just over fifty years ago and has been the fountainhead of most of the gospel work in the country.  It is always a blessing to be able to fellowship with Pastor Robert Karthak who is still actively ministering in the church, around the nation, and among Nepali communities outside the country–even after more than five decades, most of which were during times of persecution and suppression.  Today the church draws more than a thousand worshippers for each of the multiple services each weekend in addition to capacity congregations at several branch locations around the city and a large following through their live-streaming internet broadcasts.

Many church members came to me after the service to express their appreciation for the encouragement and challenge of the message.  On particular young man, a medical doctor, said that he had come to the service crying out for an answer to issues that had been particularly challenging and perplexing him all week.  Then he pulled out the notes he had been taking during the sermon and pointed to one specific line, proclaiming, “I got my answer!”  I believe that many others also received the answer that God has for their lives, ministries, and futures during this mission to Nepal.  I am sure that there will be visible changes in the Body of Christ and the nation as a whole when I return for my next visit.

My last time of ministry was to a group of Youth With A Mission missionaries from the Maui, Hawaii, base and a group of Campus Crusade missionaries from Korea who were all just finishing their ministry in Nepal.  Since most of these young people were headed back their homes and college campuses within just a few days, I shared with them the story of Legion who asked Jesus to let him travel with Him after his miraculous deliverance.  Instead, Jesus insisted that he go back to his own family and friends and tell them what great things had happened in his life.  The result was that more than four thousand came to hear Jesus the next time He was in the region.  I then encouraged them that they could have as great am impact back home as they did here in Nepal.