When Delron visited the campus of Pokhara Bible School on his last trip to Nepal, he arrived a little early for the class he was to teach. The students were on break between classes, but a group of them were intently working around a table in the library. When Delron walked over to them, he couldn’t believe his eyes because they all had copies of the book that he assumed had been out of print for at least twenty years! When he asked where they got the books, the director of the school told him that there were eight remaining copies in the library and that the students check them out and make handwritten copies of the lessons to take with them when they go back to their home villages or out to the ministry fields where they are called. Calculating that eighty percent (an incredibly high percentage in comparison to what he had seen in other Bible colleges) of the fifteen hundred students who have graduated from the program are now actively involved in the ministry and have made copies of those lessons, there are approximately twelve hundred handwritten copies of those lessons still impacting lives in every corner of the nation of Nepal. The moment that he saw those Nepalese students studying his twenty-year-old books, Delron knew that it was a confirmation of something that he had been thinking and praying about – starting church-based libraries around the country for the books that Peggy and he have written. The idea had come to him the week before he left for the mission to Nepal when he read that Charis Bible College had initiated a similar program of placing books by Andrew Wommack in churches throughout India. The purpose of the project is to make valuable faith-building and discipling materials available to individuals who cannot afford to purchase them. When Delron heard of this approach, he immediately envisioned the same thing happening with Teach All Nations’ books. He mentioned this vision to one of the leading pastors in Nepal and got his cooperation in helping orchestrate setting up libraries in the churches within his fellowship. When Delron asked a professional translator what he would charge to help with the task of helping get new books translated into Nepali and helping to produce new masters for out-of-print our books, he responded, “For you, nothing.” However, Teach All Nations has given him free-will stipends to show our appreciation.
When Delron traveled to India several months later, he found that Action Ministries, another of Teach All Nations’ ministry partners, in addition to Charis Bible College was actively wanting to expand into Nepal. Both organizations expressed real interest in helping get translation and publication work done and partnering with Teach All Nations to get the libraries opened. As the leaders of the three ministries collaborated, they decided to establish fifty church-based libraries with materials from all three organization in both English and Nepali in twenty-five churches in Nepali-speaking churches in India and twenty-five churches in Nepal. The libraries in the Indian churches have already been opened; however, we are facing some changes in Nepal. Since there are no publishers in Nepal that are able to do small orders and it is impractical to print a thousand copies of all the books that will be in each library, we need to print the books in India where many printers have the print-on-demand system that allows for printing in smaller quantities. However, it is not possible to legally take Christian literature in Nepal. Therefore, we are still in the process of praying for a print-on-demand printing company to open in Nepal or to find a “loophole” that will allow us to transport the books into the country.
Please join us in praising the Lord that the Indian libraries are now functioning and intercede with us that we can soon get the libraries in Nepal up and running.
