Hey there faithful supporters. Due to insane amounts of comment spam that have started to pop up in the last week (like in the neighborhood of 100 spam comments a day), I have added an image verification test to the comments. In order to post a comment to the site you will need to enter a five digit security code from an image just below the comment form. We apologise for this added inconvenience and hope you understand. Comment away!
In just five hours I will board a plane bound for the village of Lukla and from the it’s just 9 days on foot to Everest Base Camp. My trip has several purposes: 1. It’s a visionary trip. It will give me a chance to get into the mountains and see the people. 2. I am going with other believers to encourage the few Chrstians who live in this area. Pray tha God will open doors and use us in big ways. 3. Our team is comprised of three doctors and two Christian workers. While in the Everest area we will be treating patients and doing medical research. Don’t worry, I won’t be slicing anyone open. I am just there to help in whatever way I can.
I will be back around the first of June so come back to see some amazing pictures.
Once again I’ve become delinquent in updating my website, but here I am back on track.
Last weekend was my first trip outside of the Kathmandu Valley. My heart has always been set on working with the people groups in these remote areas, so this was a huge blessing. I and six other Nepali men packed into an SUV and took a bumpy 9 hour road trip to see a church member get married. This would have taken just two or three hours in the states, the “roads” here aren’t quite the same. The wedding ceremony was very interesting to say the least. First of all the marriage was arranged and both couples getting married seemed to be unhappy. There were many tears; not of joy, but of sadness. We westerners look at this in disgust, but we would be surprised that these arranged marriages end in divorce far less than our love marriages do. Many times these two strangers who wed fall in love and have a wonderful life. Something to think about. Think I’m crazy? Read the Old Testament and see which type of marriage it talks about more.
After the wedding we headed to Chitwan National Park to see the wildlife of Nepal. We rented two elephants and rode for two hours through this wildlife preserve. Besides seeing Elephants up close and personal, we saw different types of deer, rhinoceroses, lots of birds, and wild boar. We missed seeing the tigers and alligators that cover the park. Exciting stuff.
This weekend was packed with ministry. I preached twice on Saturday. Once to our church and another time to a group of 600 at a concert. I had been praying hard for the chance to preach the gospel at this concert. Afterwards I was disappointed, it rained and there were many distractions, but I reminded myself that God’s Word never comes back to us empty. All of my friends said that I communicated the gospel clearly, so I am confident that many Nepalis who were there now have the knowledge of the Truth. Thank you Lord.
With my trip to Everest just five days away, I am beginning to slow down on my training, but to end on a good note some my friends and I went on a 70 km bicycle ride. We left at 5am and wrote 35km to a resort just outside the valley and returned just after 7am. It was an amazing day and God even gave us a chance to share the gospel with a shepard in a village we were hiking through.
I am currently having trouble loading pictures onto my website, but as soon as I can I will post pictures from both weekends.
Hey everybody, this is Dave. I am posting for Nathan because he is very busy at the moment.
Please pray for a concert called Music for Peace. I am not sure of all the specifics of this event, but Nathan has been asked to give a message at the close of the concert and he will be presenting the Gospel very clearly. A large crowd is expected, possibly numbering more than 700 people. Please pray for the following:
Pray earnestly! Pray in faith!
Also, for anyone who is wondering Nathan seems to be doing just fine after dealing with his “little friends” (see the previous post). He says he has been feeling better.
No one freak out- I’m ok. I’ve been sick and I decided it was time to go and get checked out. For the past six days I have had a headache, stomach ache, felt weak, and had bathroom problems (if you know what I mean!). To be honest, I haven?t felt terrible, but enough time passed that I felt it was time to go seek help. My best friend here in Nepal is a medical doctor so he called up some friends at the hospital and we were rushed through. As you might have guessed, the hospitals in Nepal are not up to our western standards. The doctors were great, but the hospital itself is just creepy. Reminds me of the scary movies I would watch as a kid…yicks! Anyway, I had three tests done and the last one finally revealed the problem- I have little worms living in my intestines…. gross huh? The fun part was when the doctor told me, he sounded like he was saying “you have worms in you spine.” Intestines is one thing, but having worms in my spine was freaking me out a little. Finally I understood and relaxed a bit. Before I got off the phone, the doctor congratulated me. He that Nepalis get this all the time and that I was a real Nepali now. It’s kind of a sick way to become a part of the culture, but praise the Lord anyway. So next time you get a headache, just think to yourself, “at least I don’t have worms crawling around inside me!
The doctor also gave me a name of a medicine I needed to go and get. I asked him how I would get the prescription from him. He just laughed and told me that in Nepal you can get any medicine you need over the counter. So I went down to the pharmacy and got five days worth of anti-biotics for $1.12. Isn?t this country great.