:: Reaching Nepal ::

?You are most fully alive when you are on an adventure with God.? These words by Erwin McManus have come alive in my life. Long ago I committed to not just exist in this world but to live all out; to live to the extreme for Jesus. I use to think I knew what that meant, but as I grow in Christ my understanding of that grows as well. This last week has definitely been what I would call an adventure. As I wrote in my last entry, I headed to southern Nepal for a week of training pastors and doing medical work. From day one the adventures began and they didn?t stop until we got home.

Me, Josh, and two of my Nepali friends got up at 3:30 am and hit the road by 5. We headed out of town and settled in for what we thought was a 12 hour drive. To my surprise, the trip turned into an 18 and a half hour drive. Now understand that roads here aren?t like the roads you have back home. Many times we had to dive less than 5 mph and have potholes the size of cars. Another problem came with the amount people all over the road. This month is a big Hindu festival called ?dashi? and everyone goes back to their village to celebrate. As we traveled we saw hundreds of public buses speeding down the highway. The crazy thing was there were at least 2 people in each, people standing in the aisles, and over 50 people sitting on the luggage rack on top of the bus. Most of the buses we saw had over 100 people in them. And then it happened, as we were traveling, we came upon a small bus that had gone off the cliff. By the time we got there all of the injured people had been taken to the hospital and only the dead remained. I wish I could say that was the only one we saw, buy in total we came upon 7 buses that had either flipped, gone of the road and crashed, or ran into the back of another vehicle. The hardest accident to deal with happen just a few miles from returning home. A young guy who was learning to drive a motorcycle starting talking on his cell phone and then hit a man who was walking next to the road. We arrived just 30 seconds after the accident happened. My friend Sujan, who is a doctor, went to help but a crowd formed very quickly and he had to fight off the crowd just to get to the injured man. As Sujan help the man, the crowd began to surround the guy who was driving the motorcycle. They started beating him up a bit, but Sujan was able to calm the crowd down and get the injured man in a taxi, headed to the hospital. Crazy stuff.

Apart from the insanity we saw on the road, our trip was a complete success. We were able to train 12 church leaders in: Expository Preaching, Sharing the Gospel effectively, and 2 Timothy. We did training in the morning and in the afternoon we held a free medical clinic for the community. I had no idea just how effective medical ministry was. We had close to three hundred people show up for medical attention in a village of 500. And praise the Lord; we were able to give the whole gospel to everyone! Sujan did all the medical work while Hari ran the organization of the clinic, and Josh and I handout the medicines that Sujan prescribed. We ran across several very sick people, but we also ran into some funny diseases. A man came to the clinic and told us that he was very sick. When Sujan asked him what was wrong, he told Sujan that when he rode his motorcycle and turned his head to the left, air went up his right nostril. He went on to say that when he turned his head to the right air went up is left nostril. We all tried not to laugh and assured the man that his problem was completely normal. This was just one of several funny stories, but over all we where able to assists many sick people.

As we headed home, we stopped in Hari?s village and shared the Gospel with His family and many others in the village. This was the same village I went to several months ago but when I went back this time, they were much more willing to hear the Gospel. I saw Him begin to open the hearts of the hardened.

I wish I could share all my exciting stories, but I?ll save some of them for the future. Be encouraged as I am that God is still in the business of doing big things through small people. I would love to hear from some of you. Post a comment on this page or email me at reachingnepal@hotmail.com

In just three hours? I will be leaving to go to southeastern Nepal to train pastors and help with a medical clinic. Pray like crazy for our trip: Sunday-Saturday. One of my prayer supporters emailed me a verse? I want to share with you. Psalm 66:12:”We went through the fire and through water, yet You brought us out into a place of abandance.” Amen to that.

You read right- I gave someone a shot. Ok, let me explain. Here in Nepal the medical system works a little differently. For example you can go to the pharmacy and buy any medicine you need over the counter. Yesterday Josh, Sujan, and I went to the pharmacy and bought typhoid vaccine. Sujan being a doctor was able to inject both Josh and I with the vaccine, but he needed somone to inject him. I was more than willing to try something new. I grapped the needle and stuck his arm. He even said I did a good job. Like I’ve always said, “life is made up of good stories.”

An interesting ministry has opened up to me in the last month or so that I never thought would be down my alley; medical ministry. Now don’t freak out, I’m not trying to be a doctor. Over this summer God has opened many doors to minister to medical doctors and students. It started when Sujan, my best friend who happens to be a doctor, asked me to speak at the Nepal Christian Medical Association. After that oppurtunity, God opened doors to speak at a medical college and a chance to help start a Bible study at Kathmandu Medical College. Also on this Sunday Sujan and I (with some other friends) will be going to a rural village to hold a free medical clinic. Crazy stuff huh? It just goes to show you that God does? what we least expect. Isn’t He amazing!

Over these last 3 days our team has been talking some of what the future holds, but to be honest I have no idea. I mean I have an idea, but I don’t know His idea…and that’s ok. I know that with everyday comes new things that will both challenge and delight me.

Hey Guys, it’s getting late here but I thought I would up date you on the latest events. Yesterday my friend Josh arrived in Kathmandu to serve until Christmas time. It’s so exciting to have him here…seriously I am pumped. Over the next three months we will be traveling all over Nepal and even Thailand so keep us in your prayers.

The other bit of exciting news is that we had our first graduation service at the Bible college tonight. Seven students graduated and over three hundred people showed up for the graduation service. We only had seats for 200 so there were people everywhere. It was a great problem to have. Keep praying for our college as we will be using the next several months to try and make improvements.

I’m off to bed, but before I go know that you’re loved here in Nepal

I know that many of the people who actively check my website are those who I ministered to in some way over the years. One of my favorite things to do when I was living in the states was to preach in my youth group and at the adult services at my church. With that in mind, I?ve post the last few sermons I?ve preached here in Nepal. Don?t worry they are in English. I don?t claim they?re any good, but I hope they will help in some way. Every so often I will post new ones and I hope to post my sermons in MP3 so that you can download and listen to. If you will look to the right on my website you will see a listing for “My Sermons.”Have a great day and enjoy HIM.

We are in our last week of the year at our Bible college. This week is the hated final exams….scary. I gave my first final yesterday and my students seemed to do very well. On the 17th of September we are having our first graduation. It’s all very exciting, but very new. We are graduating 8 students who are all going into the ministry. Pray that all goes well during graduation and that we can do everything we need to do to get ready for it.

Prayer Request: Hari, Josh, and I will be heading to west Nepal in October to recruit for the Bible college. Pray that God blesses with many new students and a good journey as we hike for three strait weeks.

Praise: Someone in the states donated $10,000 dollars to created a library for our college. Thank you Jesus!