:: Reaching Nepal ::

We are starting our fifth day here in Nepal and are in the full swing of things. The first few days we spent reconnecting with old friends. Our time with them has been very refreshing. It’s been nice to talk about life, ministry and the deep things of the Lord.

On Friday we met up with Mitsuru and talked for several hours. Mitsuru is a Japanese guy I (Nathan) was friends with in high school. He moved to my small town because his dad’s company opened a factory. In high school we developed a close friendship and I was able to share the gospel with him several times. Since then he has moved back to Japan but we talk every few years. Several years ago he wrote me telling me he was working on a master’s degree and he was doing it on Christianity in the Southern part of America. How crazy is that. A non-believer wanting to study Christianity! Sadly what he discovered studying Christianity in the South did not encourage him to believe. In his words he called Christians in the South, “Sunday Christians.” He said they believe with their mouth but not with their actions. About two years ago he called me and said he was starting his PhD work and wanted to come to Nepal and study religion. He has now come four times and each time some of my Christian friends have reached out to him and shared the gospel. As we met on Friday we talked about lots of things but we talked about faith quite a bit. He is still very far from coming to faith but it is evidentGod is active in bringing Mitsuru to Himself. I am in awe every time I think about how God has constantly brought Christian people into the life of this unbelieving man. Mitsuru’s thinking is extremely postmodern. Actually he is the most postmodern person I have ever met. To him truth cannot be known and right and wrong are not truly knowable. What may be true for me would not be true for him. It is a crazy thought process but to him and others it makes complete sense. Please faithfully pray for the salvation of Mitsuru. I have prayed for him for thirteen years and ask you to join me in that prayer.

On Saturday Sarah and I ministered in Nepali church and this morning we will be going to a Tibetan church to minister. God has given us the opportunity to share both places. Please pray that God would speak through us to communicate His Word as we strive to both encourage and challenge believers here. We are so grateful for the opportunity to both encourage and be encouraged while we are here. Everyone has been very gracious to us in welcoming us back and helping us feel loved. We hope to post pictures tomorrow.

Sometimes technology fails- actually many times and that was the case during our trip back to Nepal. Several times I tried to post new updates on the site but for almost a month there were problems. No worries, everything is up and running now!

Our trip back to Nepal was a great success. God opened huge doors for new ministry and just as many opportunities to follow up on continuing work. Our team of eight college students was the best short-term team we have ever had. They were sensitive to the culture, tough as nails, and did more than we ever asked in service. We were able to spend six days in the mountains carrying in Bibles and literature, prayer walking, and taught a survey through the life of Christ for a conference containing seven different churches from this area.  After our crazy hard mountain trip we traveled back to Kathmandu and ministered among Tibetans. For many, this was a life changing experience. We spend hours upon hours in prayer, sat with Buddhist monks and talked about the deep questions of life, and drank more cups of tea than anybody ever should.

Thank you for all your prayers. And to our team- thank you for giving of yourselves, your time, and your heart. We miss you already.

Right now Sarah and I are at our company’s office doing training. Pray for us as we talk to the leadership about changing our ministry focus from the Nepali people to Tibetans. It’s a new direction but one God has been pointing us to from day one.

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.

Taken from Dave’s Blog

“There was some violence in the city yesterday, ten bombs and an attack on a police station that killed 10 police and 12 Maoists. Fortunately, we didn?t see any of that and didn?t even hear about it until this morning. On the way to the hotel we came upon a large crowd of people gathered along the side of the road. As we passed them, we saw some soldiers standing next to the body of a man who had apparently been shot. I don?t know if it had any connection to the Maoists or not. I doubt that it did.

This afternoon we went out to get some supplies for Nathan?s apartment. We came back with a refrigerator, a washing machine, microwave, phone, and a bunch of miscellaneous ?house stuff?.

Tonight is time to stay at home. We?re having dal bhaat for supper and then I guess we?ll start setting up the apartment. So ends another day in Nepal.”

Taken from Dave’s Blog

“Just as a preface to this and future posts, I am unable to get an internet connection at the convenient moment most of the time, so I have resorted to journaling at night before I go to bed and then posting when I get a chance. Therefore, the times of the post will not always be accurate, though I will at least change the date to reflect what day each post was written on. (more…)