:: Reaching Nepal ::

Tonight, Good Friday, We invited our community and friends to come and watch the Jesus Film at our church. We used a projector to show the movie and over 400 people came and heard a complete presentation of the gospel. The room was packed full of people and there were even people standing in the door way and watching through the windows. My heart is so full to know that there are people today who know of God’s love for them who did not know of it yesterday. Thank you God.

Please make these people a matter of prayer. Pray that God uses this movie to open their hearts to salvation. Pray for a miracle.

Well I’m back from my second trip to Everest and I must say I’m excited about being back. I love it up there but its really hard work. I went with four other people this time and by far this trip was better. The main reason was the simple fact that we all worked together well. There were a few problems along the way:? I twisted my ankle a few days before I left, got altitude sickness at 13,500 ft, and a threw up 7x on the way down. I know all that sounds bad but really it was a great trip.

The highlights of the trip were all ministry related. We were able to hand out 24 Nepali NT and I was able to have discipleship lessons with our porter Pasang who has only been a believer for a few years.? Thank you all for your prayers. God did amazing things and I trust He will continue too.

Everest is the black mountain in the midle

Ama Dablem, my favorite mountain

Our team at the memorial to fallen climbers

These yaks seemed a little irritated when I took their picture

Our porter Pasang and I

My buddies Jason and Jordan after 13 days without a shower…nasty!

Sarah and I at Base Camp…Victory!

I did it last May and now I am doing it again- going to Everest. I leave in exactly 5 minutes for my plane. Pray that God will give us divine appointments as we look to personally handout 30 Nepali Bibles. Pray for wisdom in how we can best minister and pray for our health. I will keep you posted

Love you all.

Everyone reading this needs to sit down (I assume since you are at your computer you are, but just in case.) Are you ready? Ok?.I have a girlfriend. Yes, you heard right, Nathan has found a girl! Or should I say God found a girl for Nathan.

Her name is Sarah and she is the most amazing woman I have ever met. I have liked her for a while, but I never dreamed she would give me a second look, but praise Jesus she did. She is also here in Nepal serving Christ. Her focus is on reaching Tibetans and she is amazing at her ministry. Just hearing her speak Tibetan blows me away. Apart from being breath-takingly beautiful and committed to her work, she has a deep passion for Christ. Simply put she?s too good for me!

I wish I could put a picture of her on here but for security reasons I can?t. Instead I will let you know a bit about her. She is from Tennessee (Thank you Lord!), near Nashville, and she comes from a very godly family. She is about to turn 24 and has her degree in social work. She has a huge heart for people and an even bigger heart for Jesus. Right now she is only in Nepal for two years but desires to work overseas fulltime. ? I could spend all day giving you details but this should suffice for now. Just know that I?m very happy and I am amazed at God?s all surpassing goodness; even in matters of the heart.

Thank you all for your prayers in this matter and keep them coming.

From last Sunday to Wednesday was Losar- the Tibetan New Year. Last year during this time I knew very few people so I wasn’t able to celebrate Losar in any cultural way. This year I was able to see Tibetan culture first hand. On Sunday morning, I received a call from a close friend who invited me to join her and her Tibetan friends at a festival. We went to the Tibetan refugee camp and enjoyed many indigenous songs and dances. It was amazing to see so many different people groups from Tibet all with their own outfits and dances. On Monday I drove my bike to the Tibetan section of town where my friend lives. She and I spent a long time talking with Tibetan friends, eating traditional food, and playing games (although the game was very American- Phase 10!). I had planned on being there for lunch and part of the afternoon but what I discovered was that people don’t eat and run in Tibetan culture. What I though would be a few hours ended up being 11 hours but I enjoyed every minute of it.

The chaos that Nepal is so famous for has been absent for a while now but it is coming back quickly. For a month or so a group in the south has been protesting and creating havoc to have their voices heard. They have used threats, blockades, and violence to get their point across. This radical fringe group is doing this to receive seats in the parliament and to eventually have the southern part of Nepal annexed, creating a new country. This demand is obviously crazy and the government has stood strong so far. To strengthen their stand, this rebel group has blocked gasoline trucks from entering the city causing a huge fuel shortage. Most gas stations are now closed and to get gas you can expect to stand in line for the good part of a day. This has been happening for about three weeks now and to make their point even stronger they are now threatening to shut down the capitol here for an undisclosed amount of time. I have no idea what will happen in the coming days but pray that God will allow this country to experience a freedom that has for so long eluded them.

On Wednesday it snowed in the Kathmandu Valley for the first time in 62 years. Crazy huh? You would think that because we are so close to the mountians that we would get snow a lot but the tempature here hardly ever drops below zero. On Thursday we canceled classes so that our students could hike up to the top of our local mountain and make snow balls. They had a blast.

Home Sweet Home! After a month of traveling throughout South Asia I am finally home. I’ve been back now for a week and it’s so nice to get back in the swing of things. This last week we had a teacher from America come out and help us develop our college?s curriculum. It was very helpful to have someone come from the outside and show us how we can best prepare our students for ministry.

This coming week is the start of the new year for our Bible college. After looking back over this last year and reevaluating what I have been doing in ministry, I have decided to invest more time in the college. I will have an office soon where I can work from and I will spend much more quality time outside of the classroom with my students. This will both help my language and allow me to once again minister to youth. Pray for me as I will be teaching three different classes this semester; youth ministry, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, and spiritual formation.

I’m now in Bangkok taking a seminary class on “Christian Worldview.” I’ve been away from being a student for three years now and I must say that I enjoy it much more than I did. I love the subject matter and the class is very practical to what I deal with on a daily basis. It’s a two week class so I will be in the “big city” for a while. After I finish up here I will go to Bangladesh for 5 days to attend a conference and then back home to Nepal.

Today marks one year living in Nepal. I can’t believe it has already been a year. Part of me does feel like I just stepped off the plane but then there is a part of me that feels that this place is my home. This week as I have been studying culture and worldview I have realized that I have begun to adopt several aspects of the Nepali worldview. It really has been a great year. There were struggles as well as victories but overall it was an amazing first leg of my long journey.

Below I have post a few pictures from my Christmas party and my vacation. Not everyone gets to bask the beauty of Southern Thailand so feel free to live vicariously through me!

Christmas party at my home. 19 unbelievers were able to hear the whole Gospel!

My home for a week. Perfect weather and amazing beauty.

Most days I spent rock climbing on the beach. Words can’t describe and pictures don’t do it justice.

SHARK! Moments after I took a picture of this shark it was cooked and then eaten by me. Yum!

Thailand is what you would expect it to be…paradise. The beaches are amazing, the food is good. and the climbing is far beyond what I can do. I am having a good time but I’ll be ready to head out in a few days. I can do the “relax and do nothing” vacation for only so long. In three days I will be heading to Bangkok to take a seminary class. By that time I will be ready to do something productive.

Yesterday I went climbing with some of my more experianced friends from Colorado. We found a good route to climb but I only got about half way up it before my arms gave out. I hate not being able to finish something. I’m gong back out again today and hope to climb a bit better.

If you?ve picked up a newspaper or watched the news today you already know that there were 9 bombs that went off in Bangkok. Rest assured that I am now 1000km away from Bangkok and I?m as safe as can be. I really don?t know that is taking place in the capital right now. I will do some more research before I head back there in a week or so.

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Today was a nice day. I got up about 9am and had breakfast with my friends. After food I went climbing for an hour or so. Then after lunch I went climbing again but his time I went with the girls in our group. I could keep up a bit better climbing with them. Don?t laugh. I am planning on posting pics but the internet here is so expensive so I may wait a few days and do it all at once.

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Happy New Year to all!