Waking up in Nepal

    As the title implies, we’re enjoying a new hybrid dish. I guess you could say that East meets Southwest, sans cheese. But please don’t make think about cheese. I’m craving it in every form & kind of dish you (or I) can imagine. Cheese is available here but we don’t trust it with all of the power outages. Meat is a different story because it stays frozen, but cheese is in the refrigerator section. Another reason is that it is expensive. If I buy some to make a pizza, the power may not be on to bake. It is rare to have power at 4-5p.m. We can’t count on the power schedule to be right & plan ahead. There are cheese slices on the shelf at our local store, left unrefrigerated. It reads on the package how long it’s guaranteed, if refrigerated. Yeah it’s complicated, like a lot of things. The cheese is usually white & I think it might be yak cheese. Well, back to the fajita. Pramita has been making the flat bread for us. They only contain flour & water. She says you’re not an accomplished woman if you cannot make it perfectly round. As you might have guessed, she is great at it. I want to learn to make the bread, but so far I’ve been busy with cooking the inside stuff to learn. I use chicken breasts cut up mixed with taco seasoning( while it lasts). I cook onions & peppers together & Top with tomatoes. I’ve only seen lettuce one time & bought it then. Every layer has to be pulled apart and soaked in the iodine solution. We actually had a salad that day!

Well, time to close,

Love, Liz

Hello everyone from Kathmandu!

    I wanted to share with you a deep concern within the Nepali church at large. They are campaigning for their right to bury their dead. As you probably know, Hinduism teaches that the body must be cremated in order for the soul to be reincarnated, that is into another body. Very few people own enough land in order to bury on their own property. There is some land behind one of the largest & oldest temples (we’ve been to) that the Christians have been using, ironically. Of late there has been an outcry among the Hindu community to stop this practice. What can the people do? They are not allowed to have a Christian service or prayer at the cremation site. Many of you have seen the pictures we have of that place that is outdoors by the river. They don’t want to have anything to do with their former practices & they are very grieved when one of their loved ones has to be subjected to this in the end. There is comfort in knowing that in the final analysis, God knows all things. That precious believer is already with the Lord, as Paul says, “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” One day He will raise those ashes & fashion a new body, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. Please pray for the believers to take comfort in God’s word. Also pray that this issue will be resolved, and that these believers will be able to glorify God , even in burial.

God bless you all,

Liz

Standing (L to R) Prakosh, Joshua, Stephan, Rodin (from Burma) Sitting (L to R) Amit (#2 from India), Amit (our own), Ashish, Ashok

This Sunday 8 of our students are going to go (for 3 days) to a very remote village to preach the Gospel. It is almost 4 hours by bus and then they leave the road for a 6 hour walk through the jungle and up a mountain to reach it! The whole area also has heavy Maoist activity so they thought it best that Vic or I not go. OK, that sounds good to me!

This village is the home of one of the students, Ashish. There is a small group of believers there (from which he came) of about 70-100 people. The team will be doing a day with the village youth with lots of singing, Gospel skits and what Amit called “tag team preaching”. Also on one day Amit will be giving an instructional class on Worship – how to lead, the importance of prayer, the importance of songs that are doctrinally sound, etc. as well as simply teaching them several new songs. He also told me he will be preaching throughout their time there on Ro.5:18-19 and what it means to be “In Adam” or “In Christ”. Wow! For those of you at JCF who know how often I have taught this you will know what a blessing this is to me personally. They are all really pumped and anxious to share what they have been learning here at GBC! Please pray for these young men of God as they go to share the Word of Life!

In the Savior,

Kirk

Hi, everyone,

    Pramita, Will and I (Liz) went to the post office to pick up our “care package” from the good ole’  U.S.A, thanks to Kathy & Don. Before leaving, I said a quick prayer asking God for favor, in light of their reputation. The place was lacking, shall we say. This trip I had my camera with me & thought I’d take a shot of conditions there. It’s amazing that they make heads or tails of the packages. They shuffled us between several desks, finally producing the package. It was addressed to Pramita so she had to provide her documentation, although I took ours along. I’m told that the workers there regularly pilfer from the packages, even right in front of the recipient. They either want part of your stuff or a bribe to let you keep your stuff.  These things we will not miss! Anyway, Pramita, ever the quick thinker, told them that even though I didn’t know Nepali I would take their picture and report them to the authorities if they took any of our goods. She also told them that we had ties to the embassy. Does having our names on file there as American citizens count? If so then we’re good. The funny thing about it is I thought they were being extra nice because Will was with us. He hugged the bag of gummy bears that he received!! They even seemed rather jovial.  Come to think of it, the people at the counter did have a  kind of  deer-in- the- headlights look on their faces. Will & I were oblivious to the drama going on in Nepali, having no clue during those moments that we wielded such power.  The moral of this story is this–Always take your camera & have it visible to those who may need to see it. And don’t forget to have a big smile on your face the whole time. And remember to pray to our God, who works in mysterious & sometimes humorous ways, FIRST!!!!!!!!! 

Love,

Liz

Greetings from Kathmandu,

Turns out the ladies here all want to have lighter skin. There are many products that claim to lighten skin. When I first arrived, I realized that I had forgotten the moisturizer for my face (no, this is not Kirk). I found a product with a recognisable name from back home. What really caught my eye was the 30 spf (sun protection factor). I didn’t think much of the whitening factor.  By the time I get home I may be invisible! Seriously, I had no idea this was an issue. One of the most beautiful ladies I’ve ever seen commented about her skin color being “so dark”. I told her she was beautiful–just like God made her. Women in the U.S. risk their health to have deep tans, and here they want lighter skin? We are fickle creatures. The grass is always greener on the other side ( of the world). Another thing I noticed at the ladies meeting were the fancy purses most of the ladies had. They are the large, colorful ones that are popular back home. At least I think they are still in style. Have things changed since I’ve been gone? Well, women are the same all over the world! They like their purses & their beauty products! I’ve been amazed when going into a small store at how many hair & beauty items there are to choose from–way more in proportion to necessities. I guess we women just NEED our purses & beauty products. Right? Well, it’s been fun to find & observe our common ground. Another observation, most women want to look their best. They do the best they can with what they have. You wouldn’t believe the head-turning fabrics & colors women wear. They are truly a feast for the eyes!

Well, times-a wastin’, and I’ve got to go cook……………….

Love,

Liz

Will in his new oufit and Pastor Tika

Kirk here…

It seems it is getting increasingly hard to blog. The power is down to two 4 hour increments a day with 4 of them coming sometime in the middle of the night. It is usually better on the weekends though.

 This weekend we will not be able to leave the compound due to it being the Hindu holiday “Holi”. On this day people throw water on each other in the form of water balloons and literal bucketfuls from balconies as you walk down the streets. It sounds fun until you realize that most of the time it is sewer water they’re throwing! Literally! No kidding! Sewer water! Someone actually threw one today (early) and broke out a window in Pramita’s room. Many of the participants paint their faces like demons. They are mostly all very drunk as well so it is not a good time to go outside. Many of the church members will come very early on Saturday and will not go home until the next day as Saturday is the main day. So we will probably have quite a few sleeping at the compound. We are getting extra food tomorrow to accommodate them. Quite a few people are killed each year during the “Holi” weekend as well.

We are getting a very good education on Hindu culture and there is nothing pretty about it. Pramita told us last night about a Newarri ritual every 12 years where there is human sacrifice involved. A year ago a boy went missing not too far from here and it is believed that Hindu “holy men” in his village sacrificed him to appease their god. The police knew about it but were too afraid to go into the temple there to investigate it. They were either too superstitiously afraid or simply too afraid of the people there. This is not made up but is very real. How anyone could ever think Hinduism is a “great world religion” is beyond me. They have obviously never seen it up close and personal and it is demonic to the core. Add to this the caste system which causes the upper castes to treat lower ones like dirt and you begin to understand why believers here want nothing to do with it and find no room whatsoever for compromise. There are many very sweet Hindu people that we have met (and our hearts ache for them) but as far as Hinduism itself is concerned it is very, very dark.

Well enough of all that brooding! On a happier note we thought you might like to see what Pastor Tika and his lovely wife Duraga did for Will. They wanted to bless him so they had a traditional Nepali suit made for him. It is called a Dhaka and he loves it! Everyone calls him a sweet Nepali baboo. He wore it last week to a Hindu wedding we were invited to. The mother is the lady who recently came to Christ and she wanted us all to come so her family could meet her new friends! It was a great honor to be invited and we were glad to go to support this dear lady. See pictures below of Will and some shots from the wedding.

In our Savior, Kirk

The Happy Couple

The Dancing Will

Offerings to the gods

We had our Saturday service and enjoyed it very much. Kirk has been teaching a  series about our responsiblity of giving as believers. It was interesting because Pramita’s parents, who are Hindu, decided to come on this Sunday. We knew in God’s providence that it was good timing, but at first thought, you wonder. As it turned out, they agreed with the need to give and were encouraged to be more giving. This turned out to be a side of Christianity that was attractive to them & that they needed to hear! Please pray for them to trust in our Lord as Savior. Pramita believes that they are close to the kingdom of God. Momita cooked a delicious meal for us all after church. They brought Will a gift and us a platter of fruit (which Will is munching on as I write). We had some really good fellowship over tea & cookies. Around 4:30, Kirk realized that we needed to get more passport photo’s taken, since we needed to go to the immigration office tomorrow. We headed off on foot with Prajowl & Momita to the photo shop. After we took the photo’s, we walked back another direction and stopped by Grace cafe for a Pepsi & a visit. We enjoyed our walk around the neighborhood very much. It was time to pick up the photo’s by the time we set foot back at CCF (home). Prajowl took Will with him on the back of Momita’s scooter & he had a blast, literally! After that he played with the kids.  Well it’s been a busy, good day.

PS – See pics below of Pramita’s family.

Signing off from Kathmandu,

Liz

L to R - Pramita, Mrs. and Mr. Mothay, Kirk, Will, Liz, Momita, Prajowl

Awesome!!! – There is a brand new KFC that has opened just a short distance from our church here in Kathmandu!

See pictures below…

Kirk here…

It had been a while since I last blogged so I thought I would give an update on GBC. Last week we had “Testimony Day” where all the students shared how they came to Christ and also what they hoped to do for Him in the future. One thing that stood out was that most of them were from Hindu backgrounds and over half of them came to the Lord as the result of a physical healing in themselves or their immediate family. That is a story I am hearing over and over again. One brother I spoke with came from a Buddhist family of 10 counting the Mom and Dad. His sister became deathly ill. They called the Buddhist priest and after performing several rituals she was no better. Then they called on a local Hindu priest and got the same result. Finally a local Baptist pastor came and prayed for her and she immediately began to get better. Within a very short time she was normal. As a result (after the pastor shared the Gospel) the whole family came to Christ! Another family here at CCF all came to the Lord after the mother was miraculously healed. In all there were a total of 53 extended family members who converted! The mother now goes throughout Nepal praying for people to be healed and has seen many, many miracles.

But getting back to the students, the thing I most wanted to know about was their vision after they leave GBC. Several feel that God is calling them to be evangelists. They have a desire and a calling to go to the very remote parts of Nepal with the Gospel. Without exception all the students want to go back to their own village and share Christ with their people. One brother will be pastoring 2 existing house churches with a total of about 60 believers near Damauli. His home church, Immanuel Baptist has 12 satellite churches. Another brother’s goal is to have an orphanage. There is a high death rate (most have no access to medical care or medicine – too poor) and there are many single parent families. Another factor you hear frequently in connection with this is alcoholism. When these things happen many times the children must go to a children’s home. There simply are no jobs to be had especially for a single parent. No job, no income, no income, no food. Hence the great need for children’s homes and orphanages. Another brother (our own dear Amit) wants to open a school here in Kathmandu to train worship leaders. He wants to emphasize “Theocentric” (God centered) worship as opposed to entertainment! What a guy! Hopefully this can be incorporated into GBC in the near future. All the students are serious about Jesus and the Gospel. What a privilege and blessing to be able to teach such hungry hearts! Hopefully soon I will post some pictures of them so you can see who you’re praying for!

With love in the Savior,

Kirk