Comin' Home!

Time to go home! I don't have time to do a full entry, but I wanted to let everyone know we're heading out today. I have about another 2 minutes of internet, so I'll be brief!

Fun times, stressful times, saw sad things, saw exciting things, overall: God is doing great things here! I can't wait to get a chance to give a more full update of all that we've seen this week. It's enough to get anyone excited about God's work!

See you all soon, love and miss most of ya!

The Border!

OK, I don’t know if I can name all of our new experiences…

-We each at some point rode on the back of Pastor Bishwa’s motorcycle through the motocross that is the Nepali highway system.

-We stood before many of the countries’ Christian leaders and spoke to them on topics concerning how to live their lives according to Scripture.

-Of course there was the marathon of Airplanes and layovers.

-Began every one of our days between 2-3am due to the difference in time zones.

-I won’t even discuss the meals. Except to say that Bishwa’s wife made pretty good fried chicken and French fries the night we were guests in their home.

-We got to be a part of 21 baptisms near the border in the river. The water could not have been more cold, the river was running out of the mountains that we were in and it was a true testament to their faith and willingness to follow Christ to allow themselves to be fully submerged here. Seriously, it was so cold I need to come up with a new word for how cold it was, like… if there’s cold, and then really cold, and maybe simon birch cold, this is like 4 levels above that!

-Last night I slept in my pj pants, pants, shirt, sweater, and coat because the air so is damp here that my blanket, and pillow were wet and it was cold!

We’ve heard testimonies from some of the people here about what they’ve learned or how they’ve grown from the teaching so far and I’m excited about that, but probably more excited about what I’ve learned and how I’ve grown from this trip.

A new excitement has been lit in me for the ministry back at home. Here we’re learning the importance of training “soul winners” for Christ instead of just “reaching souls” for Christ. Not to downplay winning souls to Christ because that is what it is all about. The key is that here I know I can’t have the affect on the people that the believers can because they’re here for the long haul. What I can do is teach them to do the work more effectively and help give them the encouragement they need to continue on.

That excites me about what we’re doing back at home. I sometimes get upset over how many actual students that I may or may not be impacting due to numbers and such, but God is doing great things in our church and community. We do have students that are passionate about God and share Him with their friends. We have students that are passionate about God and share Him with strangers regardless of the beer bottle in their hand. That’s understanding the sinner! Not judging and condemning but loving and caring. I see our students being the current and future generation of Soul Winners and that excites me. I can reach only those that God puts in my way, but our students can reach those that God puts in their way, and I know they will!

Meet Anand

Anand is a very smart young man here. He very much wanted to call some of my friends and family from my phone and meet them and practice his english, which he doesn't need, but sadly I couldn't let him use my phone since I can't even use my phone here. But... I did take the opportunity to let him make the brief video (below) to tell about himself and also ask you a few questions.

Please watch the video, let him introduce himself to you, and then take the time to answer his questions in the comments here. If you can't understand the questions due to his fast speech, I believe they are: hobby, live, name.

He is eager to hear the answers and meet some people from the United States so please please please reply here. I told him my friends and family would love to meet him and we would have replies. If you'd like to tell him a little more than just the answers to the three questions I'm sure he'd love that, like perhaps how adorable he is, that'll get him blushing and that would be perfect! Thanks so much!

Daily Bread

Yeah, umm... not sure this post made any sense when it isn't like 4 in the morning. So... I'll just start over and be brief, the picture is a family washing their baby on the roof of their building. The father put in a good amount of effort considering he was cleaning the baby when we went up there and we were up there for over 20 minutes and he was still washing her when we left. Lots of good dads here!

Jet Lag?

I've only flown for a trip once before and it was scary but pleasant. This trip however, has been the opposite!

Tulsa to Chicago, Chicago to Newark, Newark to Brussels (getting to Newark 10 minutes before actual take-off), Brussels to Delhi (Euro's hurt!), and ultimately Delhi to Here (Delhi voted in top 3 hardest airports to sleep in and an 11 hour layover there).

The good thing is that we landed safely again, and our friends here are very gracious and speak very good english. Aside from Roger trying to give money to men who demanded he tip them for absolutely nothing at the airport, it was a very easy process. The men were very pushy and considering we had a party of 10 show up to greet us and we knew none of them, it was hard to distinguish our men from the pushy and greedy.

We met with some of the pastors from around here and other nearby countries, tonight or last night or whatever it is right now, and enjoyed a very spicy dinner with them. We begin our 2 day Spiritual Awakening Conference tomorrow, and then we'll travel further north to the border to repeat the Conference later in the week. I am speaking to the leaders and pastors tomorrow over the "Biblical Model for Family" which is important considering most of the believers here are 1st generation believers and will contend with a family of Buddhists. When I have more time I will share Pastor B's testimony about exactly that!

As for now, time to attempt more sleep I guess. I laid in bed for hours and felt as though gravity was pushing me into the bed like the airplane pushed me into the seat during take-offs. I can't seem to shake that feeling and can't sleep. It is 4:30am here and I guess it is only afternoon/evening at home so I must still be accustomed to that time and sleeping is not working. Pray for us as we endeavor into new things that God has set before us and only He can help us to accomplish. Check back for more updates as the week progresses.