8/2006 - Colorado Springs
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God is willing, and in the spring of 2007, our family relocated indefinitely to Kathmandu, Nepal. There we serve at a school and have begun to learn the language and culture of a country in transition.
Nepal's transition is not just political, it is spiritual as well. The vast majority of the country, 95%+ depending on who you ask, is a combination of Hindu and Buddhist. The last 50 years have seen tremendous progress in this Country and we want to continue that work.
The school we spoke of earlier needs our help. Ryan serves teaching IT. Chandra is helping as the primary secretary, but with the kids so young it will not be full time for her.
So here is where you come in. The spiritual climate in the whole region wears heavily on Christians here. One couple we met, whose kids graduated from the school, have been there for over 15 years. They have encountered a lot of challenges, but are still going strong. We believe with them that it takes a foundation of spiritual support to free us to succeed. It is a principle God put in place, that we are truly a body. It is our hope that every one of you will pray for us as often as possible in the years and hopefully decades to come.
Matthew 6:21 - "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
Nepal
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The school cannot pay us to work. Most of the students come from missionary families that survive themselves on the shoulders of their supporters. So we are asking for you to consider allocating some of your treasure to support us. We realize many of you are not in such a position, for you we ask that you pray for us as though you had given us your treasures. If you do support us financially, please pray for us like you have given all you have. Sincere spiritual support is the key to long term missionaries and their success. It is only in believing the Matthew 6:21 (above) and 1 Corinthians 12:12 (the body of Christ) principles that I can rebuke my own pride and ask you to be our partners. Please allow us to climb on your shoulders and go to Nepal to contribute our talents to the move of God there.
The students are nearly all children of nearby ministers involved in medicine, church planting, education, and more. We consider it an honor to help empower these families to stay longer and do more. It will take us years to learn the culture well enough to even begin to communicate well with the locals. So we consider it a double blessing to be in a position to be fruitful as soon as our feet hit the ground. We love the people of Nepal, and we have every intention of being part of local ministry to nationals. It's just great that we can step into this support role immediately. Praise the Lord.
Nepal
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Psalm 50:10 - "...for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills."
We believe the principle of Psalm 50:10. God owns everything. He can and will provide for us. We just hope to some degree that you, our brothers and sisters, will be the vessels He uses. In that way we will be part of the vine, exactly where God wants us. Leaning on God and you to achieve things we could never do alone.
Nepal
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We meet our Gorkha friends at about 8:30 before church so Ryan can have his saranghi lesson. The whole family comes so
they can play with our kids and go to church with us after. During this lesson Surrendra stopped Ryan and proceeded to tell him about a dream he had that night. We followed
most of it but some words we didn't understand. The word for dream just happens to also be Surrendra's daughter's name. "Soptna".
After lessons we head to church. Surrendra can read quite well and seems to enjoy following the hymnal and the scriptures
that are being read. His wife cannot read and often seems to feel a bit awkward. In Nepal sincerity is a huge concern for the local church. There are many reasons that such
a poor family would come to church, especially with Bideshies.
After church we headed back to our house for lunch. This was a bit of an ad-hoc decision. We heard that our friend was getting
baptized and she really wanted us to go. We thought, what a great opportunity for them to see a celebration of salvation. Chandra worked a miracle in preparing lunch so quickly. 
After lunch our friend "S" got baptized. This is no small or casual event here. She waited for several years for this day.
It sounds strange, but the standards are quite high in the national church we attend. Opportunism is written into the culture. The things we consider common sense really do not
apply here. There really is no inner ethic to keep people from mimicking Christianity if they think they can get something out of it. They aren't evil either. They just have never
known anything different.
After "S"'s baptism we left quickly. On the way up the hill Surrendra and Sarisoti ran up to Ryan like little children. With
big smiles on their faces Surrendra asked, "What do I need to do to get baptizma?" Ryan answered, "You'll have to talk to the pastor." To that Surrendra answered: "If I read my whole
bible then can I get baptizma?" ... His wife quickly asked "What can I do?"
They had obviously not patronized taxis too often because as we were driving up their road the kids and even Sarasoti kept hanging their
heads out the windows and yelling to their friends. It was cute. 
We sang with them, talked with them, and were greeted by dozens of people. We met Surrendra's brother who spoke some English.
That was nice because conversations with Surrendra go very slowly. He told us he has been a follower of Jesus for 3 years. He knows so because he reads one page from his bible every
day. As far as we know they haven't ever been to church. At church that morning Surrendra was invited to go back for Wednesday bible study. We made it clear we would not be there
but we really hoped they would go. We extended the invitation to his brother.
We were quite the attraction. There were several families that lived there. They crowded at the door, they encircled us in the
common area. It was very awkward.
There were moments that it didn't seem worth the cost, but in writing this we are so
grateful to be a part of what God is doing. Thank you so much for helping us get here!
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