Well, I haven’t written any blogs on this trip, as I did not want to jeopardize any of our Christian friends and ministries in India or Nepal. After meeting with the leader of HMU in Delhi, I traveled on to Nepal, where I conducted 2 days of seminars with a group that I had not previously worked with. There were about 50 pastors and leaders in attendance, and I presented a new curriculum I am working on, “10 Things I Want to Say to Every Pastor”. It is a series that was born out of my 30 years as a pastor and things I have experienced and observed during those years, both in my own ministry and in the ways pastors handle various things. Anyway, I think it went well, although it is not as smooth when using a translator. I tried some of the curriculum out last summer in Uganda and did not need a translator, as they all spoke English. In listening to the recordings, I saw that it was more cohesive. So, I need to adapt some of it, do some tweaking. At the seminars, I got to speak to a number of pastors, some from the mountain areas of Nepal, and they had some great stories.
After those 2 days, I went to the orphanage in Kathmandu, where I preached at their Saturday worship service (churches meet on Saturday in Nepal, as it is the day off for everyone). I also spent time talking with Dev and Maya, who run the orphanage, and many of the children. It is amazing to see how they have all grown. Many of them were here when I first visited the orphanage in 2011. Others have graduated high school and have gone on to university, some have married. They all are well and very thankful for the financial support many of you give.
Later that evening, I was joined by Pastor Ed Hickey from London, Ontario, Canada. He and I then went to a place in the hills outside the city of Kathmandu in order to conduct 2 day of seminars for HMU pastors. There was talk that Qatar Airlines would be ceasing service to Nepal, and Pastor Ed had flown in on Qatar. So, in order to not be stuck in Nepal, we cut the seminars short and had only one day with the pastors. It went very well but we needed to get out of Nepal.
Upon arriving into Delhi yesterday, Wednesday, we had to fill out medical forms. Then, there was a special line at Immigration for those arriving from Nepal and about 7 other countries. It turned out to be OK, since the normal Immigration lines were very long. I had no waiting and got through right away.
So, now, I am in Delhi and will fly home tomorrow, Friday. I am praying that I stay healthy. There is little else on the news beside the corona virus story. I thank you for your prayers and look forward to being home again! I have a trip scheduled for Tanzania next month but I believe that I’ll postpone it until later in the year. That’s fine with me.
May God bless you all!
David