Blog

We began yesterday morning with a 24-minute flight from Bharatpur to Kathmandu aboard Buddha Air. When we arrived at the small airport, we were the only ones there! I’m so accustomed to arriving at an airport 2 hours before the flight! Anyway, it was a smooth flight, then getting a connecting flight from Kathmandu to Delhi a couple of hours later. Another smooth flight, after which we checked in to the hotel less than 10 minutes from the airport. So, now I wait for my late night flight which is the first leg of the journey home.

It was another wonderful time with the pastors, leaders, students, and friends in India and Nepal. Last evening Saji, the director of Harvest Mission to the Unreached (HMU) came to our hotel from the HMU office in Delhi for a time of tea and conversation with Pastor Ed and me. It was a great time of talking about what God is doing in India and Nepal and about future plans. I love working with HMU for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is the integrity of the organization’s leaders. Pray for them, as they are always needing more financial support. I am amazed at how they stretch their budget each year. They have land and want to establish a pastor’s training center in Delhi.

Man, I love what I do! I am so grateful for all who support MTI. Thank you also for the prayers. On this trip, I came here at the end of a cold but had a couple of other health issues for the first few days. However, I ended strong and feel great.

God willing, I will be home Sunday night. By the way, I watched the memorial service for Billy Graham here at the hotel. What a tremendous inspiration he was and is.

Blessings to you all!

David

Today, Thursday, was the final day of the conference in Nepal. I taught a total of 5 or 6 sessions during the conference and enjoyed spending time with the pastors and students. Here is a photo of the attendees and visiting speakers:

The student girls are wearing their colorful school uniforms.

On Tuesday we drove by a large, barren, dusty lot that had about 15-20 “tents” made from tarps. We discovered that it was a group of refugees/gypsies from India. They have no status in India, nor Nepal. Long story short, a few of us chipped in to buy some food for them, each family getting a 10-pound bag containing rice, lentiles, and salt. Today at lunch, we took the food and distributed it. We also had candy for the children. They gladly received all we gave them, which admittedly was not much. It was pretty crazy but I am glad we did it.

It is late, and I’m tired, so I’ll post more tomorrow.

Thanks again for all the prayers!

David

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This is a photo of me with a young man named RK. He has served as my tramslator during the first 2 days of the Pastors Conference in Chitwan. He is an outstanding translator! But that is not what inspires me about him. He assists his grandfather, a pastor, in a number of villages. Every Saturday, which is the day of worship in Nepal, he hikes up into the mountains, a hike of 5 hours each way, in order to meet with a group of Christians from a small village. He conducts a worship service and spends the day with them. Then he makes the 5 hour trek back to his home. He said that every week about halfway home, he feels tired and weary, but thinks about the time he had with that group and is then re-energized and makes it home. The trails and “roads” are so bad that he cannot even take a motor bike, thus, he walks. Wow. What an inspiration. He is 29, is married, and has an 8-year old son and a 2-month old daughter. God bless this guy. Through the week he visits a number of other villages as well. It’s a different life here, folks. Mountainous, difficult, without most of the comforts we take for granted. In fact, our flight here was 22 minutes in length, but would have taken 8 hours by car, due to the winding, clogged, dangerous mountain roads.

There are also probably 20 Bible college students in attendance as well. It is all going well and I am thankful to be here.

Thanks for the prayers.

dav