It was a special joy to see these photos come from Nepal in January 2013. These are village pastors from two separate areas in Nepal. One is so high up in the mountains that it takes most of a hard driving day to get to the meeting place by jeep. None of the pastors have a jeep. They walk-- and for some of them it is a vertical climb of two or more days a fact which causes one to swallow hard when tempted to complain of the jeep ride. Of course, many Americans and other foreigners come to Nepal to climb the mountains for fun. But even among committed believers, how many would make the climb in the dead of winter to sit on the floor in an unheated church to receive Bible training? And these men are not full time pastors, though they would like to be. Every one of them farms to feed his family. The other training area is in the terai-- that is the flat land near Nepal's border with India. We have been working with that group for years longer than the mountain group. Most of the faces are very familiar to me. I know their families and I know their ministries. We sponsor at least one child for almost all of them (which is true for the mountain group too). We are grateful for a variety of ministries in Nepal-- children's homes, church building project, medical clinics, Jesus Video outreach, slum ministry as well as the pastor training. My favorite ministry is usually the one I am working on at the moment. But seeing this training module complete and the certificates awarded....is really, really special. God's Word will multiply in the lives of those who heard it-- and these leaders will spread out through some still unreached areas of a little country that I love-- and more people will be reached and discipled for the Lord.
