News at ABWE
On a Prefield Mission
Reaching Nepalis without going to Nepal
by L.W.
Before I visited the country of Nepal to do short-term missions, I had never met a Nepali person. However, since I’ve returned to do prefield ministry in the United States (raising support to return to Nepal full-time), God has been continually putting Nepali people in my path. I have met with a group of Nepalese who live in the Atlanta area, my parents have fellowship with a Christian Nepali pastor who is in seminary near their house in California, and I plan to contact a Nepali student who is at a Bible College for the deaf in the Chattanooga area.
There are also about 21 Hindu Nepali students at a university only 45 minutes from my house. In God’s divine plan, my future teammate to Nepal has a sister and brother-in-law that are dorm parents in the international dorm of that very university. They opened up their home, and we have regularly been having a Nepali Fellowship on Thursday nights. We eat Nepali food (with our fingers while sitting on the floor), learn Nepalese culture and attempt to learn their language. Along with the food, fun, and fellowship, we also have the opportunity to share God’s Word with the students. Because of the drastic difference in their religion and culture, most of them hardly know anything about what we believe. Starting with creation, we have been teaching them through the Bible chronologically. Most of them seem very open to learning more. A couple of them specifically asked to know more about Jesus Christ. One wrote a paper about how we (Christians) must be worshipping a God who is alive, because our relationship with God is our passion. Another said, “I want to be a Christian, because it seems to me like Christians know real joy like I have never known.
It’s been a joy to work with Nepalis, even while I am in the United States. There is a lot of laughter at our meetings, but it is also a serious time as spiritual warfare is raging. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to shine through us and open their eyes and hearts to the truth of God’s Word.