By Elizabeth Chan
I faced the mission trip with some trepidation when I discovered there would only be three of us going: Chi Kee, Ru Huey and myself. Except for Chi Kee, we did not have any mission experience. However, we were encouraged by a word from the Lord to one of us – Ecclesiastes 4:12 says “A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” How apt for the three of us. We reminded ourselves that the battle belongs to the Lord and victory is not by our strength or might, but by His Spirit. With this in mind, our hearts remained untroubled throughout the entire mission.
The first sign of our Father’s care was already evident upon our arrival in Kathmandu. As the airport was without an aerobridge, we had to descend by stairs to get on a shuttle bus to take us to the arrival terminal. Barely minutes after we got on the shuttle bus, it started to rain. We were thankful for not being caught in the cold rain.
Upon getting out of the airport, we were warmly greeted by our host, Pastor Hari, and two Christian brothers.
Our mission work comprised three main areas:
- Equipping & encouraging believers
- Community outreach – sowing seeds & showing Christian love
- Getting an understanding of the heart of the people of Nepal – their culture, challenges and aspirations
On day 2, our first activity was going on a prayer walk around the village and nearby shops. As we walked, we were warmly greeted by Ps Hari’s neighbours and were also pleasantly surprised to meet some strangers who had worked in Malaysia and spoke some BM and Chinese. We were told that currently, there are about 750,000 Nepalese in Malaysia.
During the walkabout, our team also took the opportunity to invite some children to the children’s programme.
In the afternoon, the village community heads and elders came over to the mission house where we were staying to welcome us. We also took the opportunity to introduce ourselves and a little of the people and culture of Malaysia.
The significance of this event did not hit me until towards the end of our stay there after hearing the various hardships and persecution suffered by many other believers and pastors in their journey of faith. The fact that the village community head and elders who are Hindus coming personally to welcome us is a strong sign of Ps Hari’s persevering faith and tireless work of love amongst the villagers. His evident love from Christ ‘melted’ the stronghold of suspicion and rejection against Christians. Our prayer now is that in the foreseeable future, the village will have a Christian majority.
The children’s programme was a great hit with the village children. Chi Kee has an amazing affinity with children. Whenever we get out of the house, the kids would swarm her! Ru Huey and I named her the ‘kids’ magnet’.
As Kathmandu suffered a great flood a few weeks ago in October, the church took the opportunity to show love by giving out some food items, blankets and mattresses to about 40 families in Nakkhu and Chalnakhel. They were mostly unbelievers whom the local pastors were ministering to.
During our stay, we attended Ps Hari’s Friday cell group meeting and weekly Saturday service. An interesting observation is that during the Saturday service, at least two non-believers dropped some money into the offering bag!
What did I gain most from this mission trip? I would say that Nepal is no longer just a country but a group of individuals with names, aspirations, challenges, families and ties.
By the grace of God, I will learn to love them as Jesus loves them. Each of them is special, and beautifully and wonderfully made by our Abba Father.
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🙏 Pray for Pr Hari and Nepal EFC.
🤝 Do you know any Nepalis in your neighbourhood? Help them find their community by inviting them to our Nepalese Service or connecting them with Pr Indra.