Diary Of A Recent Trip In Nepal...

Greetings and Namaste to you from NCBS at Kathmandu, Nepal. We would like to briefly write some words from our three weeks on the short vacation trip. We made this trip from our graduates’ village Dev, Jet, Suka and Sonam. Brother Surya, Sonam, and Arun joined me for 14 days of our trip. We visited local the congregations of Dev, Chandra Prakash, Sonam and other surrounding areas of Makwanpur, Tanahu, Dhading and Rasuwa districts. Graduates, their local congregations and many other congregations were encouraged with our visit.

April 3rd – Wednesday - we began our journey from the NCBS building toward Dev's home by a local Tata sumo van. We reached brother Ezekiel's home at 2 PM. We took a river bath. Brother Abraham and Chandra Prakash joined us from their home. We had an evening family Bible study with their family and other neighborhoods. 

April 4th - Thursday - we woke up at 6 AM. We began to walk toward Dev's local congregation after having a light breakfast. It was taken 2 and a half hours from brother Ezekiel's home to reach the Maishirang Church where Dev preaches every Sunday. This is in the Makwanpr district. We had a whole day Bible study with almost 75 Christian brothers and sisters.  We stayed that night in that village.  

April 5th - Friday - Today is a free travel day. We went to the Chitwan National Park where we had spent half a day. We enjoyed our day by seeing natural beauty, rivers, elephant, rhinoceros and the animal museum. We came back to brother Chandra Prakash's home by late evening. His village is in the Tanahu district. We had a short evening devotional of Bible study with their family. 

April 6th - Saturday - We had a day of Bible study at Kota, Kalikatar. Brother Chandra Prakash is our present student. He is the preacher of that local congregation. 

April 7th - Sunday - We did morning worship service at Kota, Kaliktar village. We did not make any travel due to Nepal Bandh (one day all shops, transportations are closed). We went near villages to visit and have Bible study with the believers' houses. 

April 8th - Monday - We left Chandra Prakash's family and came back toward Pokhara Bus Park at Narayanghat. We reached Malekhu Bazar about three and half hours by highway bus. We had lunch and took another local van to reach Dhading Besi. This is the headquarter for the Dhading district. This is 580 meters above sea level. It was a one hour travel journey from Malekhy Bazar. After getting down at Dhading Besi we changed another van to go to Gyangsang village. It is four hours up and down hilly roads. We arrived at 8 PM in Gyangsang. This is 2350 meters above sea level. We stayed at a hotel and had dinner. This was a long traveling day for us, but we enjoyed our day. We were traveling toward the Dhading district of Bagmati zone. Brother Sonam and other Tamang brothers and sisters live in this area. Dhading is a tourist area for trekking, Ganesh Himal and other natural beauties. 

April 9th - Tuesday – After having breakfast we began to walk from Gyansang village toward brother Sonam's village. We started our hill and mountain walking journey about 6 AM. We reached one village called Shertung at 6 PM. This is 1920 meters above sea level. We stayed at the Lodge and took rest. We did not reach our destination. We were unable to walk more than this. This is really a tiresome journey. 

April -10th - Wednesday - We woke up little late this morning due to yesterday's walking, but we did start our walking about 7 AM after breakfast. We reached Tipling village at 11:30 AM. This is 1819 meters above sea level. We had lunch and an hour rest. Again we walked 3 hours toward brother Sonam's home. Finally we reached his home in Puru village. This is around 1900 meters above sea level. We took a bath and some time for rest. Then we had an evening Bible study. 

April 11th - Thursday – We did a half day Bible study at Puru where brother Sonam works locally. We walked toward Linjo village which took one and half hours for us. This is 2020 meters above sea level. We had an evening Bible study with brother B. Bahadur and Linjo’s congregations. 

April 12th - Friday - We left Linjo village at 7 AM. We climbed 4303 meters on a high mountain called Marsyong pass of Pangsang Dada. We enjoyed some time in the snow. Then we reached one lodge and a hotel at Somdang village. We reached Somdang at 7:30 PM. Somdang is 3270 meters above sea level. 

April 13th - Saturday - This is another whole day walking from Somdang villge to Shyabru Besi village. We did this journey through Gatlang which is 2238 meter above sea level. We have Lord's congregation at Gatlang. We arrived at Shyabru Besi at 7 PM. We had night Bible study at here. We were encouraged by the Brothers and sisters from Shyabru Besi. This is 1503 meters above sea level.

April 14th - Sunday - We had a short Bible study with few Christian brothers and sisters at one of the brothers house. We didn't wait for the evening worship service. We did worship service at one of the hotels. We left Shabru Besi for visiting Gosaikunda Lake, Langtang National Park. We stayed one night at Goshaikunda. It is 4000-4700 meters above sea level.

April 15th - Monday - We returned back to Dhunche. This is the headquarters for Rasuwa district. It is 1830 meters above sea level. We stayed at hotel and got ready for the return back to Kathmandu.

April 16th - Tuesday - We took a bus at 7 Am. We reached at NCBS at 4 PM.

Benefits of the trip:

1. To encourage our past and present students.

2. To provide and get spiritual nourishment from the word of God by studying together with new audiences.

3. To get some new students for our next batch.

4. To build close relationship within the school and different congregations.

Thanks 

Servant of Christ
Gajendra Deshar
Nepal Center for Biblical Study
Kathmandu, Nepal

Combination Campaign And Recruiting Tour In Nepal...

The preaching school, Nepal Center For Biblical Study, takes two holidays each year. This is our first week of a three week Spring Break. More accurately it is the Nepali New Year. All the schools, grades KG to 12, finish their regular school year and the new school term will begin in late April. It is a good time for our students to go home, be with their families, and also work with their local congregations. This group of five students will graduate in late September and we will begin our next class of students [third group] on November 11.

Gajendra, the NCBS Director, is using this free time to do a 15-day combination campaign, teaching, and recruiting tour to three different areas. He began last week in the southern hill region, pressing on to the adjacent jungle region, and then will continue to a northern mountain area that is 10-15 miles below the Tibet border at an elevation of about 12,000 feet. There are a number of faithful and growing congregations in these areas. The church is growing faster in these village areas than it is in the large cities.

I am spending my time writing articles on requested subjects that will be translated and printed as tracts. These will be distributed to all the congregations in Nepal. I am also preparing lessons for out upcoming classes. For Gajendra and I both, this time is more of a change of pace time than a full holiday. We enjoy this time and are looking forward to the return of the students.

Don Prather, and his wife Janie, will be coming for two weeks in July. This will be their third trip to Nepal. Carl and Debbie Fronabarger will also be coming for their first time in Nepal. The plan is to have classes in Kathmandu for the students and about 40-50 leaders from around the country. The classes will be on congregational growth and maturity in the mornings and preacher/leader growth in the afternoons. 

Janie and Debbie will be teaching ladies bible classes in three different congregations during this week.  

The second week will find them in east Nepal working with the congregations in that area. The subject matter will be the same, including more classes for the ladies also. 

Please remember us in your prayers. God has blessed us greatly. Please contact me to set up the time, subjects, and itinerary for your Nepal trip …….. you are invited.

In Christian love and service,
Jerry Golphenee

Short Holidays With Purpose...

Respected brothers in Christ.

Greetings to you all from NCBS. We are doing fine in the Bible school. Our three weeks of short holidays runs from the 29th of March till the 19th of April. I am planning to visit some of our graduate students in the next week. I have a few purposes in visiting congregations:

(1) To encourage our graduate student's home congregations.

(2) To get new batch of students for the next class.

(3) To refresh our minds through visiting different places.

Please kindly remember me in your prayer.

Thank you,

Gajendra Deshar

Campaign Produces A Harvest In Nepal...

Respected brothers in Christ,

Loving greetings to you all in the precious name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. May the grace of God, love, peace and blessings always be with you.

This time I got a little late on writing words from our school. It was a little busy week for me. We had two guest teachers from USA in this month. Brother Mike York and Richard Everett from Texas came for two weeks of Bible classes at Nepal Center for Biblical Study in Kathmandu. We did our Bible study on the topic of The Church of the Bible. We invited our graduated students and many other preachers from the villages. Forty people participated in our class. We held class from February 4th through 7th of 2013. After that we made campaign work from 8th through 12th of 2013. Ten people made this gospel trip toward graduated student's home congregations. Four souls were added into the Lord. Please kindly remember those souls in your personal prayer.

Thank you all.

Servant of Christ
Gajendra Deshar
Nepal Center for Biblical Study
Kathmandu

More pictures are below

Classes, Campaign, And Questions On The Church...

The first two weeks of February were spent with special classes at the Nepal Center For Biblical Study, and a campaign to three village congregations, teaching, discussing, and answering questions regarding Christ’s church. 

Brothers Mike York and Ritchie Everet, an elder and member of the Church of Christ in Buna, Texas, came to teach and minister for two weeks.  Four lessons each day [Monday to Thursday] were taught and discussed about numerous areas pertaining to the church and it’s proper importance and place in our lives. Our five students, along with about twenty-five invited preachers and leaders, enjoyed the lessons and learned many things during these four days. They also formed loving and respectful relationships with one another and with their brothers from Texas.  

A six-day campaign added so much more to those relationships of fellowship, unity, and love because of the very nature of the closeness of their time together. Ritchie and Mike taught approximately half of the classes in the villages. The other classes were provided by their own local leaders, who attended the classes in Kathmandu, and by our five students. The local members learned from the lessons and were greatly encouraged to see the progress in their Nepali brothers. Sharing the hospitality of the Christians, having meals together, evening devotionals, hiking some hills, wading some rivers, and ten men sleeping on the floor and snoring together are bonding memories.  

Saying good-bye included many expressions of thanks from everyone, a lot of laughter, and tears on many cheeks. Everyone associated with these two weeks will look back with thoughts of thankfulness, praise, and love, while they also look forward to our next meeting in God’s loving providence. 

In Christian love and service …………………. 
Jerry Golphenee