Dave and I endured a grueling 15½-hour drive bouncing around a shock-absorber-less vehicle from Kathmandu to Korchabang with Megh, Pastor Rajan from Tej's SARA ministry, and our Christian driver, Kem. The first 9 ½ hours were on one of the main paved roads going halfway across the country. The next 6 hours were on a twisting dirt road that climbed into the mountains in the Mid-Western district of Rolpa. While we were traveling, Brandy and Marissa were moving in for three days with the Climbing For Christ-sponsored orphans in Kathmandu.
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It was a rest day for the team. This included a challenging cross-city journey to Higher Grounds, the Christian coffee shop and bakery beloved by those of us visiting Kathmandu from North America. Traffic was worst than the usual gridlock as protests continue over rising fuel prices. (Last week the city was shut down for one day by a strike over fuel prices.) Megh made the trip to Higher Grounds with us as we enjoyed our first real coffee since leaving home and some delicious sweets. It wasn’t all play and no work today, though. We met with Megh to go over our trip to the Rolpa dis...
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The team was recovering physically today from a vigorous first 10 days in Nepal. We worshiped with Pastor Tej’s SARA (Savior Alone Reaches Asians) central church in Kathmandu. In Nepal, worship is held on Saturday. I was honored to share the message, “Blessed to be a Blessing,” which was based on Genesis 12:1-3 and 1 Peter 2:9. I spoke about being sent here this time to encourage the church in Nepal, and I prayed for the congregation of about 200. I shared how Tej had prayed for 10 souls to be saved during our travels and how 10 people had come to know Jesus in Dapcha and Lan...
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Mission: Nepal team at a Buddhist site at 9,600 feet during trek on Wednesday. Team members are (front row, left to right): Gary Fallesen, Dave Stoessel, Brandy Everts, (back row) Megh Gurung, Pastor Tej Rokka, and Marissa Gardiner. We completed our five-day Langtang trek with a short three-hour hike down about 900 vertical feet from Timure to Syaphrubesi, where we began on Monday. This ended a remarkable, God-ordained visit to the villages on the Tamang Heritage trail. In all, we covered about 45 miles with about 16,000 feet in vertical gain and descent. We believe nine souls came to Christ ...
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We took a prayer walk this morning around Thuman, asking God to break down the Buddhist stronghold. The Spirit touched Pastor Tej to return with a Nepali team and spend a week to make friends, grow relationships, and share the Gospel. We'll pray for this project. After walking the village, we trekked about four hours, descending more than 2,000 feet to Timure. From there we walked another hour on the so-called “Friendship Road” to the Chinese border, where soldiers closed a gate on the bridge leading into their country and tried to shoo us away. Here, we prayed for the work Climbi...
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We took a prayer walk this morning around Thuman, asking God to break down the Buddhist stronghold. The Spirit touched Pastor Tej to return with a Nepali team and spend a week to make friends, grow relationships, and share the Gospel. We'll pray for this project. After walking the village, we trekked about four hours, descending more than 2,000 feet to Timure. From there we walked another hour on the so-called “Friendship Road” to the Chinese border, where soldiers closed a gate on the bridge leading into their country and tried to shoo us away. So much for friendship. Here, we pr...
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Another day began for us with the blessed witnessing of three more souls saved by and for Jesus. Sonam Tamang, his wife Langgonz, and their 18-year-old daughter Dolma — the family running the guest house where we stayed in Tatopani — heard the Gospel and received Christ as Savior. Pastor Tej read for them from Romans 3:9-10, 3:23 and 6:23 and Mark 16:15-17. He then shared about Jesus and this precious family responded. It was the first of the 50 families living in Tatopani to desire Christ. After this amazing start to a new day we made the 1,800-vertical-foot ascent out of Tatopan...
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What better way to start the day than with someone coming to the Lord? Nima, the man who gave his heart to Jesus on Monday night, came to see us for prayer before we trekked out of Gatlang. When we started to pray, the woman who runs the guest house, a Buddhist named Sarki Tamang, asked if she could join us. She declared that she too wanted Christ in her life. She was glowing. After this incredible surprise, we hit the trail. We descended 1,800 vertical feet from Gatlang, which was the birthplace of one of our Project 1:27 orphans (Chiring), to another village. From there we again climbed abo...
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When we left Syaphrubesi and immediately climbed a steep 2,250 vertical feet to begin our trek, we thought we were going where there were no Christians. But one — the only believer from Syaphrubesi — was walking with us. Chiring is one of our three porters. Then we passed a village and saw a church. Then later, when we arrived at our first day's destination, Gatlang, after 5 ½ hours of hiking, we discovered there were two small churches in this otherwise Buddhist village. Then we found out that a team of 45 Korean Christians had been here yesterday and delivered clothing to...
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We made the hard eight-hour bus ride north from Kathmandu up serpentine roads with certain-death dropoffs staring back from outside the window. Nepali passengers were puking around us. “It was the worst bus ride of my life,” Marissa said. But it was worth it when we reached the village of Syaphrubesi in Langtang National Park and prayed about the five-day trek God has for us. Megh, who was asked to plan a route in Langtang, said God directed him to the Tamang Heritage Trek. It is off the beaten tourist path and goes through many villages to the west of Langtang. We will see what do...
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Worshipers gathering at the church at Dapcha. We worshiped with the church at Dapcha and words fail to convey the Spirit-charged experiences of our team with more than 60 Nepali brothers and sisters in Christ. I was blessed to preach and shared how Jesus can not only change the life of one person and one family, in this case the rescued soul of Sumitra Pariyar, but how He can also use the healing of one to impact many around the world. As Dave told the congregation when he spoke, in a divinely inspired offering toward the end of my message, he is here in Nepal in part because of the video he...
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Our hearts overflowed with joy when we saw the white steps ascending a hill to a church where a year ago we were using primitive tools to clear the land. The church at Dapcha is a thing of beauty. We were blessed to share with about 60 beautiful people inside at the SARA (Savior Alone Reaches Asians) Spiritual Revival Seminar. I talked about God’s love and sharing it with our enemies. Brandy addressed leadership and pursuing God’s dream for your life. And Pastor Tej talked about trusting God to receive healing and deliverance — after which the team prayed for all of the...
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The pyres burned along the banks of the Bagmati River in Kathmandu as the dead were cremated one after another. To the Hindus here, it is part of “samsara” — the ongoing cycle of rebirth (or reincarnation) that they must endure. The skulls of the dead are broken so memories can be released and will not be remembered in the next life, and the bodies are destroyed. Our team watched the ceremonies at the Pashupati Temple, which is one of the world’s most significant Hindu temples of the Lord Shiva. Shiva, the destroyer god, is one the more than 330 million gods and g...
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The team has arrived safely and is together in Kathmandu after flying for about 27 hours.   As Tuesday was spent up in the air we were touched by this verse from Ephesians 2:10: “For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”   We know that God had this Evangelic Expedition planned before time began and knew that this team would form to do His good work. All to His glory!
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The team has taken to the air with Brandy and Marissa flying East from western Canada and Dave and Gary flying West from the eastern U.S. Everyone is scheduled to meet Wednesday in Nepal. We were sent off with prayer and these words from Ephesians 3:16-21: “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep...
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As our team prepares to GO, we share our prayers for the weeks ahead. Brandy Everts: “I pray that God would give us the strength to do everything He has planned for us and that we would be stretched and challenged so that we are molded more into His image and the final product is that He gets ALL the glory!” Gary Fallesen: “That we would boldly, fearlessly and lovingly walk through the doors God is opening for us. Here we go, Lord, have Your way.” Marissa Gardiner: “My prayer is for more salvations than we think possible.” Megh Gurung:&nbs...
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By the grace of God the North American team members have returned safely to the States.

The supposed one-hour drive to the airport in Port Harcourt was in its second hour and we were stuck in gridlock like I have never seen in visits to 30 countries. The sun was blotted out by the uncontrolled emissions spewing from idling vehicles parked six lanes across on a six-lane road. That's right, the vehicles going in our direction had spread out and overtaken the oncoming lanes. The air in our AC-less car was brutally hot and burning our eyes and lungs. That's when our vehicle stalled. Things were growing desperate as we prayed harder and harder. Chris went from vehicle to vehicle as...
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"We are missing you already." This was first said before 3 1/2 hours of worship had even ended at Chris' church. There was an outpouring of love from our brothers and sisters in Christ on our last full day in Nigeria. I was blessed to be asked to preach, and shared a message on love — based mostly on 1 John 4. I asked the church of about 80 adults and children, "Who are you willing to die for?" I spoke about missions and how we are called to love even our enemies (Matthew 5:43-4). I encouraged the church to show the God of love (1 John 4:16) to the world. We then played the Jars of Cl...
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We kicked off this weekend's first anniversary celebration at Chris' Lives Aglow Global Outreach Centre tonight with an evening of praise and worship. I was blessed to set foot in the Wonderland Chapel, as Chris calls his church in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. This is a church that God used Climbing For Christ to rescue, which is what we are celebrating this weekend. Worshipping at Lives Aglow Global Outreach Centre. We told stories of our mission to Koma Hills and then spoke to the standing-room-only crowd of about 65, including a full worship band in a room measuring 30-by-25 feet. Bra...
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