Homes, sweet homes Story by Gary Fallesen, founding president Climbing For Christ Photos by Damson Samson, C4C’s missionary to East Africa The expressions on their faces and the language of their bodies have changed dramatically in the months since our Mission: Malawi team first met the many widows Damson Samson adopted. Our missionary to East Africa continues to serve these once-broken, despairing people – so far providing 10 of them with proper housing as an extension of our Project 1:27 call to “to look after orphans and widows in their distress” (James 1:27). ...
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Church alive and growing in Nepal’s Mid-West Story by Gary Fallesen / photos by Megh Gurung   Crowding in to hear the Word of God. The monsoon season could not keep brother Megh from his appointed rounds in Rolpa, the Mid-West district we were intending to visit during Mission: Nepal 2016 (Part 1) in April. Megh and his wife Bhim were sent to visit the church we helped build and the many offshoots of that healthy body in Korchabang. “Having heavy rains everywhere, along the way (the route) was disturbed by landslides and the (road was) washed away,” Me...
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Seeing and walking with God in His creation Damson Samson heads for the hills in southern Malawi. In his 33 years of walking the earth, Damson Samson never had experienced anything like “evangelism week” on Malawi’s Mulanje Massif in June. Climbing For Christ’s missionary to East Africa has taught many lessons and led many studies in the first two years he has ministered with us. But to speak about God’s creation, discuss sin, teach about teamwork, provide Bibles to and also pray with guides and porters while trekking was unlike anything he had done before....
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Widows are ‘naked’ and need to be clothed “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me…  Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?” – Matthew 25:35-38 (ESV) We have fed the widows in several villages in southern Malawi, and given them drink. We have visite...
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Joy among God’s angels … times 35 Hearing the Good News in a Central Region village. (Photos by Megh Gurung) The hound of heaven refused to give up on the people in Sandan village. “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness,” 2 Peter 3:9 (ESV) tells us, “but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” “That village called Sandan, there was not anybody who was Christian,” said Megh Gurung, a Nepali C4C member and partner in ministry. “They were fol...
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Water for the Koma Hills Borehole project goal: opportunity to deliver Living Water Pastor Chris trying out the new borehole well. (Photos provided by Chris Joseph) Pastor Chris Joseph arrived in the Koma Hills with the borehole-well drillers and found a crowd gathered at Chief Moses’ house. He assumed it was a market day and the people had gathered to drink the native beer (Burukutu). “I asked after Chief Moses and I received the shocker of my life,” said Chris, a long-time Climbing For Christ member and ministry partner. “Chief Moses passed on (the day...
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Kilimanjaro Chapter members meeting with Damson Samson. Praying for more lives transformed Gregory Nyange Aman’s life has been changed by his association with the Kilimanjaro Chapter. He stopped smoking and drinking, and he testified that all of the “challenges in the family” that resulted from those vices have “completely gone away.” “Now, they are able to pray together as a family,” said Damson Samson, Climbing For Christ’s missionary to East Africa.   Gregory Nyange Aman. Damson’s latest mission trip to Tanza...
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The Great Awakening By Elaine Fallesen Family Ministry, Climbing For Christ One man wakes, awakens another. Second one wakes his next door brother. Three awake can rouse a town and turn the whole place upside down. Many awake will cause such a fuss it finally wakes all of us. One man wakes with dawn in his eyes. Surely then it multiplies, surely then it multiplies. – Leeland’s The Great Awakening It was the perfect song to complement the lesson theme of Climbing For Christ’s 2016 mission trips to visit our Project 1:27 orphans in Malawi and Nepal. C4C teams were...
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Churches rise from the rubble in Nepal By Gary Fallesen, founding president, Climbing For Christ Feeling the earth move and seeing the reaction it caused in Kathmandu nearly a year after the devastating earthquake showed us how far from recovery the Nepali people appear to be. It was only a 4.5-magnitude tremblor, but it was the 445th aftershock of 4.0 or more – seemingly constant reminders of the carnage caused on April 29, 2015. There were other reminders observed by our Mission: Nepal 2016 (Part 1) team: People wait in Kathmandu’s tent city with empty fuel canisters si...
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Making His creations feel like humans By Gary Fallesen, founding president, Climbing For Christ Once upon a time, there were many widows living in an impoverished land with little to eat and no roofs over their heads. So begins our story, which has developed into a real-life fairy tale of a sort for the participants. “The story is shocking and people in the villages are not understanding, even the widows themselves have run short of words,” says Damson Samson, Climbing For Christ’s Malawi-based missionary to East Africa. Damson is speaking about Project 1:27, our orp...
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“…and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” – Matthew 16:18 (ESV) By Gary Fallesen Founding president, Climbing For Christ Pastor Duncan Nyozani sold his car for US$2,000 so he could buy a plot of land and be able to put the first thousand dollars toward the building of a new Searchlight Ministries church in southern Malawi. “We need US$24,000,” said the long-time Climbing For Christ member and ministry partner. “This is a huge sum of money to raise, but we believe God is able to meet ...
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Preparing to bring the crippled to heaven’s feast By Gary Fallesen, founding president, Climbing For Christ   Mulanje Massif Chapter members on April 7. (Photos by Damson Samson) The Mulanje Massif Chapter’s first evangelism training began with the acknowledgement that all of those invited to the workshop first accepted their place in the kingdom. Damson Samson, Climbing For Christ’s Malawi-based missionary to East Africa, taught 24 guides and porters about Jesus. “We had a call to those who are willing to welcome Him and all 24 came to Him,”...
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Rejoicing for a roof over their heads By Gary Fallesen, founding president, Climbing For Christ As soon as Damson Samson received word that funding was coming from Canada for his proposed widows roofing project he ran out to share the good news. “I went to the village to let them know how much God has done,” said Damson, Climbing For Christ’s Malawi-based missionary to East Africa. “The woman in the field was very excited,” Damson said about the widow in the photo above. “She said she has been trying to bring back her fallen house. She contended ...
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Preparing to GO! Updates from the Himalayas By Gary Fallesen, founding president, Climbing For Christ The church at Korchabang. (Photos by Gary Fallesen) The pastor was once a Maoist leader. His part of the country was a stronghold for Maoist rebels during Nepal’s civil war from 1996 to 2006. Much has changed. The church led by Pastor Dalsur, who came to Christ in 2010, has grown to about 135 believers. Climbing For Christ funded the 2012 building of their house of worship, perched on a mountainside in Nepal’s Mid-West district. The church at Korchabang is one of the most...
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Happy Resurrection Sunday By Gary Fallesen, founding president, Climbing For Christ   Haseeb’s mother, Surryia, shares the words of Jesus from the cross, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”), as Save Pakistan teaches families working in a brick factory about the Resurrection. (Photos by Save Pakistan) It’s the greatest four-day weekend of the year. Every year. From Thursday night, when we remember our foot-washing, servant Savior; to Good Friday, when He died on a cross for everyone (even those who...
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Still hungering in southern Malawi By Gary Fallesen Founding president, Climbing For Christ   Carry out: Food provided for the hungry. (Photo by Duncan Nyozani) Mission: Malawi 2016 did not end when our team boarded a flight out of Blantyre on the afternoon of Saturday, March 12. If anything, our short-term mission to southern Malawi was only the beginning. In the days after our departure more food was delivered to those on the brink of famine. “We have this week spent MK1,000,000 (nearly US$1,500) for food for church members at Kambona, where we have over 500 p...
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Tears of the poor By Gary Fallesen, Climbing For Christ’s founding president Damson Samson, Climbing For Christ’s missionary to East Africa, began meeting with the many widows in his home village in southern Malawi at the beginning of the year. Every Sunday he will pray for them and try to encourage them. Malawi is badly in need of encouragement during these difficult days of drought and food shortages. On a recent Sunday, Damson shared with the many in attendance, “It’s my prayer for you not to die before you have accepted Jesus Christ.” He witnessed...
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Starvation threatens Malawi By Gary Fallesen, founding president, Climbing For Christ Maize stunted by the lack of rain in Malawi. (Photo by Duncan Nyozani) As we are preparing to GO on Mission: Malawi 2016 in just 10 days, we have been alerted that the African nation is on the brink of famine. Most of Southern Africa – including Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Madagascar – has been plagued by drought. “The problem is very serious,” said Pastor Duncan Nyozani, a Climbing For Christ member and ministry partner who (among other things) oversees the orph...
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Baptizing them in the Name Megh speaking in the church at Korchabang. (Photos provided by Megh Gurung) An NPR story (“Why Nepal has one of the world’s fastest-growing Christian populations”) talks about the growing church in Nepal. From no Christians in 1951, when Christianity was illegal, and just 458 in 1961 to nearly 102,000 by 2001 and more than 375,000 by 2011, and the latter number might be an underestimate. Climbing For Christ has witnessed this growth first-hand and we continue to praise God for those He is calling His own.   Megh, right, b...
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Comfort for Jaime Jaime Servat, left, praying with a young girl on Mission: Peru 2014. (Photo by Gary Fallesen) Climbing For Christ’s Peruvian missionary, Jaime Servat, received terrible news that his ex-wife and his estranged son both died in 2015. “I was informed through an old friend that they were taken with lung cancer and a heart attack,” a grieving Jaime informed us. His son, Oswaldo, died in July at the age of 27. Oswaldo’s mother had died in May. She was 53. Jaime had not seen either in several years, despite efforts to reconcile with family members....
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