Giving thanks for housing the forgotten widows By Gary Fallesen President, Climbing For Christ   Fages Chipesu confessed to feeling as if she was a dog. “Nobody wanted me,” said the widow from Ngoma village in impoverished southern Malawi. “I am very thankful for this house. Really thanks (to) C4C for such a gift. Since I (moved) into my new house thieves came to take my tent, which was my house then. But now I am covered (by a roof). I thank God for that.” Fages is one of seven widows to have a new house thanks to a partnership between Climbing For...
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Living to tell the tale of Jesus By Gary Fallesen, founding president, Climbing For Christ   Gary tied into a rope for the first time on Mount Rainier in 1996. (Photo by Kevin Flynn) I was introduced to mountaineering by my friend Kevin Flynn in August 1996. I had written about his climbs on Denali and Aconcagua as a sports writer for the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle newspaper, asking the common question: “Why do you climb?” When I became the outdoor writer at the paper, I decided I wanted to find out what climbing was all about. I asked to go on a tri...
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Building miracle houses: ‘we can’t do without Him’ Story by Gary Fallesen, founding president, Climbing For Christ Photos and reporting by Damson Samson, C4C missionary to East Africa Damson with smiling Emily as workers build her a house. Emily Patisi cannot close her mouth. “She always smiles,” said Damson Samson, our missionary to East Africa. “She is happy to see the miracle house.” She has not had a home since devastating floods took hundreds of lives and destroyed property for hundreds of thousands in January 2015. Patisi&rs...
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On these rocks we will build His church The monsoon season followed by the harvest of crops delayed work on the church building in Simikot in Nepal’s Far West district of Humla. But materials have been purchased and all the timber and rocks are ready to be made into a house of worship in a place where once no church existed. It is the prayerful hope of Climbing For Christ workers that the church will be completed in August and dedicated to the Lord by our Mission: Nepal team in September.   Working the land to grow a church in Humla.   “They are hurrying...
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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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