DISPATCH: Tuesday, Jan. 31

It was a blessed day in Korchabang as we participated in the baptism of seven new believers and shared with the church in fellowship. We gathered with about 35 Christ followers on the land where we pray an 18-by-18-foot house of God will be built before monsoon season in four months. The church will be a guiding light in this village on a hillside in the heart of the Mid-West district of Rolpa.

Megh provided an hour-long instruction on baptism before we hiked a ways — descending more than 600 vertical feet — to a river where a pool had been dammed. Four men and three women were baptised there. Later we gave them Bibles purchased with funding from our Brad Stine “Put a CLimbing Helmet On” event in Rochester, NY, USA, where Climbing For Christ is based. We also gave Bibles to members of the Korchabang church who did not have one.

I then shared with them how they were a blessed church. My message was one of encouragement as well as caution — based on Luke 12:48 (“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked”). I called on them to be missionaries in this mountainous area and they responded enthusiastically.

While Dave and I were ministering with Megh in Korchagang (elevation 1,915 meters/6,320 feet), Brandy reported that she and Marissa were having an amazing time with the orphans in Pastor Tej's care in Kathmandu. They've spent two days playing with, teaching, and loving on the children. The kids even took them on a 4½-hour city hike.