Meeting with Village Men

Deepnath's New Horse

Changing a Region

West Nepal is a unique and difficult region.  It’s extremely dry, backward and impoverished.  The illiteracy rate is one of the highest in the world, and the living standard is one of the lowest.  Even our Nepali leaders, who are from the more developed areas of Nepal, have difficulty here!

About four years ago, a Hindu priest from the upper reaches of the Karnali river valley came to the Lord in our church in Nepalgunj.  Deepnath had overseen a little temple in his village that had been passed on from father to son for over 200 years.  He has now completed our first level of ministry training and is overseeing four churches for us in the region around his home.

Deepnath is 63 years old and a bit frail.  His wife passed away about five years ago and he lives with his sister in their family home.  Last year, I hiked to his village with two of our Nepali leaders.  We spent ten days in the area, ministering in villages and as we hiked down the Karnali river valley, I noticed that Deepnath struggled to keep up. I remember thinking, as we rested on the trail, “The hope of the Gospel for this entire region rests on the shoulders of this frail, aging, man.” I committed to buy him a horse, right there on that trail.

After I left, Deepnath became ill and could not get out of his bed for several weeks.  He reached a point when his sister thought he had died.  His body was cold and she could not find his pulse or determine if he was breathing.  While he was out he had a dream that he was flying over vast fields of people who stood in flaming fire and he realized that he was not going to die…that there was a great work to do.

Deepnath recovered quickly and last month, was able to purchase the horse with the funds that I had promised him.  The distance he can cover in a day is now triple what he could do on foot, and the work is increasing rapidly.  We now have several young men from his area who are developing as leaders.  They will attend our training program in Nepalgunj this year.

Rick

rick@rickzachary.com - bev.zachary@gmail.com - shane.zachary@gmail.com

ChurchAsia - P.O. Box 82080 - Baton Rouge, LA 70884

changing the world...one congregation at a time