In early 2009, I visited northwest Nepal and traveled to an isolated river valley west of the city of Jumla.  While there, I met a group of blind children living in pitiful conditions and was deeply moved to help them.  Bev and I began supporting fifteen of those children later that year, and we have never regretted that decision.  At that time, we had one church in the valley.  It was the only church of any kind in the entire region.  Since then, we have planted six churches in the river valley, and some of the older blind children are becoming key leaders in our churches.

 

Over the past year, I have been studying the possibility of moving the children to our new property in Nepalgunj, but the children have been reluctant to move.  Economically, it would be better for us to move them, since we can care for them less expensively in Nepalgunj.  But strategically, it is better to leave them in the mountains and develop a training and outreach center along with our ministry of compassion.  I recently met at length with Pastor KB, the leader we are partnering with in Nepal, and we have made the decision to build a home for the blind children up in the mountains where they currently live.  This has not been an easy decision for me, and it’s taken me a year to come to this conclusion.  But clearly it is the best solution for us to reach this isolated and neglected area.

 

I’ve had the privilege of traveling to over forty nations, and I’ve visited some of the most remote and unreached places on earth.  I can honestly say that there are few places left in the world rivaling this area.  It is a place where the Gospel has never been preached, but now there is an openness to the message of Christ.

 

This is a huge step of faith for us, since we have two other major projects underway.  I’ve been reluctant to commit to the work because of those other obligations, but the need and the vision has challenged me to step out in faith.  I will be in the U.S. this summer and will be working hard to secure the finances for us to complete this project by the end of the year.

 

Thanks for standing in faith with me as I launch this important project.

 

Rick