Journey of Joy

It was the first week of January, in the severe cold of winter, when Bibek from Kathmandu, Nepal, woke up at 6:00 a.m. in the morning to catch the public bus. After 8 hours of a long bus ride, he reached Chokdey, but that was not his final destination. He stepped off the bus at Chokdey and started the next leg of his journey on foot. After 2 hours of walking, he reached the village of Narja where he met two of his friends, Girvesh and Sejun.

The next day, the team of three went on a gospel outreach to an extremely far unreached village in the Rasuwa District, near the border of China and Nepal. On the way, they prayed for this new opportunity, asking the Lord to build His Church on the mountain. Traveling through the Himalayan Mountains is tremendously difficult. There are no places to stop along the road until you reach the village, so they walked for 12 hours before they were able to find a place to stop.

Tired, thirsty, and hungry they finally reached the village. This particular village in the Rasuwa District is home to 50 -60 families. The vast majority of them are from an ethnic unreached people group called Tamang. Many are Buddhist but some are also animists. At the time of this trip, no churches or believers was known in that local village.

During their two-day stay, they shared the gospel with almost the entire village. Some people welcomed them, but many refused to hear the gospel. By God’s grace, three people from two families became followers of Jesus Christ. Girvesh was given the responsibility to visit twice a month to follow up and minister to them. After serving together Bibek, Girvesh, and Sejun returned to their homes.

This difficult and tiring journey literally turned into a journey of joy when the people of this village heard the gospel. Hopefully, Jesus Himself will become their courage and all the people in the Rasuwa District will have their lives transformed by the gospel.

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you, through his poverty, might become rich.” 2 Corinthians 8:9.

This story was provided by the Crossover Global leader of the Himalayan Initiative.