Report from Nepal

Nepal is a small country of only 141,577 square km and has around 20 million  people. Nepal is a meeting place of two religions, Hinduism and  Buddhism. It is interesting to know that the number of gods is greater than  the number of people who live there. Officially, Nepal is the only Hindu Kingdom in the modern world. Kathmandu is the capital city of Nepal, since the joining together of the three cities in the Kathmandu valley in 1768 by King Prithivi Narayan Shah, who is the forefather of the present king of Nepal. It is only in recent times that Nepal was opened to people from other  countries and then Christianity came to Nepal. There was, and is, a fear for the rulers that the country might lose its culture and religion if Christianity was to  take hold. Christianity was a completely the new religion to this country when it came in and there has been a great struggle for freedom of religion and for people to understand that this is the truth. The people who changed their faith before 1990 were put into prison and there was much persecution and suffering for those who stood firm in their beliefs. It was in 1987 that Christdelphians came to Nepal from the UK. The first to be baptised were Bro Kishan Gurung and Sis Kalawati Gurung by Bro Peter Fry when he and his family came in 1992; this baptism was immediatlely followed by that of Bro Sher Thapa. The Truth  has flourished since then and there are now two ecclesias in the heart of  Kathmandu, Bulbule which has 39 members and another small ecclesia, Dhumbharai, which has eight members. The ecclesias are close to each other on the north side of Kathmandu. We can see that the truth has grown and that the Almighty Father has never stopped working in the lives of those, who live here and has abundantly helped and strenthened them to do His work. But it is still difficult to preach openly because one can be charged if found converting, so the best way is to preach to our relatives and friends.

Unemployment is great in the country and our Christian lives in the ecclesia are affected by this. We are grateful to those brethern and sisters who have left their footprints, who have always prayed for the Truth to prosper here. They have come to visit us from all over the United Kingdom and we having loving thoughts of them all. Many have come and stood beside us and have helped both spritually and physically . Those lovely brethern and sisters are always in our mind. we hope to see them in the Kingdom if we do not see them in the flesh again. Though there is no peace in the country and there is great political unrest, there are still brethren who have a strong desire to come and visit us. There has been no harm done to travellers. There is much poverty and there is no peace. “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now" and we look forward to that day when Christ will come and restore the Kingdom Of God , and God’s will be done in the whole earth.

Bro Satyadeep (Dhumbharai Ecclesia)