Dearest Friends,
Trees
I was so thankful to the Lord this morning as we set up in the shade of a grove of trees at a Hindu school. I was thanking God that both the children and us could be in the shade. Then, I noticed the children were all praying. Hundreds of children bowed their heads calling on the goddess of knowledge asking her to bless their school day.
Quickly, I was reminded of how important it is for us to be here in Nepal. This morning over 800 children and their teachers heard about the one true God and His Son Jesus Christ. More, they enjoyed the program. God was kind to us and it is our responsibility to show them His kindness. Today, a couple of little boys ran behind the stage to steal a look at the puppets. Their teacher stopped them and slapped them hard across their faces. I rebuked the teacher and chased after the little boys. When I reached them, they looked terrified. I think that they thought that I was going to hit them. My heart broke.
I comforted them and made sure they could see the puppets well. Sam and the team were singing while all of this was happening. I told all the children today about how Jesus changes us. I hope that they will remember the difference in the way the Christians treated them. Pray for these boys to trust in Jesus. Pray for us to pay attention to the children and truly see them as the Father sees them. Ask God to make us bright lights. Rejoice that several Hindu teachers came and thanked us for what they had heard. Keep praying!
Darkness
It is so spiritually dark here. People are bound by the most terrible lies. They call on Buddha to calm them, to fill them with peace. Today, I bought a drum from a lovely couple who worship a monkey god. His image covered the wall of their shop. At one point today, we waited under the shade of a big tree. It was wrapped with lots of string as decoration by some who worshiped it. Many wear temple marks on their foreheads. As we searched for gas today, we passed several temples.
Shortages
You know that Nepal often goes without power. Most people can only depend on electricity for a few hours a day. However, they are also short on gas. We went to 5 gas stations today trying to get some gas for a friend’s motorbike. The friend organized today’s puppet shows. We stopped to pray and we found a shop that was not a gas station. The man filled an empty water bottle from his supplies in a back room. Our driver will have to go out into the rural areas tonight to find gas for our pickup truck.
Please pray that we can find the gas that we need so that we can reach the children. This afternoon, we travelled a good distance and told over 300 Hindu children about Jesus Christ.
You should have seen their smiles! I am very grateful for God’s provision. Please keep praying.
In Jesus,
Linda for the team