Nepal January 2010

We were in a very remote and ancient village cut into the Annapurna mountain range in the Himalayas (in the top 10 tallest mountains in the world). The people call themselves Buddhist but have adopted many Hindu gods and culture. It takes them about 2 hours to retrieve water from the nearest stream each day and hours more to cut rice from the rice paddy. There is no electricity or running water. We slept in a family's home just feet from their water buffaloes and goats. The outhouse was clean and we had a good view of the mountains, but it was cold. It ranged from 40 at night to 60 in the afternoon sun. With the help of 2 local doctors and 6 local nurses to translate, we saw 1900 patients in 6 days of clinic. At the end, the only Christian who is from this Gurung village (he was raised in a Christian orphanage and now returns to share his faith) was able to meet and explain the love of the God of the Bible in a small group. There was a lot of positive feedback and one woman said she already had started praying to Jesus and stopped offering sacrifices to her idols. This is truly an answer to prayer!
Feb 19th: Since our translators were hired from the city a few hours away, they did not speak the dialect and were not Christians. Also, the Buddhists do not believe in sin. That made witnessing our faith nearly impossible. But we were able to build relationships with them as we worked alongside them. And I had many opportunities to witness to the 3 nurses who took turns translating for me. They were surprised to learn that our God did not require us to fast on holidays or sacrifice any animals or our food/crops. They were not familiar with a God of love, especially not a God who sacrificed for us. We were able to pray for our patients, but often they would not translate it. One time I prayed for a patient was when a mother brought in her 4week old infant who had no appetite and had a fever. I diagnosed him with pneumonia and explained how dangerous it was. I asked the mother to walk (2 1/2 hours) to our clinic every day so we could give injections of antibiotics until he was well. I prayed for the child. After 2 days, he was much better and the mother and I were both greatly relieved. She is pictured at the top.