Category: COVID-19

Leave a commentLeave a comment

Fighting Monthly Pain

Blog, COVID-19, It Is Happening, Mission Trip, Outreach

Menstrual pads have provided much love, concern, and awareness among our beloved sisters in the Himalayas. Since we have been distributing quality pads to them, their seriousness towards a healthy and hygienic lifestyle has transformed dramatically.

It is God’s great plan that we could intercede in providing those essential pads to three hundred sisters in distinct parts of the Himalayas in a single month. God is using our sisters in His mission and building His kingdom. Those initiative-taking sisters invite many other sisters to the Church, guiding them in the walk with Christ, reading Bible, participating in sewing training, serving Church through choir service, cleaning church buildings, cooking food, and many more. Despite many ministerial teachings and lessons, we overlook personal, marital, and physical issues. We believe an unhealthy body cannot focus on serving God. Since women face a lot of changes in and out of their bodies, we encourage our sisters to serve Lord with proper health and confidence.

Our sincere thanks and appreciation go to all the beloved hearts for caring about my underprivileged sisters and equipping them with more confidence. May God bless you abundantly.

Leave a commentLeave a comment

David vs. Goliath

Blog, COVID-19, Disaster Relief, It Is Happening, Mission Trip, Outreach

Who can stand us when Jesus is in our favour? Who dares to stop us when Jesus holds our hands?

Harsh weather is not His obstruction. No storm nor thunder could ever stop His mighty plans. Nature is His creation, and they obey His commands. The recent mission trip to another deep location in central Nepal testified this witness. When recent floods and heavy rainfall obstructed Nepal, we stepped out to make a difference in the bereaved families and distributed food relief to 200 beneficiaries. It was the best opportunity for us to share Jesus’ love and spread the gospel through the human act. The kindness bestowed in times of hardship and loneliness significantly impacts anyone’s life.

The rainy season, distant locations, inaccessibility of transportation, and scary rivers were only a few death risks. People needed to walk miles to collect the food. As some mothers could not leave their children home, they had to bring them. Above that, they crossed a bridgeless river separating two different villages. Therefore, villagers were shaking as the water rose in the river. The tractor filled with food relief broke down while passing through the river. It scared us because we were more concerned about the food in it. The rising river could not only sweep tractors but all the food relief. The situation went worse when we had to bring a bulldozer finally to pull it off the river.

Ps. P says, “This has never happened before, pastor. The weather changed so drastically that it made our life more challenging. Especially mothers carrying their children on their backs and lifting heavy food relief at the same time while crossing the river took away my breath. It is not a witness of their strength, experience, or capability but a clear image of their pressure, hardship, poverty, and fear of famine. Most of their fields, livestock, and houses were swept away by heavy landslides, and they went homeless. If they get morning food, they fear collecting evening meals. Children stayed starving for many days last week. Recently one family lost their lives because of a landslide. Shifting places is not an option because this is our forefather’s land.

But all thanks to the generous hearts of beloved God’s people who cared about us and sent their love. Our gratitude to our caretakers for immediately enlightening us about God’s timely presence. May God bless each one of them.”

Dear partners, as the picture speaks the truth, the situation was intense in this area. People are struggling for their lives and thank you very much for putting your feet in my people’s shoes. Thank you for your kindness and unconditional generosity. Thank you for your partnership.

Leave a commentLeave a comment

Junction for Christ

Blog, COVID-19, It Is Happening, Mission Trip, Outreach

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.~ Psalm 32:8

This profound statement of God keeps me alive. It’s not me or my self-desire but God’s calling that prompts me to go where He wants me to work on His behalf. And I worry for nothing because He is my shepherd and my provider.

Dear partners,

sometimes I struggle to find words to describe the mightiness of our God. The way He is leading RHMI is indescribable and beyond my imagination. His mighty plans of showing love and concern to His people are just incredible. We, the RHMI team, are happy and satisfied to enjoy being His ambassadors and channels of His blessings to the people of the Himalayas.

We believe God blesses us so we can pass those blessing on to others. Thank you, partners, for being faithful to God’s calling. We appreciate your kindness, generosity, and love over our land.

I want to let you know the astounding success we have achieved these past few months, through the following report. I must say, without your generous support, these blessings to others would not have been possible.

May God bless you abundantly!

Junction for Christ

Out of many ministerial tasks we have done so far, sewing machine support to the needy women of far-west Nepal has always had a major impact on lives. Especially with girls at risk of sex-trafficking and of domestic violence. Many times, learning to sew and the use of a sewing machine has boosted the confidence of many highly vulnerable women; the confidence of being financially independent.

Ms. Sita Rana, with tearful eyes, looked at us and said, “I trust God and His presence. He does exist for He has answered my prayers and blessed me. After my husband left me, I was completely alone and hopeless to further my life but the sewing center has not only given me hope but offered me a meeting place where I can meet my church sisters often. Now, I can expand my Christian friends circle, learn more about God, and provide for my children by myself.”

Dear partners, as you can see, sewing centers have not only supported this sister to become independent financially but have supported many women from socio-economic and social perspectives. Yes, we are making a big impact and are transforming lives in Christ. Praise the Lord. Thank you for your partnership.

Leave a commentLeave a comment

Special Report from the Mission Field

Blog, COVID-19, It Is Happening, Mission Trip, Outreach

Every day I will praise you and extol your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord and worthiest of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts. ~ Psalm 145:2-4

Our God is Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent. Not only are His characteristics a fact but they are also my belief and my declaration. I know that God is powerful, present everywhere, and knows everything.

I am so thankful to God for He has always blessed RHMI with abundant love and gracious partners. Our prayers, hardship, and faith in Him haven’t gone empty but have resulted in a glorious legacy for many generations to come. I can surely declare that the people of the Himalayas have been blessed through RHMI.

Through these newsletters, you have been able to journey with us on this mission to the high Himalayas. We thank God for His unbelievable presence and testimonies of blessings. I am quite sure that when you read this newsletter, you will be blessed to see firsthand the daily life of the people of the Himalayas and see God working through the lives of our missionaries.

Dear Partners, I feel humbled to thank you for always being there with us.

Timely Gifts Are the Valuable Gifts

The daily life of Himalayan people in the winter season is unimaginable. Life in the Himalayas is hard and dangerous. Anyone who visits the place thinks “How is life even possible here?” Cold weather, poverty, and the lack of proper warm clothes are an important reason for much illness and premature deaths in the Himalayas. Towards this end, our team was able to provide 40 down jackets to children, and 30 woolen caps to elderly people as a timely gift.

Dear partners, they have asked us to thank you for your gift that was so timely, for all of your support, and most of all, for showing that you care about them. What a wonderful joy it is to become a channel of blessings to these beloved people of God.

Fellowship Cannot Be Denied

The pandemic situation that grips Nepal right now is causing many people to be in despair and hopelessness. But despite such adversity, our believers did not pause a second to decide whether to have a church conference or not. Practically, it may sound unwise but praising Jesus who has awarded us with eternal salvation, protection, and provision was their primary matter of concern that took precedence over fear and uncertainty. We were very happy to be part of this conference where many lives were transformed. The celebration was huge. Singing, dancing, praising, worshipping, feasting, and much more were the beautiful parts of the conference that we not only captured in pictures but also in our hearts.

As we were enjoying ourselves with them, we realized that these people are the blessed ones from who we were to receive abundant blessings. We were not blessing them near as much as they were the source of blessings for us.

Dear partners, the joy and happiness we experienced are a precious treasure that you and I, and the whole RHMI family have earned for the eternal kingdom of Heaven. We are blessed!

Native Missionary Travel Kits

Apart from gifts to children and elderly people, we enjoyed distributing jackets, sleeping bags, trekking backpacks, boots, and socks to 7 native missionary leaders. These kits will help them to travel to distant places with safety and comfort. Amid any harsh situation, they can take the Gospels to the most unreached places with much comfort. When they are equipped to handle the environment, they do not worry about where they will stay or the difficulties while walking.

Most of the time, when they had to walk miles, their shoes were worn out. Their shoes were not special hiking boots because they are not able to afford such expensive boots. They had to struggle with their uncomfortable and compact backpacks with little space. When traveling through dense and frigid woods, they always had concern about how their outfits would hold up.

However, now, due to those valuable gifts, they can do the ministry with physical comfort and security. Thank you partners for caring for our leaders for what they are doing with humility and faithfulness.

Electronic Teachings and Songs

We also received the privilege of distributing a mini speaker with more than 200 recorded powerful messages of God placed in a mini SD card to 10 of our mission field leaders. These messages are a real blessing to the most underprivileged and destitute of the Himalayas. The messages keep them motivated and fill them with the fire of the Holy Spirit all the time. They use the powerful teachings to share the Gospel and bring many lives to Christ. At the same time, they are able to use the teachings for sermons in the church services and house churches services.

Those teachings, with spiritual and practical content inter-mixed with heart-touching hymns, lift them up them and give them the strength to tackle the different harsh situations they face in the Himalayas. Those messages and songs are welcome companions to our leaders in their travels too.

How great those gracious hearts and generous hands are who have enabled us to share these electronic teachings and songs.

Dear partners, thank you very much for partnering with us with such incredible support.

 

 

Leave a commentLeave a comment

On-The Ground Mission

Blog, COVID-19, It Is Happening, Mission Trip, Outreach

As Colossians 3:17 reminds us, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Dear partners, we want to share with you that 2021: the Year of Maturity is teaching us about thankfulness. Thankfulness in everything comes through practicing being thankful to God for His presence, peace, faithfulness, comfort, and grace when facing challenges, rather than letting the difficulties be the focus of our thoughts, words, and prayers.

We bestow our heartfelt thanks, appreciation, and gratefulness for your commitment, generosity, and determination to help our beloved brothers and sisters in the Himalayas.

We prayer for abundant blessing over you as you go through the following report where we have put all the wonderful outcomes of your generous giving. May God bless you.

Jacket and woolen caps distribution

Warm clothes in such a cold place are always in demand. Many are living in poverty in this place. We thank our beloved father and our gracious partners, for providing 71 warm woolen caps for the elderly people and 100 warm jackets to our beautiful children. We find ourselves blessed to provide these clothes to such needy ones. Their tearful eyes and heartfelt thanks made us feel even more blessed. Hallelujah!

Native missionary travel kits

Also, sincere thanks and gratitude to our generous partners for providing a jacket, sleeping bag, trekking bag, shoes, and socks to 11 of our diligent native mission field leaders, mini Radio speakers where we place a mini SD card with 214 recorded powerful scriptures of God and also children stationaries. Dear partners, we want to let you know that they are very happy and have asked us to tell you ‘thank you.’ They wanted you to know that your safety, welfare, prosperity, and success in all your doings are part of their regular prayers.

Dear partners, believers of the Himalayas are praying for you 24/7. Expect success in your ministry, businesses and families from their prayers.

With all my gratitude,

RHMI Family.

Leave a commentLeave a comment

COVID-19 Relief Efforts

Blog, COVID-19, Disaster Relief, It Is Happening

We thank our mighty Father in Heaven and all our gracious partners who have extended their generous hearts to support our grieving families affected by devastating floods in the remote villages located in the Nepal-China border.

The incessant rainfall caused inundation which has affected hundreds of households; 220 people have lost their lives, another 82 are missing in this village. According to the August 21, 2020, official Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) situation report, 18,505 families (92,363 people) have been affected in various districts and 10,256 families (46,562 people) have been displaced all over Nepal.

Due to the unceasing heavy rainfall, a disastrous landslide had swept away some of our mission field leaders’ houses, livestock, and farms resulting in massive loss. Currently, they are sharing shelters and living in temporary shelters built with leaves and straws.

One of our mission field believers, states, “In the middle of the night as it was happening, first, I didn’t believe my eyes. I felt like I was sleeping, and someone was dragging me and my bed. Later, As I realized my house’s roof was gone, I looked up at the mountain back of my house and I saw that it was sliding down towards me. People were screaming and the sky was thundering and echoing through the hills. As the water began to rise above my legs, I realized everything was for real. Then, I screamed and immediately asked for God’s presence. Later, I called out my family members’ names and started searching for them. I felt like it was the second coming of Jesus.”

We are grateful to our Lord for all the partners who have provided urgent food relief of 30kg sacks of rice to 112 families in the remote villages of the Himalayas. We also deposited some allocated funds for future emergencies in the Village Development Committee’s treasury. Also, we handed over $50 to nine different families who have completely lost everything and are now struggling to survive.

As Nepal is still under strict lockdown and proper social distancing, our RHMI team provided food relief four times consecutively to a group of 25 people.

Due to the distribution of the food relief program, many non-believers have restored their faith in the goodness of the believers which has marked a great impact on Christians in the villages. In places, the local government authorities have personally thanked and appreciated our humanitarian support and concern to the villagers.

Travel to the devastated place near the border which is not connected by proper roads, required 17 hours of continuous walking and by motorbikes when possible. Due to incessant rainfall, the roads continued to remain highly damaged and extremely hard to access. Several times as our RHMI team was traveling to the place, they fell off their motorbikes due to terribly rough roads or trails, encountered landslides, hit by stones falling from above their heads, and pushed each other’s motorbikes as they struggled to get out of the mud. Due to extreme difficulty in driving they had to park the motorbikes at one of our believer’s houses and walk to the bordering place. Finally, after risking their lives during their travel they managed to reach the remote village. We are so grateful and appreciate their perseverance and dedication.

Since hilly regions are more likely to have major destruction by annual heavy rainfall, our beloved RHMI family members are serving the Lord in dangerous places. We are concerned about hundreds of those unsaved lives who have yet to hear the Gospel. We have much concern for those small children who must raise cattle and graze livestock in the steep mountains in such harsh conditions.

Presently, they are without any roof over their heads or proper shelter. The government has committed to providing but still has not managed to provide enough provisions to the people in that high place near the border. We do what we can to help our people.

RHMI is praying for help for building a proper shelter for 9 bereaved families.

A massive landslide in Sankhuwasabha had partially dammed the Arun River, leaving downstream settlements at risk of flooding including our mission field.

The dam caused by the landslide was 16 – 33 feet high and 131 feet wide. The river dangerously started eroding the dam about 1,950 feet above the riverbank. The landslide swept away many houses, livestock, and farmland.

Due to inaccessible roads in this area, many families cannot get immediate relief. Hunger pains affect the stomachs of little children as they cry for food.

Nine bereaved families are in urgent need of shelter. Currently, they are sharing their temporary shelters built with straw and bamboo leaves which itself is at high risk.

It is common for shelters in this area to be built with bamboo, local timbers, straw, and if possible, an aluminum metal roof that costs about $1700 including transportation costs.