The Newari of Nepal – Perfect Love that Overcomes Fear

Using our Gospel Media on Mobile Devices

This year for outreach, God sent part of the Create International DTS team to Nepal, where our plan was to work among the Newari, sharing the Gospel using a short animation film. Our first week in Nepal was primarily a time for evangelism. Every day we had opportunities to go to different heavily-populated Newari areas in the Kathmandu Valley and share about Christ using this video as a tool to build the local church. Our translator shared with us how encouraged he was to see foreigners caring about the Newari people and that we could use the video to share easily with those who might not be as interested in hearing a similar message from a local.

On our first day of sharing, one team ended up going to some shopkeepers and showed the video first to a girl of sixteen and her mother and then to five other members of their family. Before the movie was over, the girl was so eager to know if she could have a copy of it to share with all of her friends. She said she’d never understood about the sacrifice before, and that it had a lot of good information about Jesus. They were a Newari Muslim family. The team also prayed for the girl’s aunt, who had suffered from chronic pain in her right knee, and she was healed.

The Shaking Comes

The possibility of an earthquake was mentioned in our orientation upon arrival but none of us expected to actually live through a major one and its many aftershocks. Although in separate locations at the time of the April 25th earthquake, none of our team were injured and we were able to quickly gather together and comfort one another through the continuing tremors. We heard that no YWAMers in Nepal were killed, which is a miracle. In some ways the toughest part was the first 24 hours between the 7.9 earthquake and the 6.8 aftershock the next day. During that time there were more than 35 earthquakes at or above a 4.5 on the Richter scale, so every hour or more there was shaking, which kept us feeling uneasy. That night, after a particularly bad scare, I remember lying in bed praying and God gave me this picture of angels as tall as the building we were in, one standing at each corner. That was so comforting as we could only rely on His protection, mercy and provision.

In the aftermath of the earthquake we wanted to help immediately with relief in whatever way possible. Not knowing the country as the locals did, we needed to wait for them to begin to mobilize. Eventually, after the country began to come out of survival mode, we were able to help with everything from fundraising, distribution of supplies and food, packing supplies, moving bricks out of the road and from homes, going to the locals and asking about their safety and hearing their stories, to buying tarps, tents, ropes, food and lamps. In one particularly moving instance, we met a Christian family in a village in the Kathmandu Valley and heard their story. After the first earthquake, the father, the head of the family, had gone back inside to gather some things from their home when a big aftershock hit. He was so scared that he jumped from the building and instantly died. The son (also married with a small child) was so shocked between the earthquake and his father’s death that he stopped speaking. We met with him and his family ten days after this happened. We sat with them and our local hosts began speaking with him, calling out to his spirit to rejoin us mentally and emotionally. Many of our team sat with tears in our eyes and prayed over him while they spoke. It was another miracle to hear him first respond to the question “What is your name?” and then begin to utter small sentences and clearly read out passages from the Bible when pushed. Please continue to pray for Naram as I’m sure the May 12th earthquake further rattled him.

So many homes were damaged like theirs was. Maybe they didn’t fall down or lose large sections of brick, but there were so many cracks that the buildings were no longer structurally sound. Please pray for everyone who has lost their comfort, their home, family or friends, and their peace in this time. There is a lot of fear and many rumors that spread quickly and without cause. Please pray God’s vision into the hearts of believers and into those who are not yet Christian. God is calling out to Nepal and it’s our turn to intercede for those people whom He is so eager to have a relationship with.

– Kristina