Participants: Jeff Reich
Series Code: LM
Program Code: LM000143A
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00:01 I'm right now in West Bengal, North India,
00:02 just below our training school. 00:04 Our training school has outreach to Nepal 00:06 and we also have some students from Assam. 00:08 On this mission trip that we're gonna take you into Nepal 00:10 and let you see some of the results 00:12 of Laymen Ministries' work. 00:13 We'll show you a church dedication 00:15 of the new church that we just recently built by 00:17 a group of Korean Adventists, 00:18 and how one of our workers did the ground work there, 00:21 and show you some of the other areas 00:22 in Nepal where we are working right now. 00:24 So join us now as we take you on another adventure 00:27 into the country of Nepal and North India. 01:07 I'd like to welcome you to the Prerna 01:08 Lifestyle education center in Gorubathan, West Bengal. 01:13 We are part of the Laymen's Ministries' 01:16 organization out of Idaho, United States. 01:19 We'd like to welcome you in. 01:48 This is my mother's and my room where we stay 01:51 as well as often 01:53 where we have our different meetings. 01:55 And care for many of the interest of the center. 01:59 And here we have one of our young men's hostel rooms. 02:04 Come in and see our place. 02:08 This is where several of our male students stay 02:11 and this where they have been for the last two years. 02:21 This is our rest room and where we take our baths. 02:25 Sorry, I...man, the water is freezing cold here. 02:28 I'm sorry. 02:30 This is where they take their baths, by the way. 02:32 That's what I was just doing. 02:40 Welcome to our class room and meet our teachers, 02:43 my mother, Terri Horner and Joseph Mugar 02:48 who is translating for our class, 02:50 also one of our teachers here 02:51 and meet all of our students here 02:53 from Nepal and Assam. 03:02 Most of the time when I'm in class, 03:05 I'm teaching Bible doctrines and when Mommy's here. 03:09 Sometimes Mommy is, my Mommy goes to US 03:13 and so then I have over her classes 03:16 and then at that time I teach Bible doctrines 03:19 and when Mommy comes back, I translate for her. 03:22 Right now I'm just translating classes for Mommy 03:25 as she is teaching Daniel and Revelation. 03:28 Daniel is already finished 03:29 but we have still to finish Revelation 03:34 and so it's been very interesting to translate. 03:37 I learn as well as I can translate for her 03:41 and for the students. 03:43 Denis and I came here last year. 03:44 We saw the in depth 03:47 presentation of these students had. 03:49 I received a copy of the notes from one of them 03:52 and just all of the classes are like that 03:56 and they are learning material that in America, 03:59 we hear, we see in evangelistic meetings. 04:03 But it's everyday being presented 04:06 and then also translated. 04:07 So it's in their Nepali language, 04:09 so they have written down clearly. 04:12 This is my first time in this project in North India. 04:17 And I've heard a lot of things about it. 04:20 So I was really anxious to come and see for myself 04:23 everything that's going on. 04:25 And I am just so impressed. 04:30 Sandra is an excellent teacher 04:32 and she knows the language so well 04:35 and she's just really has a passion for what she's doing. 04:42 I'm just so impressed with it 04:44 and it's really nice to have her mother 04:47 be here with her. 04:49 The two work as a team. 04:52 Each one of them meets the need that needs to be met. 04:56 They can-- a kind of like a hand in a glove. 04:58 The students, I am really impressed with. 05:01 They-- it's not the same as in the Philippines. 05:06 In the Philippines, we're teaching basics like 05:09 math and science and spelling 05:11 and even though a lot of them had to learn English 05:14 when they came here, 05:18 the Bible classes that they are learning, 05:20 it's so deep. 05:23 Most of our young people that come to our cente 05:25 have come from Hindu backgrounds. 05:27 A few of them have been to church services 05:30 and had a little bit of Bible knowledge. 05:34 But most of them don't have much at all. 05:36 So we try to get them involved in the Bible stories 05:39 right from the beginning. 05:41 We start with Genesis, take them through the creation, 05:44 have them read chapters 05:46 in the evening in their personal time 05:49 and then we go through the books 05:51 of the Conflict of the Ages set. 05:54 God has blessed us very much with a very 05:57 good group of students this year. 05:59 They are very interested. They have their goals focused. 06:05 But, yeah, they come from a very rough background. 06:07 Most of them were Hindus before, 06:10 if not most of them were 06:12 and they come often from very rough homes, 06:15 broken homes, many challenges, a lot of poverty 06:20 and to see their growth over these last two years 06:24 has been just wonderful. 06:26 We're hoping that they can go out as Bible workers, 06:29 work in communities either in Nepal or India 06:34 and raise up churches 06:37 and if they aren't Bible workers 06:39 that they can at least be leaders 06:40 in their own home churches. 06:54 Besides solid Biblical training, 06:56 the students also get taught 06:57 how to use tools they need for outreach. 07:00 All of them learn how to use computers 07:02 and how to type, not only in their language 07:04 but in English. 07:07 These computer skills help them in their personal studies 07:09 as well as for evangelism. 07:12 By using a video projector, 07:13 together with point presentations 07:15 on various topics, 07:17 they can more effectively share the truth. 07:26 There's a tailoring shop that I just loved 07:30 because I love to sew. 07:32 And I went up there 07:33 and started speaking with the teacher 07:35 that was up there and students were up there 07:38 and they were sewing away. 07:40 And he said, oh, these shirts that they have on 07:43 beautiful dress shirts, they sewed themselves. 07:46 Their dress pants, they sewed themselves. 07:49 You know, it looks like something 07:50 you buy out of the store. 07:52 Probably better. 07:53 But I'm sure they are of better quality. 07:55 I spent a day up there with him today 07:58 and I started just momentarily showing them 08:01 a little bit about American quilting. 08:04 And they were just gathered around 08:06 and started looking at what I was doing 08:08 and the tailor's wife in an hour 08:11 made a pillow case out of a beautiful quilt patterning 08:15 that I just showed her. 08:16 I was like, I said, 08:18 "you are already better than I am at it." 08:20 And so wonderful people. I could stay here longer. 08:38 All the students and staff help in the kitchen 08:41 which gives the students an opportunity 08:42 to learn culinary skills. 08:49 This is Isaac. 08:51 He is the head cook and oversees 08:52 the preparation of most of the food. 09:00 Today they are making some dumplings. 09:03 Food preparation is a very social time. 09:09 All the meals are healthy and tasty as well. 09:14 The students mostly come from Nepal. 09:16 But we also have some from places like 09:18 Assam and other regions of India. 09:34 A lot of the food is grown by the students. 09:37 So agriculture is a big part of the training as well. 10:06 We are waiting for the rest of the people 10:08 to come down from the center of this hill. 10:09 Everybody is carrying their bags down 10:11 this steep stones stair way to load up on the jeep 10:14 'cause we are heading to Nepal this morning. 10:16 Take this jeep over to the Nepali border, 10:18 get our Nepali visas 10:20 and then we're gonna walk into Nepal. 10:33 Traveling in this part of the world 10:34 can be really tough with long hours 10:36 of being crowded on to a jeep or bus. 10:39 The roads are often dangerous being in disrepair. 10:47 On the way to Nepal, we wind down some steep canyons 10:50 till we come to the Teesta River. 10:52 Often traffic is backed up in this area for miles 10:54 due to land slides that block the highway 10:56 along the steep canyon walls. 10:58 Monkeys infest this area 11:00 and often steal from parked cars and trucks. 11:05 Finally you come to Tiger Bridge. 11:16 After several hours 11:18 we made it to the border town between India and Nepal. 11:20 The streets are always filled with festivities. 11:33 Our last stop before going into Nepal 11:35 is the Indian immigration office. 11:38 This is where we get our visa stamped. 11:40 This time our jeep driver 11:41 was allowed to drive across long bridge 11:43 that crosses the river 11:45 that is the border between India and Nepal. 11:51 We then boarded a bus 11:53 for the long trip to Silas's home 11:54 in central Nepal. 11:56 These are my Nepali friends, right here. 12:01 Be my body guards. 12:04 There you go... 12:12 This is a little bus stop here in Nepal. 12:14 We finally made it into the country 12:15 and they have plastic things for people. 12:19 Hey, the bus is leaving without us. 12:20 We got to go. 12:33 That was a killer bus ride. 12:35 We were hours and hours 12:37 and now it's 1:30 in the morning. 12:39 We finally made it to our destination 12:41 here in Nepal. 12:43 And we're ready to go to sleep. 12:48 We woke in the morning. 12:49 The ladies are making breakfast. 12:51 This is the home of Silas, 12:52 one of Laymen Ministries' Bible workers. 12:56 I'm making chapattis this morning. 12:58 I'm having fun rolling them out. 12:59 I'm not very experienced. 13:01 I have a hard time making them round 13:02 but I'm trying anyway. 13:05 But it's better than the glass. 13:09 This is chapatti. 13:13 We had a short worship 13:14 and then started planning out our time together. 13:21 Silas is an aggressive worker, 13:23 often walking far into the mountains 13:24 to remote villages to hold Bible studies. 13:27 And he's also been working this area where he lives 13:29 and now he's raised up two churches. 13:31 Sandra, where are we heading this morning? 13:33 Today we are heading out to -- there's a village near by. 13:37 We are right in time. 13:38 We are going there to see the church 13:39 where Silas is working. 13:41 This morning we had to wait for a taxi driver. 13:43 So I always enjoy watching life 13:45 as it is in different cultures. 13:53 Soon we were on a way to see the church plants 13:55 that Silas has established. 14:23 This church was being built by a team of South Koreans. 14:28 The same team has built several churches across Nepal. 14:33 Often Laymen Ministries does the ground work 14:35 and then teams like this one will build the church. 14:38 There was time that we also build 14:39 the churches as well. 14:47 Silas, tell me a little bit about this church. 14:49 You've been involved with this somehow. 14:52 Actually I have been praying since many months 14:58 for nice church over here 15:01 because we had many big problem with the renting 15:04 for the service, church service... 15:07 You mean like renting houses or something. 15:09 Yeah, many, many problems 15:10 because almost all are Hindus, no. 15:12 And then they trouble us. 15:13 And we have been praying, praying, praying 15:15 and then I talk with the section president. 15:19 And the he said, "Okay, okay, okay, we'll see, we'll see." 15:21 And then finally some of the Korean came 15:24 and then they start to make a building, 15:26 another part of... 15:27 This been kind of like team effort there in Nepal. 15:29 Yes, sir, all team, a bunch of same team they are 15:31 and then God answers our prayer and then He accept our request 15:35 and then He start to work here. 15:37 And all the things they did themselves. 15:40 How long have you been doing like field work in this area? 15:44 Around one year, sir, over here. 15:48 But in this city around four years, I'm working here. 15:52 Four years, huh? Yes, sir. 15:53 And this is the church, it's getting dedicated tomorrow. 15:55 Yes, sir. It is. 15:56 And you are just finishing putting the roof on right now. 15:59 Next, we headed over to see the other church plan. 16:08 We have here a church that has been recently built 16:12 this last year. 16:14 This church is built for those who have been displaced 16:18 from their mountain villages by landslides and floods. 16:22 And so this church has come down here 16:24 and Silas has been working with them 16:26 over thelast five to six years. 16:30 The funding for this church came from an American Pastor 16:32 by the name of Charles Shultz, 16:34 as a memorial to his late wife, Elizabeth. 16:48 Close by is his refugee camp 16:50 made up for people displaced by land slides and floods 16:53 and more recently earth quakes. 17:15 We're getting over to the dedication 17:16 of the church right now this morning on Sabbath. 17:31 Along the way there was this group of blind people 17:33 soliciting donations, like playing a music. 17:50 That turned out to be quite bit a longer walk than we expected. 17:54 I think we walked about I'm thinking three miles 17:57 something like that. 17:58 Now we are waiting for everybody to show up 18:00 here for the dedication this morning. 18:02 They said there's gonna be quite a few people coming. 18:04 So it's gonna be a small church big gathering. 18:06 It's gonna be interesting to see how everybody 18:08 is gonna fit inside the church. 18:10 Halleluiah. 18:50 That our life is been given to Christ. 18:54 Listen, listen. 18:58 Here's the church 18:59 and there's the seat, come inside and see. 19:08 After Sabbath we took a terribly crowded and bumpy 19:10 all night bus to visit another church plant. 19:13 Around 4 a.m. we got out along the high way. 19:16 The air was cold and the small shops 19:18 were just starting to come to life. 19:22 A friend of Joseph picked us up in a jeep at day break 19:25 and took us to the base of this large mountain. 19:29 In the rural areas of Nepal growing food 19:31 is an essential part of survival. 19:35 You guys didn't get cooked on the bus last night? 19:40 I shed a few layers and so then I was just perfect. 19:44 All night long I was like on the bus like 19:47 I must have been sitting on a heater 19:48 or something because I was like taking my sweaters off, 19:50 my shirt off and I was just in my t-shirt 19:52 and then having to put my coat back on. 19:55 It was like crazy. But... 19:57 So Joseph, this is a place where you used to live 20:01 or you used to work or where are we going now? 20:03 This is the road to my home, home place and so... 20:09 You mean your family is up here? 20:10 Yes, yes. Oh, really? 20:11 My family lives up there 20:14 and so this is the road for the vehicle 20:18 and we have another different trail 20:21 that people can walk if there is no vehicle. 20:24 So this is the long way. 20:25 If you walk it will take four hours or something. 20:28 How long is it by road going this way? 20:30 If you walk four hours. 20:32 If you go by vehicle it will only take like one hour 20:37 and jumping up and down in the vehicle 20:39 and so it is very difficult. 20:41 You've been up here before, haven't you? 20:42 I've been here the first time when they had made it 20:44 it was so bad I decided not to go 20:47 by vehicle, I walked. 20:49 Why 'cause like... Yeah. 20:50 It was so dangerous 20:51 I looked like it was kind of drop off 20:54 and fall down off the side of the mountain 20:57 and so I walked up. 20:59 For the first time I went to... 21:01 I ridden a vehicle, by the time I got in the mountain, 21:07 I was, all my body was... it was all sore. 21:11 I decided I will not ride in a vehicle because... 21:14 You're getting beat up by bouncing around. 21:16 Yeah. 21:17 And the other thing is that I pay money 21:20 and also I get body ache. 21:23 So if I walk I get exercise and I save money. 21:26 That's why you're going all around. 21:28 What kind of work have you been doing up here? 21:30 And have you been doing like evangelism up here 21:32 or Bible studies? Yes, yes. 21:34 I've been building a, I mean, 21:36 I've been leading in the construction 21:38 of church building 21:40 there and so we, once in a while 21:43 we come for the evangelism meeting 21:45 and we encourage believers 21:47 and there are some gospel workers 21:50 and we help with them. 21:52 We had several groups of students come up here 21:56 at different times and hold programs 21:57 in the mountain. 21:59 And all total baptized members, about 20 or 25. 22:03 So you've had some baptisms up here? 22:05 And it's from the ground work that our students had done? 22:07 Yeah, yes, yes. Well, that's... 22:10 We had a program. 22:11 The first program we had in this Southern part of Nepal, 22:15 included his family and several others believers 22:18 and that was back in the year 2000. 22:21 And so we've started the work here since then. 22:23 Have you had any of the American missionaries 22:25 worked up here with you or has it been mostly 22:27 Nepali students from the center? 22:29 And also we had the Judy and Denis 22:36 and Skaduna also come to help us up here. 22:40 Good. Well, let's go up there. 22:49 This is Joseph's friend's jeep. 22:51 I nicknamed it, the Mighty Merinda. 23:45 This reminds me of something that we would travel 23:47 in North Idaho going up into steep province. 23:51 We got a super high elevation but it's kind of foggy today. 23:54 This is the foot hills of the Himalaya mountains 23:57 here in Nepal. 23:58 We're still in kind of like 24:00 the Eastern and Central part of Nepal. 24:09 One of the main sources of income in this regional area 24:13 is growing in harvesting broom grass. 24:15 And as the name indicates, the grass is made for well, 24:18 making brooms. 24:28 This is my home and we are in my home. 24:31 There some people had put the broom grass 24:35 and this is the balance they use to buy, 24:39 weigh the broom grass and ginger, others. 24:41 That is, the crop that they earned some from them. 24:46 The businessmen just asked permission 24:48 to keep this balance here. 24:50 So this is my home. 24:53 These are the bee hives 24:55 and we have two boxes 25:00 but only, three boxes and two has the bees 25:03 and you just put the smoke inside 25:06 and then we can take the... 25:09 what you call? Honeycomb. 25:11 Honeycomb out. 25:28 Laymen Ministries' workers 25:29 that are working with the people. 25:31 Joseph was excited to show us the new church 25:33 that was being built in his home area. 25:35 Again the ground work was done by Laymen Ministries' students 25:38 under the direction of Joseph and Sandra. 25:44 On the fourth of November, 25:46 the church leaders came together 25:47 and had a ground breaking ceremony. 25:51 After the ground breaking ceremony was done 25:53 everyone got together to see what to do 25:55 for the layout of the church. 25:57 And they are trying to find out 25:59 who should be the architect of it. 26:01 And so after everyone discussed many different options, 26:03 then finalizes, while if you give me a paper 26:06 and pencil and a ruler, 26:08 I'll see what I can do 26:09 and so with all of their advice and suggestions, 26:12 this has been my first church 26:14 to draw the blueprint for and so, 26:17 here's my first try. 26:23 It's looking very nice. 26:26 The photos from the outside, it looks much bigger 26:29 now coming here just looks the right size 26:31 for the mountain church. 26:33 Being here, how many people been baptized here? 26:35 About 20 people. About 20 people. 26:39 This is really special for Joseph 26:41 because this is actually his home area. 26:43 So a lot of these guys 26:44 that are working on building the church 26:46 are people he've known since they were a little kids 26:48 and it's a real blessing that years later 26:51 after he's gotten training and we started coming back 26:54 and visiting his home. 26:55 Now his mother is a pillar of the church here in this area 26:59 and he's been a major contributor 27:01 having this church actually come into existence here. 27:05 So he's had the joy of seeing a lot of his childhood friends 27:08 become Seventh-day Adventist Christians 27:10 which is really a new thing. 27:12 And because of Joseph's honesty 27:15 this, only because of that 27:17 has this church been able to be built. 27:18 Otherwise it would take many more years 27:21 before it would be built. 27:39 Only to find out later, 27:40 we really didn't understand what was going on. |
Revised 2025-01-04