Compassion for Asia

Anne Lise just turned 30 years old today! We celebrated it at her parents home with barbeque and cakes and everyone who wanted to come were invited. The weather was sunny and Rebecca loved to meet all of her friends as well. Even if the day started with a splat (with Sudips favourite cake on the floor) it turned out to be a good day after all.

Today was a busy day for all of us. In the morning we had church service and afterwards we had a fellowship meal. We had several new people visit the church and a small group of Nepali people. God was present and it was really good. This was the last " real" service in a couple of weeks, because of our baby being due and because many people are gone for the summer. We will continue to have fellowship each Sunday afternoon and will start regular services again in August.
After the service Rebecca and me drove Sudip to the airport and sent him off to Nepal. He will be there for 10 days and will be back in time for our son to arrive.

Sudip has reached to Nepal and has started to work. As most of you know we have been renting a house for the elderly home, the Bible College and we also were staying there. We are trying to find ways of saving some money on rent, so we have decided to move all of our things to a few rooms at Mahima church and to move the elderly home to the orphanage building. They will be moving this week or the next, we just need to get a few more things settled at the orphanage building.

Today the girls moved from one room in the 1st floor to 2 big rooms in the 3rd floor. They have now moved to their permanent rooms and they were very happy. Some other people also moved up to the 3rd floor and now the 1st floor is ready for the elderly home. The top floor now contains the new kitchen, storage room and dining hall. We have put taps in the dining hall so that the children will be able to wash their hands and plates before and after eating. We still need to put up the sink, but the rest is ready.
The elderly home moved to the 1st floor and all the Bible College students helped move them from the other house in Lamabagar. It is a big change for all of them, but we believe that this will be good for all the old people. They will have more peace and quiet and will have animals and some crops to take care of if they like. Also it will be good to have the elderly people and the children together.

Yesterday Rebecca turned 22 months. Here she is with her backpack ready to travel around the world. She always speaks about going to America or to Nepal. I am telling her that we will go soon.

The orphanage construction is getting close to done. Praise the Lord!!! Finally it is beginning to look like a real house. Sudip spoke with the plumber and he was able to fix all of the pipes and taps in the house. He has put water tanks on the rooftop and all the toilets are now done, all the way to the top floor. Now there is running water in the whole house and all the bathrooms have tiles and they are all ready to be used. The next step is to work on putting the carpets in the bedrooms and finish the paint. We will paint the outside of the building after the rain season is over.

Above: The front of the orphanage building. The outside is almost finished and ready to be painted.

Down: Finishing up the stairs and the railing all the way to the 4th floor.

Today is Saturday and the day of church service in Nepal. This week we also upgraded the church room at our main church in Mhephy, Kathmandu. Sudip has been shopping and got a new carpet and curtains for the church hall. The old carpet was not fitted and was only a lot of pieces that we put together the best we could. The church now looks amazing and we are so happy to finish this building also.
Sudip also finished moving all of our things to the same location. We will be living in a couple of rooms upstairs from the church hall. There are two other families also living in this building and 3 single people, so we are filling up the house. We really want to make sure we use all of the space that we have.

Today is a big day for the orphanage. The paint inside is done for now and we were able to put the carpets in the 3rd floor. This floor will give room to Sandip and Saru, all the girls and some other people working at the orphanage. There are also two toilet/showers that have now been fixed in that floor, so it is almost ready to be used. When everyone have moved in the 3rd floor the first floor will be available for the elderly home to use. They will move next week.

Gospel for Asia Belivers School is in Bhaktapur, Kathmandu. The principle, Yogendra Dya Thapa, is a friend of Sudip and asked if he could come and speak to the new students that were starting their 2nd semester. There were over 50 students there and some of our pastor friends were also there. It was good to meet all of them again.
Today Sudip also met with two of the pastors that work with us. One is from South Nepal and the other one is from Mid-West Nepal. They came to update their work and to collect their support and the support for the pastors in the same area that works with us. We are hoping on building a church for our pastor from South Nepal, Ram Prasad Praja, this year.

Above: The new dining hall with the taps on the wall, the kitchen and the storage room and one of the new girls rooms.

Down: The new bedroom for the elderly ladies, the kitchen and a couple of moving pictures.

The situation in Nepal has not improved for the Christians. Some of our pastor friends have been threatened and are now under police protection and many are persecuted. The country has been facing more crimes, abductions and instability the last months and it has made life more difficult, not only for the Christians, but for everyone.
Please pray for Nepal and the safety of the believers.