More than two and a half years have already passed since I settled down in Kathmandu, Nepal, following the calling of God. Some might think it is long, but to be honest, I have done nothing during the period; God has done everything for me. Though I desired to please God by bringing lots of people to His side, in actuality, there was nothing that I could do here. Nevertheless, God allowed me to have deep understanding of His will, and also blessed the brothers and sisters in the Nepal Zion.

I truly give thanks to Father and Mother from the bottom of my heart for giving us overflowing grace and blessing with beautiful fruit of the Holy Spirit every day.


Flying to Nepal, only depending on God

I was sent to Kathmandu in Nepal in July, 2003. By the time I went to Nepal, several missionaries had already sown the seed of the gospel in the barren field and worked diligently. On the foundation laid by their strenuous endeavor, we could spread the good news vigorously.

When God told me to go to Nepal to preach the gospel, I said, “Yes, I will do so.” Although I spoke those words with my lips, I thought to myself, “How am I going to do this? I don’t even know how to speak Nepalese!” But at the same time, I thought there must be a reason for sending me to Nepal. I left all the worries and doubts behind and arrived in Nepal, relying on God.

The most challenging obstacle was the language barrier. I was not able to speak a single word; I couldn’t even say hello in Nepalese. And I’d never seen the Nepalese alphabet nor had I heard Nepalese before. However, God had already prepared a prophet, Missionary Tejendra, for me, and he helped me overcome the language barrier.

Nepalese Missionary Tejendra has played a key role in spreading the gospel in Nepal, and he is now working as an assistant in Zion. A few years ago, he received the truth and became a child of God while he was in Korea on business. After deeply understanding the love of God, he came back to Nepal to preach the truth to his family and neighbors, and has been working diligently with the Nepalese members for more than five years. He is a great gospel worker who contributes a lot to spread the good news of salvation over Nepal.

Since he was good at Korean, he served as an interpreter throughout the worship service and helped me talk with the brothers and sisters. I wrote a script for a sermon in Korean, then he translated it into Nepalese and wrote Korean characters on it to help me pronounce them. I just read the translated script without understanding Nepalese.

When the Nepalese brothers and sisters heard that a Korean missionary was coming to Nepal, they were worried. They thought they might not know when to say amen when the missionary delivered his sermon in Korean. Contrary to what they thought, I delivered sermons in Nepalese. They told me they were so moved when they saw me trying to preach sermons and to lead prayers in Nepalese, even though I was just reading them.

Receiving lots of help from Missionary Tejendra whom God sent ahead of me, I was able to carry out the mission given by God, though I did not know how to speak a single word of Nepalese. Thanks to God’s help, I can now communicate with the brothers and sisters comfortably in Nepalese and I can also preach sermons in Nepalese.

Studying Nepalese and residing here, I realized that since we are the children of God, we are all brothers and sisters wherever we are, even though we have different cultures and languages. I was able to understand God’s mysterious providence—why He sent this foolish child to Nepal, who knew nothing about this country.


Brothers and sisters preach the Bible in full swing despite many hardships

Nepal is influenced by its neighboring countries, India and China, so 80% of the Nepaleses are Hindus, followed by Buddhists who make up 15% of the population and Christians and Muslims who make up the rest (5%).

Since most Nepaleses are Hindus, we can easily find idols and temples of gods on the streets or in the homes. Many of the Nepalese customs are based on traditions and beliefs in Hinduism. From birth to death, religious rituals remain in daily life. Nepalese people are brought up and taught to follow the Hindu traditions, so if a person, whose family has believed Hinduism for generations, converts to a new religion, he will face life-threatening problems.

ⓒ 2006 WATV

The political and economic situations in Nepal are unstable. Communists, known as ‘Maoists,’ frequently conduct terrorist attacks threatening the lives of people.

Due to the instability of the country, we face many hindrances while we preach the truth. Nepaleses have anti-sentiment against other religions except Hinduism. They have a tendency to ignore Christianity which was introduced by a foreign country, and it takes a long time for a Nepalese to receive the truth. In this kind of circumstance, our brothers and sisters have many difficulties in preaching the gospel.

I really feel that where the truth is, there will always be activities of falsehood and disturbances. However, we do not fear them, because we know that the truth shines brighter and looks more beautiful when there is falsehood. For the saying goes, “The darker the sky, the brighter the stars.” The hardships and troubles, which we faced in finding our lost brothers and sisters, made us feel more tenderness and love for our heavenly family members. Thus, we are making all our efforts to bear good fruit, asking God to give us the power to defeat and overcome the interruptions of evil, instead of being concerned about the factors bothering us.

At first, we worried that our gospel work might stagnate because of unfavorable situations. However, contrary to our thoughts, the more difficulties and hardships we faced, the faster the gospel spread. God always encouraged us with good fruit whenever we overcame difficulties, and the number of our members increased day after day.


Brothers and sisters fly to God like clouds and like doves

There were about 120 members when I first arrived in Nepal. Now the number of worship service attendants amounts to more than 700. Many brothers and sisters travel 12 hours to come to the Church; and in Pokhara, Bagmati and Simara small group worship services are held in each town.

120 members doubled to 250 at the end of 2003, and increased by twofold reaching 500 at the end of 2004. In less than a year, more than 700 brothers and sisters are now gathering in Zion. The two-story temple, built through God’s blessing, is now too small for us, and we need to branch out.

The first floor of the Church building is used for children and the second floor for worship hall. On every worship day, each room is occupied by each age group—children, student, young adult, male and female adult group–for Bible studies. Due to increase in the number of brothers and sisters, the rooms are overcrowded, and now we wish to set up more branches.

We established a branch Church in Damak in March, 2005. A brother from Damak visited Kathmandu to find a job and received the truth during his stay in Kathmandu. When he returned home, he preached to his family and neighbors. As a result, Zion was built in Damak, too. Damak is so far away from Kathmandu. It takes about 14 hours by bus; if we depart from Kathmandu at 5a.m., we can arrive in Damak around 7p.m. On our journey there, we can see civil wars being waged by communists sporadically, and it takes a long time to pass an inspection.

God allowed us to build a branch Church in Damak, sending Deacon Sobhakar as a prophet. He used to travel the long and dangerous way to teach the word of God to the brothers and sisters in Damak, relying on God only.

Economic and political difficulties here make our hope for heaven much stronger day after day. Since our brothers and sisters are preaching hard with the great hope for heaven, they bear much fruit; some lead twenty souls to God in a year, some thirty, and others even fifty.

Some of the Protestant churches nearby gather people by helping meet their physical needs. So some people visit our Church, expecting to receive financial assistance from us. Then we tell them that the Church of God gives the blessing of eternal life and spiritual well-being through the truth. At the entrance of the Church, we have placed a notice board which reads, “The Church of God delivers the truth of God and the good news of salvation for your souls.” Among those who visit our Church for physical help, some understand the truth and receive God after studying the Bible.

ⓒ 2006 WATV

Many of our brothers and sisters guide their family members to God as they understand the truth. Because most of them are Hindus, they do not know the Biblical history nor the truth at all. However, once they see the evidence that the Bible is true, they are mostly surprised. They are amazed at the power of the Passover which saves them from disasters. The Passover is the truth astonishing not only Hindus but also the people from the Protestant churches.

One of our sisters had lived without any hope for the world, not to mention the hope for heaven. The Hindu custom, known as caste system, discriminates people based on their class and social status. Because of this system many people, especially women, live under extreme oppression.

The sister was living a miserable life because she was from a lower caste than her husband. Meanwhile, she had an opportunity to hear the truth and joyfully received God. In less than a month after her baptism, she ran to his neighbors and preached them the words of God. Now she lives a happy and joyful life every day with the hope for heaven.

Here is another case of a brother who attended a Protestant church because of its financial support for him. After hearing the truth, he did want to be in the truth because it is perfect. But he became worried that he might have a hard time financially if he quit attending the Protestant church.

However, since the word of God is trustworthy and true, he finally turned to God, having a strong confidence in God and asking for His help rather than men’s help. He brought his whole family into the truth—his three brothers and their family members and his two sisters.

His sister was a peculiar case. She lived in a village far away from her brother. After hearing bad rumors about our Church, she came to us to take out her brother. However, contrary to rumors, our brothers and sisters were so kind, and she was moved by our warmheartedness and the absolute truth of the Bible. Immediately she became a child of God.

Here is a case of a sister who received the truth while she was visiting her son. After she returned home, she preached the truth to her family, relatives and neighbors, and led eighteen souls into the arms of God. They live in a town far away from Kathmandu where Zion is located, so they have worship services together at a member’s home.

Another brother moved to India because of his work and there he led a family to God. Because it is closer to Damak than Kathmandu, Deacon Sobhakar visits there and teaches them the words of the Bible. Though India is a neighboring country to Nepal, the brother’s preaching in India can be called overseas mission because it’s a different country. Thus, the members in the Nepal Zion are also taking part in overseas gospel work.


The secret of the cushions in four colors

Currently, we have four different colored cushions in Zion. Can you guess why?
When I first arrived here, there was only one color for the cushions. However, as the number of brothers and sisters increased, we needed more cushions. So we made an additional one hundred cushions, thinking that they would be enough for the brothers and sisters who were to come later. We tried to find the same colored cloth as the original, but unfortunately we couldn’t. So we made the cushions in a different color than before.

ⓒ 2006 WATV

Before long, the number of the cushions was outnumbered by the number of our Church members. Again, we had to make a lot more cushions, taking into account the new brothers and sisters to come later. Like before, however, we could not find the same colored fabric.

Successively three times, we made cushions with different colored cloth. As a result, there are now four colored cushions in our Zion.
Every time we made cushions, we tried hard to find the same colored cloth that we were using, but we couldn’t find the same one. Thus, the four different colors of cushions are now being used by each age group: children, young adult, male and female group.

The increase of different colored cushions shows that more people have returned to God. I wish our Zion to be filled with more cushions in different colors. Since all the brothers and sisters are preaching the Bible with great zeal, I believe that our Zion will soon be filled with cushions in the seven colors of a rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. It makes me happy to think of how to distribute those colored cushions to the brothers and sisters.

Due to the large number of the Church members, we lack the rooms where we can gather together after worship services. So we have a plan to set up a branch Church near Kathmandu early this year. Kathmandu is the capital city of Nepal, but we can hardly find a proper church building here. We believe God will allow us to find a good place for us. All the brothers and sisters are earnestly praying to God to give us a good place to establish a new branch Church. We are also participating fervently in “Saving One Soul,” wishing to fill the new branch Church with beautiful fruit.

Recently, I often hear many people say that I look more like a Nepalese than a Korean. When I visited Korea last time, I was mistaken for a native Nepalese, and this made me very happy. People often say that longtime lovers look alike. If I look more like a Nepalese, it proves that the Nepalese brothers and sisters and I love each other in God. I think that to love brothers and sisters is to love God. I will love my Nepalese brothers and sisters all the more.

God Himself fulfills all His plans for the gospel. There is nothing I can do on my own, so I depend only on God. That is why the gospel has produced such great results. I know that I am merely a small instrument in God’s hand to perform the precious mission—fulfilling the prophecies of the Bible. Keeping this fact in mind, I always give thanks to God.

Father and Mother, thank You for Your overflowing grace for the Nepal Zion!