The report below is from Parsuram Sunchuri, who works as an evangelist in Nepal and teaches in the Extension school where we are privileged to share in the work of training men to preach. His report shares information about the village congregations where he recently visited.
The brothers and sisters in Christ in churches of Makwanpur and Chitwan were continuously asking me to visit them. My last visit to them was in March this year. Since I had not visited them from past eight months, I was also praying and planning to visit the churches there sooner. I have been traveling to that area from last eight years, study the Word of God, evangelism, and worship together with the members of the churches. Brother Uday Bahadur Praja is my usual travel companion whom I know from last ten years. He is one of the key persons who has helped to established many churches there. He is a faithful brother in Christ who has also groomed many men in the churches of Christ in this area. He regularly travels to the churches for Bible study.
December 3, 2011 Saturday, I left Kathmandu on a bus to Tandi, Chitwan at 7 AM and reached there at 12:30 PM. From there I took a local bus to Lothar Bazar and reached there around 2 PM. Uday was there waiting for me. After having lunch with him we traveled to north by foot along the bank of Lothar River to Silinge at 3 PM. Lothar is a small town named after the river that flows south from there and it’s a border line of Makwanpur district on the East and Chitwan district on the West. At 5:30 PM we reached Pangthali from where we had to go uphill to reach Silinge village. In company with four young boys from Silinge we started climbing the hill and reached Silinge Village at 6: 30 PM. Brothers and Sisters were waiting for us there. We had our meal at Jeet’s house and stayed overnight with his family.
December 4, 2011 Sunday, at 8 AM we went to the church building where we had our worship service at 9 AM. Uday led the service. Since I was requested by brothers to preach, my sermon was from Psalm 126. Our service was over by 11 AM and after that, brothers and sisters shared greetings with each other. There were 70+ people at the service and 50+ partook in the Lord Supper. This is one of the growing congregations here. All the members here are from Chepang ethnic group of Nepal, 1 minority group among the people of Nepal. All of them are in the four districts of Nepal. They are Gorkha, Dhading, Chitwan and Makwanpur. They are one of the socially, educationally, and economically underprivileged ethnic groups of Nepal. But they are very gentle, loving and hard working people. I always feel near to Christ whenever I visit the churches, brothers and sisters there.
After having lunch with Uday, we started walking towards Yesharang village across the Reuti Khola River, northwest of Silinge around 1 PM to have afternoon service there. There are eight members, who come to worship at Silinge Church. We reached there at 2:30 PM and started service from 3 PM. There were 38 people, mostly (over 25) nonbelievers whom we preached about Christ and His gospel. We hope and pray that the Lord will bring more people and establish His church there soon. Uday, Bel Bahadur and Rej Kumar (he lives in Yesharang village), are laboring to establish a congregation there. After the service I walked back with Uday, Bel Bahadur and his two younger sisters to Uday’s home at 5:30 PM. On the way we stopped at Uday’s elder brother’s house to visit and reached Uday’s home at 7: 30 PM. Uday is in his mid thirties, is married with two sons and two daughters between the ages of 2 and 10. I feel warm and comfortable staying at his home. His home is almost an hour walk from Church’s building toward west nearby Lothar River.
December 5, Monday at 7:30 AM Uday and I left his home for Khankhare to visit brothers and sister there at that morning. We reached Khankhare at 9 AM. We went to Jatna’s home and visited him, his family and few other brother and sisters in Christ. We prayed together and left Khankhare at 11 AM to Lothar Bazar with Jatna. The congregation there has 35 members and it is also a growing congregation, Uday started it almost eight years back. The congregation meets at Jatna’s house and they are constructing a church nearby building by the help of a US congregation. At 1:25 PM we reached Lothar and Jatna went back home. We took a local bus to Bakular to go to Bhalumara Church at Dahakhani VDC of Chitwan and reached there around 4:30. From there we took a three wheeler Tempo (which has seats for 12 people including driver). But we had a total of 22 adults and 2 children inside and on the roof as well. It took almost one and half hour to reach Mitthu Chowk (around 8 KM) north of Bakular, Tandi. Brother Lal Bahadur was waiting for us there. It was already 5:50 PM and we had to go through the jungle on bicycle. Around six we started our journey through the jungle and reached Lal’s home in Bhalumara Village at around 7:15 PM where brothers and sisters greeted us and we stayed at his home that night.
December 6, Tuesday - We had Bible study from 9 AM with the 14 brothers and sisters of Bhalumara Church till noon. Bhalumara congregation is also a 30+ members church, which started eight years back after the baptism of two members, Lal and his wife. They meet in a tin shed constructed by Lal and his family for the church. There is very good possibilities of church growth because it is a village with more than 100 houses. After Bible study we went to visit Brother Devilal’s family and prayed for his sick daughter. From there we left Bhalumara at 2 PM on Devilal’s motor bike to Club Chowk. From there we took tempo and reached Bakular, Tandi at around 4:30 PM. At Tandi Uday and I separated with each other at 5 PM. Uday went to Lothar Bazar to walk back home next morning from there. I traveled to Bharatpur to get a bus to Kathmandu on Wednesday morning. After reaching Bharatpur I came to know that there was a strike next day there. If I had known about it earlier, then would have stayed with brothers and sisters in Bhalumara one more day.
December 7, Wednesday I stayed at Bharatpur.
December 8, Thursday At 7 AM, I traveled back to Katmandu and reached my home at around 2.30 PM. It is always good to be back home, and be with your family.
Churches of Christ in Chitwan and Makwanpur districts are gradually growing. We need to help the churches there to grow more and mature in the future. So I would like to request with you to pray with me for the churches there and help us in our effort in Him. For 2012, I have the following prayer requests to you for your consideration and help.
1. Help to construct church building in Bhalumara, Chitwan. It is a 30+ member church and their tin shed is quite small for the crowd they get for Sunday service. Brother Lal Bahadur Praja is ready to donate his land for church building and they are praying for a 33’ X 15’ building of brick or concrete block wall and zinc sheet roofing. It will cost around Nepali Rupees 300,000 (US $ 3,600). This is a village of more than 100 houses, church will certainly grow in the future. So please kindly pray so that we can gather help for this.
2. We are in need of Bibles (New Testament) and Song books for the churches in this area as well as for the churches in other parts of Nepal.
3. I have almost 25 Bible study materials in different subjects and books of the Bible translated in Nepali. They are 25 to 100 pages, A4 size paper. They are very useful for our members and leaders of the churches. We can bind them and make study books. We need to print these, distribute in the churches and train our leaders to use these study materials, for their personal study as well as for delivering sermons in churches. Please help us to print these Bible Study materials one at a time and distribute among the churches.
4. I have dedicated myself to visit churches there regularly to encourage and train the church members as well for evangelism in the past which I will continue in year 2012 also. I don’t need any funds for my travel and personal expenses. But we need funds to gather brothers and sisters in a central place and conduct Bible classes and seminars. Please pray and help for this mission. This will certainly help to mature the members and improve leadership of the churches.
I hope and pray that you will kindly consider these prayer requests. I hope to receive your response on this. If you have any questions regarding my prayer request kindly contact me.
May God bless us richly with His wisdom and knowledge through our service to Him. In Christ,
Parsuram Sunchuri
Church Of Christ
57 Su-Marg, Subidhanagar Kathmandu, Nepal
Phone: +977-1-2050163
Cell Phone: +977-9751009200 Email: psunchuri@yahoo.com
cofcktmnp@gmail.com
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