Week 11 Update

Jaimasih and thanks again for all the love and support from you all! These last two weeks we had the tremendous opportunity of village outreaches so here is a summary of each of them.

Gorkah:
This was the place of the first week of the outreach and is the epicenter of the devastating earthquake that hit in 2015. Here there are two graduates from the Bible college (Go-paul and Raj-kumar) who have taken over a local church and are faithfully teaching the Word and shepherding their people. We alone with all the students and Bible college staff did a week of ministering here. We put on a conference for the church through 1 Peter in which we both were given the opportunity to teach. We did an outreach where the students sang, danced, and performed skits to get peoples attention and then share the gospel. We cleaned a local school and played a lot of futbol with the locals. Overall it was a great trip and wonderful opportunity for us to do outreach with these students we have been investing in.

Swara:
This is a village that is about a 6 hour Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland jeep drive away. Our friends have done outreach here before but there are no people who have fully committed to follow Christ yet in this village. Dane got sick the 1st day but the Lord showed us that our ministry would be more focused on prayer while Rajiv (a Nepali brother serving here with us) and Go-paul went out to share and minister to people. We spent an entire day praying but were able to get out and minister ourself for a couple of the days. Pray for this place as the enemy has held them in darkness for so long and yet the gospel has gone forth and people are counting the cost. They are very poor and 6 hours away from the nearest hospital that is not accessible for part of the year due to flooding. This causes many deaths that could otherwise be prevented. Pray that we can continue to have an influence there both physically and spiritually!

Prayer Requests:

• For vision and diligence for this next month of ministry as we don't teach consistently and therefore have much time for other ministry like evangelism and discipleship.
• For a continual filling of the Holy Spirit and hungering for God.
• For the students and staff at the Bible college and local churches.
• For our two week Uganda trip on the way home in November where we will join a team from Calvary Chapel Westgrove and do outreach in the Sudanese refugee camp. 

Thanks for reading! God bless you all!

Brandon and Dane

Week 9 Update

Jaimasih! It feels like that is the word we say the most, and how appropriate it is being that it means “Praise the Lord”. Not only is that a greeting here but it summarizes this mission as a whole. The only words that can proceed from our mouths is Jaimasih “Praise the Lord” for He is good and His ways are perfect. Each and every day we spend out here, the more we see God’s grace and His Spirit moving. We could speak forever about the greatness of our God but we have so many things to say about the wonderful working of His Spirit here. So let us get into it!

Bible College:

This week we finished our classes for the semester and our ministry shifts from the classroom to discipleship and outreach (This will be talked about). With that being said, as the weeks go by, our time with the students is sweeter and sweeter. The fellowship we share with all of them makes our hearts full every night. This fellowship comes from times in the classroom, prayer nights, days of fasting together, and laughing while playing games together. It has become our joy to be able to be with these students daily. Even when we were away for a week in Thailand (which I will talk about), we couldn’t help but to miss our home at the Bible college and our family (the students). We even had a craving for Dahl Baht (rice and lentils). This place has become a home away from home and the students our family away from family. The Spirit really works to unite fellow believers to each other and that is exactly what has happened here. 

Girls Home:

Oh to get started in talking about the promise girls brings a smile across our faces. We have said before, these girls are so precious and it is our great privilege to love on them. The time we are able to spend loving on them, we truly are the ones that feel the love of Christ. Just walking around a street festival yesterday with these girls in hand, they felt like our children guiding them through the crowds, of course with some tickling on the way. We have become so close to these girls and are a constant topic of our conversation.

The Daily:

Thailand Missions Conference

We had the amazing opportunity to go to Thailand for the Asian Missions Conference. This conference was such a blessing, not only did we feel refreshed after but stirred in the continuance of the mission ahead. We made connections with fellow laborers working all around Asia, and hear about the different works going on. This was at such a sweet timing to push us forward in our passion for missions

Outreach 

As our classes have come to an end, we have the opportunity to go to a village named Gorkha, with the students, this coming week. This time in Gorkha will be filled with outreach in the form of a conference, in which we will be teaching at, and evangelism. After the week in Gorkha, we will be going for a week in Swara, which has no church and no believers. Please be praying for these coming weeks!

Church

One of the students at the Bible college, his name being Pushpa, is also a pastor of a church named Bethany Church. We have been invited regularly to teach at this church. This church has such a sweet community, and from the moment we walk in, we feel like family. This church truly follows in the love and humility that Pushpa displays in his life as a follower of Christ. It is our deep privilege to be apart of this church. Please be praying for the continued working of the Spirit in this church.

We thank God so much for your support and the grace He has given us to be here. Please keep us in your prayers as you all are in ours. Through any struggles and trials in being here, Jesus is worthy. Upon looking to Jesus every struggle turns to a joy, and every hardship reveals the peace only found in the arms of Christ. Your prayers are absolutely essential in the work out here. In the words of missionary James Frazier “Solid, lasting missionary work is done on our knees”. The greatest impact on this area is your partnership in prayer. 

Till the whole world hears,

Dane and Brandon

Week 7 Update

Jaimasih ("Praise the Lord", common greeting) from Nepal! We love and miss you all and once again thank you for your continual support and prayers. We will keep this blog shorter as we want to just update you on some amazing stories of what God is doing as we continue in the work God has called us to.

Bible College:

We continue to grow closer and closer to these students that we are investing in. Classes finish up in two weeks in which we can focus on more outreach and expand our ministry into different parts of Nepal. Teaching at the Bible college has been a life changing experience for us and hopefully for the students as well. Study the Bible and change the world! This is what Ezra did (One of the classes Dane is teaching). We are getting more and more of this global purpose of the work of God in this world and gaining a deeper hunger for God and His presence. Hopefully these same things are happening with the students, and we are seeing it in little ways. We are continuing in our prayer meetings with them, now 3 times a week, and evangelism on Sunday's and fasting on Wednesday's. 

Girls Home:

We are continuing to spend time with the promise girls, visiting them at least 3 times a week. We are continually blown away that we get to be a part of showing these girls the love of Christ. "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27. 

On The Daily:

This is a little section we like to call on the daily haha. There are opportunities all over the place and always a person to help, disciple, and/or minister to. One of these is a little family who seems to have been placed by God on the doorstep of the Bible college. They were Hindu but upon being shown the love of Christ, they are now followers of Christ. They are very poor and when Deepa (the mom) lost her job in construction, we took them in and they have been living here on campus for the last 3 weeks or so. The daughter named Susmita who is in a picture below had burned her foot really bad as a young baby by falling into the fire. Her foot was deformed and her toes were growing up and backwards to where she could't walk. Hannah, who is the wife of the Bible college directer here, raised money and they have now surgically fixed her foot to where she will be able to walk. Something that probably would have never happened due to the price. Mungal (the son, 11 years old) who is in a picture with Dane below would watch his sister all day and so has never been to school or learned to read. Hannah was also able to raise money for him and now he is tutored 5 times a week for several hours and learning to read. After his first lesson in the morning, he was out in the courtyard till 10pm practicing his reading. We pray that the love we show this family as a Bible college will resound into eternity! 

We thank God every day for considering us worthy, appointing us to His service. It isn't always easy, we get sick, miss family and the comforts of home, but as we keep telling ourselves, "If it was easy, everyone would do it". But above all, Jesus is worthy! He is worthy of His gospel being preached throughout the nations! We get to be a part of that and so do you in partnering with us in prayer and support! 

Till the whole world hears,

Brandon and Dane

Below: Visiting a church Brandon preached at. The pastor in the 2nd picture down, is one of our Bible college students. 

Week 5:


Greetings:

Hello! Or should I say Jaimasee (praise the Lord in Nepali, a common greeting for believers) from Asia. It is a great joy for us to be able to share, with everyone reading this, how the Lord is moving in the work here. Thank you for taking the time to read this and for your prayer support. I can honestly say, we feel your prayers here and know our work would be of no use if it weren't for your partnership in prayer.

We are now reaching our 5 week mark of ministry and I can't help but say it has gone fast. Just looking back at these last 5 weeks, I am so in awe of everything God has been doing in us and through us. Its not to say there aren't times of missing home and hardships such as sickness, but it is all worth it for the joy in completing the calling of God.

Right now we are both healthy and enjoying being more accustomed to the culture. In one specific way, there has been an awakening in our tastebuds for the daily meal of Dahl Baht (rice and lentils). It was only a matter of time before we had a love for it the way everyone else does. Every experience here is truly enjoyable, with the best part being the time spent with the people. From those we have spent every day with to those we just meet for the first time in a cafe or on the street, everyone is so welcoming and an opportunity for us to show the love of Christ.


Ministry:

The ministry has been so amazing and fruitful. Each day I am blessed to know what God has done the previous day and excited for what He is going to do the next. Our main focus continues to be teaching in the Bible College which we do daily. Our goal in these classes is to give the students a desire for the Word of God and for them to be stirred to not only read it but to live it out. One of the greatest ways this is displayed is the time we spend with the students after class. We try and take every moment we can to spend with the students, to not just be teachers but to do life with them. This is true discipleship, teaching the word and letting that word be displayed in our daily lives together. This is how we see Jesus doing ministry with His disciples and this is how we want our ministry to be.

This time spent with the students has consisted of prayer and evangelism. We have tried to spend every day in prayer with the students, as this has been the longing of our hearts. As we pray with them, the passion and zeal they have can be clearly seen. Although the prayers times are optional, almost everyone shows up to pray. The importance of prayer has continued to develop in our hearts as we feel the Lord has also been stirring in us a need for fasting. Starting last week, every Wednesday we spend praying and fasting with the students. Using the time we usually would for eating to have corporate prayer time. As we fasted last Wednesday it was encouraging to see most of the students join us and we even got to celebrate with them after, going out for some Mo Mo's. We know God is going to do transformative work in our hearts as we pray to Him and deny the pleasures of food, for the sake that Christ is better. Aside from this we have also continued in Evangelism on Sundays. Even with the new laws being in effect, it can bring a fear to some but it does not deter our mission, we know God is in control and watches over us. With this being said we are cautious as to not draw unwanted attention to ourselves. We started leaving the college in pairs instead of in a group, but the sharing of the gospel goes out the same. Just to give an example of this, just a week ago as we were all sharing, we came across two younger guys. One of these guys had just days before denounced his muslim faith and we could see he was searching. It was a sweet time of sharing Christ, with an obvious interest being seen in them, and we got to end the time challenging them to look more into Christ (please be praying the Lord grabs hold of their hearts).

Some of the other ministries we have been involved in, which has also been so dear to our hearts, is the Promise Home. These twelve girls are so precious and beloved by God, and it is our great joy to spend time with them. Just last weekend we had the pleasure of being able to spend several hours each day with them. This consisted of playing games, dancing, tickle fights, etc.. every time these girls smile, our hearts are full. We are always searching for any free time to spend with these girls and it can only just be imagined, if these girls are precious to us, how much more God adores them.

Other then that, we have each taken two returning students to pour into individually. We see these students having such an impact in the world and we want to pour into them with one-on-one discipleship. This will consist of meeting with each of them for a time each week to really invest in them and where they can be free to ask questions and go deeper.

There are so many ministry opportunities, I could talk forever about what is going on and what has been stirring our hearts. Just know, God is moving in such powerful ways, and we are so excited to be apart of what He is doing and what He is going to continue to do.


Prayer:


As I have already said, none of this would be possible without your prayers. Please do not lose heart in praying for us and the work out here. God is moving through your prayers.

Us: Please pray that God would continue to instill an unwavering passion in us for the lost and for His people. Pray that we would continually be united with each other, with the staff, and with the students. And please pray that God would reveal Himself to us and draw us deeper.

Teaching: Please pray that God would move in the hearts of the students through the teaching of the Word of God. That our teaching would be spirit empowered and that He would get all the glory for it.

Students: Please pray that the students would desire the Word of God stronger then ever before. That they would hunger and thirst for the Word. Please pray that they would have an everlasting passion, in that they would be so grounded in their faith that even when the semester is over they would continue to grow each day.

Other: Please pray for boldness and passion in sharing. Please pray for an overwhelming love for everyone we come in contact with. To see as God sees, To love as He loves, To serve as He serves. Please pray for His Spirit to empower all of the campus. And for health of all students and staff.


Here are some pictures:

   

Brandon and Dane Asia Update

Week 3:

Intro:

Greetings from Asia! A special thanks to everyone who is reading this and has supported us through prayer and/or financial giving. We treasure your prayers and couldn't be doing this without your support.

Well, we are coming up on the 3 week mark and it already feels like home. Not that we don't miss home, cause we do, but the Lord has given us great favor and it feels like we just blended right into the culture and ministry here. We love everything about this place. The people, culture, and food are all incredible. There are a few minor quarks like only having cold water, and the water and power constantly going out on us, but honestly we enjoy the simple lifestyle and feel like we are fitting in better this way.

We are both healthy and enjoying every moment out here. We were talking the other day about how there is not a single task in the day that we don't look forward too. Even helping clean up around here is a blessing to be able to show the students what a servant leader is like and of course it is better to give than to receive.

Ministry:

The ministry has already been so fruitful. Our main work is teaching at the Bible college but as you will see there is always something to be done and ministry opportunities. We each teach 4 times a week for 90 minutes each class with a translator. Brandon teaches Ephesians on M/W/F and Colossians on Tuesday while Dane teaches Ezra/Nehemiah on M/W/F and James on Thursdays. As you may see that is a lot of studying each week since neither of us have taught a Bible college class before let alone these books. But the labor of studying the Word is glorious haha! We are pretty much the main teachers besides pastors that come and teach block classes. This really frees up the staff to do things like plan outreach and get our Bible College accredited and lead and disciple the students better. We are stoked about teaching these classes!

Perhaps even more exciting than teaching these students the word is living it with them and investing in their lives. Again, the Lord has given us such favor with students especially the guys! The girls are extremely shy but slowly warming up. We do evangelism on Sundays and prayer on Fridays with all the students. It's optional and yet they have pretty much all come every time. They are hungry for the Word and are on fire for Christ. We eat every meal with them except when we go out and we are with them for a majority of the day. They ask us questions about the Bible and the christian life constantly and we are always doing something fun like freestyle rapping, dancing, or playing spoons the card game (they love that game). We do a work out session with the guys most the nights and it always turns into a prayer meeting and worship session. Our goal is to get prayer meetings every day of the week and maybe multiple times a day. We want to see revival happen here and these students are ready for it as much as we are.

Other ministries include the Promise Child Girls Home, where there are 12 girls who are all orphans and potential victims of human trafficking without us taking them in and providing for them. It's an awesome work and the 'dad of the home' who lives there with his wife and son comes to our classes. We visit them every Thursday with the students and then play soccer with them on Sunday's. We will occasionally go over and teach their devotion they have every night.

We also help out at the Calvary Chapel here as much as we can as this is the church we call home for the next 9 months (besides when we come home at Christmas). We teach occasionally at their mid week service and try to serve the church the best way we can. Looks like many discipleship opportunities and meeting up with people who are considering christianity and have questions about the faith.

I could go on and on especially in talking about the fruit we are already seeing from one time of evangelism and from the people we are constantly sharing with around here. As you can see the harvest is plentiful!

Prayer:

• Us: Pray that we continue to stay strong in His grace, always abiding and being filled with the Spirit as we spend time in Hid presence daily.
• Teaching: Pray that we are effective even through the language and cultural barrier but far more importantly that we study to show ourselves approved and preach the Word diligently knowing it will break through all barriers.
• Students: Pray that they continue to gain a passion for Jesus every day and that they become christians who can impact this Nation and this world. Pray we continue to establish relationships and disciple them diligently. 
• Other: Pray for boldness and wisdom with this new law that is passed about not being able to evangelize or even teach here as a foreigner or convert people at all even as a citizen. 
• Pray for Asia and all the great works happening here and also for more laborers to be sent.
• Pray for our evangelism and prayer meetings to be effective and glorifying to God.
• Pray for an opportunity we have in October to spend a few weeks in a village area where there is not church and we potentially will share the Gospel with entire villages that have never heard! 

Here are some pictures of our time so far:

The Students:

Study Session 

Class Time

Language Class

Hanging with the Students:

Promise Child Girls