Reflection of Nepal: When the Walls Came Down

“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you. - Isaiah 54:10

We stood inside the steel frame for a new church building in the middle of a corn field. In the devastating 2015 earthquake, the walls came down and every one of the 150 houses in this fishing village collapsed. Standing with us inside the metal frame was the villager who will oversee the new building. He recalled that after the earthquake, nobody came. He continued: “One day, I was wandering in the village wondering what to do as we had nothing to eat.” Powered by love and compassion, the FL team overcame the shocking roadway and rode to the village with food and shelter materials. The villagers cooked rice that night and started the painful process of rebuilding their lives.

Pic 1: Every one of the 150 houses in this fishing village collapsed

We re-traced the bumpy roadway to the village. Bumping up and down in the track give us the object lesson why no critical assistance came to the village earlier. This day however, a large numbers of heavy trucks had no problem removing parts of the river to sell gravel for construction. These trucks ruthlessly pounded the already battered roadway making ever deeper tracks – seemingly oblivious of the fishing village at the end of the road. Most 4WDs from California will not get beyond the first 100 meters of the roadway.

Pic 2: Most 4WDs from California will not get beyond the first 100 meters

After a full school day at 4PM, under a huge, sprawling tree, over a hundred patient kids in four lines stood and sang the Nepalese National Anthem with right hands to their chest and then sat to hear our program. Chris gave a short message. Even as the school had been rebuilt, as we walk pass some the classroom, we can see the scars of the earthquake where the walls stood before they came down.

Pic 3: The scars of the earthquake where the walls used to be

In Isaiah, we read: “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you (Isaiah 54:10).

By coming to provide relief and hope to the village when nobody else came, FL modeled His compassion and unfailing love by providing for their basic physical needs – food and shelter; and their emotional and spiritual needs. These acts of love and compassion bring down the walls of differing cultures and beliefs and allow the good news to be heard. This pattern is repeated in other towns and villages.

In another story in another villages, SB - one of the young adult who grew up at one the Children Homes returned home. FL leaders have not actually visited the village as the track there is treacherous with steep drops on both sides of a narrow path.  SB built a shelter that can barely accommodate a handful of people to share. Reportedly, during his weekly service, villagers run to listen to the word and up to 150 villagers would turn up.

Over the first three days in Nepal, repeatedly people made the biggest decision in their lives in towns and villages where the team shared.

Pic 4: People came from the hills and villages to hear sharing of the good news

Much have changed in this fishing village where the walls of every home came down in 2015. As I looked out of the steel frame of the future worship place with the stumps of cut corns still underfoot, I recall the Lord’s words and how much more good His purpose can be served if we allow more our resources and time to be used for places like this and others similar areas with unreached people groups. 

“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” 
– Matthew 9:36-38

Pic 5: “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”