“When you get to Syabru, ask for Mingmar’s hotel,” recommended the owner of a small lodge high in the Himalaya mountains of Nepal. He wanted his relative in a neighboring village to benefit from a few customers. I, my brother and a friend had left Kathmandu five days before and had climbed over a 15,000 foot pass in deep snow, past frozen lakes and down to lodging at Tsing Gompa. We planned to hike four hours down to the village of Syabru the next day.

My brother and I had worked as missionaries in Nepal for five years by the time we took this trek. We had made recordings of the Gospel message in the languages and dialects of Hindu and Buddhist peoples throughout the rugged mountains. The Langtang region, where we were now, was heavily Tibetan Buddhist. Many of the people were herders, grazing their cattle up and down the steep sides of the mountains, according to the seasons. A moveable shepherd’s hut called a “gote” was shelter for Mingmar’s parents, his younger brother, Gyalsang and older brother, Angdawa.

While herding cattle one day, Gyalsang fainted and fell into a trance. His parents found him and helped him regain consciousness. What he had seen in his trance surprised and frightened them. Gyalsang had been told about a mighty being named Jesus, whom he must follow. He was instructed to open a trekker’s lodge in Syabru, where people would come to tell his family more. After this, Gyalsang had many other visions about Jesus.

Gyalsang’s father, Larkyell, often walked two hours down to Syabru to visit Mingmar, who had opened the family’s lodge there. Trekkers would stop for the night on the steep ridge where Syabru’s homes sat. Gyalsang had shared details of his visions with his parents. So Larkyell was riveted when he noticed the name “Jesus” on a tract that had been left at a friend’s lodge by a passing trekker. “May I have this?” Larkyell asked. “Sure, take it,” his friend replied. After returning to the gote, Larkyell read the tract to Gyalsang. “It’s the same Jesus I’ve been telling you about!” affirmed the teenager.

When local Buddhist leaders heard of Gyalsang’s visions about Jesus, they disapproved. They told Gyalsang that he was not welcome in Syabru. This was a trial for Larkyell, who served in the village’s Buddhist temple and was steeped in religious tradition. Yet the messages Gyalsang received in his trances gripped his whole family, especially after the tract verified everything Gyalsang — who had never heard anything about Jesus — told them.

My companions and I knew nothing of this as we entered Syabru after a long day’s hike. We simply followed the recommendation of our previous night’s host about where to stay. “Come to my hotel!” children called out, advertising their families’ lodges. “Mingmar’s hotel!” we replied until we found our way to his place. Soon we were sipping hot tea by Mingmar’s kitchen fire. As I watched the flames, I felt stirred in my heart. “God, please give me an opening to share about you with this man.”

“What religion do you follow?” I asked him during a quiet moment when all others had left. “Buddhist religion … is that OK?” I took a quick breath. “The thing that is OK is what will save your soul.” Mingmar listened intently as I shared the Gospel from creation to Christ. “The things you have told me and the things my younger brother has told me differ in no area!” he told me with excitement. “Where is your younger brother?” I asked, amazed. “My brother’s gone crazy! He lives with my parents in the shepherd’s hut up on the mountain!”

The next day we left Mingmar some Gospel recordings records in Nepali and hiked farther up the valley for a few days. When we returned to Syabru, en route to Kathmandu, we stopped at his lodge. “My father listened to the records and wants you to come visit,” Mingmar told us. “I will come back in two weeks with my Nepali co-worker,” I replied, not sure how it would pan out.

Two weeks later:

“We don’t know what will happen when we return to Syabru!” we shared with prayer partners at the Nepali Church we attended in Kathmandu. “Gyalsang is not allowed into his village.” Barnabas, our new Nepali co-worker, and I returned to Syabru, not sure what we would face, but certain this was what God wanted us to do. Hadn’t he told us, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature”? (Mark 16:15 NKJV) Before reaching Syabru, Barnabas and I left the trail and went into the woods to pray. “Lord, you made these mountains and the people who live here. They have asked us to come. Give us favor so that we may answer their questions and tell them about you.” Mingmar was waiting for us. He led us up to the gote. Over the next two days, Gyalsang’s family realized how God had prepared them to know Him. Each one prayed to receive Christ. In the years that followed, they have made many courageous choices, big and small, which have attracted others to Jesus. One family of Christ-followers has grown to a Church of local people letting the light of Jesus Christ shine in the rugged and challenging mountains of Nepal!

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Parting Shot:

According to the American Bible Society’s Annual “State of the Bible” Survey (for 2015), in the United States, 88 percent of American households have access to a Bible. Most Americans (72 percent) believe that the Bible is now available in all languages around the world. But the truth doesn’t look that positive. More than half of the world’s 6,901 known languages still do not have a completed Bible translation; 26 percent (or 1,859) of known languages have no Bible portions translated in their language while 31 percent have Scripture translation in progress.

Reflect:

Get your journal, read Isaiah 52:7, and Ephesians 3:20-21, 6:15,18. Write out a prayer for the Rulisons and their work of translating and distributing Gospel literature in South Asia. Pray specifically for the peoples of Nepal that the light of the Gospel would be multiplied there.

(As time allows, you might explore the Joshua Project website for how to pray for God’s work in Nepal.)