Greetings from Kathmandu!
How Great is the God who sustains us. How great is His mercy. These days I am overwhelmed. Overwhelmed with the goodness of our God, and the ways that He proves His love to us. With the speed and capacity in which God has moved in and through our community here in Nepal over the last several months I have no doubt that He is preparing the Earth for the arrival of His Kingdom – very very soon!
I would like to start with the biggest news of all! Our new home/drug treatment center is now open!! We have given it the name Kripaa Sadhan A couple of weeks ago we had found a house and were negotiating with the owner about renting it, but were having some problems settling the paperwork. So, as the boys continually asked us, “When can we go? When is the house opening?” we always had to tell them to hold out just a little longer. However, one day 2 weeks ago I met one of our boys, Madhan sitting on a curb in Thamel. He motioned me over and, with tears forming in his eyes, told me that he was unable to walk and thought he was going to die. I was a little bit confused and didn't understand why until I learned that about 20 minutes prior to our meeting he had overdosed with an IV drug and his body was in shock. which is Nepali for “Home of Mercy” And what an amazing home it is already!! We actually had a slightly premature beginning with the home, but everything seems to be settling down now.
Not really knowing what to do I called my co-worker Silas and we sat trying to determine if we should take him to the hospital. However, after some discussion, Madhan told us that all he wanted to do was to talk to our Pastor, Ranjit. So we quickly put Madhan into a taxi and rushed him to Ranjit's home. As Ranjit walked outside and saw Madhan he was taken aback. Ranjit has been meeting with our boys twice a week for a couple of months now to encourage them and pray with them. At the meeting just two days before this incident the Holy Spirit had placed a picture in Ranjit's heart of this exact situation. Ranjit had seen Madhan there before him, exactly as he was in the present moment in a vision from God. And from that point we all knew that God was calling us to hurry up and get this home open for the boys!! So from that day on Ranjit opened up a small shed beside his own home and allowed Madhan to live there with him until the other house was settled. The next day another boy, Bachu who is HIV+ and also addicted to IV drugs came to live in the shed as well. Two days after that I got another call asking me to, “come quick!” because another of the boys had overdosed. This time we took the third boy, Saroj, to the hospital to keep a close eye on his liver function but afterwards he also went to stay at Ranjit's home.
So at that point we had 3 boys who had come off the street before we had even settled on a home to place them in!! The initial house we had looked at fell through and we ended up being blessed with a much larger house that includes a huge piece of property on which we will be able to expand in the future. This week all three of the initial boys, plus two more who have made commitments to leave drugs, Buddha and Sonu, moved into the house where life is now in full-swing!
Thank you all so much for praying us through the decision to open Kripaa Sadhan. It feels so good to be surrounded by the local church as we take on this endeavor as well. Our pastor, and other members of the church are working very closely with us and with the boys, leading them in devotionals, reading/writing counseling, and helping the boys to develop into the men that God has always intended to be. I am especially excited to be moving into a new phase with the boys; one where I no longer have to sit in dingy back alleyways hoping they have food to eat and a safe alleyway to sleep in. I can now spend my time with them watching them grow and mature in their faith, developing themselves to be reconnected with society, and watching them learn about their own belovedness. It is certainly a sweet, sweet time to be here. By the end of this week we expect to have at least 8 boys living in the home and know of many more who are asking to move in as well. Please continue to pray for these boys as the physical effects of leaving drugs can be harsh. Pray that God will prove Himself faithful to sustain them and give them joy during their transition to a new life.
In other news, I am also anxiously awaiting the arrival of my first servant team!! For the last several weeks I have been running around frantically trying to prepare for their arrival, and God has been faithful to put everything in place. I am going to be placing the servant team members (Calvin, Colleen, Jordan, and Elizabeth) into homes of various families from our church so that they will get to know the life of the poor on a very intimate level. And as of last week I have all the families set and ready to receive the team!
I had been praying specifically for several months that God would lead me to the right families from our church, and I feel confident that He has. They have all been such an incredible encouragement to me, I'm sure the servant team will be more blessed than they are expecting!!
Please continue to pray for me over the next four months as I lead this team here in Nepal. They will be here until Mid-June and my main responsibility now is to lead them and assist them in any way they need me. Pray for my transition from working so closely with the boys to focusing more on this team as well, I know that it will be slightly difficult for me to realign my focus. But I'm looking forward to it as well.
I feel so blessed to be a part of everyday life here. Our community is thriving and we all feel so unified in our work at this time. God has blessed us incredibly with our Pastor Ranjit Kunwar and his humble, servant's heart. In the next couple of weeks we will also have the chance to welcome a new baby into our community. Kim and Silas West are anxiously awaiting the arrival of a new baby girl! Pray for them during this time of transition. Thank you all so much for the encouragement and prayers that you continue to surround me with. I know that God's favor on our community is a harvest of the seeds being planted for us all over the World through prayer. May you also be blessed this day.
Much love from Nepal,
-Brook Birch