Champawat

Well the air card I was using does not get service here, so I have been dependent on internet cafes which are few and far between here, and when you do chance upon one, they rarely work. I finally found one, so I’ll catch you up on what we’ve been up to but it is too slow to upload any pictures.

For the last few days we have been working around the area of Champawat. Our departure from Sitarganj Tuesday morning had an interesting start when after we loaded our Eiffel Tower of luggage on the top of our small SUV, we realized it was almost too high to get out of the hotel’s parking garage. Dad was able to squeeze under without taking any bags off, and we were finally on our way to the mountains. It was a pleasant drive, all the time gradually approaching the increasingly high horizon, carpeted with thick forest and blanketed in mist. We began slowly ascending the meandering switchbacks, pushing higher and higher along the incredibly steep terrain. In some places, the ground fell away so sharply that the trees bend nearly 90 degrees to grow vertically. Monkeys ran all about, leaping from branch to branch and scolding us for invading their arboreal domain. Although it was only a four hour drive from Sitarganj to Champawat, Dad was glad to stop driving the narrow, rough roads complete with wide trucks always flying around sharp corners to greet you with an ear-piercing blast from their enormous horns.

We stopped at the hotel in Champawat where we have stayed two times before. We were greeted by the comical owner of the hotel, Andragh. He knows a lot of English, and has the most hilarious smile and is always cracking corny jokes and in a good natured way snooping around and asking questions. He knows a lot about Christianity and is very friendly towards Christians, but he is still devoted to his Hindu faith.

I feel that God worked out a miracle for us in Champawat. No sooner had we checked in to our hotel, then a man appeared and said he was a pastor at a church just a little distance outside Champawat. He took us to his home, and introduced us to his wonderful family. He had just recently moved there, and it was so exciting to see a strong Christian witness in the Champawat area. His family is so kind, and very sincere in their faith. They sang us some songs and showed us some of the different plants and fruits that grow around their house. The next morning we went back up into the same area to go with the pastor to evangelize some of the surrounding villages. We hiked in about 5 miles, and along the way picked the fruit of the prolific wild berries that grow along the trail and distributed Christian literature. At one place we waited for a little while until a small crowd gathered and then I shared a concise version of the gospel. When I was finished, Max asked them what they thought. Someone answered, “It is all very interesting but it is difficult to process so much new information at once.” We told them about the church nearby, and they said they wanted to come and hear more.

Please pray for this little church. It was started nearly 100 years ago by British Methodist missionaries, and it feels like it really needs some vivacious Christians willing to reach out to people around them. I think that this pastor and his family could be just that. They are new to the idea of evangelism, and I think they were really encouraged by going along with us to the villages and joining us as we showed the Jesus movie both nights we were there.

This morning we met with another Christian evangelist in Champawat we had met on our previous trip. He is sent out by Action for Asia and spends every day speaking and witnessing in Champawat and the surrounding area, in addition to conducting a daily Sunday school for children. We had just had a short visit over some chai, but I think we were both encouraged by it. He is planning to get married next month, and kept inviting us to come. I wish I could, but it is only a week after the day we get back to the U.S.

Once again we assembled our tower of luggage and then set out for Pitoragar. Along the way, we stopped in the town of Lohaghat to encourage a small house church there. They were busy, but seemed very blessed by our short visit.

It was a long drive to Pitoragar, but the vistas along the way were breath taking. As we crawled up and up passes and then headed back down into a valleys and then back up again, we got our first glimpses of the lofty peaks of the snow capped Himalayas. We also enjoyed watching monkeys, marveling at the narrow terraces carved into the immensely steep hillsides and practicing our tract throwing skills as we attempted to give them to the passengers of the trucks and taxis that passed us.

After we settled into our hotel in Pitoragar, we went out to see if we could find a young evangelist we had met on our last trip. We were glad to find he still lives in Pitoragar and is still working in the villages in the area. We had a delightful time drinking chai and talking with him, and he has promised to take us out to go and work with him tomorrow morning.