Hello Beloved Friends and Family:
We pray that this letter finds all of you filled with the hope, peace, and joy that knowing the love of Christ brings. As always, we are very thankful for each of you and the unique part each of you play in our lives and the support and encouragement you bring us.
Puma Outreach
We went to a village called Puma this month to show the love of Jesus there. This is probably our 15th time being in this beautiful village in the foothills of the Himalayas. There is a core group of believers there and we love to go back to teach, serve, and disciple them in the ways of God’s Kingdom.
During this trip we prayed for some people who were sick in the village and Jesus healed them. In Puma, there are not very many men to do the heavy physical work. Many of the men have left to go to work either in Kathmandu or countries in the middle east. There are also many older, single women and widows who need help. We brought our chain saw to help them cut their yearly firewood as they need wood to cook their daily food. We helped an untouchable caste widow carry stones to build her house with as well as helped the village school with carrying stones to build a new restroom. We showed the ‘Jesus Film’ and ‘The Passion of the Christ’ and about 10 new people gave their lives to Jesus. A few who had made a commitment to Jesus in past visits recommitted their lives to Him. We had some good one-on-one teaching times with the believers and they were encouraged. One of the village leaders agreed to come to Kathmandu for some additional teaching and discipleship and become the leader of the fellowship of believers there.
Our favorite testimony was from the audio Bible player that we gave the village a few years back. We had given the audio Bible to the village blacksmith to gather everyone together to listen to God’s word because most of the older generation there cannot read. When we asked him how the Bible listening was going, he said that they hadn’t listened in a while. When we asked him why, he told us this story: The blacksmith’s sister, who lived in a village 4 hours walking away, became very sick. She couldn’t get out of bed and had a bad fever. Very often, in remote villages, a sickness like this results in death because there is no healthcare. The blacksmith, who himself was miraculously healed of terminal lung cancer by Jesus, doesn’t fully realize yet that he can pray for the sick too, so he took the audio Bible to his sister’s and played God’s word over her the whole day. She woke up the next morning completely healed. She refused to give the Bible back to the blacksmith. It really is amazing the infinite ways that Jesus can reveal His love to people. One thing is certain in and around Puma, the name of Jesus is held in very high honor by those who have already believed as well as those who haven’t!
Please continue to pray for Puma and the whole Lamjun region. Pray that the believers would love God and love their neighbors and the name of Jesus would be glorified and many would be reconciled to God through faith in Jesus.
Banquet House Expansion
We have been generously blessed by God to be able to begin expanding the Banquet House facilities. We have had a dream to begin a small drug/alcohol rehabilitation center for 3-4 people at a time at the Banquet House. We have been praying about this and planning for a while on what this could look like. We believe that the people in rehab need tons of love, prayer and discipleship, exercise and fun games, and also meaningful activities to fill their days during their rehab process. Benj, one of the Iris missionaries, is skilled in pottery and he had a dream to build a small building adjacent to the Banquet House where we can allow people who come to have a creative outlet and try making something out of clay. We will have a couple pottery wheels and our own kiln. God has known our dream and has allowed us to begin the building process. We should be finished by the end of February. We also have enough space to add woodworking in the future.
Please pray that the Banquet House would continue to be a place where the lost, unloved, hopeless, homeless, and addicted people find love and freedom in Jesus.
We love you all and are blessed that you are all in our lives!
Love, love, love!
Joel and Tammy DeBortoli
Nepal Base Directors
Iris Global
www.irisglobal.org/nepal