*Scroll down for prayer requests & how we were able to bless pastor Amadeus with funds!*
My name is Amadeus. I am the pastor of a Nepali church. Jesus satisfied my longing for peace. This is my story.
I grew up in a family of Buddhist monks. My father was a well respected man in my village and a monk. He held tightly to his religion, though we were more culturally Buddhist than devout.
As I grew older, I began to notice the reality of suffering, starting with my mother, who had many miscarriages. Out of eleven children, she lost six. I grew up with the sense that life was not certain, and by the time I was a young teenager, I was tired of life. There has to be more, I thought. I did not want my life to only be suffering; I was searching for meaning.
I read of Buddha’s life. Even he was unsatisfied, to the point where he left his wife and child and went away to try and find relief to the suffering. Like Buddha, I also left my family to find myself, but did not discover what I had hoped. I could not find peace anywhere.
There was a man in my village who had a mental disability. He would scream and yell and rave so that the people of the village left him alone. Very soon after I returned from my spiritual pilgrimage, my mother asked me to go into the jungle alone with this man. She wanted me to take thorn bushes and use them to surround our fields, so that wild animals would not eat the food we were trying to grow. I agreed immediately, having completely forgotten that this man was crazy. It was not until we were already in the jungle that I remembered his disability.
On the way, however, the man was singing a new song I had never heard before. He would sing, then mumble something—again, words I had never heard. He was dancing and singing, and the change in him was so remarkable from what I had known before that when he asked me to stop and sit with him, I did it without question. He asked me to close my eyes and sit with him as he sang and mumbled. I felt a peace in the depths of my soul that I had never experienced before; like a warmth in my chest. Perhaps, I thought to myself, if I listen to him, I can find the source of this peace.
The man took me to a gathering of other people like him. They were all singing these new songs and muttering words I did not understand. Then the man told me of Jesus and what he had done. Now that I am a pastor, I know that he was telling me the four spiritual laws, but I did not know that at the time. At the end, there is an invitation to accept Jesus as your Lord. I immediately said yes, and from that time on I have never been the same.
Jesus brought peace, but there was also a sacrifice. My family knew this. Because I was Christian, my father would beat me. I experienced much persecution in his house. My aunt would come and warn me about my father, telling me that he was bringing the lock and sticks to beat me, so that I could run away. I ran away many times during those years to avoid him.
I had missed so much school that by the time I returned from my journey, my friends were all in Class 7. I had left after Class 4. So I started in Class 7 with them and got good marks even though I had missed classes 5 and 6.
One time, my father called the police to come and arrest me. They took me to the station and held me there for five days because I was a Christian. My father came and got me, but not because he wanted me in his house—he was under social pressure from the village. So they let me go after five days.
I grew up and eventually I was old enough to go to Bible College. I did not get much theological training (there were many classes, but even though I got good marks I do not remember much of what was said) but I spent a lot of time with God. I could not pay for classes, so in exchange for the education, I agreed to be a pastoral intern for three years in an area of the Himalayan foothills that ranges between 6,000 and 26,000ft elevation. There was a man in the villages that was going to Korea for schooling and needed someone to take care of his church while he was gone.
Despite all this training, I did not want to be a pastor or to have the responsibility of owning a church. But the Lord called me to be a pastor, so I started a church in my city. I still visit the territory where I interned, and often take like-minded people with me. Out of 13,000 people in this people group, only one is a believer. Talking with them about what we believe is difficult because of the reputation of disrespect previous groups of believers have created. Not only do Nepali people often leave their communities when they become followers, but short term teams who visit this area also do not typically stay at local hotels or eat local food. For this business-minded people, this is the height of disrespect.
However, we have seen much fruit from going two-by-two like Jesus sent his disciples in Luke 10. Micah (the team’s host) and I often go up to build relationships, pray for people, or do prayer walks. Recently, Micah brought along an old video that had been recorded in the 60’s by an anthropologist. The people were delighted to remember villagers who had passed away, and some even knew people in the video who were still alive.
I love my job, but it is not easy to be a pastor. I learned much in Bible School, but not the theology I needed, so Micah has been training me in how to do exegetical study. Moreover, pastoring is a volunteer position. I am not supported by any community, church or organization, so I have to make do with what I can do with my hands. Sometimes I teach people to speak Nepali. I also became a certified trekking guide, so I could have my own business to take people into the mountains, but the work is inconsistent.
One time, when my daughter was young, we did not have any food to eat—we did not even have toothpaste (but we did not care so much about the toothpaste since we did not have food). I began to fast and pray and ask the Lord for help. Suddenly, a member of our church arrived, carrying a basket with everything we could possibly need, even toothpaste! That is how I knew the Lord had given them a list of what we needed.
Even now my family and I are still relying on the Lord. There have been many months this year where I have gone without work, but I know that he will provide. He has been good to me in the past and he will be good to me in the future!
Pray with me:
– For the people in the Himalayas—that we would be the hands and feet of the gospel, and that the Holy Spirit would move powerfully among them!
– That God would continue to provide for me and my family.
– For our city-wide worship event coming up this month!
– That God would continue to stir hearts in this city, especially those of the believers, to share with their non-believing neighbors.
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I had the opportunity to meet Pastor Amadeus and hear his story this morning when he came over for breakfast. On hearing how his family has been doing, I felt like I needed to extend an opportunity to bless him to my community. If you would like to bless Pastor Amadeus and his family with some extra funds, you can Venmo me @sarahsunrae or PayPal me at [email protected]. Please do so by September 27th, so I can be sure to get the funds to him before we leave!
Please reach out if you have any questions or would like to hear more about Pastor Amadeus and the work he is doing!
Update: Thank you to those of you who gave! Pastor Amadeus was blessed immensely by the funds, as well as a guitalele that I gave him after he mentioned he was looking for an instrument to take up into the foothills of the Himalayas to be able to play worship music up there!
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