Written by Joe LeMaster
In September 2010, my wife and I were at a Board meeting of
the international mission that sent us to Nepal in 1990. For almost a year,
we’d been diligently seeking the Father’s heart about the next few years of our
lives. We’d returned from Nepal in 2000 after a decade of service there, and
settled into lives and jobs in Columbia, Missouri, a mid-west college town. I
was reasonably successful as tenured faculty member at the University of
Missouri School of Medicine and my wife as a nurse at a local hospital and a
teacher for Community Bible Study. Our kids had grown and flown, and it looked
like we were going to be there until retirement.
That all changed at the Board meeting. One of our fellow
Board members introduced us to some Bhutanese refugees to whom she was
ministering in Loudonville, NY. The moment we met them, we were smitten…these
were not the erudite Nepalese PhD students we’d met in the mid-west, who were well-off
and worldly-wise. These were ‘people of the land’, poor hill-dwellers like
those with whom we’d worked in rural Nepal. They spoke like them, they dressed
like them, they were like them in every sense that had mattered to us. We were
deeply moved at meeting them.
About 2 weeks later, we were in KC for my 25th
medical school re-union. That weekend, we met a young couple working in KCK,
named David and Holly Stetler, who were living and working there… with
Bhutanese refugees.
We began to gingerly knock on doors to see if they would
open to join them in KCK, and one after another they did so, beckoningly. The Stetler’s
missional team opened their arms wide to us. KU Medical Center offered me a job
to do refugee healthcare.
Finally, we sold our house on a lake in the country. We quit
our jobs in Columbia, MO. We had bought a house in the KCK neighborhood where
the Nepalese live. We believed God was with us. We took the leap of faith, and moved
into the neighborhood.
We’ve been here about 2 months now. Gradually we are getting
to know and love our new Nepalese neighbors, and our ‘Adelanté
family’ who are planting a vibrant, young, missional gathering of believing
Nepalese. We meet regularly to pray, crying
out to God for grace to be his hands and feet here. We are learning to share
life and work with our Nepali neighbors. And we rejoice with each small step
towards Jesus that we see them take.
I wish I could say it
was always easy because we believe God called us here. Some days it feels that
way more than others. When I come out of my clinic after seeing Nepalese
patients at KU Medical Center, I have to pinch myself that it is really
happening…it is really sweet. A month ago, though, when one of our Nepalese friends
committed suicide…not so much. But then I was able to collaborate with the
leaders of the Bhutanese community and a local mental health clinic to write a
grant to improve mental health services for Bhutanese refugees…the day we
submitted that grant was a good day too.
Sometimes we struggle with something that feels a lot like
culture shock, which we experienced when we moved to Nepal. We realize that we
are weak, broken vessels, but ones through whom the Holy Spirit still wants to
move. We believe it is His desire to call and mobilize local Bhutanese
believers to embrace the Great Commission, to take the Gospel to their Nepali
neighbors all over the world. We want to be a part of that…it would be our
honor and joy.
It’s still early days for us…we are
still in the adjustment period. We have stepped into a place where God alone is
in control. Only He can bring to pass the change in He wants in us and in those
whom He has called us to serve. And we are with Him here, sink or swim… and there
is no place else that we would rather be.
In other news:
In other news:
- Both the Bhutanese and Latino outreach launches went really smoothly last week, much in part to very high-quality volunteers with servant's attitudes and a willingness to help in every way that they could! Thank you for praying for launches such as those we experienced!
- A group of 12 parents and kids from Heartland Community Church assembled 30 Canasta Basicas (bags of food staples) on Saturday morning, which will be made available to families in need through our Resource Center. Find out more about Canasta Basicas, and how you can assemble some of them at www.missionadelante.org/canastabasica.
Prayer requests:
- Please pray that several Hispanics in our Latino church will rise to invitations into leadership roles that they'll soon be offered for the first time.
- Praise God for facilitating the smooth launch to our Fall trimester last week.
Other needs:
- An appliance dolly to help move large and heavy items in our Resource Center. Please contact Molly at 913-281-6274 x5.
Important dates:
- Staff Open Houses: Saturday, November 19, 3:00-6:30, Kansas City, Kansas