The trip to Nepal this spring was in partnership with Arise Medical Missions to set up medical camps in some of the most remote areas of Northwest Nepal. Our team consisted of Carl Bottorf and me as team leaders and Ngoc Du, D.O., Jessica Vancil, O.D., Rich Vancil, Optometrist Technician, Mary Phillips, EMT, Heidi Bach, R.N., Moriah Bach, Yam Pokerhel, Dentist, Hari Gurung, Sr. Pastor for OTAN, and two younger pastors that acted as translators.
 
Our mission for this trip was to set up at least 5 medical camps and see as many people as time allowed. Due to weather we were only able to set up 4 camps, however, God and His awesomeness opened up some incredible doors of opportunity for future missions.
 
We set up camps in the following areas:

  • Camp #1: Jomsom/Thiri – we saw a total of 59 people for a variety of reasons
  • Camp #2: Thang Village – we saw over 130 people. (This village was not on our schedule, but due to weather we were prevented from traveling)
  • Camp #3: Lubra – we saw over 60 people and had one major trauma case of an abscess near the temple of a small girl which could have led to death if it had not been removed.
  • Camp #4: Tiri Village – we saw over 55 people, but more importantly we were able to rescue 2 orphaned teenage girls who have had no formal education and no hope for a future.
 
The other component of the mission’s trip was to be able to rescue kids who have been orphaned. We found two sponsors that will cover the cost of their education, lodging, food, and clothing in Kathmandu. They will move to the city in July and start their education. The average cost of a rescue like this is approximately $60/month. The interesting dynamic to this is placement into a school setting. You can’t place teenage kids into classrooms with kindergarten age students. Arise Medical has arranged to have the school the girls will be attending to hire a teacher that can work with kids who are in their teens. These kids all know that we are Christians and that their education will be based on God’s teachings. They are, of course, agreeable because they realize they have no future where they are. I want to stress the importance of reaching the youth of Nepal and Asia for that matter. Communism is Christianity’s biggest threat and the Youth Communist League (YCL) is a very active vein that runs through Nepal. I continue to pray for direction. My feeling is that we hit back hard by increasing our impact on the youth in Nepal. Provide them education that is biblically based and with God on our side we can’t lose.
 
Praise God for all the wonderful people we met and were able to help. The last village we visited, Tiri, was very open to us returning and was not upset with us praying for them in public. This is highly unusual in a primarily Buddhist region.