Bhutanese and Nepali immigrants are easy conversion targets by false propaganda
and monetary inducements. Please read the news from Baptist Church organization:
http://www.namb.net/Nepali_and_Bhutanese_immigrants_find_Source_of_common_fellowship/ R.
Singh
Nepali and Bhutanese immigrants find Source of common fellowship
By Laura Sikes
The Nepal Baptist Church of Baltimore held its 5th annual medical block party
and joint worship service with The Bhutan Baptist Church of Baltimore. NAMB
missionary Samuel Cho gives a message in English while it is translated by Arjun
Hamal, a member of The Nepal Church. Cho, who is pastor of both the Nepal and
Bhutan churches, shared his personal testimony and gave an invitation to accept
Christ. Some 30 people made a profession of faith.
During the block party, Samuel Cho gave Bibles in the Nepali language to those
who made professions of faith during the worship service. Cho is a NAMB
missionary who started the Nepal and Bhutan Baptist churches in Baltimore
Podna Misray, 70, asked Samuel Cho for special prayer. He gave her a Bible in
her native Nepali language. Misray is a refugee from Nepal
About 250 people attended a medical block party sponsored by The Nepal Baptist
Church of Baltimore. The block party followed a joint worship service with The
Bhutan Baptist Church and included lunch, medical and dental screenings, free
haircuts and clothing. This family came to the U.S. eight months ago from a
Nepal refugee camp. They attend the Bhutan Baptist church in Baltimore.
Dr. Eun S. Hwang gives dental exam at The Nepal Baptist Church's 5th annual
medical block party in Baltimore, Md. Volunteers from Global Mission Baptist
Church in Silver Spring, Md., provided medical services. The block party
followed a joint worship service with The Bhutan Baptist Church of Baltimore
As part of the medical fair, attendees were invited to visit a clothing closet.
Seventy-nine-year-old Prem Singh and his wife and family came to the U.S. eight
months ago from a Nepal refugee camp. They attend the Bhutan Baptist Church of
Baltimore.
Volunteer hair stylist Myung Ja Song gives children and adults a free haircut at
the block party sponsored by The Nepal Baptist Church of Baltimore. BALTIMORE,
Md. (BP) -- Gray skies and steady rain outside did not dampen the high spirits
of those who came to the Sunday service and fifth annual medical block party on
Oct. 1, for the community surrounding the Nepal and Bhutan Baptist churches in
Baltimore, Md.
Inside, pews were filled with worshipers clothed in colorful, ethnic dress who
celebrated as some 30 men and women made professions of faith during the joint
service.
An excited Rev. Samuel Cho, senior pastor of both The Nepal Baptist Church of
Baltimore and The Bhutan Baptist Church, welcomed the diverse congregation of
170, a mixture mostly of Nepali and Bhutanese as well as some Korean, Filipino,
Indian, white and African Americans. The First Secretary for the Nepali
Ambassador for the United States, Ananda Sharma, was an honored guest and
speaker.
"I'm going to give you one of the best messages of the Bible, because I love you
so much," Cho said from the pulpit.
The sermon, "You Must be Born Again," taken from John 3 is Cho's favorite for
inviting people to know Jesus. And Cho, a North American Mission Board
missionary, is no stranger to giving that invitation wherever he goes. He wastes
no time sharing the Gospel and praying for a harvest.
After worship, the group joined in with about 80 others who had come for the
Nepali festival and free medical fair. Volunteers from the church served
traditional Nepali food while festival goers could choose to receive haircuts
and clothing, along with blood tests, dental exams, doctor referrals and blood
pressure checks.
During lunch, Pastor Cho presented Nepali Bibles to those who accepted Christ
that morning. Twenty-three-year old Hari Karki, who had arrived 25 days earlier
in the United States, received a Bible. She beamed and said, "I'm so happy."
Baltimore is home to about 3,000 Nepalis and about 500 Bhutanese refugees. To
serve this growing community, the medical fair was launched five years ago by
The Nepal Baptist Church of Baltimore along with Global Mission Church, a
Southern Baptist church in nearby Silver Spring, Md., which provides medical
volunteers for the fair. In 2005, Cho planted The Nepal Baptist Church, the
first Nepali Baptist church in the U.S. The medical fair helped introduce the
new congregation to the community and allowed the church to provide some
much-needed medical services.
In 2008, Baltimore began receiving some of the first wave of Bhutanese refugees
coming to the U.S. Cho went to the airport to meet some families and invited
them for fellowship. He says that in the next couple of years, the city will
likely receive another 500 Bhutanese out of the 60,000 total refugees that
eventually will immigrate to the U.S. from Nepal. In the 1990s, more than
100,000 ethnic Nepalese of Hindu background were evicted from Bhutan. Many
Bhutanese have lived in refugee camps in Nepal for the last 18 years. In 2008,
they were allowed to immigrate to the U.S. and other countries.
There, in Nepal, outside a Bhutanese refugee camp while on a mission trip in
2008 with his wife, Young, Cho began reaching the Bhutanese people. Not allowed
inside the camp, Cho says he would go and sit under a tree outside and talk and
share the Gospel with the refugees one by one.
He said mothers would ask him, "How can we protect our children if we come to
America?" They had heard of the high crime and rape rate and were fearful and
concerned about their daughters, he said.
That summer he says 200 made professions of faith. The next year when Cho
returned to the camp another 500 accepted Christ. As a result, Cho planted three
Baptist churches in Nepal with support from The Nepal Baptist Church of
Baltimore.
The 72-year-old dynamic pastor has been busy planting churches ever since he
finished seminary in 1999 at the age of 66. When Cho accepted Christ at 40 years
old, the former accountant says he bargained with God that if He would let him
pass the CPA exam and heal him from his debilitating headaches, he would be
about the Lord's work. Little did Cho know, though, how God would use him after
accepting his offer.
In 1999, Cho first planted a Korean church, begun in an apartment complex in
Baltimore County with Global Mission Church, where he served for five years as
pastor.
At the time, he and Young frequented a Korean restaurant where they soon met a
Nepali waitress and her husband. The Cho's became friends with the Hindu couple
and led them to Christ. The friendship seems providential as it sparked an
interest for Cho in the Nepali people, but he says, "It's hard to explain how
the spirit moves." Cho also had been reading articles about the Nepali and the
plight of the Bhutanese refugees. Cho, who at 15 had to leave his home in Korea
for some months during the Korean War, says he could somewhat identify with the
refugee life.
Later in 2005, the waitress, Nina Shrestha, helped Cho start the The Nepal
Baptist Church by opening her home in an apartment complex in Baltimore
County—where many Nepali lived—for fellowship and Bible study. Sometimes just a
few would come and then small groups of 10 or 12 began coming weekly, she said.
"Once I believed in Jesus, I told my friends and family," Shrestha said.
"What Jesus sacrificed for us really touched my heart. As a Hindu, there are
lots of gods, and we didn't have any god like that," she said.
The church grew and later met in the conference room of the Baltimore Baptist
Association, officially forming in 2006. Today, Cho says the church has about 50
members and meets in the chapel of Govans Boundary Methodist Church.
"Right now," Shrestha says, "people are understanding the difference between
Hindu (ism) and Christianity and the church is growing."
In 2008, Cho planted The Bhutan Baptist Church. Small groups first met in homes
in the apartment community where the incoming refugees first settle. After
Sunday morning worship with The Nepal Baptist Church, the tireless Cho heads
over for an afternoon service at The Bhutan Baptist Church which meets at The
Moravia Assembly of God which is within walking distance of its members. The
church has grown to about 70 members and works with the Maryland Food Bank to
distribute food to the community.
Cho helps members look for work and gives them referrals when he can.
Together both churches are supporting Cho's new free-of-charge Bible school, The
International Bible Study of Baltimore, which held its opening session in
September 2010 at The Nepal Baptist Church. Cho says his dream is to disciple
and educate the Nepali and Bhutanese so some can become missionaries or pastors
and spread the Gospel in the U.S. as well as in their native countries.
He says he teaches them, "When you were a refugee, you were mistreated. But now
you are equal and made in the image of God."
"Sixty thousand isn't a big number in the U. S. (population)," he says, "but
spiritually, it is a big number."
--30--
Laura Sikes is a photojournalist living in Alexandria, Va.
No comments:
Post a Comment