Chandragiri Testimony 29DEC2021

Written by Joel and Tammy DeBortoli

While we were praying and seeking God for the Harvest School 35 outreach, one of leaders got a word that we were to minister and plant a prayer stake (a group of intercessors compile a list of places all over the world where stakes are planted and intercede specifically for that place) at a temple in the snow. In Nepal, even though it’s in the foothills of the Himalayas, the snow is usually found a long ways from Kathmandu. We had a very limited time because HS teams only come for a couple of weeks and it was also during Christmas which limited our time to go outside of the valley even more. The time it would take to get to and from a place with snow was longer than we had. So, in my limited faith, I thought either the leader would have to stay longer or it was a word for another time. As the time of their outreach grew closer to the end, I had honestly pretty much given up on that word. A new Fire and Fragrance team joined us on Christmas and was going to overlap with the HS team. As we were praying and seeking God for direction, words, and leading, for the FandF team’s outreach, our daughter Grace got a word that we were supposed to intercede for Nepal from the top of a mountain in the snow and God’s glory in the form of gold dust would shower everything below us. So, two clear specific words about the snow but my faith was still not very high to see it happen. But….God is faithful! Yesterday, we woke up and it was raining and cold in Kathmandu so we decided that it was going to be a stay inside, prayer and worship day with the teams. Mid-morning, we found out that it was snowing at Chandragiri which is one of the mountains that surround the Kathmandu Valley. There is a resort and temple at the top and it is only accessed currently by a cable car. So, of course we decided to go. Apparently, so did everyone else in Kathmandu. Getting to the cable car was complete chaos with tens of thousands of people trying to get to the snow also. Crazy traffic jams, crazy driving, and the enemy tried to block and discourage us as one of our vehicles broke down. We finally got to the cable car station and there was a line at least 500 meters long that would’ve taken us 3-5 hours standing in the rain to get to the front. But, because foreigners pay 4 times the amount for a ticket as Nepalis, they let us (and our 3 Nepalis) go in the “express line.” Favor! We got to the top and it was cold and very snowy. We went to the temple and, when we got there, there was a man standing at the temple door shaking violently with manifesting demons. At first we thought he shaking because he was cold but he said, ‘no.’ He told us his god (demon) of that temple had left when we came! We laid hands on him and prayed deliverance and he encountered the love, power, and shalom peace of Jesus. Within a minute, he fully stopped shaking and collapsed to the ground completely limp. That is the power of the Holy Spirit! We kept praying and the police came. We told them what we were doing and they said he was just cold and they took him away to hopefully put him inside somewhere warm. We rejoiced that we were able to witness Jesus’ love overwhelm that man in such a short time. We then prayed as a group in a crazy snowstorm for the Kathmandu and Chitlang Valleys that were below us and for the nation of Nepal to truly know Jesus. We planted the prayer stake and remain in complete awe of God’s power and faithfulness to fulfill the word He had spoken even in our weak faith.