Hello Friends and Family!
We want you all to know that we love you and daily give thanks for each one of you in our lives!
One of the most sobering verses in the NKJ version of the Bible is 1Corinthians 13:4—“Love suffers long…” If you truly set your heart on following the two greatest commandments, you are taking the most gloriously rewarding road possible, but at the risk of great suffering. We know Jesus is so worth it! This bring us to our testimony for today…
In our last writing, we told you about the woman and baby’s (his name is Jesus) lives that were saved because of a difficult “Yes” to Jesus. God has given us all a deep love for her and her children and we want to see her life transformed. As we were casting vision with this young woman and praying for her future, she indicated that her heart’s desire was to move back to her village with her two children and live with her father. Her mother had died giving birth to her younger sister when she was 2 years old. We were very happy to hear that she wanted to make a change and give her children a safe place to grow up. We actually advise most of the homeless that come to the Banquet House to go back to their village and reconcile with their families and start a new life. When it was safe for her and the baby to travel, we loaded up her belongings and started on the 4 hour drive in our small car to her village. After a flat tire and getting lost a few times (she couldn’t remember the way very well), we arrived in her home village. Her father wasn’t home so we waited. He had never met his grandkids before. When he finally appeared, heartbreakingly, he didn’t even acknowledge his daughter nor his grandchildren. Our hearts were broken for her. We tried to talk to the father and encourage him to allow his daughter and grandkids to stay, but he completely rejected them. In Romans 1:31 it says that those who worship idols will be, among other things, “without love.” We have never seen this manifested in such a heartbreaking way as it was on that day. We tried for more than two hours to convince the father, but he was not going to change his mind. We drove back to Kathmandu with tears in our eyes and hearts that were broken for this poor girl. Love suffers long…
New Children’s Home
Because the children’s home landlord was being very mean to the house mommas, we had been looking for a new house for the children. This month, God abundantly blessed us with a new home! It is in a better, safer location, much bigger, and less expensive! We moved in on May 1st and the kids all love it. They have lots of space outside to run around, play, and ride their bikes. God is good!!!
We have had two children transition out of the home because they have surpassed 18 years of age. Sunil is still going to school and still under our care, just living with another son of ours, Dipesh, who has already transitioned out of the children’s home. Biba has also transitioned out and is giving her life to missions. She is currently doing ministry with Iris Global Nepal, leading some of our daily outreaches, interpreting, going to villages, and leading people into encountering the love of Jesus all over Nepal.
Outreaches
We have been on a few village outreaches to regions where we have already started fellowships. It has become completely normal to see God show up, stretch out His hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through His holy servant Jesus! Just in the past month, we have seen multiple blind eyes and deaf ears opened by the one, true living God! Many salvations and baptisms have followed. Please pray that these seeds have fallen on fertile soil that produces 30, 60, 100 times what was sown!
School
Our school is thriving. We have been approved to expand to grade 7 and our enrollment has increased from 75 to 110! We have hired a new principal and five new teachers for the new school year that just began. The government made us change the name from Iris Children’s School because they don’t want any more schools with English names. So, our school is now called “Naya Prakash Vidhyalaya” which means New Revelation School!
One last prayer request from our family: Our daughter, Grace, is just finishing up her first semester of online college and will be moving to the US to continue her education this summer. When your kids leave home, especially to go so far away, it’s always an emotionally difficult time for everyone. Please pray for us.
We encourage all of you to continue to pray for us and for the people of Nepal. Your prayers are powerfully effective in tearing down spiritual strongholds that blind people from seeing the true light of the gospel of Christ! We also love to hear from you so, if you feel led, drop us a short email even just to say ‘hello.’
We love you all and pray abundant blessings upon you all in Christ Jesus!
Love, love, love!
Joel and Tammy DeBortoli
Nepal Base Directors
Iris Global