Nepal Base Update

Written by Joel and Tammy DeBortoli

Greetings from the Himalayas!
It’s been six months since our last ‘official’ update and what an eventful six months it’s been. Even though many of you haven’t heard from us in a long time, that doesn’t mean that we aren’t crazy thankful for your love, prayers and support. We love all of you and it brings us great joy to know you are partnering with us. In the eyes of the world, it would seem that this season we are in is bad, but, we serve a God that is good! He is unchangeable! We cannot allow our view of Him to change as our circumstances change. We choose to believe that His good and perfect will is being done in our lives, no matter what trials we are experiencing.

IRIS NEPAL CHILDREN'S HOME
The children are doing amazing. They are growing in stature and in favor with God and man. They are excelling in school, in sports, and in their spiritual giftings. Some of our kids are academically at the top of their classes. Some of our boys are amazing players and in vital positions on their school’s soccer team. All of the kids love music and worshipping Jesus in song and many of our kids are becoming quite excellent musicians and singers. Most of our kids are loving ministers of the gospel of Jesus to a fallen and hurting nation and can’t wait for the school vacations to be able to go on outreach. Many of our kids lead our Saturday church services here praying for the sick, leading worship with the playing of instruments and singing, and preaching of the Word of God boldly and effectively. Our hearts are undone seeing Jesus use them and we are bursting with expectation to see what God is going to do in and through them to change this nation in every way.
One huge blessing that has happened in the past month is God has used someone to commit to giving monthly for dairy products for all of the kids. So now the kids are able to supplement their diet with daily dairy protein, usually milk or yogurt, to help them reach their full physical growth potential.
We have also, under the strong recommendation of the government, moved all of the Iris girls to a separate flat near the children’s home. The whole family still eats together but the girls’ bedrooms are in a separate location.
Please pray for them that they would not be distracted in any way from the irrevocable call to love God and love others….that they would learn how to continually fix their eyes on their loving Lord and Savior Jesus, the author and perfector of their faith.

THE SCHOOL
The situation with the school has been a very trying one these past six months. In Nepal, we, as foreigners, are not allowed to ‘own’ a school. Most schools here are private and thus are ‘for profit’ businesses that have owners. Therefore, we needed to put some trusted Nepali friends’ names on the ownership of our school. So, legally, the school was owned by them even though they had not invested anything of their own. Last April, the owners of the school informed us that the school was not ours, it was theirs. They said that if we came to the school, they would call the police and have us deported. Because of our low fees, multiple scholarships for poor students, and high teacher wages, the school had always operated at a loss of around $1500-$2000 per month. So, we placed our Iris children in a different school and, within a week, most of the other parents (many of whom were Christian) did the same. Enrollment dropped from 130 to 16 within a week. The owners closed the school and disappeared. We still have not heard nor seen them. We have been trying to legally wade through all of this so we need lots of prayer. We have paid off all debts owed by the school to teachers, parents, and businesses. We have been able to sell some of the school assets but we cannot sell the school license until the legal case is finalized, which could take months. This has been very emotional for us…so many dreams we had for the school, betrayal of people whom we deeply love and trusted, and so much time, effort, planning, resources, work, and sacrifice by so many for the last five years. We desire that all of this can be used to make us more like Jesus and fulfill His eternal will for us and for the people of this nation. Please pray for us.

THE BANQUET HOUSE
Last May, Tammy and I had been calling out to God for the Banquet House. We were concerned that it had gradually lost the fire that ignited so many miracles and salvations there over the years. It had disappointingly become a feeding program with some first aid. That was not the original vision of being a place where the poor and homeless got radically loved and ministered and where they would experience Jesus through signs, wonders, and miracles. The very next day after we had prayed for direction on what to do, the landlord of the Banquet House came and informed us that the police were ordering us to shut down. So, we closed that Banquet House and opened the ‘new’ Banquet House. The ‘new’ Banquet House does not have a specific, limited location. The ‘new’ Banquet House is the entire city of Kathmandu! God has given us the directive to love, feed, pray for, and minister to the poor of our city and now we are to purposefully go and pursue them where they are. This new plan of God’s has re-ignited a fire in those on our team called to this type of ministry. To effectively do this, we need to be fully reliant on Holy Spirit to lead and equip us with His love, His power, and His provision. What the world would see as bad, we chose to see as good and that perspective changes everything!
For our Saturday church service we now have “Street Church” at various locations around Kathmandu. We choose a public location (literally on the street) for the week and let all of our friends from the streets know where it will be. Some of our Iris kids lead worship, we pray for the needs of the people, share a short, practical, applicable teaching from the word of God, and go to a nearby restaurant to share the Lord’s Supper together.
We are in the process of trying to find land to lease long-term to build a place we will call “The Freedom House.” It will be a drug/alcohol rehab center of sorts but we will not call it that. We will take in 5-10 men from the streets (most of whom are alcoholics) and give them a place to live in community outside of Kathmandu away from the temptations and distractions of the street. They will be able to work raising livestock and farming and be discipled daily in the ways of the Kingdom of God. We will build a fellowship hall where they can have a service on Saturdays and our whole Iris community can attend to minister to each other.

VILLAGE OUTREACHES
We have been to various places in the past six months doing outreaches to the unreached. Some of the places are Janakpur (multiple times), Humla, Lamjun, Pokhara, and Chitlang. God continues to touch people with His love and power as we step out in faith to love and serve all He sends to us. God is moving powerfully in Nepal and the church is growing rapidly despite the efforts of the enemy to thwart it through efforts to cause fear in believers. We believe that now is the time for Nepal to be changed as a nation in every way as the principles of God’s kingdom start being used in every sphere of life here.
We are so thankful for your prayers for us, our team, and this beautiful nation. We ask you to pray that we would continually grow in love for God and love for others…it’s the only way that we can accomplish what He has called us to do here. Thank you for your support both financially and in prayer…your generosity always leads us to thankfulness towards our good and loving God. We pray for you all that, in every circumstance, you would grow in intimacy and fellowship with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!
Joel and Tammy DEBORTOLI
Nepal Base Directors