Reports from Anglican missionaries in the field in Nepal have begun to reach the West following the 25 April 2015 earthquake that devastated Kathmandu and the surrounding regions.
Reports from Anglican missionaries in the field in Nepal have begun to reach the West following the 25 April 2015 earthquake that devastated Kathmandu and the surrounding regions. The Rev. George Pearce, a retired priest of the Diocese of Pittsburgh serving as a missionary in Nepal wrote that he was talking to another American missionary after services when “it hit! We were rocked for 20 seconds and I was thrust to my knees with my hands clasped before me on a small table. How could I not pray? I prayed that no one in our place that day would be hurt and no one was. And I prayed for all the people of Nepal, especially the isolated villages. We joined the community in a flat area beyond the buildings. We watched things trembling on the tops of the buildings. That night the cold rain came. We had tarps, but the night got colder. Then the tremors came, several very gentle and one more powerful, and still on the third day, more aftershocks.” He reported that after the first earthquake hit, three more quakes struck. The first registered “7.9, then came 7.4 and then came 5.4 and 6.7 with over a hundred tremors, and after that a hundred more. The Indian continental plate is sliding under the Asian, and the Himalaya mountains are now several meters higher.” The Dean of Nepal, the Very Rev. Lewis Lui reports that a lay catechist and several members of his congregation were killed when their church collapsed. In the Hindu republic, Sunday is a work day prompting most churches to worship on Saturday mornings. Dean Lui wrote: “It is my deep regret to share that Pastor Laxman Tamang and 17 of his members from Choke Church were called home to be with the Lord on 25 Apr, Saturday when the quake struck the village of Choke in Dhading district. Ps Laxman pastors a 340 members church. He loved the Lord, and had spent more than half his life in the ministry. Under his leadership Choke Church became part of ACN 15 years ago. Part of the reason why the Singapore team went to his village was because his heart was for the salvation of his fellow 11,000 villagers who have not given their lives to Christ.” Fr. Pearce reported the situation was grim with the death toll expected to rise as reports come in from outlying areas. “Many are living under tents. Many more do not have tarps. Many have no homes to go back to. One man said, ‘I worked all my life to build my house and now everything is gone. The land belongs to God’.”
