Our Little School

ISOT is a graduate level seminary, but in the middle of our campus you will find 29 elementary school students! These are the children of our international students. We have four teachers in multigraded classrooms. The kids are using the Alpha and Omega homeschooling curriculum.

One thing you will notice is a nice collection of library books. These were lovingly collected and sent to us by a group of friends in Somerset, Kentucky. One of the goals of our teachers from the beginning has been to create a "GLR" -- a "Genuine Love of Reading" in the children from a very early age. The library has been a great help with this! The kids love this book corner.

This is Allyne from Bangladesh. I guess books about dinosaurs are a hit with kids on any continent!

Notice the backpacks? Why do kids love backpacks so much??? These children live about 20 yards from the school but it seems that backpacks are a must . . .

Another thing that you will surely notice is that our ISOT kids are incredibly cute! This is Glory from Indonesia.

PSSSSST!

It seems the "GLR" is really there!

Did I get a perfect score?

Please pray for our international ISOT kids! They are in a strange environment, far from home and everything familiar. They have to learn English quickly, not just for conversation and play, but as the medium of instruction. There are many cultural differences between their countries and the Philippines -- lots of adjustments required. Pray for sensitive hearts for our four teachers. We are praying that our students can be recognized under the umbrella of a local Christian school without having to pay the large fee usually required.

First Birthday--March 25

If we visited you on our furlough, you have already heard the first part of this story. The young man in this picture is Madan, from a Hindu family in Nepal. His story reminds me a bit of the prodigal son in Luke 15. After finishing university, his father gave him $10,000 and he set out to see the world. He quickly spent ALL the money. He and a friend were living in a five-star hotel in Manila and got engaged in some shady business deals. In a matter of months, they were deeply in debt and the hotel threatened to hand them over to the police. Madan was scared and didn't know where to turn. He couldn't go home because he didn't have the money for a plane ticket and was embarrassed about his plight. He contacted the Nepal Consulate in Manila, but found it was a just a small office that does little more than extend passports. However, the secretary there offered some helpful advice. She told him there was a school called ISOT-Asia in Quezon City where ten Nepali families were studying. She gave him the telephone number and he got in touch with some of our students.

This was the beginning of an adventure. Two of our students, Vijay and Bishnu, went to the hotel to meet Madan and his friend Dongol, and listened to their story. As they all got to know each other better, Vijay and Bishnu shared their testimonies (they both come from Hindu backgrounds too). Madan was somewhat open, but Dongol had heard about Christianity before and had no interest at all. Our Nepali ISOT students started praying earnestly for these two men. Vijay went to great lengths to help them get money from home to pay their hotel bills -- Madan's family responded and sent just enough funds to cover his part of the bill. Dongol's family said this had happened many times before, and they were not willing to help. So . . . no charges were filed against Madan, but Dongol was thrown in jail.

Madan was relieved that the bill was paid, but he still was alone in Manila with nowhere to go. Bishnu offered to have him stay with his family in the Bright House, our dormitory at ISOT. Madan was curious about all the people he met at ISOT. He was especially amazed by Bishnu, because Bishnu comes from a Brahmin family. (This is Bishnu and family at the left.) Of the four major castes in Hinduism, Brahmins, or priests, are the highest, and very few of them have become Christians. In Nepal, as in India, most Christians come from low caste or untouchable backgrounds. Thus, Christianity is viewed as a religion for losers! High caste Hindus are often proud and arrogant -- believing they have successfully passed through many reincarnations to reach their current status. Christianity holds little appeal for them.

As westerners, it is hard for us to grasp the intricacies of the caste system. One cannot change caste, except to go down by marrying a lower caste person. Hindus believe there is no escape, except in their next reincarnation. Low caste people are treated as worthless, and high caste people are revered as almost godlike. A Brahmin will go home and take a bath if an untouchable person (or even his shadow!) touches him--hence the name "untouchable." So, as I said, Madan was fascinated by Bishnu -- why had a Brahmin become a Christian? Why change religions when you were doing so well? Madan comes from a different group--he and his clan are considered to be higher than the Brahmins! They are part of the royal clan -- the kings of Nepal come from this group, and they are above the four castes. Madan told me that in Nepal he used to harass and bully people on the street, stealing money from them or hitting them, just because he felt like it and his status gave him the right to do it.

Bishnu and his family hoped for some long talks with Madan about Jesus. Unfortunately, news came from home that Bishnu's father had died, and his relatives wanted him to come home. Suddenly Bishnu was busy with travel plans, arrangements to miss his classes, raising funds, etc. etc. There was no time for long talks with Madan. Our other Nepali students did their best to help, inviting Madan to their homes, and trying to answer his questions. I am the "dorm mother" in the Bright House, so I had a front row seat for this story. We were all praying for him, of course, but we thought that it might take months for him to grasp the Gospel. Amazingly, in the midst of that hectic week, Madan latched on to one simple fact: Bishnu was confident that he would see his father in heaven. (Bishnu had led his father to the Lord a few years earlier.) Madan told me later, "Bishnu was sad, but not like other grieving people. He had joy because he knew his father was safe. And he KNEW he would see his father again!" So Madan talked to Bishnu, the day before his departure, and said, "I want what you have."

Bishnu gave a simple explanation of the Gospel, and Madan humbly bowed and asked Jesus to be his Savior and Lord. That was Good Friday, March 25th, almost a year ago. When Bishnu told me about it the next morning, he was still in shock! He couldn't believe it happened so quickly and he could not believe the humility that was now evident in Madan. There was an immediate tranformation of his character. The next day, Bishnu left the country and entrusted Madan to the family of Paul, another ISOT student from Nepal. (That's Paul and family below.) Paul comes from a low caste family, but Madan was happy to stay in their home. He ate with them, helped them around the house, and studied the Bible with them. Each day, Madan fell more in love with Jesus. I have been in the ministry for many years, and I don't think I have ever seen someone grow as fast as Madan did. He had an incredible hunger for God's Word. I remember telling him one day about the Ten Commandments. He had never heard of them. To give the context I had to explain who Moses was, which meant I had to explain who the children of Israel were, so I had to go back to Abraham, which eventually took us all the way back to the Garden of Eden. None of our conversations were quick in those days! He took notes on everything we told him, and asked questions incessantly. He started attending a good church and attended both their 9:00 and 11:00 services so he could hear the sermon twice. He joined every Bible study they offered. He moved into an apartment with some of our single students, and began a daily routine of studying the Bible and serving at the church. Our Nepali students, out of their small allowance, gave him money for his needs. It was awesome!

I kept asking God, "What is Your plan for Madan?" Although the church is growing quickly in Nepal, there are very few trained leaders. Most pastors have no Bible training at all, and many are illiterate. Many Christians were converted because they saw someone healed, and all they know about Jesus is that He has power over sickness. Strong follow-up and discipleship are almost nonexistent. Compare this situation with Madan's! He is being discipled by ten seminary students, all at once! And he attends one of the most outstanding churches in the Philippines. I can't help but conclude that God is preparing Madan for something very special.

About a month after Madan became a Christian, Paul became very sick and was hospitalized. It was summer, and all of our ISOT students were out doing their internships. Paul's wife Rita was caring for their newborn baby at home, and we needed someone to stay with Paul in the hospital. Madan volunteered. I have to admit that I was skeptical. Hospital care means getting your hands dirty -- I wasn't sure Madan had it in him. But for the next two weeks, Madan stayed with Paul day and night, feeding him, cleaning bedpans, reading the Bible to him, and encouraging him. I brought Rita to visit each day and we saw Madan's loving care. One day I told Madan about spiritual gifts and I told him that I felt he had the gifts of both mercy and service. He smiled from ear to ear and said, "It really must have come from Jesus, because before this I have never done anything nice for anyone in my whole life!"

Now it's a year later. He has continued to grow and grow and grow. He joined the church's ministry to street kids and continues to be part of a growth group. He shares the Gospel wherever he goes. Some doctors at the church have formed a medical ministry, and he goes along to help when they do outreach clinics. After Bishnu came back from his father's funeral, he and Madan went to the jail regularly to visit Dongol. After a few months, Dongol received Christ, and is slowly growing too. Madan's dream is to study at ISOT. "After all," he tells people, "I was born at ISOT!" He wants to be equipped to reach out to his own people and to other high caste Nepalis. We don't think he is quite ready for ISOT yet -- a master's degree in theology is a little bit of a stretch at this point and there are still a lot of gaps in his Bible knowledge. But he is a very intelligent guy, and he is making incredible progress. We hope he will be ready by next year.

Meanwhile, now that he is well rooted in his faith, we all believe that he needs to go home for a few months. He needs to see his family and let them see what God has done. He talks with them frequently on the phone--they miss him and want to see him (probably to talk him out of this Christianity nonsense). He needs to see the situation of the church in Nepal. The only Nepali Christians he knows are ISOT students, and they are not typical of church members in Nepal. He has another thing on his agenda too. I mentioned that during his earlier days in Manila, he and Dongol were involved in some shady business deals. They swindled other Nepali tourists out of several thousand dollars by promising to help them get visas to the U.S. The money is long gone, but Madan is convinced that he has to pay it back. In fact, he has written to each of these people and asked forgiveness, and promised to repay them. He hopes to ask his father for his share of the family property, sell it, and use it to pay these debts. We have no idea if this will work or not, but Madan is very determined to make right whatever he did to harm anyone.

Will you please join us in praying for Madan? He hopes to go home next month. We are sure there will be persecution. We believe he will be able to endure, but it will most likely be very discouraging.

1. Pray for money for his air ticket to Nepal. Right now he is still living on the small love gifts our Nepali students give him.

2. Pray that his family will welcome him, will see the change in his life, and will be open to hearing the Gospel.

3. Pray that he will be able to find enough money to pay back the people he has wronged.

4. Pray that he will be able to be strong in times of persecution and suffering.

5. Pray that he will connect well with the Christians in Nepal.

6. Pray that if it is God's will, he will come back to us by January of next year to prepare to study at ISOT.