She carried on

I met Chalita about ten years ago when I was first in Kathmandu.  She seemed quiet and shy.  She shared her dream to go to Bible School, so our Thursday morning group prayed with her and took up a collection to help with her costs.  Over the last ten years I have continued to see her from time to time.  Nowadays, she leads groups skilfully, encouragingly and confidently.  I only recently heard her story and I realised I had no idea what strength and faithfulness there was behind the quiet exterior which I had encountered ten years earlier.

Chalita grew up in Dhankuta, East Nepal.  She is the fifth daughter in the family.  After she was born her mother also had two sons. She describes her family as a typical Rai family; as an ethnic group they are known for their anger.  She remembers her parents arguing every evening, something she found hard and very discouraging.  Her father worked for a British project and at one time a British man named Bob came to live with them as their lodger.  He was a Christian.  A Nepali Christian from Darjeeling also came and shared the gospel.  At that time the gospel was forbidden and they needed to read the tracts they were given secretly.

Even though she was only eight years old, when Chalita read that Jesus had died for her, she felt guilty.  She started to believe in Jesus and wanted to tell others about him.  Boldly, when she had a school assignment about ambition she wrote that her ambition was to share Christ.  That boldness earned her a telling off but she carried on telling people about Jesus. Her sisters also believed, there was no fellowship to go to but they carried on reading the tracts they were given and praying together.  Her second sister ran away from home with a young man, it turned out that he was a Christian from a Christian family.  He subsequently became her husband.

After some time a fellowship group led by Chalita’s Christian brother-in-law started in their village and the sisters went along.  People in their village, including their parents, denounced it as a foreign religion. The sisters were forbidden from going but they carried on going.  Their mother tried beating them but they carried on going.  Chalita describes the period between 13 and 19 years old as the hardest years of her life.  As a Christian everything was hard; her family situation, school and friendships.  Nonetheless, she decided to be baptised at 16 years old.  In difficult situations she prayed to God and asked him to bring her good times.

At 18, she moved to Dharan and the pastor of the fellowship there recommended that she went for training in a Bible School.  Doors began to open for her and Chalita felt very happy and ready to serve.  The Bible school was in Kathmandu, having no money she had to knit for a day to raise the bus fare.  Finally she was able to start a three month training course with OM.  After finishing the OM course Chalita stayed in Kathmandu and was able to enjoy regular fellowship at the Thursday morning group.  An American missionary couple befriended her, encouraged her in her faith and were like spiritual parents to her.  It was during that season that the Thursday group gave their offering and she took a longer course with YWAM and went on to serve as a member of their staff for several years.

During all those difficult years she was encouraged by a verse from the Bible

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will never forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; you walls are very before me.” Isaiah 49v15-16. 

Reading that verse had made her understand how much God loved her and how he would look after her.  She knew even in difficult circumstances that God would never forget her, so she carried on.