Summer 2017 Update

We had a wonderful time during our furlough in the States. It was a blessing to be able to be with our family and friends. We loved traveling to different churches to share about what the Lord is doing out here, in Nepal. Most of our time was spend in California, but we also had an amazing opportunity to travel to Virginia and meet a church family that has been supporting us and praying for us. It was great to finally be able to put faces to the names of the people we had been emailing over the past two years.

We returned back to Nepal at the beginning of June and hit the ground running! We had about a week to adjust back to the time difference and lifestyle before we welcomed our first of two teams we would be hosting over the next few weeks.

Hosting Teams

The first team was from a church in San Diego. The main focus of this group was ministering to the youth in a near by slum area. They hosted a two-day youth conference and a one day VBS event at a church in the middle of the slum. They also hosted a leadership conference at a church pastored by one of our Salvation Worship Team members as well as hosting an outreach at the leprosy colony. We had a great time working with each of the team members and we loved seeing their love for everyone they came in contact with.

The second group was a group of 10 high schoolers and 10 adult leaders from our home church, Calvary Chapel WestGrove. It was so great to see everyone and to minister along side of them. This trip was jam-packed with a ton of ministry!

The team spent two-days in the leprosy colony where they handed out hygiene & cooking packages to each person there. On each day, they provided a full meal for everyone and the team members had a chance to share their testimonies and meet the residents by going hut to hut and sharing the gospel with them.

The team was able to spend multiple days with the Promise Child girls too! They had a few days set aside for VBS where they had games, bible stories, songs, and crafts for the girls to do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last part of their trip, they hosted a two day youth conference where some of the members were able to lead worship, share testimonies, teach main sessions, and lead small group breakout sessions. It was awesome to see everyone reaching out to and ministering to their peers. On the last ministry day, the team partnered with the Salvation Worship Team and held a huge gospel and CD release concert. Around 900-1000 people showed up for the event where the Gospel was shared along with some awesome worship music.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were grateful to be able to serve with these two groups and loved getting to know each person on the teams.

CD Release
The Salvation Worship Team’s newest album is officially available to purchase online! The majority of the CD is in Nepali but there are two songs in english that I (Tonielle) sing. If you would like to help support our ministry and get a taste of our music ministry, please purchase our CD!!

There are four ways you can help support our ministry by purchasing the CD:
1. iTunes: Go to the iTunes store (NOT APPLE MUSIC) and search “Salvation Worship Ministries”. The album name is listed as ” I am His”
2. Google Play: Open Google Play on your Android phone, select the Movies, Music, Books tab, search “Salvation Worship Ministries”. The album name is listed as ” I am His”
3. Amazon Music: click here
4. CD Baby: click here

Urgent Prayer Request


Some of you already heard that before we came to the States on furlough, in April, Tonielle’s business visa (aka – long term visa) was denied. The only reason it was denied was because we had “christian activity” happening on campus. The doors are slowly closing for religious freedom, but at this point, Nepal is still a country where you are free to practice any religion – basically, it is not even legal that they are denying the visa.

We are working with our lawyer to try to get the visa reinstated, but it is taking a very long time and costing a lot of money that we have not budgeted for. At this point, the government is saying they need to do an “in-depth investigation” into the business.

Tonielle and Levi are currently able to stay in the country with a tourist visa but are only allowed to remain on a tourist visa for up to 5 months per year. They have already been in-country for a little over 2 months, which means, if the business visa is not granted soon, we only have about 2.5 months until we will have to find another way to remain in Nepal.

We know and trust that God is in control and we am grateful that this is the only form of persecution that we have to deal with right now, but we would still like to ask for you to be praying for this process. If for some reason the visa is denied, we are trying to think of other ideas on how we can stay in the country but – obviously – it would be awesome if this can just resolve and the original visa will be reissued.

Thank you for your prayers! Feel free to share this with other believers and prayer chains as well, but please do not post on social media.

In Him,
The Sarkar Family