Only twenty-six years old, *Tashi suddenly found herself dying of renal failure. Getting medical help was problematic because Tashi lived a three day journey into the Himalayas. Her family was able to bring her to a city, however, and Tashi began dialysis for her failing kidneys. Unfortunately, the underlying condition remained.
Tashi visited Hindu priests to seek healing, paying them large sums of money to make blood sacrifices on her behalf. There was no improvement in her health. In desperation, Tashi’s family again paid handsomely, this time for Buddhist lama priests to pray for her healing. She continued getting sicker.
Finally, a friend who knew of her situation offered a suggestion, “If you can find a Christian, they will pray for you. They don’t charge you money for prayers. They worship a God, Jesus. Jesus has powers to heal.” The Christian Tashi found was *Jampa, a long time partner of *Dr. Peters and his family, who serve with Beyond.
In response to Tashi’s request, this humble man of prayer said, “Yes, I am a Christian, and yes, I worship a God, Jesus. I am happy to pray for you, and you don’t need to pay me,” Then he continued, “But if Jesus heals you, you will owe your allegiance and worship to Jesus.”
Two weeks later Dr. Peters was able to meet and examine Tashi for the first time during a medical camp he was holding. She was without ankle edema, had normal blood pressure, and her most recent labs were good. She was no longer on dialysis. In Dr. Peters’ words, “If there were someone healed from renal failure, it would look exactly like this.”
A few days later, Tashi, her brother, and his wife became baptized believers amidst great excitement. Yes, the healing was tremendous, and the way she and several family members responded in faith was beautiful, but there was a third reason for excitement.
You see, Tashi’s family is from “Sky’s End” village. For years, Jampa had wanted to spread the gospel in that village but never found an opening into people’s hearts there. God, however, in His great goodness, used Tashi’s illness and healing to open the village to His life-giving words. Tashi began holding Discovery Bible Studies in her home, and four weeks later, Dr. Peters received a picture of a dozen believers gathered in a bare concrete room preparing to dive into God’s Word together.
WAYS TO PRAY
- Please pray for these new believers as there are many daily hardships – physically, spiritually, psychologically, and socially. Pray for them to grow in maturity, in power, and in the knowledge of God’s love. Pray that they will not fall away under persecution.
- Pray for these new disciples to be trained, supported, and mentored well. Pray that their faith would grow deep, for their witness to be bold and loving, and that they would go on to make other disciples of Jesus resulting in a Disciple Making Movement among Himalayan peoples.
- The words “If you can find a Christian . . .” reflect the reality here: Christians are hard to find. Pray to the Lord of the Harvest for more laborers to come to this field.
*pseudonym