Below you will find the transcript for our first Advent devotional podcast this year. You can listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. You can listen and read the captions using the Youtube video below. Press the CC button to read the transcript while you listen.
This Advent at Harvest Bridge we want to share the wisdom of four ministry leaders in South Asia as they talk about hope, peace, joy, and love. Today, we start with hope. You will hear from Jandi*, who is our co-country leader in Nepal, alongside her husband, Shalva*. Jandi, who is 47, is leading work in everything from disaster relief to medical clinics for women to savings groups that develop financial self-sufficiency in areas with tremendous poverty. Her tangible work with the most vulnerable in Nepal shows them the hope they can have in Christ. Let’s listen.
God gives me hope and His word inspires me to worship and testify what he had done in my life, and his people around the world, around my community and where I do ministry, and people they are praying for us, encouraging in times of difficulties. So, and the body of Christ around the world, who are partnering with us in the mission of God and supporting us in our ministry in many ways.So we are able to continue the ministry and deliver his counsel to the people who are in difficult situation, irrespective of caste, color, and religion. And when we do ministry among women and children in different times, in different communities, and when we see them – how they have hope to live, even though they are not knowing the Lord. And if they can know the Lord, and it will be so great, and their hope will be flourished, and they will get really eternal life in Jesus Christ, it’s really encouraging me to do his ministry.
Jandi and her team take hope to those who need it most. Her team serves as the hands and feet of Christ as they help. Among the most vulnerable in Nepal are the women in the remote communities she visits. As these women see transformation in their lives, they become a source of hope for others.
I love women and God loves everyone. It’s really…when they come there with the pain, but they have a so big smile when they get little treatment, some medicines, or some surgery. You know, it’s really, really a great thing. And every medical camp, at least one woman is saved from cancer every time, at least one woman every time. In the beginning of the medical camp, I can say, like, since I am Christian, we love you, and Jesus loves everyone. That’s why we come to your village to do some kind of ministry, or some, we want to serve you in Jesus’ name, and people just look at me. It’s like living testimony. So it’s like what we say, that we do. They are like single women, single mothers, abandoned by the family and [are] widows. After coming to Christ, they got some hope in Jesus, and they share the gospel. They share happiness through Christ, and it’s really exciting. And people find hope in these ladies’ lives.
Jandi’s ministry in the medical clinics is one of many powerful examples of women supporting women in Nepal. The ministry of these women is often unseen, but it is changing lives everyday.
These days, I’m thinking how God is using the women who are not remembered in the society. And God is using those women to glorify His name and to multiply His Kingdom. Like my mom, and there are many, many women like my mom, who shared the gospel to thousands and hundreds of people, coming to Christ through their testimony. So God is really using women in Nepal. But it’s like, something like the Samaritan woman. What is her name? I don’t know! Because there are many, many unnamed women in our country I have seen, who are testifying for the Lord and who are sharing the gospel to the community, and many people are coming to Christ. It’s really great, and this is making a great impact in His Kingdom.
Jandi’s faith comes from seeing how God has been present in her own life, especially in difficult times. Her life was changed by the faith she saw in her mom. She wants to share that hope with others.
I’m thinking how God is using women, because whenever people ask my testimony, every time I tell my mom’s testimony, at first, because I come to Christ, because of my mom. So she suffered a lot, and I somehow, somehow I saw her. She got so much persecution and suffering in her life, and still, she did not stop sharing the gospel, and she was so much courageous and she had hope. From my struggling, I can say, if I didn’t have hope in the Lord Jesus, maybe, how was my life? How would my life be, I cannot imagine. So I can request my friends and the people I meet, if they trust in Him, if they have hope in Jesus, He will never forsake them, and He will never put them in shame. What he did to me, same. He can do more, more to everyone, and he loves everyone. So people can experience the love of God, even though sometimes they may not get the love from their own people. So I have my experience that I can share with the people. I was persecuted from my young age, being a woman, being a Christian, many times, but since I trust in Him, and He never forsake me, He never put me in shame. Now I can stand in the name of Jesus still from that time to now, and it makes me so excited. And now I’m here, and God is one who makes me in this, like the time, who gave me this opportunity to do His ministry.
We asked Jandi for her favorite verse about hope, and this is what she said:
Even though it does not have the word hope [in it], but my favorite verse in the Bible is Romans, chapter 10, verse 11, it says, as scripture says, “Anyone who believes in Him will never be put to shame.” It means God’s love for me is so great from my childhood till now, I trust Him. I have hope in Him, as my father, as my Lord and Savior. He never leaves me at my time of sufferings, persecutions, He never let me be put to shame, so I can stand.
There is hope through the ministry happening in Nepal. Join us next week as we hear from Pastor Thang in Myanmar. In a country torn apart by war, he will share about peace.