Peggy Shirley and Linda Easton Minister in Nepal and Himalayan India
Just fifteen hours after Delron and Jeremy returned from Bhutan, Peggy was off on her way to Nepal and northeast India. She was joined in Chicago by Linda Easton, a long-time friend and TAN board member who has accompanied us on most of our missions to Nepal. Peggy says that as she gazed out the airplane window looking for a glimpse of land after traveling for almost two days, she had little idea of the extent of blessing that God had in store for this mission. There was no way she could envision that in each of their seventeen meetings during their fourteen-day mission He would fulfill His promise from Acts 2:18 of pouring out the Spirit upon His handmaidens. She says that all the people were so spiritually hungry and full of childlike faith that she and Linda just stood back and watched as the Holy Spirit moved, bringing many instant physical and emotional healings as He gave them words of knowledge concerning the people’s needs.
Their first ministry stop was in Pokhara, Nepal, where they ministered over the Easter weekend. In the church where Peggy preached, ten non-believers received the Lord. Meanwhile, Linda ministered at another church where twenty-two Bible school students received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and one non-believer accepted Jesus. They also ministered for three days for Women’s Aglow where Peggy taught about The Great Commission as the heartbeat of God and the fact that He desires for women to step up to be missionaries in these last days. A large number of the three hundred ladies present came forward to be released as missionaries--some to their own regions and some to the foreign field.
Their next stop was Kalimpong in the Indian Himalayas where they ministered in at a three-day Women’s Aglow conference where there were many baptisms in the Holy Ghost and numerous healings. One family that came to Christ from Hinduism came to the leaders afterwards and said that they were ready to destroy all the idols they had in their home.
Their final stop was in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital city. Peggy was allowed to speak to both the men and the women at a local church--a privilege which is seldom extended to a lady minister in this part of the world. At the end of her message on getting over offenses, she asked those who were caught in the snare of offenses to stand. The whole congregation stood up--with the pastor leading the way! At the Women’s Aglow meeting, Peggy and Linda prayed for a woman who was miraculously healed of a cancerous condition. When the lady burst into tears during the prayer, Peggy asked the translator what had happened and was told that the lady said that Jesus appeared to her during the prayer. By the next day, the tumor had started to shrink, and the woman’s Buddhist husband was so excited about what Jesus had done for his wife that he wanted to come join the Women’s Aglow meeting!
Linda and Peggy concluded that the entire two weeks was a mountaintop experience (pun intended) as they watched the Lord move so freely. They extend a heartfelt “Dondavat” (Nepali for “thank you”) to the “team” back home who interceded for their mission and saw them through many close calls such as the Maoist-instigated strike that was planned for the day they were scheduled to return to the US. The strike was called off at the last minute--certainly an answer to prayer! This attempted strike is just one symptom of the continuing turmoil in the Himalayan nation. Even though the Maoists have been given a position in the government, there are still terrorist-like activities which flare up from time to time. In addition, some hard-line Hindus who are not happy with the secular model that the state has adopted are targeting churches and individual Christians, blaming them for the abolition of Hinduism as the state religion and the end of monarchy. Some Christians actually say they are in greater peril now than ever as they face extortion and threats to be run out of the country. Please continue to keep this nation and the precious brothers and sisters in your prayers.
