“Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”
A family tragedy leads to a new life of service and a multitude of spiritual fruit.
The story of the Collins Children’s Home in Nepal is the story of Christians letting God be God and following His leading in the process.
When BIMI missionaries Joe and Tanna Collins arrived in Nepal in July 1990, they settled in a town of 50,000 people named Boudha. Boudha was not far from the capital, Kathmandu, a teeming city of one million. Nepal, an official Hindu nation, was notorious for its prohibitions against “proselytizing”—their word for any efforts at evangelism. Joe set about to learn the Nepalese and Tibetan languages; along with its being necessary for ministry to the Nepalese, he and Tanna were in the country under student visas and that was his official “job.” At the same time, he began Bible studies with local people to introduce them to Christ. Joe felt specifically called to minister to the Tibetan refugees who had settled in the Kathmandu area.
Submersed in the Buddhism and Hinduism of the Nepalese and Tibetans, Joe and Tanna and their young children saw every day not only the simplicity and friendliness of their new neighbors, but also their abject poverty and bondage to traditions. The street children, many of them orphaned, placed a particular burden on their hearts. Joe began praying about starting a children’s home. In 1992 a Nepali who knew that Tanna had recently given birth to twins approached them. A two-month old abandoned girl needed someone to feed her and take care of her. Although Tanna was unable to do so, Joe found another way: establishing homes based around already existing families. After taking in the infant, who was given the name Shristi (meaning “Creation”), Joe became involved in the lives of six street boys who survived by begging.
After ensuring that there were no living family members who could take Shristi or the boys in, Joe rented a home and moved a Nepalese convert, Brother Krishna, and his family into the home with the seven children. Brother Krishna gained custody of the children, and according to Nepalese law, he will be able to confer Nepali citizenship on the children. Joe funded the home and paid Brother Krishna’s salary from his own missionary support in order to make what would later become the “Collins Children’s Home” a reality.
Early on, the decision was made that the children would be raised in much the same manner—dress, education, food, living conditions--as they would in any Nepali family, except in the nurture and admonition of the Lord Jesus Christ. They would receive a better education in many respects, since they would be taught English, a true advantage in a developing nation like Nepal. But they would not be Westernized.
In 1992, not long after the establishment of the home, Tanna’s health demanded that the family travel to Thailand for better medical care than what was available in Nepal. In Thailand she learned she had typhoid fever, but the treatments were successful and she regained her health. However, Joe and Tanna and their five children never returned to Boudha. On the trip back to Nepal, their Thai Airways plane crashed into the side of a Himalayan mountain on July 31, 1992, killing all 113 on board.
The small community of Christians with whom Joe and Tanna worked was devastated by their loss, as were the families of Joe and Tanna at home in the States. So were the residents of Boudha who had come to know this American family who seemed to care for them so much. News of their story moved many American Christians to a new realization of their responsibility in world evangelism. One couple, John and Becky Hester, heard God calling them to Nepal as Joe and Tanna had a few years before. Their story is told on other pages in this BIMI World.
Tanna’s parents, Jerry and Martha Sellers, of Lexington, Tennessee, saw that someone had to continue the work that had begun and was growing in Boudha and the areas nearby. The fledgling children’s home, led by Brother Krishna, was still going. While Joe and Tanna were absent for Tanna’s recuperation, Brother Krishna had gained custody of another boy, bringing the total to eight children—seven boys of varying ages, and Shristi, now eight months old.
Mr. and Mrs. Sellers took up the children’s home ministry, and in the four years after the Collins family’s homegoing, the Sellers were used to help establish the Boudha and Khamling Baptist churches, as well. Brother Sellers is now the Director of the Collins Children’s Home, working with BIMI missionaries to do church planting and to build a house of refuge for abandoned and orphaned children from all over Nepal.
Today, Collins Children’s Home consists of three separate “family-homes” with 25 children. This includes the biological children of the three couples who are house parents to the orphaned ones taken in over the last eight years. Brother Ramish and Brother Simone head two of the families that live in a compound that consists of two flats (apartments). Brother Krishna and his wife live at a separate location nearby. The children range in age from four years old and up. The children’s housing, food, medical, and educational needs are met. Brother Krishna directs the day-to-day operations of the home along with his tireless efforts in other ministries of evangelism and church planting.
This short history of the beginning of the Collins Children’s Home only begins to scratch the surface of the grace and power of God that Jerry and Martha Sellers have seen in their several trips to Nepal. The Sellers obtained tourists visas which allow them to stay in Nepal for 120 days a year, so they try to make two trips a year and use as many of those 120 days as they can. They maintain an apartment and a vehicle in Nepal. During their visits they stay very active as they journey into the villages in the rugged areas surrounding Boudha and Kathmandu to help with church ministries. Brother Sellers, who was a bivocational pastor for 33 years, preaches to the young churches and baptizes converts. He has been instrumental in helping the Hester and Ortiz families get to Kathmandu and become established there.
The Sellers’ twice-a-year visits are in no way easy; for example, villages in the mountainous jungle regions may take three or four days to reach by four-wheel drive vehicle. Brother Sellers explains that, while in Nepal, “time” and “patience” take on new meanings. There is American time, which means someone is late after five minutes, and Nepali time, where someone is late after three hours. All activity takes on a much slower and more deliberate pace. He and Mrs. Sellers have to be careful about whatever they consume, as well. Drinking water must be boiled, and it’s very easy to pick up dysentery from improperly cooked food in a restaurant. The difficulty of the trips has been increased by Martha’s struggle with cancer, but she is now healed and still able to make the journeys with her husband.
Brother Sellers has accumulated many stories of God’s working in Nepal since Joe and Tanna’s death. Every story points out that their influence is still felt, directly and indirectly. Brother Sellers explains that the natural reaction of a Nepali to the death of a child in a foreign country is to have nothing to do with that country. In a way, their traditions teach them that the country of Nepal is somehow responsible for the deaths of Joe, Tanna, and their five children. So the Nepali people are amazed that the Sellers want to help them in any way. The Nepalese are seeing how the love of God transcends culture and custom.
The response of the Nepalese to the Sellers’ visits and to the reputation that Joe and Tanna had built in those few years has been astounding. Three stories give a taste of what God has done there. In 1994, a young witch doctor, Tika Ram, traveled for days out of his village to come to Boudha because he had heard of Joe and what he was teaching. At the time, he didn’t know of the Collins’ death, but he had heard that they had a message to share. The young man found Boudha Baptist Church, where he, a shaman priest, was led to Christ.
Tika Ram returned to his village, Khamling, but now he was explaining the gospel to the villagers who had formerly come to him for witchcraft. Their custom taught that they couldn’t get a new witch doctor until he died; they began to beat him, seeking to kill him. Although newly converted, he told them, “It’s all right for you to kill me because God’s book says I’ll be better off.” Now he is the pastor of Khamling Baptist Church, which started in 1995 from individuals he had helped bring to Christ.
In 1997, the wife of a witch doctor was repeatedly beaten for attending church after she came to Christ. In spite of beatings that would sometimes leave her in bed for two weeks, she would sneak out to be with other Christians for church services. Soon, she had led 22 of her fellow Nepalese to Christ, and she would risk more beatings by spending time with anyone after church who needed to be saved.
More recently, the Sellers learned that their landlady is the sister of a Buddhist priest. As a special show of respect, this priest had tried to arrange a meeting between them and the Dalai Lama of Nepal, a man held in great esteem by his people. Although the meeting could not be arranged due to previously made travel plans, it did allow Brother Sellers to extend the gospel to this landlady and her brother.
These three stories tell of individuals whose testimonies have been instrumental, along with the work of Brother Krishna, Brother Ram, Brother Sellers, and others, in the salvation of many souls. These believers make up the Khamling, Itahara, Tutepani, and Bhouda Baptist Churches. Still more are being established. During the Sellers last visit in September, the four churches participated in an old fashioned camp meeting where 250 Nepalese attended—in a country where it is officially illegal to witness.
The attitudinal changes in governmental authorities have also been amazing. Baptizing a Nepali is technically illegal, as is giving one a Bible. If a Nepali asks for one or comes to a church of his own will, then the authorities may look the other way. The decision to be baptized is a step that no Nepali can take lightly, since the authorities may be watching every move a new convert makes. A woman and her daughter, the wife and daughter of a secret police officer, submitted to baptism. He was assigned to take pictures of the baptism, and when he saw his wife and daughter taking part, he also fell under conviction and was converted.
Brother Sellers feels that he and the Hesters have a good relationship with the authorities in Nepal. They present themselves honestly and try not to antagonize the authorities. If a Hindu complains, they are likely to be watched more closely. As it is, the government keeps tabs on the Sellers while they are in the country and on the activities of the Hester family, most of the time. While the law itself has not changed, the relationship with the authorities has slowly improved.
Being able to provide copies of God’s Word to the Nepalese is an essential part of the evangelism and church planting work. A printing house in India produces inexpensive copies of a reliable translation of the New Testament in Nepalese for distribution, and there are no problems moving the copies across the border. So far, Brother Sellers has been involved in giving out 30,000 New Testaments and 20,000 copies of a combined edition of John and Romans. They plan to include the books of Psalms and Proverbs with the New Testament, soon.
Finally, the Sellers have seen great strides in the lives of the children in the Home. Currently five young men are called to preach and are studying for the ministry. The children have come to Christ as they have grown older and have seen the reality of Christ in the lives of their house parents. On Friday afternoons, the gates to the compound are opened and the children sing Christian songs for ten minutes. This is followed by a Bible story or short message by Brother Krishna or one of the young men called to preach. Then some more music is provided. This has been a positive way to draw a crowd and introduce the neighbors to the gospel.
Hearing about how God is working in Nepal reminds one that when Christians get out of the way—or get our excuses, our self-doubts, and our hidden agendas out of the way—astounding things happen. Brother Sellers and the Nepalese who are leading the churches serve as examples of servants taking direction from their Master and letting Him shower His church with blessings.
This is from the BIMI website.
I highly recommend reading,"Drama In The Real Lives Of Missionaries",
this is volume 1. It is written by
Cliffored E. Clark. Joe and Tanna's true story is in this book.
