who answered His call to help. The inside of the C4C home office remains dry.

This information brightened our day as we set out for Pastor Tej’s SARA (Savior Alone Redeems Asians) children’s home outside of Kathmandu.

Elaine led the first of two days of teaching and playing with 36 children, including five girls from another home several hours away. Hayley, Mitch and Claudia also enjoyed playtime with the kids, who reviewed the Easter story and received wristbands with symbols to remember how God sent His Son down to die on a cross for our sins, defeated death, ascended to heaven to make a place for believers, and promises to return again for us.

Elaine Fallesen and Karna Rokka, Pastor Tej’s brother, explain the symbols held by four of the orphans“purified” for burning while children fish for valuables left in the Bagmati River. (Photos by Gary Fallesen)

We exposed our team to the culture of Nepal by visiting two telltale temples: Swayambhu (better known as the Monkey Temple) and Pashupatinath. These are places where the beliefs of Hinduism and Buddhism are on display for all to see – from the use of prayer flags and wheels to the worship of cows and monkeys to the purification and burning of dead bodies in a sacred river. Welcome to Nepal, a former Hindu kingdom that remains 82.5 percent Hindu and 9.4 percent Buddhist, according to the Joshua Project.

Another welcome to Nepal: the day we arrived famous Swiss mountaineer Ueli Steck became the first death of the Mount Everest climbing season, falling