Throughout the summer, this question of eternal consequence confronted countless travelers across the Indian Himalaya. The Gospel tract that we most often distribute to trekkers and tourists bears this title. We have translated it into Hebrew for the Israelis and carry it in English for other nationalities. These days, it seems vogue to claim that all religions lead to God, that He is some sort of sky fairy sitting atop a mountain with many pathways leading to Him. Yet, each so-called world religion asserts different means to different places by way of very different paths. How then could all paths really go to the same place? They just can't. We truly live in an age of willful ignorance, a dark time when people are so concerned with their own immediate pleasures that they fail to discern or rationally contemplate the simplest repercussions of life and death. The horde of travelers that typically come to India from the Western World almost entirely subscribe to the thought that all religions go to the same place while they look with fascination and amazement upon the eastern mysticisms. “You do your path, and I’ll do mine; and we will all end up in the same place.” Such is the mantra, and if I have heard it once, I have heard it a million times. Sadly, this line of thinking likewise prevails amongst Israeli backpackers who frequent the Indian Subcontinent, many having just completed their conscripted and compulsory service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). If there ever was a people that should know better, that should understand such foolishness for what it is, it is the Jewish people, "because that unto them were committed the oracles of God" (Romans 3:1-2). But alas, all is turned upside down.

Sharing the Gospel with Israeli Tourists along Leh's Main Market

Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel, made it clear that there are only two directions a man can go in this life (Matthew 7:13-14; John 14:6). And, He proved this and every other claim He made to be true when He rose from the dead and was seen of more than five hundred eye witnesses. Ignorance, foolishness, or utopian sentiment are not alternative routes; neither are they excuses in the Day of Judgment. There are two directions—a broad multi-lane interstate highway down which all men are barreling toward damnation, and the narrow U-Turn exit route of Jesus Christ that leads back to the Creator. Folks, it is absolutely vital that Christian missionaries stand firm with brutal honesty concerning the exclusivity of salvation through Jesus the Christ. “Neither is there salvation in any other” (Acts 4:12). Our "Where Does Your Path Lead?" tract takes the time to walk readers through the world’s major religions, proving their foolish errors. Then, a portrait of the Messiah is drawn from prophecies found in the Hebrew Scriptures proving God’s work through the Jewish people. The last page gives several quotes from the New Testament demonstrating the fulfillment of each of these details as found only in Jesus Christ as the Messiah of Israel and the Saviour of the world. Of course, just knowing about Jesus is not salvation. This tract concludes by calling the reader to “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21). Praise God, many of these were distributed over the summer to both Israelis and Gentiles of 40 different nations. And, we know that the Word of God faithfully published and distributed never returns void (Psalm 68:11; Isaiah 55:11).

Greetings, friends of Full Proof Gospel Ministries, in the name of the ONLY WAY by which men can be saved: Yeshua Ha’Messiach, Jesus the Christ, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world, the Risen Saviour. May the tender mercies of the Lord comfort your souls and the abundant grace of God compel you to live more zealously to the obedience of Christ every day. These past few months, we have been laboring in Northern India while hosting our second summer team of volunteer missionaries for Israeli evangelism, Team Yeshua 2016. We want to thank you for your prayers and the support of this work. The aid and spiritual underpinnings of faithful believers and local church bodies is to be a foundation for the work of foreign missions around the world. That’s how the Lord Jesus Christ set it up, so please rejoice with us in this testimony and pray for us as we press on.

team orientation & getting there

Our home base for the summer was in a Buddhist town situated at roughly 12,000 ft. in the mountainous deserts of northwest India in the rain shadow of the Himalaya. It can take about a week or so to reach this place for someone traveling from America, if you opt out of the ridiculously expensive 90-minute flight from New Delhi. This year, Team Yeshua initially rendezvoused in North Carolina and spent a full week receiving intensive training in evangelism and missiology before making the long overseas flight to India. It was a blessing to have some faithful missionaries and pastors who labor in diverse fields of ministry come in to assist with the teaching sessions.

Jewish Evangelism Training with Dylan Harris

Upon arrival in Delhi, the Boyd Family and the team the volunteers set out overland for the summer base in Ladakh by way of Jammu, Srinagar, and Kargil—a grueling circuitous route along poor roads that climb up and over the main Himalayan Range and traverse an unstable Muslim region bordering Pakistan. After three long days on the road, a vehicle breakdown outside Chandigarh, a dumpy hotel in Jammu, boat taxis in Srinagar, and abundant opportunity to scatter seeds of the Gospel amongst Hindus, Buddhists, and Muslims, we rendezvoused with Brother Ricky, the team leader, at 2:00am on the deserted streets of Kargil.

Brother Ricky preaches during a secret church service in the woods.

India in its far northwest is basically split down the middle with a predominantly Muslim population in Kashmir, the western region, and a predominantly Buddhist population living in Ladakh, the eastern region. There are a handful of believers from the Kargil or Muslim side who were baptized back at the beginning of this year and were also among the larger group of Muslim and Buddhist-background believers who Brother Ricky Springer helped to disciple and train back in February. It was with these that Team Yeshua, after rendezvousing with Brother Ricky, staged its first outreach. It was a true joy to meet face-to-face with persecuted brethren and learn that they had been consistently meeting on Sundays for a time of corporate prayer, singing, and Bible study.

On a beautiful Lord’s Day afternoon, we were able to worship and fellowship with them in a secluded patch of woods near the Suru River. In this part of the Himalaya, Christians have to be very careful where they meet. If the villagers knew a church was gathering nearby, persecution would certainly ensue. So, please remember the handful of believers in the Muslim areas of northwest India. Understand, however, that though these be cautious, they are certainly not cowards, nor are they ashamed of the truth. After our joint-service, we walked up the river and found a suitable place to conduct a baptism. Team Yeshua stood as witnesses while another man from the same area followed the Lord in believer’s baptism. As it turned out, one of the young believers, who had participated in the discipleship trainings that Brother Ricky helped to conduct earlier this year, returned home from those trainings and immediately began sharing the Gospel with his neighbor. His neighbor, noting the drastic change in this man’s life, would inquire and meet with him privately to discuss the Bible and Jesus Christ versus the Quran and Mohammed. After several of these intense discussions, the neighbor humbly counted the cost of being Jesus’ disciple and took up his own cross, forsaking Mohammed to follow the Jewish Messiah. With baptism comes a real risk of persecution in South Asia. This new believer led to Christ by other faithful new believers in a very dark place took the initial step of obedience in the Christian walk before our eyes fully aware of that risk. Later, we all shared the Lord's Table together.

That makes three years in a row that the Lord has allowed us to witness and participate in the baptism of believers in this spiritually dark and oppressive corner of the globe. In 2014, it was a young man from a Buddhist family who had professed Christ and knew he needed to take the step of obedience that is believer’s baptism (I Peter 3:21). With another faithful local brother, we took him out to a secret spot on the Indus River where, it has been said, a group of Buddhist monks who came to Christ were baptized long ago. Last year, in that same secret spot in the Ladakh side, Team Yeshua 2015 witnessed a Buddhist family follow the Lord in believer’s baptism. This family was also a part of the discipleship training that FPGM helped to conduct back in February. Not long after Team Yeshua 2016 finally arrived at its summer base, this family invited us to their home for a huge feast with plenty of meat to celebrate a one-year anniversary of walking with the Lord. This feast was something they initiated to honor the Lord’s faithfulness in their lives. It was a special time of prayer, Scripture reading, and fellowship—the fruits of genuine salvation at the uttermost part of the earth .

As for the Muslim-background believers on the Kargil side, we have received news that this local body is holding fast the profession of its faith without wavering and has added souls since the baptism we witnessed in the Suru River back in June. There were four; now there are ten. This growth has occurred despite threats and persecutions that have forced some of these brethren into hiding. One of the newest believers had to count the cost soon after coming to faith. He tried to share with his wife; and she left him, moved back home with her family. She has since stirred up the villagers against him. When this brother was baptized, he was warned that divisions would come. When they did, I have heard, he only testified about how God was blessing him in his work and that he was full of deep peace knowing that the Lord is in control of his life. Oh, what a joy to see the Church that Jesus promised to build (Matthew 16:18) take root and stem life in spiritually-barren lands! Please pray for these believers and the one who leads them, a dear brother we have worked with for several years. For security reasons, I will refrain from using names.

During Team Yeshua’s first official outreach of the summer, the one that started off with a baptismal bang, we spent an entire day going house-to-house sharing the Gospel through an interpreter and distributing Urdu, Hindi, and Nepali Gospel Tracts and Scripture portions.

Late afternoon, we ran into a whole group of men congregating outside of the village’s only general store. We kindly approached, and the unofficial spokesman for the crowd came to greet Brother Ricky. Through the man’s broken English and our translator, Ricky was able to clearly communicate that sinful men can only be reconciled through Jesus Christ because of His work on the cross and His resurrection. The man wanted to know more about Jesus than what was written in the Gospel tract he had been given. Thankfully, we had some more in-depth gospel materials and an Urdu language DVD video to give to him. He was very thankful and gladly received the gifts. The rest standing by readily received Urdu tracts from the hands of little 6-year-old Josiah Boyd. May God bring salvation to the dying men of this faraway village! Here is a short clip from that exchange:

Uploaded by Full Proof Gospel Ministries on 2016-09-29.

Wow, all this was just orientation for . . . .

a real missions trip

Brother Bishnu from Nepal leads the team in morning worship.

When someone applies for Team Yeshua or for volunteer service with Full Proof Gospel Ministries, it is clearly communicated that team members are expected to be missionaries in every sense of the word. And, the journey is a MISSIONS trip, not a missions TRIP. Team Yeshua is not a vacation; it is not humanitarianism; it is not an opportunity for self-aggrandizement or a photo-op. Team Yeshua is a real opportunity for young people grounded in the Word of God to taste full-time missions; to receive sound biblical instruction (i.e. in missiology, evangelism, Jewish culture, Church history, a Biblical worldview concerning the Church and Israel, the Great Commission, the imminent bodily return of the Lord Jesus Christ, etc.); and to immediately put the things they learn into practice on the streets, along the highways and hedges at a literal uttermost corner of the globe. This past summer, a regular day looked a little something like this:

Early morning worship, devotion, and prayer
Two to three hours of teaching from God’s Word (the call of an evangelist or missionary is to not only speak the Gospel to the lost but also to train and equip the Body of Christ in the work of evangelism and missions, see Ephesians 4:11-12)
The team is then turned out upon the streets, equipped with Bibles and Gospel materials, and is expected to then put the things they have learned into practice by seeking out and primarily engaging Israels (“to the Jew first”—Romans 1:16) and yet also Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and foreign tourists (“and also to the Greek”—Romans 1:16)
The team then meets back up for dinner and shares the experiences, conversations, and witnessing opportunities from the day

A Friday Evening Shabbat Meal with a Room full of Israelis

Since our base is situated in the main tourist hub for all of Northwest India, we determined to make the most of our resources and split up Team Yeshua when possible. Normally, it made sense to leave half of the team in town as a regular presence amongst the Israeli travelers arriving in the area. These were responsible for doing daily evangelism and for spending the week inviting any Jewish people they might meet to come enjoy a free Shabbat meal on Friday night at our house. These Friday evening meals are an excellent way to show kindness and hospitality to the Israelis and to bring more depth to the relationships established throughout the week. At the end of every meal we hosted, all guests were asked to gather for a reading from the Bible. We intentionally read a clear Messianic passage from the Tanakh (i.e. Old Testament) and then concluded with a reading from the B’rit HaChadasha (New Testament, see Jeremiah 31:31 in Hebrew). At the end of these readings, the way of salvation through the Jewish Messiah, Jesus the Christ, was clearly presented and a call to repentance was made to our guests so that none of left without at least hearing how they can be made right with God. Everyone is then offered a free Hebrew/English New Testament before they return to their hotels or guesthouses. Praise God, for like last year, we had some ladies on the team who could cook. Preparation often included a walk down to the local butcher, picking out a couple of chickens running around in a pen, butchered fowl wrapped in a newspaper, a slog back up a dusty road with potholes the size of a house, and a small kitchen counter cleared for the art of gutting. This photo collage sums the process up nicely.

If the team did split up and half remained back in town to focus upon the Israelis coming and going in Leh, the other half would leave the Indus River Valley and go out to some end of the road or remote area. The Gospel is worth taking to the end of the road, and that has been FPGM’s practice since its inception. When Jesus Christ said “uttermost part of the earth” in Acts 1:8, we take it literally. Wow, memories of Neah Bay, Prudhoe Bay, Ushuaia, Nourgam, Cape Agulhas, Point Barrow, the Labrador, Panamik, Turtuk, Circle, Key West, Sikkim, Hyder, Karelia, Pashupatinagar, Deadhorse, Tambo Quemado, Mongolia, Lubec, Anchor Point, Man Merak, Chiniak, and Tatopani immediately come to mind.

The first of these treks involved traveling over Chang La, one of the world's highest motorable passes at over 17,000 ft., and revisiting a village at the end of a dirt road (at least the end as far as foreigners are concerned, very close to the Chinese Tibetan border) that we had evangelized two years prior. By God’s grace, we were able to bring the Gospel back to that place again and give each house a new portion of the Scriptures in their local language. And, it was alot of fun this time involving the entire Boyd family and all the Team Yeshua ladies.

As we sauntered through town one evening along the shores of Pangong Lake at roughly 14,000 feet in elevation, we passed by a house where Jesse, Ricky, and Bethany slept back in 2014. The homeowner came outside and actually recognized us: “You are the people who talked to us about Jesus and gave us really nice socks for the winter cold.” People living high up in the Himalaya really do appreciate the wool socks we try to bring over with us from the States and distribute in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We try to at least make sure we have enough for pregnant women and the elderly. Anyway, this man and his wife insisted that we come inside his home and have some tea, a welcome gift on that blustery evening. The whole family from the area then gathered into the small room, and we exchanged some new socks and a new Scripture portion with them for a hot cup of dudh chai. They were very grateful and were happy to have their home and family prayed for in the name of Jesus. No one in this family has come to the Lord yet, but God is certainly revealing Himself to them. This family couldn’t fit more perfectly into the words of Jesus decree for the gospel to go to “the end of the world.” Before leaving, we sang some hymns for the folks. What a blessing at the end of the road.

Uploaded by Full Proof Gospel Ministries on 2016-10-04.

Under cover of darkness, we crumbed the town with the printed Word and even slogged up to the Buddhist gompa atop a high hill overlooking the town. Inside, we placed Ladakhi Scriptures with the Buddhist scrolls to be discovered later, confident that God’s Word never returns void.

There were other such excursions:

We took a short trip out to the end of the road at Panamik in the Nubra Valley, the same road along which FPGM walked a cross back in 2006 and cemented it atop a small peak. This time, a village was saturated, Scripture was left inside a Buddhist gompa, and a search was made for some sign of that old cross. Unfortunately, we found none. On the way back to Leh, we crossed over the Khardung La, the world’s highest motorable pass at 18,308 ft. There, at the pass, we shared the Gospel with some Israelis and a few Indian Army officers.

The guys made a five-day trek along part of the Markha Valley route that is real popular with the Israelis. This involved a high camp off that route, a long traverse of a glacier, and the summit of a few Himalayan peaks, including a 20,187-footer dubbed Little Dzo. A lot of Nepali-speaking porters and cooks along the route also received copies of God's Word in their language. In fact, we hired Nepali-speaking cooks for this expedition on purpose. A few Israelis and other foreign trekkers also heard the Word amidst the high places of the earth.

Another adventure involved the whole team and the windswept Kharnak Region up and over the Tanglang La, the world's second highest motorable pass, or so they say. In the Kharnak, we camped alongside a group of Tibetan nomads for a couple of days. While half of the team stayed back in camp going tent to tent with the Gospel and fresh socks, the other half climbed up to 17,000 ft. in the high valleys to find the shepherds. The Word went out (Ladakhi Scripture portions, Gospel tracts, Tibetan/Ladakhi Gospel DVD’s, etc.) in at least two nomad camps in a very rugged and barren area.

Brother Ricky took part of the team back through the Suru Valley where they again visited with the aforementioned believers. From there, they went out to the end of the road in Padum, a remote section of Buddhist Ladakh that can only be accessed by road via Muslim Kargil. In the winter, you can walk the frozen Zanskar River to get there, but that’s a brutally cold option which forces you to sleep in ice caves. One of these days, it would be nice to do that Chaddar Trek.

The LORD truly does have a sense of humor.

Anyway, out in the Zanskar Valley, the Gospel was scattered at remote Buddhist monasteries and in villages that FPGM first visited way back in 2006. Ironically, the vehicle that was used to transport Ricky, two of the team members, and two other brethren out to Zanskar was once owned by a local governing body, and it was specifically used to seek out local believers, haul them out to the desert, beat them, and leave them to find their own way home. Years later, that same vehicle was used, not to persecute Christians, but to carry them out to remote corners to preach the Gospel. The Lord really does have a sense of humor.

While one group was out in the Zanskar Valley, another went over the Wari La and down into the Shyok Valley. On this two-day excursion, a Buddhist monastery and a Buddhist village were saturated with the Gospel, Nepali speakers were sought out and received Project Jagerna Scripture portions in their language, and the Gospel was placed atop two Himalayan peaks--Wari Peak (18,551 ft.) and the North Khardung Pinnacle (19,288 ft).

a faithful GOD in spite of unfaithful israel

An Israeli couple reads from Isaiah 53 at one of our early Shabbat meals.

During the summer, as we made these Gospel excursions to the ends of the road, part of the team always remained in Leh to uphold a consistent Christian witness for the flow of tourists coming through town. And, Fridays were a top priority in terms of having everyone back and ready to host Israelis for our weekly Shabbat meal. The first few weeks were discouraging as only a couple of people showed up. These clearly heard the Gospel and seemed open to the Truth (and for this, we rejoiced), but we began to wonder if the lack of participation was due to having been black-listed by the local rabbis. Rabbis are known to be stationed around the world in places where Israeli travelers frequent, and these call themselves "anti-missionaries," always on guard to drive Israelis away from people like us!

We were regularly let down several Friday evening when Israelis would promise to join us for the Sabbath meal throughout the week and then not show up at all. It is common in Israeli culture to give your word about meeting up and then to change plans without any notice. Understandably, it is even more common when traveling in a Third World country. In bringing this failing work before the Lord, we asked that He would make it clear whether we should continue opening our home and inviting Israelis over or if we should turn our primary focus to the Gentiles. After the manner of Gideon in Judges 6, we “put out a fleece” before God. We would host and invite to one more Shabbat gathering: If no Israelis showed up, we would simply discontinue hosting the Friday night meals. The daily evangelism to Israelis would continue, but on the weekends, we would go to the Gentiles. Well, the following Friday, eight Israelis showed up at the house! The LORD obviously put us through a trial to prove our hearts. And, thank God, He clearly rewarded us in the end. The evening went great and a few guests took a Hebrew New Testament as a gift at the end of the night.

What’s more incredible was God’s work the follow week! We continued to invite more Israelis to our home trusting that God had a purpose for us to continue hosting the Shabbat meals. During some last minute preparations, I received a phone call from one of our volunteers who told me that they were walking to the house with a whole group of Israelis. We quickly prepared some extra rice to make sure we wouldn't have more guests than our food could feed! After the first group arrived, more continued to trickle in. And, by the night’s end, we had eighteen Israelis sitting in our living room and hearing about Yeshua Ha'Messiach!. God had our cup of blessing running out and spilling into the hallway. At one point, more than four different group conversations were happening at once about Jesus being the Messiah and Israelis trying to understand what Christianity is all about. By summers end, we could look back and praise God that far more Israelis had been hosted than the previous year. One young lady even came back a second time to participate in a women's self-defense seminar that Jesse conducted for the ladies of Team Yeshua.

Below is a video clip of a testimony given to our largest summer gathering after Brother Ricky led a Bible study from Isaiah 53 and the Gospel of John. As Jesse speaks, his t-shirt declares bluntly in Hebrew: "Jesus is the Messiah":

Uploaded by Full Proof Gospel Ministries on 2016-10-04.

equipping others

Stocking a Coffee Shop Bookshelf in Goa with Hebrew Bibles and Gospel Materials

This work of evangelism to Israeli backpackers is a very big work. There is much talk today in missions about “unreached people groups” around the world. Usually that brings to mind the Middle Eastern Muslim or the tribes of pagans living in some obscure corner of the globe. Sadly and oftentimes, the people of Israel are not considered among the unreached. Many might assume that Israelis know a lot about Jesus and that they have heard the Gospel due to their prominence on the world scene. However, most Israelis that we meet have never heard the Gospel Message and have never even seen a New Testament. The New Testament is unilaterally banned in all bookstores across Israel besides the two or three Christian bookstores that can be found. We are always praying that God would bring more laborers to the harvest so that Israel might know her Rightful King, Jesus the Messiah, and that God would increase the Church’s witness among Israelis. Early this year while Brother Ricky was in Goa, India, the popular tourist destination for Israelis during the winter months, he met a young Indian man and his wife who operated a small coffee shop along the beach. And, they had established themselves in southern India to be a regular witness to Israelis. This was an exciting thing to see! As these did not have any resources for getting Hebrew Bibles, Brother Ricky connected them with the Society for Distributing Hebrew Scriptures. This organization based in the United Kingdom provides Bibles free of charge to Jewish people anywhere in the world with multiple languages available. This summer up in Leh, we popped into a new coffee shop that had opened in the main market area. We discovered that it was being run by Christians who suddenly and unexpectedly found themselves overwhelmed with an Israeli customer base. We were thrilled to meet them, and when they heard that our focus was outreach to the Israelis and that we had resources for this, they were thrilled to meet us. The Lord allowed us to spend quality time with these Gentile believers and teach them valuable lessons about sharing Jesus with Jewish people. And, we were able to supply them with 25 really nice Hebrew New Testaments to distribute from their shop.

In all the previous years that FPGM has been laboring in South Asia, we have never seen another legitimate presence established for specifically reaching the Israeli backpackers. This year, the Lord blessed us by putting folks into our path in both the south and north of India who are making real efforts to reach out to the more than 30,000 Israelis who come to the Subcontinent every year. And, by His grace, we were able to better equip them and supply them with copies of the Word of God in Hebrew. We will continue our labors and, Lord willing, we will continue to host a Team Yeshua every year. Even now, Ricky Springer is focused upon building up the work of witnessing to Israelis in Nepal and trying to get local Nepali Christians involved. A Team Yeshua member from this past summer will be joining him for six weeks this winter to help in the work.

As for next summer, we are praying about taking a Team Yeshua to Peru. Peru, which is close to the Equator, is another place frequented by Israeli travelers as they move north out of Argentina and Chile during the South American winter months. And Huaraz, at the feet of the Andean Cordillera Blanca and Cordillera Huayhuash, like Leh, should prove a perfect place to reach them. We are on the hunt for solid Bible-believing young people for Team Yeshua Peru 2017 even now.

As for South Asia, we would like to move toward hosting longer-term Fall/Winter teams (September-February) that will be based in Kathmandu and involved with reaching Israelis in Ladakh, Nepal, and Goa. We are praying for God to raise up a Team Yeshua South Asia 2017, a group of solid young people who want a taste of real missions at the end of the globe and who are willing to give up six months of their lives to take the Gospel to the Jew first and also to the Gentile (Romans 1:16).

the long journey home

Bishnu shares Christ with some Nepali migrant workers on the outskirts of Leh.

At the end of the summer, Brother Bishnu, our national partner from Nepal, flew over and joined us in Leh to help with some teachings and our Project Jagerna distribution work amongst Nepali speakers. He joined us for the long overland route back to Delhi, this time via Manali, and was instrumental in helping us to get Nepali Scriptures into the hands of a lot of Nepali-speaking people. Here is a testimony from his own hand concerning the time that he spent with Team Yeshua:

Dear praying friends and families

Greetings from the Himalaya!

“Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said” (Joshua 14:12).

“But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it” (Numbers 14:24).

I would like to thank you very much for continuously praying for the ministry. The Lord heard your prayers and answered in powerful ways. I just want to praise God for His faithfulness and grace. He is good, always.

Distributing Nepali Gospel Material to Road Workers on the World's Highest Motorable Road

Well, the Lord brought me safely to Ladakh, India where I met up with a group of my friends who are trying to reach Israeli backpackers. This was my first time to this place, and Leh-Town, where I flew in, is situated at nearly 12,000 ft. in elevation and surrounded by naked, rugged mountains. The town fully operates only a few months out of year in sync with the summer tourist season. Many Nepali people actually go there for seasonal jobs that the local Ladakhi Buddhists will not do. The Lord guided my steps to these, and I could preach the life-giving Gospel to them in their own language. I found two of them walking on a road way up into the mountain. Another two were working on the world’s highest motorable road. Many seasonal business workers and construction workers were also reached in Leh itself. On one occasion, while I went rafting with Team Yeshua on the Zanskar River, the Lord opened a door for me to clearly communicate Jesus to a local Buddhist man at a riverside restaurant. I had to preach to him in the Hindi language, and he told me that he had never heard the Gospel before. I also met a man from my hometown of Pokhara and gave him the Gospel. He had been working in Ladakh with a whitewater rafting business. Oh, Ladakh is such a spiritually dark place; you can feel it with every step on the streets and roads of that place.

I had the great privilege of meeting a Ladakhi brother in Christ and his family along with two more sisters in Christ. They meet in the brother’s rented house. He is from a Muslin background, and is boldly living for the Lord. He has been trying to reach his own villagers in the Kargil area, a Muslim region west of Ladakh toward Pakistan. Actually, India and Pakistan fought a war over Kargil as recently as 1990. This brother told me about a handful of believers in Kargil and of others showing genuine interest in the Gospel. The Lord is doing something, even in the darkest and most spiritually oppressive of places. I would like to request you to pray for these believers, and Lord-willing, I would like to go back and have fellowship with them, encouraging them in the Lord. We are also praying to print some literature for them in their local language.

On the way out of Ladakh, enroute to Manali, we gave out some Ladakhi tracts to the food vendors on the road. God brought us safely to the village of Keylong in Himachal Pradesh where I unexpectedly met some Nepali men from the Ramechhap District. It was so good to give them the glorious Gospel there, as we have also preached the Gospel in their home villages back in Nepal. The Lord kept us safe along very dangerous and narrow roads that eventually brought us to Manali, a tourist hub at about 7,000 ft. that also sees a lot of Israeli tourist traffic. The rain made our journey from Leh pretty miserable, but God was with us; and people heard the Gospel all along the way.

Preaching to Nepalis Looking for Work in Manali's Main Market

Our brief stay in Manali was very fruitful. I got to preach the Gospel to Nepali people from the Dailekh District of midwest Nepal. And, I met others hanging around looking for jobs as we targeted the main market area for two full days. These had many questions and just hung around listening. Many Project Jagerna Gospels of John, Sacrifice tracts, and the new Ancient Path tracts (i.e. fresh off the press from Kathmandu) were distributed freely. From Manali, a long overnight bus ride brought us back to Delhi, and there, I met more Nepali people in Pahargunj. It was also a privilege to speak the Gospel in the Hindi language to some Indian people as well.

Then overnight bus ride brought us to New Delhi where I tried to find some Nepali people in Pahargunj. The Lord helped me to find some and also few Indians heard the Gospel.

Please pray for these spiritually dark areas and for all those who heard the Gospel, both Jew and Gentile, during my brief time labor with Team Yeshua.

Now, our plan is to go to Jajarkot District in midwest Nepal. We will be training people and visiting our church planters for more than a week in October. Lord willing, we will supply thousands Scripture portions and Gospel tracts to that area. Please keep praying for us as the opposition to the Gospel is growing and many churches are staying inside the church compounds. Notwithstanding, we will go as Caleb said in Joshua 14:12, and we trust the Lord’s promise in Numbers 14:24 that we shall possess it.

Once again, thank you very much for your continuous prayers and support. Please pray that the Lord raises many more laborers in Nepal as the work is huge and the laborers are very few. Please pray for Nepal and the growing opposition towards Gospel. We trust the Almighty who is for us, and we trust His promise that no one can be against us. As the slothful man, let us not say, “There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets” (Proverb 22:13). Our Lord is in control!

Bishnu

Truly, it was a long overland journey back to Delhi as it had been going up from there back in June. Along the way, many were confronted with the Gospel--Ladakhis, Nepalis, Indians, and more Israelis. It was in Manali that we gave out the last of our Hebrew New Testaments and thereby broke last year's records by one. This summer, Team Yeshua was able to get 28 Hebrew New Testaments into the hands of Israeli backpackers. In terms of Jewish evangelism, that is pretty big. It was also in Manali that we were able to share the Gospel with two young men from the Sudan and bring our country total for the summer up to 41. By God's grace, Team Yeshua shared the Gospel with people from 41 different countries!

Please continue praying for Full Proof Gospel Ministries and these works. It's time to start recruiting again, and we are in need of more volunteers to come join us on the foreign field for Team Yeshua 2017. If you know of any young adults that would like to volunteer with us, please have them make contact as soon as possible. The volunteers will need time to go through the application process and prepare for the summer by getting a passport and the proper visas. Also, please contact us if you need a Hebrew/English Bible to give to one of your Jewish neighbors.

postscript

One Final Team Hike back in North Carolina

Team Yeshua arrived safely back in the United States on August 18th, and after of few days of debriefing and a closing service, everyone returned home, some to go back to work and some to go back to school. Praise God, one of those team members will be returning to Nepal to help brother Ricky with Israeli outreach for about 6 weeks in December. I rejoice when the summer missions internships spark further foreign missionary service.

Brother Ricky had to come back to America and only recently got over a long battle with E. Coli (courtesy of a restaurant in Delhi) that literally saddled him for some weeks. Thanks to all those who faithfully prayed for him. Lord willing, he will be back in Kathmandu at the end of November and back to the work of taking the Gospel to Israeli backpackers in Nepal. But, between now and then, there is much work to be done.

Ricky gives a Hebrew New Testament to an Israeli woman working a kiosk in a North Carolina mall.

On October 17th, after preaching at a missions conference and targeting the local Oktoberfest here in Hickory, Ricky and Jesse will hit the road for 5-6 weeks, aiming to take copies of the Hebrew Scriptures to Israelis that work in mall kiosks all across America and Canada. These past several weeks, in just a few local malls, we have been able to give out several Tanakhs and even a few Hebrew New Testaments. It's an interesting phenomenon, the Israeli mall kiosk worker, and we want to make sure these have a copy of the Scriptures while here in North America. Our proposed route will involve about 11,000 miles, setting the compass north, rendezvousing with Brother Bishnu in Anchorage, some trainings in Jewish evangelism for an Eskimo fellowship with a heart for Jewish missions, a little college campus and bus stop preaching, an end of the road or two, outreach to Nepali-speaking Bhutanese refugees, and a long ride back across Canada with a Nepali brother in our back seat who was just in our back seat from Leh all the way to Delhi. We joked about a long road trip looking for Israeli mall kiosk workers and Nepali-speaking immigrants over dal bhat in a hole-in-the-wall Nepali dive down one of Manali's dark alleys back in August. Now, the Lord is bringing it to pass. Stay tuned . . .

Our God is a faithful God who keeps his promises to Israel and to the Church. He keeps his promises.

In Leh, A Double Rainbow all the Way across the Sky

Jesus is King!

The FPGM Team

where does your path lead?