I was born in the year 1980 in Amppipal Hospital in Gorkha district. This hospital was established in 1969 by the United Mission to Nepal. My father was an employee of the National Commercial Bank and he had reached the Gorkha headquarter in the course of his work. After his retirement, my mother started working in the same bank. Mother could not read and write. It was only much later that she learned to sign as well as read and write. But that was an era even an illiterate people could get a job.
When I was young, my mother was transferred to a bank at Arughat Bazar in Gorkha district. It now belongs to Arughat Rural Municipality. Dhading district lies in the east of this municipality and after crossing Budhigandaki River in a few minutes, another district is reached. This river separates not only districts but also zones and provinces.
My schooling started from Shree Bhimodaya Secondary School. According to my mother, I failed in class 1 because I lost my book. But then as far back as I can remember, I was a talented student till 7th grade. After reaching class 8, I fell again. The reason for the failure this time was not because the book was lost, but card playing was a major reason. I was a ‘champion’ to play cards. I used to like various chess games. From a social point of view, it is not considered appropriate to play cards on occasions other than festivals, so we often used to play secretly.
Apart from playing cards, I used to participate in gambling, carom board, marbles, jhandi munda etc. Although I rarely indulged in alcohol and cigarettes, I am grateful to my history that they never developed into habits. On the whole, I was a ‘spoilt’ young man from a social point of view.
After the demise of the Panchayat system, the multi-party system had just begun in the country. The gospel of Jesus introduced to our town for the first time through Dhansur Gurung, one of the evangelists. Ram Bahadur Dhakal (who is now my father-in-law) became the first believer. Later, out of the four members of our family, except me, all three (father Man Bahadur, mother Dhanmaya and younger brother Surendra) also believed while I became a kind of rebel. Accusations like foreign religion, religion that does not respect sisters, religion that destroys culture were common, which also misled me. My mother was worried because I didn’t believe, but on the one hand, she prayed continuously for my conversion, and on the other hand, she also requested the church to pray.
Finally, the prayers of believers including mother proved to be powerful. My persistent unbelief was challenged and a few years after my family believed, I accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior. Although born in Hinduism and brought up in Hinduism, in my youth I received a ‘new birth’ in Christ. In biblical terms, I entered the kingdom of light from the kingdom of darkness. On the occasion of an event, I received water baptism in Budhigandaki Riever from the hands of Pastor Gopal Regmi and his team.
After passing 10th standard, I got married. At that time I was only 19 years old and my wife Janaki was 18 years old. After the School Leaving Certificate I was admitted to Emmanuel Bible Institute. One of the reasons I was brought to Bible school was to reform me because in the eyes of my family I was a spoiled son and in the eyes of my in-laws a spoiled son-in-law. Bible school became like a prison for me because I had to obey many kinds of rules. Even when I slept at home until 8 in the morning, no one said anything, while in Bible school I had to wake up at 5:30 in the morning. My next few days were spent trying to escape due to various other rules and a completely new environment. But when the attempt to escape did not seem to be implemented, I gradually turned my attention to studies.
Here it is appropriate to mention a name of Babu Varghese who came from India as a guest teacher. He taught us about the second coming of Jesus for a month and I was very impressed by his teaching. As I was a new student of the Bible, I could not understand his eloquent teachings, but my heart was saying, “If I study more about the Bible in the future, I should go to his college.”
After completing a two-year (1999-2000) Bible School in Kathmandu, as I had decided, I joined the Bible College in Tamil Nadu, India for further studies. After studying for four years (2001-2005), I got graduation with a Bachelor of Divinity in Theology. After returning to Nepal in 2005, I started teaching as a full-time teacher in the same Bible school where I was once a student. I completed my Masters in Leadership course in 2016.
I have translated about 80 books and booklets and edited and proofread more than 175 books and booklets. In addition to dozens of my articles being published in various Christian newspapers, 11 books have been published so far. I have reached 50 districts of Nepal to give Bible training to pastors, leaders and youth. In addition, I broadcast the program called ‘Life of Hope’ every Wednesday through Radio Paryabaran Chakra 104.2 Mhz. Currently I live in Lalitpur with my family.
What would be my condition if I were not a Christian? Where would I be now if I hadn’t entered Bible school? As time has passed, the answers to such questions would be hypothetical, but one thing is certain: after becoming a Christian and entering the Bible School, I had the opportunity to understand the real meaning of life. If I had not embraced Jesus, would I have lived as a gambler? Did I earn a name as a ‘spoiled’ person in the society? Would I have become a ruthless father who did not care about the family? Because of being a Christian, today I got the opportunity to live this transformed life. When Jesus was on the earth, He said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). I am eternally grateful to Him because I have a life of abundance because of Him.
