The Last House In India

Several weeks back, I had the exquisite joy of returning to Bethel Temple in Dayton, Ohio - the church where I broke into the ministry in 1959. Believe it or not, I was the youth pastor--ho, boy, is THAT ever a long time ago!

And I was also the choir director, despite the fact I could not read music ... not even a note!

I love that scripture, "What they don't know will never hurt them." Well, there IS such a scripture, isn't there? Somewhere?

One of the heroines of that church was Anna Tomaseck. Almost single-handedly, she opened the country of Nepal to missionaries. In 1936, Anna heard the voice of God calling her to care for unwanted children in a village in the mountains of North India, very near the border of Nepal (which is where you find Mt. Everest, you know).

I have recently been in that part of the world and it's incredibly primitive NOW--so I can't even imagine what it was like 65 years ago. Anna founded the Nur Children's Home, known as "The Last House In India."

In this remote spot, she spent the next 33 years of her life, raising hundreds of Indian and Nepalese children. Many of those kids grew up to be involved in government and some became guards at the border. They loved Anna so much they opened doors of ministry for her that no one else had.

And many of those children themselves took the gospel into the snow-capped peaks of Nepal where today there are hundreds of churches, preaching the Gospel of Christ.

Folks lined up to tell young Anna 65 years ago that no one could reach those people. But she had heard the burden from Jesus and she listened only to His blessed voice. Next time you are following your divine call, and the nay-sayers line up to discourage you, check out their hands. If there are no nail prints there, ignore them and just keep on keeping on as Anna did.

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