Dinner with Nepal Visitors

Visit from Nepal

Jai Mashi, Vani and Shanti! Jai Mashi means ‘Praise to the Messiah’ and is used by the Nepali Moravians as a welcome greeting to show respect and honor. We hope you will join us to welcome, with respect and honor, The Reverends Shanti and Vani Pradhan while they visit Bethlehem during the month of May.

In 2009, Vani and Shanti graduated from Moravian Theological Seminary and were ordained just before returning to their home in Kathmandu, Nepal. They joined in ministry there with Shanti’s brother Nagendra Pradhan serving two congregations which he had started, and since then, they have formed a third. Vani and Shanti had served at Central, College Hill, and Edgeboro Moravian churches as pastoral interns while at the Seminary. These three churches, as well as others in the US, have supported them spiritually and financially in their mission work over the years.

Vani and Shanti will celebrate their son Nahum’s graduation from Moravian University Graduate School on May 4. On Wednesday, May 15 our Mission Committee will host a Mission Supper in the Christian Education building at 6 p.m. All are welcome! Vani and Shanti will present a program outlining their mission work in Kathmandu as well as their operation of the International Kindergarten and Shristi Academy. They started Shristi Academy as a grade school with first grade and have grown it a year at a time until now they have opened the high school with ninth grade. These are private, English speaking schools. They are not Christian schools, but through Vani’s and Shanti’s leadership, the children experience Christian values and ethics. We hope you will also hear about their recent participation in the formation of the Southeast Asian Province of the worldwide Moravian Church.

Vani and Shanti will be Central’s guest speakers at the Sunday morning Lovefeast services on May 12. They will also visit their friends at College Hill and Edgeboro churches for Sunday services and a Moravian Village Sunday service. Included in the schedule is a reception with those individuals who have been with them in Nepal as visiting teachers under the Antioch program and those who might be interested in a Mission experience as an Antioch teacher in the future.

In the words of Paul to the Philippians (1:6), “I am sure of this much: that he who has begun the good work in you will carry through to completion, right up to the day of Jesus Christ. – Craig Mosebach