Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Nepal

Miraculous Connections Amidst Crisis in Nepal

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by Robin Nafziger, Vincent Mennonite Church

How extraordinary–or dare we say miraculous?–is it that two people called to serve God on different continents, separated by almost 8,000 miles and twelve time zones, are both supported by Vincent Mennonite Church, and brought together to help one another and the people of Nepal after the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake first struck the region on April 25, 2015. As the aftershocks rise to a magnitude 7.3 quake this past Tuesday, God reminds us He is moving amidst the shaking mountains making connections for His children.

Dave Mansfield with Dale and Bethsaba Nafziger at Top of the World Coffee Shop located in Kathmandu Nepal (April 30, 2015)
Dave Mansfield with Dale and Bethsaba Nafziger at Top of the World Coffee Shop located in Kathmandu Nepal (April 30, 2015)

Years ago, God had put in motion His plan to bring aid and comfort to the people of Nepal living in fear with the aftermath and aftershocks from the earthquake. Following God’s call to serve in Nepal many years ago, Dale Nafziger now resides in Kathmandu, the capital city, where he and his family witnessed and experienced the panic of this natural disaster very personally. Meanwhile, halfway around the world in Las Vegas, Nevada, Dave Mansfield followed God’s call to serve over a decade ago and remains in leadership at the YWAM base located there while also serving and leading with RescueNet, an all-volunteer international disaster response team. With approximately 90 volunteers from 16 countries, RescueNet has the capability to deploy a team to the site of a disaster within 24 hours of a request for aid.

Shortly after the earthquake struck Nepal, RescueNet was preparing to assemble a team of responders who were waiting to deploy once help was requested. As Dave Mansfield prepared the way for his team, one of the first calls he made was to Dale Nafziger, a fellow follower of Christ with ties to the same home congregation.

Through this connection, Dale Nafziger and his wife Beth were able to offer a location to Dave and his 16-member RescueNet team at Top of the World Coffee Shop in Kathmandu, which is owned and operated by the Nafzigers. The shop offered a place for the RescueNet team to store equipment, and organize their medics and children’s aid workers before sending them out to the heavily-damaged neighboring villages. Top of the World Coffee Shop also provided an opportunity for the RescueNet team to connect with Dale, Beth and locals seeking refuge and a sense of normalcy. Dale and Beth also gave the team access to people familiar with the language, the area, and the customs in order to allow them to accomplish as much as they could under difficult circumstances. In addition, Beth, a nurse, was able to provide contacts in the Nepal Christian Medical and Dental Association as well.

It is a monumental task to organize the right people, plan logistics and prepare the appropriate equipment to travel thousands of miles to an unfamiliar land to serve people you may not understand. Yet, God’s miraculous design allowed Dave and Dale to come together in Nepal at the time of the earthquake to support and encourage each other as they assist God’s children in a time of need, comforting the people of Nepal, building on the common bond of congregation, and the call of God.

Please continue to pray for the people of Nepal as they continue to recover from the original earthquake and repeated devastating aftershocks.

Standing with brothers and sisters in Nepal

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by Barbie Fischer, communications manager & administration coordinator

Top of the World Coffee in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Top of the World Coffee in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Those living in Nepal still tremble following a magnitude 7.8 earthquake that hit on Saturday, April 25. It was centered less than 50 miles from Kathmandu.

Dale and Bethsaba Nafzinger, who have ties to Vincent Mennonite Church (Spring City, Pennsylvania), own and operate Top of the World Coffee,  a café in Kathmandu. The Nafzigers reported they are all well, with little to no damage to their home and shop. However, the region is severely devastated, including several buildings in their town that crumbled.

Since the initial earthquake, there have been several aftershocks that continue to rock the region, including a 6.7 magnitude quake.

Dale says that growing up towards the end of the Vietnam War, he occasionally heard the term “shell-shocked”; now, he is experiencing it firsthand. Every time a loud jet passes overhead, causing the building to shake, or loud thunder crashes in the distance, he and others find themselves scrambling for safety.

In the midst of this, the coffee shop re-opened on Wednesday, and so far, response has been far greater than anticipated. When the Nafzigers opened the coffee shop, one of their goals was to offer a space of refuge, with comfort food and a comfortable environment in the middle of a very intense city. They are grateful, they say, to see their vision coming to life in a way they’d never imagined.

As recovery continues, Dale and his family have extended an invitation to the shop staff welcoming them to “both ‘live with us’ and ‘eat with us’ until things reach a state of normality, albeit, a ‘new normal.’”

In other areas, aid workers have struggled to reach several communities, such as those in the district of Gorkha, where the earthquake was centered, due to the mountainous terrain and devastation from the quake. The death toll has now risen to over 5,000, with thousands more injured. There is still hope, though: Not only have the Nafzingers reopened Top of the Mountain Coffee, recently a young man was pulled from the rubble after spending over 80 hours buried under what had been the Kathmandu Hotel.

Many are wishing to offer aid and support to brothers and sisters in Nepal as they tremble in the aftermath of this tragedy. Recovery will be a long process, and as Dale notes, it will be important not only to give immediate humanitarian aid but also invest in long-term initiatives to rebuild communities in the region.

If you would like to support recovery and rebuilding efforts in Nepal you can do so through Mennonite Mission Network’s Earthquake Response in Nepal. If you want to follow the progress of Top of the World Coffee, you can do so on their Facebook page.

Redefining success at the ‘Top of the World’

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Bethsaba & Dale Nafziger
www.topoftheworldcoffee.com

I grew up in Vincent Mennonite Church, Spring City, Pa. I first went to Nepal, the land of Mt. Everest, under Mennonite Central Committee in 1979. Bethsaba, a native of Darjeeling, and I were married there in 1994 – where we currently continue to serve under Mennonite Mission Network. Until 2003 we happily served in various capacities under the United Mission to Nepal. Around that time, however, UMN had a number of entrepreneurial projects that they were looking to “spin off” into small private enterprises. Bethsaba “latched onto” one of those as an opportunity for providing jobs and employment to women living in our village. The opportunity was that of making frozen french fries. Our new company’s name was, appropriately, “Top of the World.”

Reena was one of our first Top of the World employees. She entered this life with “three strikes” against her: first she was a girl, second she was low caste, and third she had a hearing defect. While she worked Reena simply observed us. Then she began to ask questions…questions not at all of the nature one would expect to hear from an “uneducated” village girl. To make a long story short: Reena is now one of the key members of our local congregation.

In 2007 we added frozen pizzas to our product line. During that same year we added on coffee and re-registered our small company under the name “Top of the World Coffee.” A busy year and a half passed between company restructuring and the time we first began selling coffee. This time was occupied learning the coffee business, acquiring the necessary equipment, sourcing coffee, etc. Nepal is a landlocked country so everything either needs to be imported via airfreight, at considerable cost, or via India, at considerable risk. On November 16, 2008 we finally roasted and sold our first bags of coffee. It was a joyous occasion!

Frank A. Clark once said, “If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.” That statement nicely summarizes our experiences in practicing “business as mission” here over the past seven years. Nepal is a stunningly beautiful country – given that it contains the highest mountains on earth how could it possibly be otherwise? The people are friendly, the culture is exotic…and the church here is growing at an amazing pace. Economically, however, it is also one of the most rigorous business environments possibly found on the face of planet earth. In addition to the issues that arise from Nepal being land locked, we currently struggle making and selling frozen foods with 12 hours “loadshedding” (daily lack-of-electricity), political instability, and perpetual shortages of essential supplies.

If economic problems alone are not sufficient, however, possibly our greatest area of challenge is that of business ethics. Fortunately, we are not alone in confronting these issues. We are part of a supportive network of national and expatriate Christian business women and men who call ourselves “Great Commission Companies – Nepal.” We meet weekly for prayer and also have regular monthly meetings. Luci Swindoll stated, “In God’s economy you will be hard-pressed to find many examples of successful ‘Lone Rangers.’” Based upon our situation here in Nepal, I couldn’t agree more! One of the issues that we regularly deliberate here is, “How do we define ‘business success?’” If one narrowly defines it on the basis of the teaching found in a traditional MBA…one may as well pack up and go home…or never even come to Nepal in the first place. Looking at success from a Kingdom perspective, however, makes the whole effort worthwhile. Just look at Reena!

Friends and well-wishers occasionally ask how they can access our products – as a way of supporting our efforts. Regrettably, they are not available in the USA…nor will they realistically be available there in the foreseeable future. Something that everyone can do, however, is pray. Beyond that people are most welcome to contribute to our continuing lives and service here under Mennonite Mission Network. Giving fills a very real need. Finally, our Top of the World Coffee does have business goals that I be happy to communicate via personal e-mail correspondence.

We are grateful to you, the churches of the Franconia Mennonite Conference, for your faithfulness in helping us to redefine business success here at the top of the world!