Last October 1998, John and I were forced to return to England from our mission country of Nepal on short notice due to problems instigated by several unruly, so-called members in Nepal who threatened our visa situation. We had no choice but to withdraw a small investment from our understanding Nepalese co-founders which had been used to co-found a high school. Working part-time at the high school had provided us accommodation, basic living expense, and a means to obtain a non-tourist visa (which proved to be extremely difficult and very expensive), besides an inroads to the education system. Our hope was to stay in Nepal up to three years on the visa, after which time we had to pray for a miracle, or return to England and start over.

Living in two different countries for part of each year has been a great financial, mental and physical strain for us, as I’m sure other national messiahs have found a similar challenge. It is also a very lonely course in many ways, especially when we have to keep uprooting ourselves to move and try to stay temporarily in a different location. Being without children has its advantages, but adds to our loneliness. In Nepal, we continue to be the only elder leader most of the time. Our Japanese national messiah cannot come to Nepal, our Korean NM can only come for 3-4 months each years and he doesn’t speak English, and we still don’t have a "Cain" NM. Our national leader is very young and not able to lead on his own. When we were trying to seek guidance from our regional and continental leader during an extremely difficult period, we could not get any response and had to make our own decisions with only God to turn to.

In this way, we have come to realize more deeply our True Parents’ course, and our own challenge to become a "messiah" not only for our family, our tribe, our society but for a nation. To be a messiah means the willingness to pay indemnity for others.

When we returned in October, we arrived heartbroken, without a home or car and without knowing clearly what plan to make next. Do we go back to Nepal in January on a tourist visa for at most five months, which we could just afford to do? Do we take time out to try and build a stronger financial foundation for the future? Many such questions plagued our minds as we wondered where to stay temporarily in England. This time, it seemed more difficult than ever to find God’s guidance, and with winter weather approaching, we struggled with the idea of fundraising on the streets. During this period of confusion, we quickly bought a car so that at least we could be mobile with most of our belongings to carry around. We began to feel like refugees in our own country. Unfortunately, the engine blew out after a long distance trip one week later, which cost us the value of the car.

We had been staying with John’s brother in Scunthorpe, whose wife had warmly welcomed us to stay as long as we needed to make a new start. We made the long-distance trip to help us decide where to settle ourselves, and we are ever so grateful for the many brothers and sisters who helped us in various ways and with their warm welcome: Mark and Inge in Bath, Barbara at Cleeve House, Terry and Melanie in Wiltshire, the Hills, the Horscrofts, and the Browns In Eastborne, Tina Coombs, Cecile Franklin, Andrew and Ingrid Davis in London, Ashley Crosswaithe who picked us up at the airport, and Simon and Yuriko Roselli (Yuriko was our former Japanese missionary and dear sister in Nepal) who arranged the ride from the airport without our asking, gave us the use of their flat on more than one occasion, and moral support to find the determination to keep going.

Unfortunately, we had an accident in our second car during an unusual moment on a roundabout in London and lost the value of that car one week after the first one. Thank goodness for AA! But our confidence was deeply shattered and we could feel how much Satan must be trying to defeat us during the growth stage of our mission. When we finally decided to move to the center in Manchester, we felt a bit like True Father when his Christian foundation failed in South Korea and had to go to North Korea to begin again. Though we are grateful that we could stay temporarily in a church center, the last few months have been one of the darkest and loneliest periods of our life. Again, we are grateful for the moments of friendship we could exchange with Stephen Kong and his kindness to allow us the use of his computer, as well as the European fundraising team, who stayed with us before Christmas.

It is a great challenge for members in Manchester region to form a community due to distance and transportation, but Chris Jones is faithfully trying to maintain a monthly service and Josefa would like to develop WFWP, but she needs the support of another sister.

John and I focused on looking for work and communicating with Nepal. To find any job is easy, but to find a job which will enable us to work temporarily and earn enough money to continue our mission is very difficult, especially since John lacks qualifications and I have a serious health limitation. Therefore, after True God’s Day, we decided the best thing for us was to return to Nepal and come back to England in the summertime when at least we can fundraise. We had been doing conditions since our first car blew up, and we felt the support of spirit world after we purchased our tickets. We could fly from Manchester for the same price we paid from Heathrow. A few days later, we received a call from a Russian fundraising team which was looking to rent a car. One of their drivers is a 55-year-old Korean sister with American citizenship whose husband is the regional leader in St. Petersburg, Russia. She came to Manchester to pick up our car after an agreement was made. She had just received a letter from the Japanese wife of our Nepalese national leader, who had worked for three years as a missionary in Russia. The team was happy to know that they were helping to support NM to Nepal by renting our car.

The most interesting thing, however, happened the day after our car was gone. We received a message that our former employer wanted to offer us a job. It was the same job we had worked at four years previously at the Oxford Hotel in Bayswater. This time, the pay would be higher, we could still live in, and there would be no cleaning responsibilities—only managing the hotel and continental breakfast. If we took the job, we could save L250 a week after expenses. We were really in a turmoil because it seemed to be the very thing we’d been praying for to help us get ahead financially, visit the U.S.A., where I hoped to give Blessing to my parents and relatives before 2000, and possibly to help John restore his residency in America where we could more easily find temporary work to continue our mission in Nepal.

At first, we both thought, we have to take this job and delay our trip back to Nepal. It caused us great sadness as we were already expected in Nepal and our hearts were already on the way. We couldn’t help but think: Why didn’t we get this job offer a few months or weeks earlier, before we bought tickets and turned over our car? But finally, after deep prayer and contemplation, and a fax which arrived the following morning from our members in Nepal, John felt that God was giving us this experience to pay indemnity again. We were being asked to sacrifice what would benefit us materially, rather than what would benefit God and Nepal. Our responsibility was to return to Nepal as soon as possible, and offer to God our willingness to trust in Him.

When we called our former employer, he told us to contact him when we return; the job might be available at a later date. In the meantime, we are leaving Jan. 22 and will try to develop the export of Nepalese jewelry which Steve Clark helped John begin throughout last year. As well as being an old friend of John’s, Steve has been selling Nepalese jewelry as part of his business to help support our mission.

Yesterday, we received an e-mail from one of our Nepalese members who had created difficulty for us. He offered his heartfelt repentance and explained that he had come under the influence of two members who have now been completely exposed in their wrongdoing and are no longer connected to our movement. We will return to Nepal for our third year and expect victory! To be a messiah is not easy for any of us. Just like True Father, we cannot do it alone. We need each other’s help, because we must all become messiahs on one level or another. We again offer our gratitude to God and True Parents for all the help received from brothers and sisters, and encourage every family along the path of becoming a messiah.

If you are interested to order handcrafted Tibetan/Nepalese silver with turquoise, moonstone, amethyst, garnet, etc., jewelry for your own fundraising or business, please contact Steve Clark for information regarding prices and pictures of jewelry at (1379)7401431 (in England) or John & Ginger Nicholls, P.O. Box 1963, Kathmandu, Nepal. e-mail: jongin2@hotmail.com. fax: 009771-473874

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