Page 3 - Presbyterian Connection Fall 2025

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ConnectionP R E S B Y T E R I A N
Continued from page1
nurtured the seeds and saplings
of Nepal’s educational, health,
rural and infrastructure develop-
ment sectors. UMN is an expert
at judging what might work and
what is worth supporting in what
can seem like a bewildering array
of development efforts.
I mentioned the Melamchi Pro-
ject earlier. It began in 1992, when
Nepali engineer Shiva Sharma told
me that he believed the answer to
Kathmandu’s chronic water sup-
ply problem was to build a 20 km
tunnel to divert water from the
Melamchi river into the Kathman-
du valley. UMN decided to sup-
port his idea. We raised one mil-
lion dollars from the UNDP for a
feasibility study (I served as team
leader). We concluded the project
was feasible and recommended
to the government of Nepal that it
be implemented. The government
asked UMN to do so, but UMN
declined, since it had decided
to move away from implement-
ing large infrastructure projects.
However, the seed was planted.
During my trek last Fall, I met
a young Nepali engineer. He told
me that when Melamchi water re-
cently arrived in their neighbour-
hood, there was a big celebration.
It took the government of Nepal a
long time to complete the project
but now the project is supplying
water to many areas of Kath-
mandu, including to the flat where
Lorna and I will be living!
Chronic water supply prob-
lems, which Kathmandu suffered
for many years, affects the poor-
est of the poor the most. Wealth-
ier residents can pay for water to
be trucked to their dwelling, but
the poor do not have that option.
Now that Melamchi water is avail-
able, the poor in Kathmandu have
easier access to water.
United Mission to Nepal is still
nurturing the seeds of develop-
ment in Nepal. It’s amazing how
some of those seeds have grown
ConnectionP R E S B Y T E R I A N
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into key foundational pillars in
Nepal’s economy. The mission’s
work continues and is still worthy
of our support. Lorna and I very
much appreciate the opportunity
to be a part of it again.
A note about the growth of the
Christian church in Nepal. In the
1950s, there were only a handful
of Nepali Christians living in Ne-
pal. Now there are over one mil-
lion. The growth has been almost
solely the result of evangelical
efforts of the Nepali Christians
themselves, who, in the early
years, often paid a heavy price
for their efforts. However, their
sacrifices and dedication led to
perhaps the greatest evangelical
success story of the 20th centu-
ry. United Mission to Nepal played
a key role in this success by dem-
onstrating God’s love through its
“good works,” thereby enhancing
the credibility of the message that
Nepali Christians were communi-
cating to their fellow Nepalis.
So, it turned out my “goodbye
trek” was actually a “hello again
trek”!
From Lorna:
When Gerry talked to me about
the possibility of returning to
Nepal with UMN, I was taken by
surprise. My initial reaction was
that it was far-fetched and, in all
likelihood, wouldn’t happen. After
all, we are both in our early 70s
and have been retired for quite
Gerry and Lorna Kent and their nine grandchildren, who they hope will visit them while they’re in Nepal as mission staff.
a while. I opted for the pray and
wait approach, not dissimilar to
the approach I took in the early
’90’s when, after returning from
a climbing trip in Nepal, my hus-
band discussed with me the pos-
sibility of taking our five children,
ranging in age from 4 to 12 at the
time, and participating in mis-
sionary work there. Working for
the poor in a developing coun-
try had been something we had
talked about throughout our mar-
riage, but for it to become a reality
seemed impossible to me.
Against all odds, we were ac-
cepted by United Mission to Nepal
and sponsored by The Presbyte-
rian Church in Canada to work as
missionaries there. Then, as now,
I have a sense of the miraculous.
I am reminded of the words of
an old hymn by William Cowper:
“God works in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform.”
Even in our later years, God
through the Holy Spirit still directs
and leads God’s people to con-
tinue working, even in unexpected
ways and places. Certainly, dur-
ing our previous five years work-
ing with UMN, Gerry and I were
led in unexpected and fruitful
ways.
I am the unassigned spouse in
this latest missionary endeavour.
My hope is, first of all, to support
my husband in any way that I can.
As for anything else, I’ll pray and
wait and see where God leads.
Perhaps I’ll be surprised again.
To learn more about United Mis-
sion to Nepal, visit unm.org.np.
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