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A Quick Summary for Our Busy Friends

Happy Easter! May you experience a special touch from Jesus this Eastertide.

This month we cover the following:
1. Alfred's birthday
Alfred shares his 60th birthday with his friends
2. The new Novice
Leonie is received as a Novice
3. In the Dalai Lama's temple
What it is like having a high lama as a friend
4. Progress on the Kongki Ka app
We now have the beta version - and it's beautiful!
5. Animal stories
Alfred describes two unexpected encounters with animals that could never have happened in South Africa.
6. Photos and video
Look at our world
7. Praise Reports and 8. Prayer Requests
Thank you for your prayers

1. My Birthday Celebration (Alfred)

Tibetans love to have a celebration. I decided to use this as an excuse to bring the love of Jesus to my Indian and Tibetan friends. I thought that having a 60th birthday was special enough to bring my friends together.

For weeks beforehand I went around to my closest friends. I decided to arrange two events: one in the afternoon and one in the evening to make it easier for everyone to attend.

I received my first birthday present on the evening before. I was in our Zoom conversation class and I explained about my birthday. Lisa (name changed), an Indian medical student, exclaimed that it was her birthday that day, and that she was glad that we could share birthdays. I asked her how she would celebrate. Lisa said that she had been working hard all day during her practical in hospital. Not only that, she would be writing exams the next day, so she had to study the rest of the evening. There was no time for celebrations.

This deeply touched me. This young medical student made time to attend our class despite the immense pressure of medical school. She is clearly getting something special in our classes that ranks higher than spending time with her friends, even on her birthday. I can only think that she is attracted to Jesus in our class. It is wonderful to be special to someone, and I was very happy.

Please pray for Lisa that she will take a decision to follow Jesus.

The next day started with special time with my friends David and Janet from the UK as well as Beth from the USA. They gave me beautiful, thoughtful gifts that showed their love for me. I also received my gifts from my daughters. It was very touching that they could take part in my birthday even though they are so far away.

One present was a set of photographs of my daughters when they were younger. This was precisely in line with what I was intending to share at the birthday party - in celebrating, remember our past together and prepare for our joint future. Most importantly, we thank God for all the great things he has done for us.

In the afternoon, our first guests arrived. There were around twenty. We brought out the first of our birthday cakes. The last guest had not left four hours later when the next wave of forty arrived. I gave two speeches, praising Jesus and blessing my friends. Some bore gifts - there was lots of chocolate. There were also two bottles of wine. The people talked and visited. Introvert Alfred tried to navigate this all as best I could, but there were simply too many people for me to talk personally to each one. The folks did not seem to mind; I'm not sure whether that is a compliment or not.

One memory that stays with me is of Timothy (name changed), He found Victor, a new member of our house, and asked him for three hours about Jesus. Afterwards I explained to Victor that I was glad that he had spent so much time with Timothy as I have been teaching him about Jesus and wanted to hear it from another source. Victor said, "He asked me so many questions my head hurt." I smiled. That's the nature of sharing with those who are seeking after God.

Some way into the second session of the party, my friend Stephen (name changed) arrived. He had been engaged in Tibetan parliamentary sessions all day. He is a diligent politician who will not let the slightest wrong go unchallenged. He must have been exhausted from the intense meetings that were held and I had already excused him. However, he honoured me with a kata (Tibetan scarf), an expensive gift and a short speech. I felt very special.

In the days afterward, I met with the folks that were not able to attend. They were all very happy to see me, and eager to explain why they could not attend. My vendor friends were unanimous - that day had been one of the best trade days in a long time. They were so busy that they could not close their stalls.

What is clear is that the party strengthened my ties with my Tibetan friends, and that was what I wanted. Please pray that Jesus will continue to be a reality in my friends lives and that they will come into a living relationship with him.

As usual, my friend Gonpo was demonstrative in his affection for me.

I had five beautiful cakes. They were also very tasty.

2. The New Novice (Leonie)

After three years of being a Companion of the Society of the Good Shepherd, this month I was received as a Novice. It is such an honor to join this group who "live a vowed life of devotion to Christ and of service to his people under the direction of a common rule of life." "The purpose of the Community is to create a fellowship for the work of God, expressed through the various vocations of individual members."

These are big words, but it is so hard to describe the joy of belonging to this special group. Though we are dispersed across the globe, we regularly meet online to encourage, help and support one another.

As a married member, the "habit" I was clothed in is a grey tabard and cross. The tabard reminds of the yoke of the Lord. That I will wear at meetings only. I will always wear the cross as a constant reminder of Jesus and his saving grace.

3. In the Dalai Lama's Temple (Alfred)

Every weekday I go to my friend Tertius. He is a senior lama in the Dalai Lama's temple. I try to tell him about Jesus, but he is very particular: he only wants to learn English. He always has a question about English ready for me and I help him as best I can.

One day he showed me a letter he had received from a Buddhist in China. The person had a business opportunity to sell paintings in Hong Kong. The problem was that the paintings were in Shanghai. The question that was asked was simple: should the person go ahead with this venture?

This incident reminded me of the huge trust that Buddhists have in their priests. Lamas are expected to have supernatural knowledge on all matters, no matter how big or small.

I asked Tertius whether this was difficult for him. He just smiled and said that it was no problem; he would send an answer soon.

Buddhists have this great expectation of their lamas who are only human and completely fallible. How much more should we trust God, the only one with true knowledge and wisdom.

A few days later, Tertius invited me to the upcoming Lama Dance. This is a special ritual that monks perform only once a year.

On the appointed day I went to the temple. I had to wait a while for the dance to begin. The monks were already chanting. The effect was eerie and disturbing. Through the years I have often heard similar sounds, so I was not fazed, The two dancers stood up and presented themselves for the ceremony. They wore terrifying masks and carried a fearsome blade. The overall effect was very powerful.

However, the moment they started the dance, the effect was completely spoiled. Their movements were tentative and choppy. Their moves were limited to just a few hurriedly executed maneuvers repeated in almost random fashion. The whole event was not a success.

Afterward I went to class with Tertius. Without any prompting, he revealed that he had coached the monks. He had done his best to convey how it was to performed, but they had not learned as he had hoped. He jumped up and demonstrated how the dance was really to be done. Instantly there was a different spirit in the room. Tertius only danced for around ten seconds, but in that time he was completely possessed by the spirit of the dance. His body moved under the strange influence and the presence of evil was manifest in a menacing way.

Please pray for Tertius. His mind is filled with decades of possession. I believe that in his way, he is trying to escape this influence. However, the forces holding him are extremely dark and will not let him go easily.

4. Progress on the Kongki Ka App

We have received the Kongki Ka app and are in the process of testing it. Already it is amazing. We can't wait to complete development.

5. Animal Stories (Alfred)

This month I was struck by how differently humans and animals interact in McLeod Ganj.

In the first incident I was sitting in my Buddhist philosophy class listening to the professor speaking in his most boring monotone. I spotted a mosquito hovering over my hand. It was staying quietly in place and seemed to be eyeing the perfect landing spot.

My first instinct was to crush it with a swift clap of my hands but then I checked myself: this would not go down well in a room full of Buddhists. I looked around the room and considered my next move. Everyone seemed to be studiously listening to the lecturer, unaware of the mosquito invasion. For a moment I considered going ahead with my plan to end the mosquito's life, but I decided against it; the folks would be horrified at taking the life of even a mosquito.

Reluctantly I tried to shoo the mosquito away. It was happy with where it was, and was now looking for a feeding place somewhere on my leg. I shooed a bit more vigorously, and the mosquito lazily flew 30 centimetres (12 inches) away before slowly moving in my direction again. I waved my arms vigorously, doing my best to seem as threatening as I could towards the intruder.

The mosquito seemed to get the idea that it would get no peace while it was with me and left me alone. What happened to it? I don't know. Perhaps it was able to get its meal off one of the other students. Perhaps it just flew out the window looking for other prey.

Meanwhile, the lecturer droned on, intent on his lesson, and the world returned to normal.

A few days later I was taking out the garbage. In MacLeod Ganj, the garbage truck comes at any time of the day. When it goes past our house, we know that we must take our garbage out for it to be collected. When the truck reaches us again, we hand it to the garbage collector located on the truck.

I put down my trash, waiting for the return of the garbage truck. I looked at something on my phone. When I looked up, I saw three cattle standing in front of me, eyeing my garbage with engrossed curiosity.

For context, the cattle of our town make a living by rifling through rubbish that is left lying around. I could see the gears in their minds turning: "Big bags. Lots of food. Let's get some."

The problem is that cattle make a huge mess when they open garbage bags. In my mind's eye I could see the dirty mopping up work that was waiting for me if these cattle had their filthy way with my garbage. I decided to stop this no matter what the cost. I tried to wave them away. I pushed one of them, but this did not work. He turned his head and deliberately pierced the nearest garbage bag with his horn.

Things were not going well. I hurriedly started retrieving the garbage to take it inside. At this point the biggest bull got agitated. He looked at me with unmistakable intent and came straight for me. Let's just be be clear - this guys was big. As I looked at him, I could see nothing except his large set of horns coming straight at me. A few years ago, another bull had given me a gentle reprimand for not being respectful enough in his presence and I had carried a blue mark for weeks. This bull was far more serious...

I wish that I could show you the video of my lightning speed as I used all four hands to grab the rubbish and then danced past the enraged cattle. Somehow I got through the door and slammed it in front of the bull's face.

The cattle could easily have broken the door down if they had put their minds to it, and I looked out to see if there would be a full-scale invasion, but fortunately this did not happen. They philosophically turned around, doubtless thinking that perhaps they would have better luck next time.

Soon after, the garbage truck arrived and the garbage collector took my offering without a second look, not knowing how nearly he had been cheated of this stash.

6. Photos and Video

Our friend Dhondup treated us by making momos for us. Momos are Tibetan style dumplings. It is a lot of work. Watch the video to see the process by which they are made.

For Palm Sunday, the children at the Kids' Happy Club made a model of Jesus on the way to Jerusalem. They had a lot of fun doing this, and here is the result. May they long remember the story of how Jesus willingly went to Jerusalem to die for our sins.

Our nearest convenience is situated on the closest street corner. We get most of our daily needs here. This has always been an experience unlike anything I've had anywhere. It was so small that it was crowded when there was more than customer at a time.

This week they opened their expanded store. It is more than twice as large as it was before. Now it will only be crowded when there are more than four customers!

(Alfred) A group of us went to the cricket test between England and India at Dharamshala. We watched India bat England into the ground.

The game was one-sided, but the view was extraordinary. I love my town!

7. Praise Reports

The little fellowship that meets in our house is growing in its impact. We regularly have guests from around the world. Last Sunday we had 27 people from 9 countries!
We have also started a Teens' Fellowship that meets on Sunday afternoons. We have about ten young people joining us. The majority do not know Jesus, but all have fun while hearing about the Good News.
The regular Kids' Club has restarted. There are 31 children at present and we are under pressure to admit more. The town is speaking about the club and positive impact it is having on the children and the demand is growing. However, there is simply not enough space for more. Please pray for wisdom on how to address the need.
Leonie is able to do more things than before such as going for longer walks. She still has to lie down but can take part in the activities of the house.
Alfred's birthday went well as it brought the love of Jesus to our friends.
The initial recordings of the Kham Bible Stories is complete. Final checking is taking place. The Hindi version is proceeding slowly (see Prayer Request below).
The Kongki Ka app is finally here! Please pray for wisdom as we try it out and make decisions that aim to make it more usable.

8. Prayer Requests

(Alfred - Stop Press) I have discerned that I am not learning in Buddhist Philosophy class. It is a constant spiritual battle that is tiring me out. I have been advised by people I respect that I should drop the classes as they are not good for me. I have decided to go back to language class so that I can improve my Tibetan. Please pray for a renewed enthusiasm for study.
We will persevere in praying for Leonie's complete healing.
The father of the presenter of the Kham Bible Stories Video Series is ill with a heart condition. Please pray for healing.
We still need financial provision for our living expenses.

How you can support us

We need your prayer support: without prayer and fasting the walls that are surrounding Tibetan Buddhists will never be broken down. Our newsletters aim to help you focus your prayers strategically.

You can also support us financially. South Africans can pay directly into our bank account:
Account name AE Smith
Nedbank
Cheque Account 1556031424
Branch code 155605

We also have an international facility. Simply click the link below, choose an amount to donate, and then provide payment details. Click below:

Support Alfred & Leonie

We appreciate you

Thank you to each one that is praying for us, supporting us financially and being there for us. We deeply appreciate it that you can be a part of our lives. May you be blessed far beyond what you can imagine.

Do you have news? We'd be glad to hear from you. Do you have a need? Let us pray for you. You can write to us at writetoalfred@gmail.com.

Be greatly blessed

Alfred & Leonie

Our WhatsApp number is +91 82650 37842

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Alfred & Leonie Smith · 342 Konstant Street · Meyerspark · Pretoria, Gauteng 0184 · South Africa