Heavy packs - Thin air - Sleeping on Dirt floors. So why go?

Sixty-two hours of travel. Fifteen days of hiking straight up and down unforgiving mountain paths. Late night worship services.

In February 2023, a small team from Gospel Hope Church answered a call that led them across the world and deep into the mountains of Nepal. One of our missionaries, faithfully serving pastors throughout the region, invited Tyler to join him—along with a few others—to encourage believers and help bring the gospel to a village that had never heard it before. The mission was simple but demanding: go where the gospel had not yet gone, and love people in a way they could feel. The strategy was just as intentional. When families are living one day—and one meal—at a time, taking a day off to listen to a message doesn’t always feel possible. Survival comes first. But when you meet a real, tangible need—one that improves daily life—you earn the opportunity to share a deeper hope.

In this village, families cooked and heated their homes over open flames inside enclosed spaces, with no ventilation. What many of us would consider unthinkable was simply normal life there. Over time, the smoke filled their lungs, leading to chronic illness and even death. They didn’t know there was another way.

So our team did what love often requires: they carried a solution uphill.

Piece by piece, they hiked cookstove components up steep mountain trails, step after exhausting step, with the hope of improving not only the quality of life in the village, but the chance at life itself. A safer way to cook. A way to breathe. A door opened for something even greater.

As stoves were installed and needs were met, conversations began. Trust was built. And into that space, the gospel was shared—good news of a God who sees, who cares, and who came near.

The journey didn’t just impact one village. Along the way, the team encouraged local believers and pastors, worshiped with churches tucked into the mountains, and listened to powerful testimonies of how God is at work throughout Nepal. They weren’t just delivering supplies; they were strengthening the body of Christ.

The team also came equipped with cameras, intentionally documenting the journey. Their hope was to bring awareness to the realities facing many in Nepal—needs that are easy to overlook from a Western perspective, where something as basic as clean air feels like a given. Smoke inhalation may seem like a needless way to suffer and die. And it is. But how much more needless is it to live and die without knowing the truth of who God is and what He has done?

Jesus showed us how to love people well—by caring for the whole person: body, mind, and soul. That’s exactly what this team set out to do. And one of the most important parts of this story is what happened after they left.

A local pastor entered the village with the team and remained there once everyone else returned home. He is now walking with these new believers, discipling them for the long term. This wasn’t a moment—it was the beginning of something lasting.

The most beautiful part? No one could have done this alone. It took the body of Christ coming together—each person bringing their gifts, their obedience, and their willingness—to carry breath and hope into the mountains.

And God did the rest.