Pastor Nima Tshering - Nepal & Tibet

Pastor Nima and his wife, Ridgzin -- affectionately known as "Pala" and "Amala" -- are in many ways the patriarch and matriarch of indigenous Tibetan Christianity. As a young boy of seven, Pala was given to the Buddhist Monastery in Lhasa, Tibet. For 28 years he was a faithful Buddhist monk, and even served, for a time, in the palace in Lhasa under the leadership of the Dali Lama, the spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism. Leaving Tibet, he traveled as a peripatetic monk in India where he contracted malaria. Pala was cared for in a Christian Mission Hospital where he first encountered Christian love and compassion.

Although he did not immediately accept Christ, he did so later.  He then began to seek to reach out to his beloved Tibetan people living in exile in India and Nepal.  Because Nepal was the first point of entry for Tibetans fleeing the Chinese persecution in Tibet, Pala began his ministry there.  He took in children who were orphaned as a result of their parents dying in the long dangerous trekk across the frigid mountains.  This place of refuge was called Champa Choeling,  or “Place of Love.”  Since the Scriptures had not been translated into the “heart language” of the Tibetan people, Pala dedicated his life to that task.  So for over 15 years, he translated the Old Testament into the common language of his people.  At his side through all of these years has been his son, Yacob, and his wife, Linda.  JL has raised the support for their work in years past and helped buy them two homes that continues to serve as the headquarters for their ministry.  Pala is now 93 years old!  We are in desperate need of $2,000 a month to support this unique ministry!