KATHMANDU (UCAN) -- The Nepalese delegation to the World Youth Day celebration in Germany returned home with inspiring memories, despite "losing" one of its young members abroad.

Six young Nepalese, accompanied by a nun and a priest, went to the celebration, held Aug. 16-20 in Cologne. One of the youths, Krishna Khanal, 23, disappeared on the morning of Aug. 16, the group's second day in Germany.

Salesian Father Martin Lakra, the priest who made the trip, told UCA News he kept the young people's passports "but Khanal took his passport from my bag when I had gone to take a shower, and a short time later he left us."

The other delegates reported edifying experiences at the international event. They spoke to UCA News in Kathmandu, on their way back to their hometowns. For all of them, the trip was their first outside Nepal.

The only female delegate, Chandru Acharya, found people's praying aloud and cheering even during Mass "unique," since Nepalese "tend to be quiet and meditative." She added that the Mass Pope Benedict XVI led for a million people "did not need translation -- we understood his gestures and a sense of unity pervaded."

In reflecting on her experience, Acharya, 25, said there was "a feeling of love and understanding among the sea of people," and she "did not hear a single outburst of negative emotion." However, she expressed some surprise that there was not "a single stall selling rosaries or holy objects."

When the delegates offered small gifts they took with them including a Nepalese "sarangi," a violin-like music instrument, she recalled, "we felt like the magi who had traveled so far to present baby Jesus with gifts."

Acharya planned to go back to her parish in Dharan, eastern Nepal, and "share with all what I got a chance to see and feel."

Santlal Murmu, from Sirsiya mission station in eastern Nepal, shared the same excitement in wanting to tell the people in his hometown about his experience in Germany. He acknowledged that a language barrier existed at the celebration but said "the language of love and unity" was stronger.

Paras Bhujel from Pokhara, west-central Nepal, said the family he stayed with in Germany "treated us like as if we were a high-level delegation from the Vatican." He had brought a video camera and was still in the process of editing video footage from the event when he spoke with UCA News.

While Augustine Thakuri from Kathmandu said he had the "chance to give witness to my faith before a crowd," Om Jacob Kathet from Damak, eastern Nepal, said he liked the dancing and singing in the evenings performed in various European styles.

Sister Karuna Mol Joseph, who accompanied the young people, said she was touched by the sharing of faith amid cultural diversity, the catechetical sessions and the families who volunteered their time and energy for days to make the program a success. The Congregation of Jesus nun is assistant Catholic youth coordinator for Kathmandu.

Father Lakra said the "amazing welcome" they received from volunteer families and the celebration of faith with so many thousands of people "is hard to describe." The priest, Catholic youth coordinator for Kathmandu, added that the Nepalese team stayed with three different families, who "would drive for hours to take us to our buses and trains, and even to program venues."

"It was an eye-opener for me to the richness of our Catholic youth -- the future of our Catholic church," he concluded.

Meanwhile, parishioners of Assumption Church in Kathmandu did not take lightly the disappearance of Khanal, who had been president of the Nepal branch of the International Movement of Catholic Students. Some expressed concern that it would be harder to get visas to the next international World Youth Day celebration, scheduled to be held in Sydney, Australia, in 2008. The delegates to Cologne had spent anxious time waiting for the German Embassy in Kathmandu to approve their visas. Some Catholics were harsh in their criticism, saying the missing youth leader turned out to be "a Judas."

Kathet, a delegate who stayed with the same German host family as Khanal and Father Lakra, recalled: "Krishna (Khanal) surely planned to run away as soon as we got there. He was very nervous. The first and only night he spent with us in Germany, he slept wearing a suit."

Acharya recounted that all the delegation members were gathered "outside a big church" when Khanal told them he "wanted to talk with the delegates from India." Then he left, "leaving us waiting for him," she said. "We could not perform at the cultural evening there as Khanal was the key performer."

For Father Lakra, the youth's disappearance meant "days of mental torture." Nonetheless, the priest said he has a close relationship with Khanal's Hindu family in Kathmandu. According to him, the family is under financial stress after Maoists chased them away from their village.

Despite the anguish it might have caused the delegation, Khanal's case is also regarded as just another among the thousands each year involving Nepalese who try to enter other countries as migrant workers.

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