Here I am, sitting at the church I’ve lived in for the past 3 weeks, reflecting on my time here and how I’m about to leave today. It’s definitely a bittersweet feeling.
During our time in Kothe my team, honestly, was a little frustrated at times. We were so excited about our ministry here working with MAT (Mothers Against Trafficking) and visiting the locals, and we were all ready to dive head first into what God had in store for us this month. Then after the first week we discovered there actually wasn’t much for us to do (in terms of structured ministry). We attended several of the MAT classes (the first of which was rather amusing–I had a chicken jump on me, we prayed for a cow, and had a crazy truck ride back), occasionally went on a long hike to visit & fellowship with the few Christians that live here (and learned to hike in skirts), and we shared our stories & encouragements with strangers at each of these places…but most of our time was spent at our host home, trying to figure out what to do and where God was going to lead us.
It was hard to stay positive at times and not question God’s reasoning for sending us all here, but God definitely used our “down time” for good. My team Fearless Love has gotten to know each other and have grown so much closer throughout this month. We’ve shared our testimonies with one another, exchanged family photos/stories, bonded over our love of food (and dreamed about cooking our favorite dishes); we sweated together, laughed together, played crazy games, and took care of one another during times of illness. I truly believe one of our biggest ministries this month was within our team, strengthening our bonds to build us up for future ministry.
We still had a strong desire to do something though…anything. So a couple day ago we decided to gather together and pray for the Holy Spirit to guide us to more structured ministry to end our time here with. At breakfast we were told we wouldn’t have anything to do, then 5 minutes later were told we’d be going back to a house we visited in our first week. A woman (the only Christian in her otherwise Hindu household) was very sick when we first visited, so we worshiped, shared from the Bible, and prayed for her. The next 2 Saturdays we saw her at church but didn’t get to speak with her, so we were all excited to go see her again…and she was so much better! Our God is faithful to those who have faith, and more than capable of healing the sick. It was so refreshing to our souls to see her.
There is also a man named Silah who lives just beside us. He has been mentally disabled from birth, and slowly paces back and forth in front of the markets. For weeks a few of us had kept him in the back of our minds, longing to reach out to him but not really knowing how. Finally, Joshua recommended we simply buy him a soda and snack. So we did, and his smile was enough to melt your heart (the speed at which he ate the cookies & drank the coke was also pretty impressive).
Then last night, Samuel and his family decided to have a short fellowship time with us as it was our last night together. It totally caught us off guard (Tuesdays & Fridays are their usual fellowships)…but I was so thankful for it. We prayed and sang a few songs together, and then they all proceeded to thank us for our time spent here and tell us how much it meant to them & their ministry (even though we felt we hadn’t done a lot)…and then they gave us the perfect gifts to end the night: Nepali hats for the men (side note-guys means cow in Nepali!) and beautiful scarves for the girls. I was almost brought to tears! We then took a few pictures and ended the night playing Sir Master General Sir with Samuel.
God really does show up in the little things. Whether it was our gracious, hilarious host Samuel buying us peanut butter (that we devoured in minutes) & learning new games, getting to sit on actual couches during ministry one day, being lead to buy a man a coke, or receiving the perfect scarf as a farewell gift & finally getting to hug your hosts…we were beyond blessed this month.
The biggest lesson I learned this month is that ministry is what you make it. I can sit back and be idle, waiting for a ministry opportunity to fall into my lap, or I can earnestly pray and seek out ways God wants to use me. I may not have lived up to the full potential that this month in Nepal had to offer, but it’s taught me valuable lessons for the next 10 months, and allowed me to grow closer to my team. So for that I can be, and am, so thankful.
My squad will soon all be in Kathmandu for a couple of days before we fly out on the 1st for debrief and month 2 in India! Please keep us all in your prayers as we end our time here and venture onto the next journey.
Also, my next deadline of $11,000 is coming up in a couple of months. If you’d like to help me reach that goal and keep me on the World Race, you can donate by clicking the “Support Me” link! Thank you all so much for your love, support, and encouragement.
I’ll post again soon with details about our upcoming month in India!
Aaaand for funsies…here are some facts about Nepal I learned this month:
1. It’s the home of Mount Everest & the birthplace of Buddha.
(Photo)
2. It is the 2nd poorest country.
3. It’s not uncommon to hike 30min-3hrs a day…up/down mountains.
4. Squatty potty.
5. So. Much. Humidity.
6. Rice = breakfast, lunch, & dinner.
7. It is considered inappropriate for women to show their shoulders and knees (did I mention how hot it is here?).
8. They can fit an alarming amount of people into a vehicle and it’s not considered a safety hazard (including a goat on the roof).
9. It’s home to the world’s tallest canyon swing bridge (and 2nd highest bungee).
10. Playing cards is considered a sin in the Christian community.
11. Hinduism is the primary religion; only about 1.4% of the population is Christian.
Much Love!!
