It’s Sister.
And I love it.
I never knew my pride in the area of people knowing my name until I stepped into Nepal and specifically into Asha Nepal.
I so very much want people to know my name. I vividly remember during all of the orientations I was a part of at Shorter, that whenever I asked someone’s name I never really listened for their name. I was more concerned about them knowing my name. Really, Ally? If they remembered my name, I felt like I had left an impact on them and that I was important to them. I always craved people knowing my name, even if I had no idea what their name was.
But here at Asha Nepal, I am not known as Ally. I have spent a week and a half loving on these children and spending my days playing, eating, and watching movies with them. But I get asked my name every day. And sometimes by kids that I have spent the most amount of time with. It’s not because they don’t care about me, it’s because they know me as Sister.
Making funny faces with some of my brothers at Asha Nepal
“Good morning, Sister” “Hello, Sister” “Thank you, Sister” “I love you, Sister”
To them, I am not Ally Blackwell. I am Sister. My identity is not in what my name is, it’s in being their sister.
Through this process of first having a hurt pride because of them not knowing my name, or really even caring to know my name, to fully loving being known as Sister, God has shown me so much.
Walking with my sister Alina to school
I am here to show these beautiful people Jesus. I am here to love them like Jesus loves them. I am here to live out the Gospel. I am not here to share Ally Blackwell with them. If my team and I leave Asha Nepal in 3 weeks and none of the children or women remember my name, but they know the love of Jesus in a deeper and more tangible way, then we have done what we came here to do.
