The students from the computer class are all in Kathmandu from various parts of Nepal in order to participate in a one-month ministry training program hosted by our contact, Pastor Reuben Rai. The purpose of the computer class was to make their ministries more well-known & allow them to easily communicate. Over the past few days the students have been working on posting their testimonies on their blogs. They would share their testimony with one of us, & we would type up their stories as they spoke. They have some amazing stories! So many of the people grew up in Hindu or Buddhist homes where no one believed in Christianity. Many of them encountered Christ because they, or a family member, became very sick & no medicine or witch doctors could heal them. Then in their desperation they would choose to cry out to God because they heard about Him from a neighbor or friend or visiting pastor…and God answered through physical healing! As a result they put their faith in Him & followed after Christ wholeheartedly…whether or not anyone else in their families supported them. Many now have visions of reaching their home villages for Christ, evangelizing through different ministries around Nepal, and even traveling around the world. Hearing about the transformation in their lives & seeing how God has given them dreams and such strong faith has been so encouraging to me.
Last week we were also able to go hiking to a couple of mountain villages away from the city. And when a Nepalese pastor tells you you're going to go hiking up to a village in the mountains…he's certainly not kidding! There were so many times on our way up that I was pretty sure my legs were about to give out…and so many times I thought to myself that there was no way I'd be able to make it back down on that same ridiculous path in the event that I did actually make it up in one piece. And all along the way there were so many spiritual analogies that kept running through my head about the whole scenario…and that just made me all the more annoyed.
But it was so absolutely breathtaking! And it was so good to be able to encourage the believers and be amazed by their faith. In the first village we went to, we stayed at the home of the only Christians. They were so hospitable and friendly, it was so sweet. They asked us to pray for them to have spread their faith and for the people of the village to have open hearts. This Christian family experiences persecution from the others in the village, especially since the death of their daughter who fell off of a cliff. Many of the villagers say that she died because the family believes in Christianity, and they are not widely accepted in the village…but still they choose to believe in God & share their faith with others. That's the real deal right there!
We climbed a different mountain to a second village, and I felt even more sore and exhausted than the first time around. But all of that exhaustion and tiredness was so worth it when we got to the village and the pastor there told us how grateful he was for us to come all that way to be with them. I definitely had a reality check about my selfishness versus selflessness. Selfishness would say climbing up a mountain to talk to some random people about God just isn't worth the personal soreness and fatigue that would ensue. Selflessness would say any distance traveled is worth it just to share love with one person.
And it's amazing how short that distance to share love usual is…and how simple the act of love can be. One doesn't have to be in the mountains of Nepal to choose to share love with others rather than be selfish. Although I can't help but think of all of the tourists who pass by on the roads at the base of the mountain without giving a single thought to those who live in the villages above. They're missing out! Anyways, as Christians we're called to partner with Christ and be ministers of the Gospel. It's God's ministry, whatever that may look like (could be in a church, in an orphanage, in an office building or a school…or even teaching computer classes!), not ours…we're just privileged enough to be included as messengers. We're called to love, everyone & anyone…because each person is worth it, worth the blood of Christ on the Christ. So how could I possibly not give up my selfishness in order to love someone else? Jesus gave up His life for each person in the villages…with that in mind, who am I to deny them anything of myself really? Here's the real kicker…the same can be said of each person I encounter, whether we're talking about a friend, the person who gets on my nerves the most, or a complete stranger. God loves everyone, sacrificed everything for each person, and calls me to do the same if neccesary – because they're worth it.
Another month has passed with more growth and new experiences. I've seen enough giant spiders to last me a lifetime, I can count the number of times I used a western-style toilet on one hand, I can officially say I climbed to the top of a mountain in Nepal, I was able to load & watch a 2-minute video of Packers highlights on the Internet here (that's the most football I've seen all season folks, it was exciting…and my goodness, how good are the Packers?!), I have eaten more rice this month than I care to imagine, and I saw snow (on mountains in the distance, but it still counts…and I shall treasure it so much in the months to come when I miss winter incredibly)! Plus, God worked in my heart and changed my attitude in so many ways!
I shall miss Nepal & all of the awesome people here, but tomorrow morning (meaning in 2 hours at this point) the next adventure begins as we fly out to Kenya for month 5!
