To all my supporters and blog followers, family, and friends!:
This month I am in Nepal! I haven't had good enough connections to the internet to post blogs. So here's a small update!….
This month was all over the place, as most months are on the WR! We did a little teaching, a little preaching, praying, etc. We traveled 3 hours into the mountains to teach at a school in Dhading district. The teachers didn't give curriculum or any guidance at all (which is typical on the WR and shouldn't surprise me at all….. but still does). BUT….we still rocked it.
I taught english mainly and on Valentines Day taught about Love. I included scripture from the bible and brought cards and colored pencils for them to make Valentine's Day cards. I had them make it for someone else and decorate it however they wanted, but at the end of class they had to stand and tell who the card was for, and why they loved that person.
Most of them made cards for their Didee (sister) or Ahma (mother). This was a week that was particularly tough for me because I sliced my toe a couple days prior to this, and also was sick for the 1st 2 days we were there…..and then it was Valentine's day.
I sat down with God the night before Valentine's Day and said, " what do you think of Valentine's Day and all this love stuff anyway?" I hated that I was away from home, and even away from my Nepali home. He told me to look in the back of my journal, so I did. I found a paper that I had written about love back in September, on the plane to launch. It was from a book I was reading called, "Love letters to God".
Also, in the back was a note from my brother that I had stuck in there when I was in Vietnam. I had read it months prior but didn't remember anything, so it was like opening my own Valentine's Day card from my brother, unexpectedly! What a gift, God really showed me that it's not all America has made it to be. Love is still pure love, not chocolates and teddy bears.
We also got to preach and share our testimony with the local church here in Gurjudhara, a small village outside of Kathmandu. We had an awesome picnic on the mountainside with about 30 children from the church. We played, prayed, and sang, and it was a great day.
Towards the beginning of the month we hiked to a woman's house that had lost her husband last year and we prayed over her, worshipped for a bit, and ate together.
We also prayed at monasteries and temples that God would open the eyes and ears, take off the scales covering them, and expose their false idols. We prayed that God would reveal himself through others and miraculous ways to show these hurting and lost people who He is and that they would know of His redeeming love.
This month was particularly hard for me because we reached the 1/2 way point in the race. On one hand it was great, and on the other it was a reminder that we still have 1/2 way to go. I got a little homesick and lost perspective for a bit. I am reminded though, that I am on this race for a reason and will not leave until it is finished. Ecclesiastes 7:8 says, "The end of a matter is better than it's beginning, and patience is better than pride." This is so true and just pushed me forward knowing that He will refine me even more through the end.
Oh yea.…one more thing…..
Some stuff we did in our free time! Some of my team mates went bungee jumping, but since I don't have a death wish ;), I went on a 2 day Safari. We got to go on a small jungle hike, see the elephant breeding center, pet baby elephants, canoe in the early morning and saw crocs!, go on a 2 hour safari where we saw rhino, deer, and monkeys. Which by the way, Nepalese people freak at the site of a deer. I wanted to say, "back home, we shoot those all the time, deer jerky is the best!"
One more thing…..elephant bathing. Where we thought we would bathe the elephants. wrong. They bathe US! We got on bareback in the river and the elephants filled their trunks with water and sprayed us, dumped us off, laid on their sides in the river so we could climb back on, and do it again! best things ever….I was screaming the whole time haha
Love you all!! -Celeste
