As with every holiday I’ve celebrated on the race thus far, Valentine’s Day was a unique, special experience this year. My team and I celebrated it in a village far in the southeast of Nepal. We had no internet and no connection to the outside world. We simply had each other.
Our celebration of Valentine’s Day really started a few days earlier when Jared proposed to Noah and me an idea to treat the girls for Valentine’s Day. He suggested that we make them breakfast in bed and buy them chocolate and flowers. And that is precisely what we did.
The day before Valentine’s Day, we all walked into a nearby by town to get lunch together and hang out. After eating, Noah and Jared split off from the rest of us to buy everything while I stayed with the girls so as not to arouse any suspicion. Later, we returned back to our home, which was an orphanage, and relaxed for the rest of the day.
Jared, Noah, and I woke at 6:30 the following morning to prepare breakfast. We made French toast and scrambled eggs. Once we had finished making everything, we took three plates upstairs, knocked on their door, and waited for them to come out. Evidently they weren’t too eager to wake up because they didn’t open the door for about 10 minutes, and when they did, it was with lots of groaning. They were pleasantly surprised, though, when they found us standing there with three plates of food and three roses. However, they misunderstood that it was supposed to be breakfast in bed so they took the plates and went downstairs to the kitchen table, and then went back to bed afterwards.
In the afternoon, we were about to watch a movie, but just before starting the movie, we presented them with a box of chocolates to enjoy during the movie. Again, they were quite surprised and excited for the treat.
The tables turned halfway through the movie, however, when the girls stopped the film and announced that they had a surprise for us as well. They had organized a scavenger hunt for us to go on while they covered us for ministry that afternoon. Their hunt led us into a restaurant in the town where we had made friends with the owners. On the way there, I was given a white rose by a young girl who we passed while walking, and when we arrived, we found that the girls had bought us momos (which is a similar dish to dumplings), a cake, and soda that we then brought back for a picnic.
After all the surprises and fun of the holiday, our host introduced us to two girls who wanted to meet us. They were both a few years older than us and were both very friendly. We spent some time talking to them and getting to know them a little bit better. We discovered that they were sisters-in-law. One of them was the wife of the younger girl’s older brother, and the younger is getting married next Thursday. We continued to talk for a bit, and the girls asked if we’d like to see their home and meet their family. We said yes, of course, and walked with them back to their home.
When we arrived at their home, we went inside and were introduced to their whole family. They were incredibly hospitable and offered us tea (which was the best tea I’ve ever had), fried dough rings, and spicy peas. We again made some small talk for a bit while the younger girl, who we discovered was the youngest daughter of the family, translated for those in the family who didn’t speak English.
Eventually, we asked them if we could tell them about Jesus. They were very open and allowed us to share the Gospel with them, and we answered many questions they had about Christianity. We spoke to them for a long time, but after a while, we had to return home. Before we left, Jared and Noah ran back to our house because Jared wanted to gift them with his Bible. When they returned, we shared with the youngest daughter, who was the most interested, the books where she should start reading. Afterward, we prayed for the family, and they escorted us home.
The most exciting part of the whole evening is that the daughter is moving to Kathmandu after she gets married next week, and we will have the opportunity to meet up with her again. We will get to talk with her more, answer more questions, and maybe even share with her husband. While we may never get to see the fruit of this, God used us to plant a seed with this girl and her family. The holiday was filled with surprises, fun, and leisure, but the Lord had a plan for the day that we never would have expected.
