This month has been so full in so many ways. I regret not writing a blog sooner because now it is too hard to decide what I want to share about without writing the longest blog ever written. We have had our whole squad, totaling 50 people, together living in one house. Having so many people together has been interesting, but has also lead to awesome growth in community and in relationships between people we haven’t worked with yet.
Every day we met at our ministry site we have an hour of Ahmad. This means once we arrive we sit wherever we want and spend the hour with God. I have thoroughly enjoyed that our host schedules time into our day to make sure that we make God the center point of our day. After Ahmad we have time spent in corporate worship with the whole squad as well as everyone who is apart of the ministry. After worship is when we get our assignments for the day.
My View during Ahmad
Every day we do something different so we have been able to see and experience so many parts of Nepal and the ministry we are working with throughout this month. I could write a book about my experiences in this country, but instead I am going to highlight a couple things that impacted me the most.
Building houses in a Village:
A famous comedian in Nepal and his wife started a project in a village outside of Kathmandu to help rebuild houses that were destroyed in the earthquake. Our squad had the opportunity to go and help out with some of the final touches of the project for a few days. Our jobs mostly included shoveling dirt to smooth out the backyards of homes and move rocks they would use for walls. After having so many projects on our Race that did not have visible results, it was really refreshing and fun to do some manual labor and have something we could see some physical results of. This race I have been learning a lot about being okay with not having physical fruit to show for our work, but it was still refreshing to actually see something come from our work. It was also fun to see our whole squad work together and see how we could finish a project quicker than the coordinators thought we would.
Shabbot Shalom:
Every Friday we participated in what was called Shabbat Shalom. Inspired by Jewish roots, everyone who is somehow involved with our ministry partners would come together to share a meal together, worship together, listen to testimonies together, and dance together. It was a great example of what it means to be in community. Being a community doesn’t just mean being physically close to each other. It means sharing food, joy, and experiences together.
One Friday I got to stay back and help prepare the food for the evening. We chopped all sorts of vegetables and mixed it altogether in a giant pot with lots of spices to be served with rice when done.
Sorry this picture is so blurry but these people are awesome dancers!
Children:
If you know me well at all, you probably know that I love investing my time in children. A really cool aspect of our partner ministry is their passion for rescuing and helping women and children who are in unhealthy or risky situations. The first week we arrived in Nepal I had the opportunity to get to know many of the kids that have been rescued by our hosts, as well as some of their naturally born kids. One girl in particular has become a dear friend of mine. She and her sisters were rescued along with their mother about a year ago. When our hosts found them all 7 of them were living in one small room with very little means of income. Since then our hosts have been helping disciple them and help them learn skills to help them assimilate into their community. My friend is 8 years old and is so joyful! I didn’t know the full extent of all the pain she has gone through until the end of the month; she has been through so many more struggles than I could even imagine at such a young age. When we went to the village to help with the houses she was one of the hardest workers and never took a break, and then walked around giving back massages to everyone when we were done for the day. During Shabbat Shalom she always ran around making sure everyone had water and pillows. It’s amazing and inspiring how such a small girl, especially after experiencing so much pain and instability, can still be so joyful and so loving.
It’s always hard to say goodbye and this month is no exception. I have loved seeing the beautiful mountains, getting to know the beautiful people, and learning more about God and about myself.
Next up my team will be working with one other team at Sarah’s Covenant Homes in Hyderabad and I am so excited to have more Indian adventures!
