Hello from the Himalayan Mountains! I’m currently living in a small village in the Himalayan Mountains in the eastern part of Nepal! Before I tell you all about that, I will tell you about our last days in Kathmandu. One of the days we hiked and walked for about 2 and a half hours up a mountain! I’ve never hiked up that high before. It was crazy and amazing! The views seemed from like a National Geographic magazine or a movie. Later that day, I actually got a fever, and I had a cold from earlier too. But when I woke up the fever was gone. That was the first fever I’ve had on the race- so great how healthy I’ve been- praise God and thanks for your prayers! Another day, we went to a Buddhist monastery with mostly women monks- some of them were from Tibet. It was interesting to go there, but most of the monks didn’t seem to want to talk to us, so it felt a little discouraging. Later that day, my teammate and I went to go visit this 16-year-old Nepali girl that we had met earlier when we went out to meet people and talk about Jesus. She seemed so sweet and spoke English really well. We went to her family’s small café because that’s where she was before, but she wasn’t there, but they brought us to her home. She had a nice room that seemed a little similar to the guest house that we were staying in. She was actually sleeping because she didn’t feel good, but she still invited us in! We visited with her and her mom about a lot of different things, and we talked with her about Jesus and Christianity, and we gave her a Bible. The girl is studying computer science and hotel management- she’s already in college. I think they start college at 16 instead of 18 in Nepal. They gave us some tea and bread during our stay. I’ve been really humbled at how so many people around the world just invite you into their homes and offer you food and drink and act like they were expecting you. It was such a fun night! We might try to meet up with her again later when we’re back in Katmandu. Another day, we went out to talk to tourists, and my teammate and I went to a coffee shop and talked with a woman that was from Germany. She was so sweet and seemed so happy to talk with us. She was travelling alone and told us that she just found out that she was pregnant. She seemed pretty spiritually open or spiritually seeking. She had told us about her travels to India and what she had experienced there. We asked if we could pray for her baby and her in the coffee shop, so we did, and she seemed so grateful. I gave her a gospel tract when we said bye. It was really sweet to have met her, and I think that God wanted us to meet her. On one of our last days in Katmandu, one of our teammates had a birthday, so we went out to a nice restaurant for his birthday which was fun. My team leader had her birthday last week too. I think it’s always fun to celebrate birthdays especially on the Race where you have to celebrate with what is available to you.
And now here I am living in the mountains! It seriously seems like a movie or a dream. I’m living in a small village in like a tin hut in the Himalayan Mountains. Our contact told us that we’d be in Kathmandu, Nepal the capital for 1 week and then go to the eastern part, so here we are. I am loving it here! To get here though, I experienced one of the scariest moments that I’ve experienced on the race. We took a bus up the mountains, and it was so scary! We were literally on super duper high mountain cliffs on a bus, and there was barely any extra room, and there’s a lot of places with no railings. Not only that, but sometimes the bus shook from side to side because the roads weren’t paved well in some spots. Like one wrong move and that would not be good! Ha..but seriously. The bus would honk sometimes when turning, and I have no idea what would happen if something was coming from the other side. I knew that we were going to the mountains, but I didn’t realize what the transportation was going to be like. We were also told of stories where busses have fallen too! I seriously couldn’t look for some of it. The bus situation didn’t seem to faze the Nepali people though. They obviously take busses through the mountains a lot and are used to it, but yeah haha. Let’s just say that I’m praising God that he protected us, and that it’s over. Also, we were on the bus for like 14 hours, and my back didn’t ever really hurt! Praise God because normally things like that make it hurt a lot.
Once we made it by bus, my team and I hiked up about an hour with our big packs to get to the small mountain village. One of the Nepali men carried my pack though since my back has been hurting- so nice! I think I heard that we’re about 6,500 feet elevation. Most of the people here are family. There are like 5 houses here, and I’m staying in a little tin or aluminum and wood, sturdy room with 2 of my teammates. We have beds, and huge blankets because it gets pretty cold at night. They have electricity (it goes out sometimes, but we actually have it more than we did at our guest house in Katmandu, but no WIFI. They have pigs, chickens, cows, and crops. We use an outhouse that is a squatty potty (porcelain hole in the ground where you squat not sit). I haven’t seen any running water, but they might have some, but they told us to use the stream to bathe and wash our clothes because they don’t have a lot of water. We might just go down there or else get some of it and boil it up here. The scenery is gorgeous to wake up and look down from the mountain. There is a peace, quietness, and rawness here in the mountains. I feel that the people here have a really strong community and family bond which is heartwarming to see. They also seem like they work really hard. If you walk a mile or so, there are a couple other small mountain villages too. Most people don’t speak any English, but some do, and we have some people who can translate. I believe that a lot of the kids in this community go to school, but I’m not sure where. The kids always look so cute wearing hats and sweaters. Everyone greets you saying “Namastay” in Nepal, but in this community since it is a Christian community everyone says”Jameasee” here which means like “The Savior has risen” I think. Everyone always takes their shoes off before entering a room. The women usually wear a scarf over their heads at church. The men and the women sit on opposite sides. They pray all at once out loud, and then have just one person close the prayer. Our ministry contacts here are awesome, and one cooks for us and he’s so funny, and he grew up in a village near Mount Everest, and he used to take people on treks. He told me that Nepal has some “Monguls” or “Rye” people and also “Brahmin” people, and he pointed out who was who because they look different. Nepal seems to have a mix of those people as well as Indian and Chinese since it’s a small country between those two. They have a caste system here which I believe means that they’re born into a certain class and can’t really get out of it.
Nepal has definitely been one of my favorite countries if not my favorite country. Seriously, the Nepali people are SO hospitable. They are the most hospitable people that I’ve met around the whole world so far. The give us food for a meal, and then come back to offer us seconds and then thirds and then fourths! It’s crazy! And if you have your drink is just a tad empty, they will refill it. And these people are poor in American standards. They seem to have what they need, but they don’t have much extra. They always offer you a chair or a seat, and if you sit on the ground, they’ll offer you a blanket to sit on. I had a little light that I was using in the village one night, but one of the women had a bigger light, and she didn’t speak English, but she followed me a very long time so that I could use her light. We told them it was going to be our teammate’s birthday, and get this- without telling us, they sent a man to drive 2 hours in the mountains and 2 hours back to pick up a cake because the nearest bakery is 2 hours away. They went just for the cake and nothing else. We went to the church service, and they welcomed us and had us go up in the front, and they gave us each a scarf, and one of our teammates gave a message, and they gave her a gift of money because they said it was customary for them to give a gift to speakers. Again, these people are poor in American standards. My team and I just feel so honored, humbled, and inspired.
The first day here we went to a nearby (hour long hike down the mountain) village to have a “house dedication” they called it like a housewarming party because they had just built a new home. However, it wasn’t just a housewarming party, but a party to dedicate their house to God. The home was built of strong aluminum or tin or something and wood like my room is here. We worshipped and prayed in their home, they gave us food, and I gave some flowers that I had picked to the homeowners. They have this tree that has red flowers that are the national flower of Nepal, and you can actually eat the flowers. I ate some petals- supposedly they’re good for your throat. They gave us this jam too at one of the meals that is supposed to be good for your stomach. The woman of the house thanked everyone and was crying when she talked, and it was so touching to see how grateful she was for her little home and that we had came. It was also special to hear the Nepalis worship and to just all be in a house instead of a church. Another day, they wanted us to climb the mountain even higher to see the sunrise and to try to see a bit of Everest In the distance (it ended up being too foggy to see Everest), so we had to wake up at about 5am to hike about an hour (so many hour long hikes!) It was really beautiful to see. Later that day they took us to see a super old tree that is like 500 years old. They said it’s like the oldest or 2nd oldest in Asia, but I think that’s probably debatable because I don’t know what they were classifying Asia as, but anyway it was really cool to see it! It was an interesting looking tree. That involved like a few hours to hike to back and forth as well. I’m getting pretty toned in Nepal! Haha. When we came back, we decided to play limbo with a stick with the village, and some of the girls showed me some Nepali dances, so we all danced for a little bit. It was so fun!
Today the head of the village told us his story, and it was really encouraging. He said that his dad used to be a witch doctor, and he became a witch doctor too and that many people in the village worshipped lots of gods and goddesses. He said that his son became really sick, and they prayed to all the gods and goddesses, but his son kept getting worse, so he stopped praying to them. Then, his cousin knew Jesus and kept telling him to pray for Jesus to heal his son, so he prayed, and then his son was healed! So then he became a Christian, and he wanted to read the Bible, but he didn’t know how to read, but his son taught him. He said later his village persecuted him for following Christ and brought him to jail for a few days, but he just kept following and praying, and he told his village about Christ, and now almost everyone in the village is Christian, and his son is a pastor in Kathmandu.
I really want to experience God In the ways of the stories that I’ve heard and to not doubt his abilities. I’m excited for the rest of our time in Nepal and to see God work.
