I have this pair of shoes, these Asics, and I can’t believe they have held up for so long.It’s actually kind of stupid. I mean, they look like they’ve been run over once or twice, and they could have been honestly, I don’t know how Delta Airlines treats checked bags. I certainly don’t know how Malaysian airlines treats their bags, I mean, they lose entire planes( too soon? I should probably watch what I say. I might fly with them again, and I don’t want to end up in something directed by JJ Abrams. Unless it’s Star Wars. Hint hint JJ.)
I bought these shoes over a year ago. I’ve gone for runs on three continents in them. Through the dirt of Uganda, past people yelling mzungu, To the quiet streets of Hyderabad, India early in the morning. I had to wear them more than I had ever intended because my Chacos were stolen in Rwanda. I’m only a little bit bitter about that these days. I mean I had just cleaned them and left them out on the back stoop to dry. I still can’t believe they got stolen. So dumb. I had to go lay in my Eno and cuss.
*********
The bus ride to the IDP camp was absolutely nauseating,and incredibly beautiful. The mountains in Nepal are like candy for your naked eyes. I just wished we weren’t doing 80 mph around every turn. My favorite part of the ride, outside of the views, was watching my team love each other. People who weren’t struggling to bad with motion sickness traded seats with the people who were so they could sit in the front. That’s love.
We drove to the far edge of a beautiful valley. I stepped out of the bus with my bags on my back, ready for whatever. Not really, I’m just trying to sound cool. I kind of felt like someone hit me with a ton of bricks, while I was carrying a ton of bricks. It was cold, and I was wearing several layers of clothes. I could feel a pressure of an oncoming headache behind my eyes, a pressure that the sprite I drank to help my unsettled stomach couldn’t sooth. I don’t do cold well, but I’ll fear no evil in this valley.
The people of Nepal are beautiful. In this camp, they had clearly seen too many winters. Of course they had survived and been displaced by an earthquake as well, so their strength, resilience, and thirst for life shines out of them in clear and perfect technicolor.
When we did children’s ministry, I mean when we rocked children’s ministry in that first camp, even the lovely elderly folks joined in all the silliness. This one old fella that was probably pushing 80 was sitting right in the middle of all the children while we did the banana song, potato chip potato chip, and making melodies. If the moment was ice cream he was the cherry on top.
I slept in layers so thick I looked like Randy in his red jacket in A Christmas Story. The boogers in my nose literally froze. If I wasn’t so happy with the fellowship of the community and my team, I would have blamed dementors for all the cold. You would say, john that’s crazy, your in Nepal, it’s obviously gonna be cold. But I might have actually been crazy( I was totally crazy, still am), altitude can do funny things to you.
I was also in my first week of being on a new team so I was wearing my I’ve-got-it-all-together Henley, and my serving pants proudly, but I took them off and put on something warmer. See, at this point, God, through the process of The World Race, had began to break me of putting on a false self, and in the cold I just couldn’t get a thing together. I still served my team, but I didn’t pretend like I had it all together. Because I don’t, nobody does. God won’t bless who you pretend to be.
We did a day hike into the foothills of the Himalayas. It was a good hike for me, in my Asics, with killer views. We thought we were headed to do ministry, but it was apparently just for sight seeing. This was actually hard for a bit of my team because the hike wasn’t easy for them. The Lord led us to have a spur of the moment church service in a large tent of another IDP camp at the end of our hike, and it was beautiful to be a part of.
******
That Sunday , Derek and I preached at church, and spent time with the community. We sang and watched the children perform around the campfire. We watched a bunch of drunk bulls fight each other, and did a lot of walking around town, playing with kids and watching sunsets. After a celebration, a lot of singing, cake, dancing, picture taking, and after flowers were hung around our necks and bracelets were tied on our wrists, we headed back to Kathmandu.
*****
We rested for a few days and exchanged stories with the other teams, curled up in our sleeping bags with hot tea and coffee in our hands, and then rolled out again to the east.
*******
The military checkpoints were frequent. Money was exchanged at each stop. Flashlights shined in our faces followed by surprised faces of Nepali soldiers that weren’t expecting white people out there where they were. These faces went from stern and solemn to massive cheesy grins at the sight of our smiles. We got in a long line of cars like we were trying to get to the next Star Wars movie premiere to get the good seats. The road in front of us opened and we sped about as fast in this fully loaded SUV as I would in my Chevy c when I was in a bad mood back home. We whipped in and out of speeding traffic, some how narrowly missing potential accidents every minute. We were in this insane situation, along with all of these other people, because of a Constitution, something that Nepal has never had. It limits certain liberties, and that upsets people. It also imposes new forms of government that India is not a fan of. So, when we get close to the border, we have to drive fast, because there is always a potential for rioters. Rioters love to throw rocks and other things, so you wanna drive fast to avoid that kind of thing. Unfortunately, driving fast in heavy traffic is more dangerous
Than rocks. But I’m alive, so there’s that story. I played danger zone on my iPod every now and then as we sped through the abyss of darkness and the mess of cars.
***********
When were no longer going full on Top Gun on these Nepali roads, we arrived in a town and our vans pulled in like Jason Bourne in front of this large building where would stay. This place was an orphanage, where we did construction, building brick upon brick beside each other. These were some of my favorite days on the race. We were all together, the conversations were great, I laughed way too much and there was no wifi for miles. It was just us, just good community.
*****
We started walking into the mountains after eating peanut butter and jellies by a big river. I watched a father play with his little daughter making her laugh, and I wondered if that would ever be me. After I met a guy that looked like a Hindu Dumbledore, I started my trek.
My shoes were digging into my ankles as the brisk air kissed my cheek. I saw incredible views, ancient trees, and a bunch of monkeys deep in this jungle. This was a much better hike, with a lot more conversation, and incredible views.
My squad served each other really well. People carried bags for others, and lent helping hands and supportive words on some of the steeper parts of the rocky hills. We arrived at Rueben’s parents home that was built about a football fields length away from a cliff edge where we set up out tents and stayed warm by a fire, and looked up at the stars.
In this village, we built a foundation for an addition to a school. Shovels in hand, we worked together to make this thing beautiful.
We worshipped and talked around the fire each night, and I stayed with the fire as people went to bed. I like to sit in quiet with my thoughts and talk to God about them. The Nepali people who were with us would quietly chat on the other side of the fire.
It was powerful incredible quiet, surrounded by evening mist, warmed by fire.
To get home, whatever that word means, we had to cross that big river with all of our stuff 12 times.
********
At the end of the month we spent a few days in Kathmandu in a district called Thamel. I got a tattoo, took a long hot shower( which is really a treat on the world race) ate good food, and met new friends, including a group from the german YWAM base, and they had prayed to meet a contact in Thamel. They met me, and I introduced them to our ministry contact, Rueben, who they actually did ministry with the rest of their time in Nepal. That’s pretty cool and humbling to think that The Lord used me to impact their time there that much. I was very happy when our plane left Nepal, mainly because of the cold, but I’ll miss it. I will say that arriving in the Cambodian heat was freaking incredible.
The Flight out was beautiful though. Probably the best view i’ve ever had.
********
I tossed my Asics in a trash can in LA before we left for Guatemala. They were good shoes, but I bought knock off nikes in Kuala Lumpur, and I just couldn’t look at the Asics anymore.
