Have you ever imagined a place where God can be seen through just the landscape itself?
Well, that country would be Nepal.
With the ‘build-high’ architecture in the cities, to the snowy mountains in the distance to the north, God displays his might and knack for creating pure beauty to a “T”.
I almost can’t describe with words what I have experienced in the past month I have been here in Nepal.
Here in Nepal, Buddhism and Hinduism are quite predominant so there are temples everywhere. We actually went to one of the Buddha temples to pray over them in Jesus name. The name our host called the temple was “The monkey temple”.
He wasn’t kidding. There were monkeys. Lots of monkeys.
We then went to the slums, where people live in weaved houses with tin roofs. There was a big building near the outskirts that looked out of place. It was a soup kitchen/bible school for the local kids. We put on some aprons and handed out rice like it was going out of style. After the kids were done eating, we played outside.
The kids were brimming with joy.
We then took a 10 hour bus to a brick-making village. We stayed there for 9 days. The people there had a church, that also looked a little out of place. But let me tell you something: this church family was probably the best model of what a church should look like, that I’ve ever seen. They poured into us so much, prayed for us so much. These people encouraged each other, and helped each other. If anything was wrong, someone was there to help, encourage and pray.
It was amazing.
After the 9 days of being in the brick-making village, we came back to Kathmandu for only a day. Why?
Because we were going trekking.
We took a 7 hour bus ride to… somewhere in the mountains. We then started our 4 day trek.
I thought I was in pretty good shape up to that point: NOT.
Our second night we stayed in the home of some locals who lived in the mountains.
Five of us guys stayed in a nice little room upstairs. It was great, but we kept accidentally hitting our heads on the 4 foot door. We were in the room for a solid ten minutes before we realized the tiny little wooden doors in the wall. There was a set of theses tiny wooden doors on two different walls.
The first one we opened turned out to be a dusty cube shape cut out of the wall. it was completely empty.
The second one was opened (by accident) and it was full of Bees.
BEES.
I won’t repeat what my teammate shouted, but you can imagine we were all surprised.
The next morning we had honey & tea for breakfast. (Go figure).
But we made sure to wake up early and hike 20 mins from the house we were staying in, to another house. The house of a christian lady previous race teams have visited and encouraged. We actually ended up going to her house to share the gospel with her husband who was very interested.
It was amazing that we had the opportunity to sow those seeds, and feed his curiosity for the Lord.
We then hiked another day and a half to reach Pokhara. Where you can see a beautiful lake when facing south, and the majestic Himalayas when you turn around.
I have left many stories from my past month, but as you can tell, I am loving it here. I am loving what God is doing here.
Being with all guys for one month (Man-istry) has been very crucial and beneficial for me. I have learned so much:
-How bad 15 guys can start to smell, even though we had a working shower
-That if guys are laughing and crowded around in a circle, something stupid is probably happening.
-And finally, why God made women.
I all seriousness, I have learned so much from my brothers this past month it’s crazy. I have learned what a Jesus loving community is, and I have learned that we are no longer christian boys:
We are Men of God.
Please pray that I continue to grow and become who God wants me to be.
Thank you for all your prayer and support, and keep your eyes peeled for my next blog!
God Bless!
-Josiah ??
