Month 4 in Nepal, my team had the amazing opportunity to take two trekking journeys to the remote villages in the mountains. When our host told us that we would be doing a lot of “adventure ministry”, he definitely wasn’t joking around. I didn’t quite understand at the moment that this would be an adventure that I know I would never forget.
Our first trek was into the “foot hills” of the Chitwan district to the most remote villages. Most of the people we met here have never seen white people, let alone have ever heard the mention of Jesus.
Let me first start off by mentioning that these were certainly not “foot hills” by my standards. I’m from northwest Ohio where you’re lucky to even find a hill worthy enough to sled down in the winter. These were foot hills by Nepali standards. For those of you who don’t know, Mount Everest and the Himilayas reside in this country. So these were foot hills based on the highest peaks in the world.
The treks that we made were the hardest physical and mental challenge I have ever been through. It was absolutely nuts – 90% of it was such a steep incline that you had to use both your hands and feet to climb up. The other 9.99% was an equally steep decline and a measly .1% was glorious, level ground.
The climb was absolutely worth it though! My team went out almost every day with the translators to meet with the families living in the small mud huts and share the good news of Jesus Christ. Almost all of them heard the gospel for the first time in their life – including the 3 witch doctors we came across!
But the event and person I want to tell you about happened on our second trek in Pokhara.
After a long bus ride, our team finally arrives in Pokhara and our first stop is to pick up our guide. His name is Sam and he’s just 22 years young. He was a fantastic guide, and our team starting to bond with him almost immediately – being incredibly nice and personable are definitely some of his attributes.
We began our hike up the mountain to a little hostel where we would eat and sleep for the night. After I got settled in, I made my way to the kitchen (which was a mud-type fire oven that they had outside). As I watched them cook, Sam sat next to me and we began to have a conversation to get to know each other. After some time into our friendly chat, I ask him if he believed in Jesus.
He alluded to the fact that he believed in all gods – he was born into and a practicing Hindu – “same same but different” is a common phrase within the religion. It was a wonderful time getting to know more about him and seeing him as more than just our guide, but like a friend.
That next morning I woke up with the impression that God was placing Sam on my heart; to start reaching out to him more. I knew the mission before us was to share the love of Jesus to the people in these villages, but I felt that God didn’t want us to ignore the people he put right in front of us either. I think God does that a lot.
So we begin our trek up the mountain once again. Sam is leading in the front and I’m huffing and puffing my way all the way in the back. Okay, God, if you want me to reach out to him you need to step in and make something happen. I don’t know what, but I know I can’t do this on my own.
After a few hours, we came to a good place to stop for lunch (moments I really came to cherish haha). As we devour our food, we notice two older men walking down the mountain. Well… one of them was walking, the other man had two walking sticks to support him because he could hardly walk at all and was in great pain. Our translators found out that this man was knocked over by an ox and was trying to make his way down the mountain to get to a hospital.
The pain this man was experiencing was obvious to anyone with vision. So my teammate asked if we could pray for him to be healed in Jesus’ name. He shrugged his shoulders as if saying, “Eh, why not. I’m desperate enough so I’ll take what I can get at this point.” Our team stopped eating and came around this man as he struggled to sit down. We all prayed and after asked the man to stand up to see if he felt any better. (Might I add that this man had no idea what we were saying in our prayers and did not believe in Jesus.)
Nope. He struggled to stand and was still feeling immense pain. So we prayed again and asked him how he felt. There seemed to be a change. He quickly began to bend his injured hip and knee and his face began to light up with suprise. So we prayed again! And then another time! After we prayed four times for him to be healed, he sprung right up from his sitting positions and threw his two walking sticks to the ground and began to walk freely!! The man takes his smaller walking stick for good measure and walks right back up the mountain where he had come down from. It looked like he didn’t feel the need to go to the hospital anymore!
Oh man, we all went crazy in celebration! Especially Sam. After this man began walking, I looked over at him to see how he was reacting to all that he just witnessed. The expression on his face was a mixture of shock and amazement (he wasn’t alone, I was pretty shocked and amazed too). I looked forward to the conversation I would have with him later about what just happened.
Fast forward to when we make it to our next hostel for the night. After we ate, I made my way to the little room where the mud-type fire ovens were to keep warm and to talk to Sam. Upon enjoying some small talk, I ask the big question…
“So, Sam, what do you think about what you saw earlier today?”
This one question was all it took to open the door to Sam professing over and over again how much he trusts in Jesus. I remember just sitting there, listening intently, as he was telling me how amazed he was at what he saw. I thought to myself, Wow… He really gets it. I was expecting to have to explain more to him and ask if he wanted to put his faith in Jesus.
But I didn’t have to do any of that, the Holy Spirit did it all! Hope and joy beamed from him as he kept telling me about his experience with what happened earlier that day. He shared that he wanted to get his hands on a Bible when he got home so he could learn more about Jesus.
I was amazed! I literally didn’t have to do anything besides have a conversation with him. God was the one who brought Sam to us. God was the one who brought the injured man. God was the one who healed him. God was the one that opened Sam’s heart to see and believe in Him!
And it gets better!
As our team went out to tell the village people about Jesus that next day, Sam began to witness to them about what he had seen! He would go on and on about his previous beliefs (which were also the beliefs of the people we talked to), the story of the miracle that he had seen, and how he put his faith in Jesus.
It was such an incredible sight to see. I feel honored to have had even a small part in his life. When we got back to the city to drop him off, we made sure to get him a Bible and in contact with the local church where he lived. His eagerness to learn more still serves as an inspiration to me.
God is so good, and He’s working in ways that are so unexpected! This is a story of how Sam went from guide, friend, to brother in a matter of four short days. All because God made a way.
I know that no matter where life takes us, I’ll see you again!
