We were all so excited to go to the village. Fourteen hours on a bus followed by a 4 plus hour hike up a mountain would be a great adventure. We all boarded a Nepalese public bus and headed out for our overnight trip. It's 4am. I wake up and change positions to be more comfortable. I sense something is wrong and open my eyes. That is when the impact came. I had been leaning against the armrest of the seat and was thrown over the armrest. My head hit a metal pole in the aisle and I ended up on the floor. I heard glass breaking and people screaming. People were being flung around the bus and glass was flying everywhere as the bus slid down the side of a mountain. When we came to a stop, my teammates and I quickly begin checking to see if everyone was okay. We were thankful that we only had minor cuts and bruises. Other passangers were much more severely injured. We later learned that our driver had fallen asleep at the wheel and struck an illegally parked bus on the side of the road. Our bus was traveling about 60mph when we hit. We were taken to a hospital that was really just an open buileing with blood and needles lying everywhere. We were sitting outside with our packs and this drew a crowd. Probably most of the town had gathered to watch us and people were even entering the hospital to see are teammates that were in need of stitches. Even members of the Nepalese Army were taking photos of us. We were able to be transported to a larger, more sanitary hospital that we have dubbed the "Pearl Harbor Hospital." We were all checked out and taken care of.
We were put up in a hotel in a nearby city for a couple of nights while we waited for our squad leaders to come. It was uncomfortable to say the least. We had nothing to do for two days except for think about the accident. We had also been informed by our contact that the village ministry we were going to do was no longer an option, and that we would return to Kathmandu to teach computer classes instead. You could feel the spirit of discouragement fall over the team as we were all looking forward to working in this remote village where our contact was building a school so children would not have to walk for hours and cross a dangerous river where many people have died.
It appeared as though we had lost a week of ministry and lost one ministry altogether, but when we put on our God-glasses, we could see that God had placed ministry opportunities in front of us all along. We were able to serve through the accident as Logan carried people off of the bus, as Michael organized hospital transportation and took care of our contact's wife who was injured more severly than the rest of us. We ministered as Jess and I provided first aid on site, as Jenny shared Jesus with two white, English speaking interns at the hospital, as Mallory prayed for people and bought a woman's medicine, and as Sarah and I shared the Gospel with a man in a cafe.
So, we are back in Kathmandu and God is still blessing us with opportunities. We will be going to a different village near the Tibet boarder soon to pray for people and share Jesus with many who have never heard the name. We have been playing with the local children and praying for them, and crowding in tiny room to encourage believer and share the Gospel with a Hindu man who has decided to come to church this week. Through this storm, God has remained faithful and we have bonded together as a team to stay close to Him.
