As it is almost time for me and my team to move from Vietnam (month 3) to Cambodia (month 4), I suppose I will go ahead and finish my blog series about Nepal (month 2). I admit I have been a terrible blogger this past month, and I want to extend an apology to you all for my negligence on the subject. To be honest, I have considered many times whether to blog or not but always seem to choose the latter option. In some way, to write this blog would be to fully acknowledge and accept that Nepal is over, and to be honest again I’m just not ready for that to be truth. I have spent much of this past month in reflection and learning hard lessons that I have ignored in the past (I hope to have the ambition to write a blog about it so maybe if I tell you that I’ll have to).
One such lesson is the importance of living in the now and not pining for times gone or times yet to come. Looking back in fondness over what you have left behind and remembering the things you learned but not dwelling on missing the time you can’t get back because in doing so you are missing what time you have now. Nepal was an amazing month filled with love, family, and amazing experiences. I learned so much that making a list like I did for India would be exhausting. Some things were funny, like how many people you can fit on public transportation, or the consequences of running out of water when half the house is experiencing “loose motion,” while others were more serious, like home being somewhere/anywhere your family lives and learning that some of mine live in Katmandu. Though casually seeing the Himalayas every day was beautiful, it was so much more than that as well, it is of no surprise to me that mountains are used frequently in metaphors about life and God; I can attest to all of them being both true and unexplainable. The mountains alone taught me so much that I hope to never forget. For example, learning to remember that they are still there even if the smog is too thick to see them (a lesson they taught me about God), and to remember to stop and look at them because it is so easy for us to forget them and to forget how tiny we are in comparison (yet another lesson about God).
In the end, however, my time there has ended, for now, and I must remember to live here in Vietnam before my time here is over too — to take these lessons to heart instead of dismissing them because they look different than the Himalayas and my Nepal family. So here it is, my admission that it’s over and my acceptance of whatever God has for me now. It’s not easily done. When you leave for the world race you have a delusion that the only truly hard goodbyes will be at the beginning with your family and at the end with your squad, but If you’re living the race right, there will be so many other relationships to grieve on the way, a truth I am thankful for even though it hurts.
Thanks for stopping by,
much love, Lyndie
Here are a collection of photos from my time in Nepal 🙂 Enjoy!
Paragliding in Pokhara
Everest!
View from the monkey temple
Team picture (minus Allison, plus our squad leader Mills) at a fertility temple overlooking the mountains
On the hike down from the fertility temple
Some beautiful woman that we got pour into in Nepal
Our beautiful and wonderful Friendsgiving
Pokhara
Sunrise in Pokhara, truly beautiful morning
Same sunrise. (minus Audrey and Rachel, plus our squad leader Mason)
Tenting on a hill with some wonderful people from our ministry, I loved this night and will hold it in my heart forever.
Last day at ministry, teaching on what life is about
Last one, and honestly one of my favorites. I love this little girl, and everyone around her. This month meant the world to me, each person I met I will hold in My heart forever. I can’t wait to see them all again, “here, there, or in the air”
