High Adventure Ministries. That’s what our contact likes to refer to his ministry and based off of what we’ve been doing that’s pretty accurate. So far in Nepal I’ve trekked more mountains than I’ve totaled in my life, bought a “Black Yak” backpack, got a tat and have had many opportunities to share the good news. If I’m not dead within the next 5 years I will have made it back to this country.
Just a little bout this country: They practice Tibetan Buddhism which fairly different than Buddhism you’d find in Southeast Asia since it was mixed with a form of religion that has more of a witchcraft atmosphere. Hinduism and Buddhism are known to “co-exist” here in Nepal as well. The city of Kathmandu has roughly 5 million people in it. There are hundreds of people groups spread out in the Himalayan Mountains, a lot that haven’t seen foreigners before (including the ones we’re chillin with right now!). Monkeys are everywhere. People come out of these villages to go to Kathmandu for school. When they finish college there aren’t many opportunities to work in this country so Nepal is great at networking to other countries for job opportunities. You will often find people who are working in or family members are working in Dubai, Malaysia, and Saudi Arabia. Also sex slavery is HUGE here. People will go into these villages and offer things to the girls there. They will tell them there are bigger and better things for them in the capital, and since these girls have never seen the city before they are quick to jump at these opportunities. They go with them and are often times taken into India and sold into brothels. Also many children in these villages don’t live past 8 years old because of lack of food and resources, especially in the cold winters in the Himalayas. But for the most part people in Nepal are awesome. They just love to talk and are very open about everything. It is a fun country with so much adventure it’s not even funny!
We started off in Kathmandu doing ministry in the city every day. Some days we’d go to the temples to talk to people and pray, including the monkey temple. If you think it’s hard to pray sometimes because you get distracted…. try going to a temple with monkeys running around everywhere and try not to be distracted haha. My favorite days are when we just walk around and talk to people. We just get to share life with these people and just getting a chance to tell people about the news of Jesus is great. We also went to a few slums where we were able to hand out food and play with the children who lived there. I really enjoyed being in the city because it was just like we were living life and talking to people. Nothing was structured; we just would go around and talk. Such a fun time and we met some awesome people, whether that means backpackers going thru Kathmandu or the people of Nepal. Not to mention I was able to pick up some sick Nepali gear, including a handmade Nepali jack, and pants. And ohh yea a tattoo which you can check the pics on the gram or the book. Our contact is great, he runs his ministry through an adventure travel agency and has 2 great cooks with us who are a blast to hang out with and make great food.
The vision of his ministry is he wants to go where others don’t. There are still so many places in the mountains of Nepal which are unreached. He wants to use his adventure experience and connections to take teams out where no one has been before.
Me and Nate are together this month with Michelle’s team. We are now out in a village in the Himalayas, east of Kathmandu. We are in what they call the “foot hills” of the Himalayas but we can see some huge snowcapped mountain ranges when its clear out. We had to hike 45 minutes to get to this village. We barley have water so to conserve we have to do our laundry and shower in the river which is a 20 minute hike away. Nothing here is a walk… always a hike, and always pretty straight up or straight down. We are at the top of the mountain range we’re at and it’s amazing. Getting to wake up every day and overlook the Himalayan mountain range is something I’m not even going to try to explain, it’s phenomenal. We’re hanging out with the pastor here with Jakes team. They are down the mountain about 45 minutes, but for here that means they’re our neighbors. We walk at least that far every day whether that’s for walking around praying, walking around to encouraged the believers in the area, or sharing Jesus with people who have never heard of him. Many of the people we see this is the first time they’re seeing foreigners. It’s an amazing experience; I really can’t explain it any other way.
One of the men in the village we’re at was also able to share his testimony with us and it was awesome. He was a witchdoctor. Since there’s no hospital unless you walk 1 hr then got on a bus for another 3 hrs, plus then you have to pay money… people just go to these witchdoctors and it’s sad how they rely on these satanic powers, but they got nothing else. Then one day his son was sick and he tried everything, called all his witchdoctor friends and they tried all they had. At this point this guy was also the leader of a group who persecuted Christians. Well his cousin kept telling him his witchcraft wasn’t working but he had to try Jesus. His cousin was praying for his son, and his son was finally healed of his sickness. The witchcraft wasn’t working, but Jesus did and this man was saved. His whole family became Christians and they were persecuted for their faith in their village. Now we are in this same village, where majority of the people here are believers. It’s so amazing how God reviles himself to certain people!
Nepal is so good. Get here. I want to write more about it, but I can’t describe it. I feel so lucky and so blessed to be able to do a trip like this. Thanks so much for supporting me and making things like this happen! My life is great, not just because I’m in Nepal, but because we have God who is always there and always good! I have been listening to a sermon series by Pastor Steven Furtick called Crash the Chatterbox. You can get it free on the podcast app. He also wrote a book called the same thing that I am looking forward to reading when I get back, but the basis of the series is “The voice we believe will determine the future you experience.” We all hear the lies of satan, ALL the time… but we need to recognize them as lies so we can overcome them with the promises of God. I highly recommend reading or listening to this because we all struggle with this!!
We have a mini debrief before heading to Zambia, we’re gonna be back in Kathmandu. I will keep you updated with our adventures and ministry! I hope to have some awesome stories for the next blog. Africa is coming soon, but I can’t wait to soak up these last couple weeks of Asia!
MUCH LOVE!
