Christmas has come and gone and month 6 is quickly wrapping up. It blows my mind to think that there are only 5 months left of this adventure and my heart is torn between longing for home and still taking advantage of every single moment and opportunity given to me while I’m half way around the world. This month was Unsung Heroes month again and if you can remember from my last UH blog, Jesus taught me a lot about how He is always my provider and how to trust in Him. It was amazing to put that to the test again and be confirmed in how much He loves and cares for me. Without going into too much detail, I wanted to give you some of the faces of this month. I’ve come to realize that the body of Christ is not only in America, but all around the world. For instance, only God could orchestrate meeting a Nepalese girl who actually goes to LSU and is only back in Nepal for winter break. These faces were met through divine interactions and networks. Each were willing to go above and beyond to help us with whatever we needed; food, lodging, a warm hug. We couldn’t have gone through this month without each of these people playing some part of our journey.
HEM
Hem was our main contact we met with in Chitwan, who gave us the best safari tour I’ve ever had. He gave up being a tour guide and worker at a hotel to devote his life to full time ministry and pastoring. He was able to introduce us to about 20 pastors in the area and will hopefully be an awesome contact for us in the future.
HOM
Hom works at this delicious little breakfast place tucked away on the edge of the beautiful lake of Pokhara. He started helping the street kids by feeding them and cleaning them up, which turned into his ministry. He also began helping women in the clubs and dance bars, establishing relationships with them outside of the restaurant and helping them get out of that scene. Sadly, the government put this ministry to a halt and is now forcing him to obtain a license in order to continue his ministry. He is now in the process of finalizing this and is still working at the restaurant to help support his family in the mountains and sneak the street kids food.
JANICE
We met this incredible lady at a restaurant one night after we had been defeated from a long day of having contacts fall through. She has an UNBELIEVABLE testimony and was completely healed of the latest stages of fibromyalgia and has a book being published of her journey and ministry that she’s started in India and Nepal. She linked us to Pastor Bharat, who opened up many doors for us this month.
PADHAM
Pastor Padham is the pastor of New Jerusalem Church and has had no formal education in his life. He learned how to read the Bible and began by walking around sharing the Good News with those in his community. Years later, he finally started his own church which is now about 20 members big. He makes and sells his own seranghis, which is a popular instrument of the lowest caste here in Nepal. The money raised from these seranghis goes back to the community to help those of this caste system.
As hard as it was to be away for Christmas, my team and I were able to go on this incredible 3 day trek in the Himalayas to the top of Poon Hill. While I never thought my body would physically be able to climb 8,000 stairs straight up a mountain, we somehow made it there and back alive but extremely sore. As cheesy as it may seem, the summit of this mountain tied into exactly what Jesus had been teaching me this month. [REST]. Not just the kind of rest where you sleep in on the weekend and take Sundays off. No…the kind of rest where you are fully enveloped in His presence and are so firm in the Gospel and your relationship with Christ that you don’t have to worry about anything else. Hebrews 4 taught me a lot about this and it applies to every aspect of life.
The morning of the final stretch of the trek was at 4:30 the morning after Christmas. We woke up early with empty bellies, no water, and barely any light to get us to the top of the mountain. It was by far the hardest part of the journey, but most rewarding. Only being able to see one or two steps in front of me, with icy stairs and below 20 degree weather, my body was wanting to do anything but climb the hour worth of steep stairs that lied ahead. But, with each grueling step, I knew that meant one step closer to seeing the sunrise over the beautiful Annaparuna mountain range. The view at the top, being above the clouds and seeing the snow-capped mountain light up with the morning sun rising over the horizon was one of the prettiest scenes I have ever seen in my life. All of a sudden, the two day trek leading up to that point was all worth it. I couldn’t see the prize until I took the time and effort to make the journey there. It’s the same when we find rest in our God. You may not know what lies around the corner and it may be physically exhausting, this life you’re living, but when we find rest in God, the pain no longer matters. We know that He’s done the hard part and He has each step mapped out for us. It’s exciting to see the people and places He plants in your life along the way and how it always ends up working out when we quit trying to do everything ourselves.
When I was least expecting it, we got to share the gospel in a remote village of the Himalayas gathered around a fire with some 20 year old Hindu boys who had never heard of Jesus before. On our Christmas trek up the mountain, we stumbled upon a Christian church who was the daughter church of one of the UH contacts we met. They greeted us with warm tea, cake, and a place to rest on our 8 our trek. In the middle of dinner, we meet a lady who encouraged us more than we know and is now one of our best friends in Kathmandu. We had conflict and tears this month, but with that we also had growth and many days of belly laughs and “I can’t believe that just happened” moments. This has been a great month and I am beyond excited for South Africa! We leave on January 2 and will be stationed in Harrissmith, South Africa for the month of January. Please continue to pray for my team and squad as a whole. Pray that at this halfway point we will continue to stay present and focused instead of counting down the days until we arrive home. Love you all and hope your 2014 ends as wonderfully as 2015 begins.
