Holidays are a welcome thing on the World Race and birthdays are no exception. My 22nd birthday was on October 26th so I was able to celebrate with my team in Nepal. No two birthdays we’ve celebrated so far have looked anything alike. Here’s a glimpse of my day!
Awoke at 5 am to “happy birthday Rachel!!” from my teammates as we awoke for morning prayer with our pastor and his wife.
Becca made me a cup of hot chocolate with a chocolate candy on the side. I’ve been wanting hot chocolate for months!
Becca and Em prepared a delicious oatmeal pancake breakfast.
We ate so much- Cody was laying on the floor unable to move because he ate so many.
While we were still stuffed from too many pancakes, our pastor’s wife brings out rice and curry for lunch (10 am and 6 pm are normal meal times for us). Afterwards, I’m surprised with a chocolate heart shaped cake with a pink sparkly “Birthday Girl” candle and a bright yellow birthday hat. And chocolate smeared on my face. Haha!
Now, at this point we weren’t sure what the rest of the day would hold. We never really do here! Our pastor said we might do some work in the garden and maybe visit a believer’s house in the afternoon for a devotion and worship. We thought after we did that we might go on an adventure to the “jungle”, a short walk away and then to a local restaurant to eat.
Around noon he informs us that instead we’re going to walk 45 minutes into town to catch a bus so we can go see the one of the Hindus most holy places. Never know what’s coming next here!
Arrive at this place and cross over a river on a huge suspension bridge.
We walked around for a while to see the Hindu temple and idols that were everywhere. Spent time in prayer as a group that these people would see the Truth.
Found a sweet tree to climb (Dad, you recognize the kind ?
)
We arrived back home where I was SO excited to watch the movie “Vertical Limit” about some guys who climb K2 in Nepal, the most difficult mountain to climb. I thought it was perfect for us to watch it since we’re in the same country. I had bought it on ITunes a couple weeks before and planned to watch it on my birthday, but to my great disappointment it wouldn’t play! We ended up watching the Emperor’s New Groove. oh well.
So that's my day! Overall, a great one. My teammates made sure it was a special day. I'm looking forward to what God's going to do in my 22nd year!
