This month we had our fingers in many pies! From praying over Hindu and Buddhist temples, hiking up mountains to pray over Kathmandu, doing soccer ministry and making a meal to share with the street kids and sharing the Gospel with them, painting prophetic pictures to give to women in the red light district of Kathmandu, going into cabin restaurants where women are bought for sex and having conversations with them about Jesus and asking if they want to leave their job, going into dance bars on the Hindu holiday, Maha Shivaratri, and befriending the dancers… and more.
I’ve had mostly “okay” ministry days on the Race but nothing I’ve fallen in love with. Until last night.
The past two Saturdays we’ve gone to different churches to preach. This weekend my team and another team didn’t leave in the morning with everyone else because we were going to a church that started at 3 pm. What kind of church starts so late in the day? All we knew was to have a sermon, a testimony, and some games prepared. We eventually found out we were going to a youth group!
We walked in to a small room of the church and eventually about 60 students came in. It turns out that the youth group is run by a married couple that run an orphanage for girls. So all the girls in the youth group live with them and refer to them as Uncle and Auntie. The boys in the youth group go to school with the girls. Nine of them are old enough to go to college and get sponsorships to afford their schooling! I got to talk to a couple of them. One is finishing up her practicals for nursing. She wants to help women deliver their babies in the Nepali villages. Another is studying psychology and social work and wants to help women at risk.
Both of these young women, who are my own age, have such big dreams to help other women and are able to accomplish them by the grace of God! These girls that either have no parents, or come from families in villages that can’t afford them and have abandoned them, or were trafficked have been rescued by this wonderful godly couple and now have so much opportunity available to them that they never could have before. They also have a beautiful sisterhood! There are about 29 girls in the home and they say they LOVE it. They don’t think its hard or annoying to live with that many people. I could just see the joy and camaraderie between all these girls so clearly on their faces and in their laughter.
Playing games with them and then singing “Let It Go” and them leading us in “Deep Cries Out” (which I totally forgot all about until they started doing the dance moves to it!) and other songs and dances we didn’t know was so much fun! When it was time to say goodbye, they all went around and gave us hugs. I wish we could have spent our whole month with them!
We walked home that night beaming from and rejoicing over the time we got to spend with these young women. Through this, God reminded me how much I have a heart for teen girls and that even though I can’t be with my sophomore girls at my church back home, He blessed me with what He knew my heart and spirit needed.
As I worshipped alongside my Nepali brothers and sisters in Christ in the beginning of the evening, I was in awe of how good God is to bring me to this place. I never would have thought of these people or this place back in the States. But I now share a memory with these people.
Traveling to these countries and meeting fellow believers, I know its not the end if we don’t see each other again. When we get to Heaven one day, we’ll be worshipping our Father with all our brothers and sisters from every tribe and every nation! How privileged am I that I get to meet some of these brothers and sisters on this side of Heaven!
