It is finally here, the half-way point of the race! It seems like it has been a long time in coming but it also is crazy to think I am half-way through. I have fewer countries to travel to than countries I have traveled to. At this point it kind of feels like I have been on the race forever but I also have forever to go. Sometimes this is a really encouraging thought but sometimes it seems unbearable to think about. But recently I have rethought how I view the world race. Coming into this year I viewed this trip as a year set-apart for God where I am going where he leads and having my only duties to be serving God and growing in my relationship with him. This is still the case but I have also started to view this as just another year of my life where I am simply living life it just happens to be under different circumstances than I am used to. Just like during college when you reach mid-terms and it seems like the end of the semester never arrives, so the race can feel at sometimes but then all too soon the year is over and people go their separate ways and all you are left with is a memory. After the fact the hard parts won’t seem so hard and the simple moments will seem much more beautiful.
I am in Nepal this month in a rural village called Sirahi. It is beautiful. We had a (terrifying) 7 hour ride through the Himalayan Mountains on narrow winding roads but surrounded by a breathtaking view. We are staying in a classroom of a Christian school where the students come six days a week and receive an English education. We are working with an organization called New Lights Nepal that seeks to provide education on sex trafficking and bring the gospel to the villages of Nepal. We have been teaching in the school and going around to encourage the believers in the area, often walking long distances as there are very few believers spaced far apart. I have LOVED this month so far. I love Nepal. I love the contacts we are working with. We are working with a pastor and his wife who live on the compound where the school is. We have Chai tea about three times a day and have been blessed with delicious food. In Nepal culture it is rude to call people older than you by their name so we refer to our contacts and Uncle, Aunty and brother. Each night we have a time of thanksgiving where we go around the circle expressing things we are thankful for while we drink tea.
Our ministry has been relaxed this month. The contacts like to do things at a relaxed pace and stress the importance of daily devotions and just taking time to rest and enjoy each other and the country we are in. Nepal is definitely the most unique country I have been to in terms of culture. Almost all the women wear nose rings, Hindu is the majority religion and very engrained in cultural values and beliefs. Women often get married at a very young age and the women are just not respected in society. In Hindu culture the women is seen as unclean and impure and will do various rituals to become clean such as washing their husbands feet and then drinking the water. We walk past of all sorts of animals on a daily basis such as; chickens, goats, water buffalo and cows that are found in the yards of many of the houses. I unintentionally ate water buffalo while visiting the house of believers one day and also learned the hard way that in Nepal when you say thank-you after receiving food it means you want more food- So I ended up with a heaping plate of food. I have learned you just have to laugh at the varying norms from one culture to the next.
This has been one of my favorite months of the race and I will be very sad to leave this ministry sight but I am so excited for what God has in store for me next month in INDIA! Thank-you to everyone who has continued to follow-me, support me and pray for me on this journey. I am overwhelmed by the provision God has provided me through many generous supporters. I am so excited to announce that I am 99% of the way funded and only need $130 more dollars to be fully funded. At the start of the race $16 000 seemed like an impossible amount of money to fundraise but once again God has shown me that all things are possible with him
