NOTE: We are actually back in Kathmandu now, I haven’t been able to post this for a week. I will catch up on the rest of the month in the next blog, hopefully with pictures too, if I can get them to load with WiFi :).
This month is flying by. Nepal is one of the most beautiful places I have been, and my team is blessed because we get to see so much of it this month! So far we have spent time in four areas of the country, and we still have two more to go.
Here’s what we’ve been up to the past two weeks:
Kathmandu
Our first week we spent in the city of Kathmandu where we spent time with a youth group, went to a women’s Bible study and taught English at our ministry contact’s computer institute.
We got to spend the most time hanging out with the youth of the church. We had so much fun having dance parties, playing different games and just hanging out. The youth were incredibly talented musically and in dance (especially break dancing!)
Kathmandu was also nice because there is a tourist area called Tamel Street where there are tons of little stores, coffee shops and Western restaurants.
Danahu
Next, we went with the youth of the church to a rural village called Danahu. The amazing youth band played several Nepali worship songs, a couple of us spoke and a pastor from Texas and our ministry contact shared the gospel to the village. At the end of each program a crowd of people came up for prayer. Jesus healed a lot of people and several came to know him for the first time.
The few days we lived in the village, we stayed in a small room where the walls and floor were made of clay. In the morning we were woken up by a baby goat walking on our feet and the chicken crowing from its home in the wall. We lived on top of a hill where we could see the farmland of the village, and we walked a mile down to visit a beautiful river.
Pokhara
We combined our off days this month to visit a few days in the tourist town of Pokhara. On the way there, our van had to stop for a drunk guy who threatened to throw a large rock at us (one of the other passengers got out of the van and kicked him)… While we were there, we went on a three-day trekking adventure.
We would hike all day and spend the night at a guesthouse (hostel). The second morning, we started hiking at five to make the sunrise at Poon Hill, which overlooks three snow-capped mountains. The hike up was one of the hardest things I’ve done in a long time (you have to go up over 3,000 steps in forty-five minutes to make the sunrise.)
Bardia
We are currently in a few of the youth-group member’s hometown, Bardia. The trip here was a memorable experience. It was a 17-hour bus ride, where we would stop at these interesting rest stops where they would sell fruit, roasted corn and cook up ramen by candle-light.
While in Bardia we have done VBS for the kids and visited the nearby national park with the church family. At the park we saw Nepal’s longest river, elephants, crocodiles and monkeys.
Today we are spending some more time with the church family and tomorrow we leave for another village.
This month has been an adventure, and I’m so thankful to be here. The World Race has definitely been hard at times, but I wouldn’t change it and I wouldn’t want it to be easier. I’m excited to see what’s to come.
