//A Few Short Stories//
Flying to Nepal:
We got the news a few weeks before our travel day, that we would be responsible to navigate travel from India to Nepal by land. There was a little catch in my spirit. I could not handel ANOTHER boarder crossing, a day full of ten plus hour bus rides, carrying all of our stuff, confusing directions communicated through actions etc… In that moment I made a choice to lay it down, I gave it to the Lord. God you have been so faithful He will be faithful again.
Lesson: When you pray things change. Simplicity or boldness doesn’t matter. Faith is key.
Peace rushed over me and I knew my God is enough. As days past we looked into transportation. There were a few of my team members that were unsettled about traveling by land over the Himalayans due to safety. The short story is God used that to reach out to our leadership and navigate other options for our team. In the end our squad got to travel to Nepal via air and it was such a smooth travel day. Praise the Lord.
Airport Welcome:
When we arrived at the Katmandu airport we received a warm welcome from Bipen. Rewind four months my sweet friend Jessica followed the prompting of Holy Spirit to go out to dinner by herself. While out her Nepali waiter in Malaysia shared his struggle of Christian life with no community. Through this encounter Jessica got to encourage and pray for this brother, Bipen. I do not know if y’all understand how incredible it is to be picked up at the airport! This is the only time it has happened for my team as we have sojourned from place to place.
Lesson: The Lord is always working even if we do not see the big picture now. Trust Him. He knows exactly what we need.
Even though my teams time with Bipin was short I am thankful for every moment we spent at that small church in the mountain village outside Katmandu.
Simone’s Painting:
The first day we arrived in Nepal our dear friends fixed us delicious Nepali food and let us rest. As I laid to sleep I vividly dreamed. I was looking at this woman. This older, wrinkly, white haired Asian woman who looked disheveled with dirty fingernails and something I could not quite make out in her mouth. My heart was brought to compassion as I gazed at her. Then I heard a voice say go to her and speak life. I woke up. It was so real I wrote these notes in my phone and went upstairs to think. Bipin and his friend Simone joined me for tea time. We small talked and then shared testimonies. While Simone was talking he shared how the Lord had been providing for his family through paintings he created and sold. He began to show me some of the paintings. I gasped in disbelief when he showed me the woman in my dream.
Lesson: God is always speaking. Why do I discredit and push aside His words? God open my eyes to you. I want to know you fully.
The next few days I got the opportunity to trek through the mountain side praying for people and speaking of God’s great love. One of the home’s was Simone’s. To share the gospel with his mom and be invited in his home was one of the greatest honors. And yes, I bought his painting.
Leaving the South:
We left our dear friends and headed south. Then we left the south and headed west. So as I am sure you have read in other blogs, WR Fusion is living day to day based on the voice of the Holy Spirit and the revelation of God’s word. So when it is time to leave, we leave. Sometimes we know why and sometimes we do not. The day we arrived in the west one of my team members read online that there was flooding where we just came from. We reached out to some of the friends we made while there and discovered people were being evacuated and it was bad. Thankfully our friends were fine.
Lesson: Even if we do not always understand obedience is key.
We always have the choice to assume coincidence. A phrase that is becoming a personal motto is, “give credit to where credit is due.” As I grow in awareness to the presence of the Lord and what He is doing my faith grows and I recognize His hand in our lives. Thank you God for getting us out of south and taking us to safety and adventure in the west.
Not Ashamed:
When we arrived in the west we stayed at Aroma Hostel. Our time there was awesome! Good food, dance parties, late night theological conversations and continuously sharing the gospel through word and deed. Many testimonies came from this time. The day we left the west to go north another Fusion team was arriving. One of my team members reached out and told them to stay at Aroma. That the Lord had softened the hearts of the family that owned the hostel. She said they already had a place to stay. Little did we know that the place was Aroma!
Lesson: We do not always get to harvest the fruit (to use a biblical analogy) but we need to never tire going out to the fields.
God is constantly using His people to bring His kingdom. I have decided it doesn’t matter what role I play I just want be used by God.
Walking the Road:
At the end of the month Brave Hearts went up North to the Last Resort for our last adventure as a team. We did a combination of bungee jumping, cannoning, trekking and an adrenalin junky swing. It was awesome. Honestly I love a good adventure and the list of things yet to do is getting shorter by the day but my favorite thing that happened those two days was the testimony of our friend Phillip and night worship in a tent during a thunderstorm. Because of all the landslides Nepal has been facing lately the roads up north were not the best so we had to walk a lot of it. This gave us opportunity to embrace talking to strangers and enjoy the breathtaking creation. Throughout the day many of my team members shared the gospel with a young man from Germany, Philip. By the end of our time Philip shared he was journaling about us and he felt a voice inside him ask, “are you ready to be all in?” He said, “no.” He was not ready to be all in for Jesus.
Lesson: There is always opportunity to be used by God and share His love.
Through the hand of God a few days later we ran into him in Katmandu. He joined us for dinner, fellowship, teaching and worship. Through this interaction I was reminded that the Lord relentlessly pursues His children.
Café with Agnes:
My sweet sister Agnes and I went to catch up one afternoon at a café. We were just chatting, testifying and praying for each other as three young men were worshiping the Lord with guitar and song. We both noticed them and were encouraged by their presence. I felt in my heart to go and speak with them but wanted to hear Agnes’ stories and time got away from us. I quickly went up to the register, by passing the guys because we were going to be late for a squad meeting. But Agnes did not. She stopped at the table with the young men. I immediately felt embarrassed that I had passed them. As we talked and shared brief testimonies of what the Lord was doing in our lives in Nepal they asked if they could pray for us. As they prayed blessing over us the Lord opened my eyes to His heart for one of my brothers. Before we left I got to speak words of truth and encouragement from the heart of God to them. It was a powerful moment of tears and rejoicing. And we had the time wrong for the meeting so ended up a few minutes early.
Lesson: God’s grace is enough and He is always speaking.
I was amazed at the Lord’s grace to use me. I was acting like Martha in the Bible. Being rushed and ignoring the prompting of Holy Spirit. But because of God’s grace Agnes my sister, an extension of the church called me higher in gentleness and love. Through this we were blessed and the Lord’s glory was made known.
