The last nine days were such a blast as we hiked into remote villages to share the gospel and encourage local churches. My team joined another team called “Food Truck” and it was a blast hanging out with another team. We also had a great support team with us. Our main contact was a man named Depock, our cook “Commando,” and his two helpers who were also translators named “Superman” and Rosalia. There were also 4 amazing porters who carried our food and cooking supplies. They did everything we did while carrying more weight – using baskets instead of backpacks and wearing flip flops to trek in.
These were definitely mountains in Nepal – they were steep and tall. I do not have a good estimate of how far we hiked or how much elevation we gained, but I know it was a lot. Some days we hiked 7-8 hours to get to the next village. I have experienced steepness before in hiking during my firefighting days, but in one day on this trek – I completed the longest and steepest hike I have ever done. It stretched our team a lot and made many turn to God for help to get up the mountain.
I loved being up there in the remote areas with no running water and just small solar batteries for electricity. The people up there have to work hard to provide for their families especially during the dry season when water and food is scarce. We met one family that has to travel five hours just to get water. Their main water source was from artisan wells coming from the mountains.
We were able to travel with local pastors to share the gospel and give bibles to those who wanted them. It was great to encourage the local pastors and get behind their vision for the area. We shared the gospel as we traveled to different villages stopping at houses along the way as well as going on day-long evangelism trips. Many of them have never heard of the gospel or had a very limited understanding of who Jesus was.
The main religion up in the mountains was a form of Hinduism combined with Animist (Spirit worship). But Christianity is making waves through the area as many are seeing changes in those who have accepted Jesus as their savior. At times it was challenging with the culture because they are very family oriented and would wait to accept Jesus until they could talk to the rest of their family. On the other hand, when one family member accepts all of them accepts.
One story that sticks out to me was at a house that had two old men and one famous witch doctor. Before we started to share the gospel the older man was pointing to his knees. So I took the authority that I have in Christ and have learned at “miracle street” in India and we prayed for his knees. At first he was getting a little better and was still walking with a stick, but after we prayed again he got rid of the stick and said he was going to work in the fields the next day. It was so cool to see the power of God work right in front of the witch doctor. We did not have to summon any spirits or appease them as witch doctors do. We simply call on the name of Jesus for healing. The witch doctor did not accept Christ while we were there. He claimed to be comfortable in his power as a witch doctor, but I know he has some things to ponder after that encounter with Jesus.
Please pray for all of those we interacted and shared the gospel with. Pray that their hearts would be open to receiving Christ and that others would come along and share more about Jesus. Please pray for the local church that leaders would be raised up. This is very important since most cannot read and need literate pastors to share the word of God with them.
Photo Credit to my teammate Kelsey Brown
