NAMASTE FROM NEPAL
After 42+ hours of layovers and flights, we have made it to NEPAL! Let me just break down these crazy travel days for y’all.
- We arrived at the Osaka, Japan airport at 9am thinking we had a 12pm flight. Turns out our entire flight got changed and we were not departing until 6pm that night.
- Leave Osaka at 6pm and land in the Seoul, Korea airport at 8pm.
- We have a 4 hour lay over in Seoul and then we take the red eye flight from Seoul to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
- Fly 10 hours and land in UAE at 5am local time
- We have a 7 hour layover in UA
- We depart UAE at 2pm and take a 4.5 hour flight to Kathmandu, Nepal.
- Take a 30 minute bus ride and arrive at our hostel in Nepal around 10pm local time.
It was a long couple of days but I am so happy to be here in Nepal! This month is our “manistry” and “manLESStry” month which means that all the men and women are separated for the month. We are living separately and doing ministry separately.
All of the ladies on my squad are sharing 2 floors of a house here in Kathmandu this month. Nepal is still a mess after the earthquake that hit here back in April. Because of this, there is a power shortage and there are scheduled power outages for everyone each day. Our power goes out 3 different times per day and its always at different times. We do have running water which has been a huge blessing! Our water, however, is not hot so our showers are very chilly this month haha. There is also a HUGE gas shortage in Nepal right now with the border being closed between Nepal and India. We have been given a little gas to cook our meals with and we are praying that it lasts us the whole month.
Also, a really fun thing about Nepal is how we are traveling around the city. We are taking buses but instead of riding inside them, we climb up and sit in these basket things ON TOP of them! Its terrifying and exhilarating all at the same time haha
I am pumped about our ministry this month. We are partnering with a ministry that works with sex trafficked women, at risk women, and women who have been rescued from trafficking. In the morning, we teach English to women who are either at risk of being trafficked or who have been rescued from it. I am teaching 2 ladies who know very little English. One is a Christian and the other is Hindu. Communication can be hard sometimes but they are both so sweet and I am enjoying all the time I am getting to spend with them.
In the afternoons, we spend time with the LORD and then go out to cabin restaurants and dance bars to minister to young women who are currently trapped in the sex trafficking industry. We bring them gifts (scarves and the Gospel of John) and if their handlers allow us, we sit and talk with them. This type of ministry is so good but so challenging at the same time. It’s one thing to hear about women who are stuck living in this sick reality. Its another thing to actually meet them.
One day last week, we went around to different cabin restaurants bringing gifts to the women we encountered. Cabin restaurants look like normal restaurants from the outside but on the inside, there are different rooms and sections you can order food from. The more money someone spends, the more services are provided to them. The one we went into was underground and very dark. The “rooms” reminded me of stalls in a horse barn, each with a table sitting in the middle and cushions on the ground.
There were 4 girls who were there that we got to speak with. They all told us they were 22 and were from far off villages across Nepal. We learned afterwards from our host that they were definitely much younger than 22 (probably 16-19) but they have to tell us they are older than they are because its illegal for them to work there if they are under a certain age. She also told us these girls were probably not there by choice. Often time, handlers will go out to, poor, remote villages and offer to pay families for their daughters to come find work in the cities. The families are often desperate and send their daughters with them, not knowing that they have just sold their daughters into a life of prostitution. And then these girls are trapped because even if they can get away, their families wouldn’t take them back.
It’s such a heart breaking reality here and the more I see it, the more I want to see an end to it. It’s a different kind of evil that I have never experienced before.
After being in Nepal for a week, I am convinced of now more than ever is that the message of Jesus Christ that we carry with us has POWER. The same power that raised Christ from the dead lives inside of us. And that message is too good not to be shared. There is too much evil in this world to keep this message to ourselves. The enemy has made himself comfortable in far too many places but when we go to those places, the darkness becomes full of light. He has lost and we can walk in confidence and boldness from that!
All that being said, here is how you can be praying for my squad and I this month:
- Pray that we would be seeking God diligently each day. This is not a country where we can survive relying on our own strength. Pray that God would speak to us in our times with Him and would prepare us each day to fight for his kingdom each day.
- Pray protection over us, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Y’all, the spiritual warfare here is INSANE and is more intense than any other place I’ve even experienced. Pray that Satan’s attacks would be thwarted and pray that we would continue to persevere in spite of his attempts to stop us.
- Pray for our ministry and that God would continue to give us favor, both with the women in our English classes as well as the women in the bars and cabin restaurants. Pray for opportunities for us to share the Gospel and that God would speak to them through the Gospel of John we are giving them.
- Pray for freedom for these women who are trapped in this horrible industry
- Pray for the country of Nepal as a whole. There is a lot of destruction left by the earthquake and many people are still suffering. Pray God would be glorified in this country and that the false gods these people worship would continue to fall before the Almighty. Fun fact, the earthquake destroyed many of the big temples here in Kathmandu while the buildings surrounding these temples remain almost completely untouched.
- Thank you so much for your prayers and support. I miss each of you so much! I pray that y’all have wonderful and safe holidays!!
Merry Christmas!!
Hallie
