See, what I meant to say was “Holy *Spirit*”

Well let me back it up a little bit. You see, we have a rest day every week here in Nepal- a day in which we never seem to actually rest on. It’s because everything here is so dang outdoorsy. It’s crazy, really, to be in this remote mountain village and you’ll see old men in tiny shorts, long button up shirts and a Northface vest >Dang these Nepalis have good style< I’m just glad that I have my Northface hiking pants that my parents got me for Christmas. I look more like the locals. And everyone knows that if you wear Northface you do extreme stuff outside.

 The first rest day we decide to go rafting. Justin ran into some local river guides a few days before our Sabbath and worked out a sweet deal to go down the river for half the price since we are poor missionaries and it’s their off season. Wellll, the hour and a half river trip turned into a four-hour fiasco. By the time we made it to the end of the river, our cool river guide friends weren’t so friendly.

 â€œSo if we wanna hang out later with you guys, we’ll just call first?â€�-Justin

“Yeah… just call first… we may be busy�-river guide #3.

 â€¦..I’ve used that line before. I know what that means.

 Oops! At least we had fun.

The second week rolls around and we find ourselves with another rest day open to do anything we want. What is our restful activity for this day? BUNGEE JUMPING! Good thing that we are staying close to a lovely little resort that allows you to jump off a bridge for a pretty little penny.

Sign me up!

REST DAYYY! We were all waiting patiently at the ‘bus stop’ but weren’t so lucky. Five busses, all of which looked perfectly good to ride on, must have passed, but none would stop for us. Once we finally did grab a bus, we piled on, to promptly stop at the next town where the entire bus unloaded.

What the heck?

“It’s their breakfast time,� our contact informs us.

Ok, so getting around in foreign countries on public transportation is one thing, but not having a phone to call on is a strangely uncomfortable experience. How did people communicate before cell phones? I have no idea. And I have never wanted to experience it, but there are a lot of experiences I didn’t want but have gotten from this trip anyways (ie, Delhi Belly, mosquito bites the size of Texas on my butt, seeing slaughtered goats being cleaned out at the same public tap where we clean our dishes and take showers, ect)

>>Patience little one<<
 
As we sat in a hot pink ‘restaurant’ listening to some sweet Nepali club beats and watching our fellow bus passengers chow down on potatoes and rice, I nervously checked my watch, wondering if we were really going to make it there on time. It’s 9:05 and the cut off to jump is 10.

But because we are American, being late was totally fine. My stomach kind of dropped when we rounded what was our last corner of the bus ride. I realized how high up we were. ‘dang, I wonder what it would feel like to jump from this high. Wait, no I don’t. Anyways, there is no way it could be this high.’

 Screech. This is our stop. Yup. And that is the bridge.

 â€˜Hoooooly. Spirit.

No. Not doing it.

I mean, but I have to do it. We are already here, right?’

As we climbed the stairs to cross over the bridge (oh come on Nepal, why is everything always up crazy steep stairs?) we saw the large tour group of white people (WHITE PEOPLE!!!!!) who had arrived on time. They were all eagerly waiting their turn as, one by one, they were strapped into harnesses and pushed off the side of the bridge.

*Stomach drops again*

And of course we have to cross the bridge to pay first.

‘ok… just don’t look down. Don’t look down… crap. I looked. Well it’s not that bad. Maybe I’ll look again. Ohhh, they have made little paintings on the rocks… that’s cool. Oh. My. God. What AM I doing?

We paid. We got instructions (which are, jump head first… and that’s pretty much it). We made ourselves pee so we didn’t pee our pants while in the air (how embarrassing). Then set out for the bridge.

After about an hour on the bridge, they called my name.

 â€˜Oh, I totally got this.’

They strapped me in a harness, and then tied my feet together.

I ducked under the bar, away from the safety of guardrails, away from sanity. I could feel the bungee pulling me over the edge and the only thing that is keeping me stable was this man holding on to the back of my harness.

 HOLY. SPIRIT.

‘Ok I’m to the ledge. WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING? I am seriously about to jump OFF a perfectly stable bridge towards a raging river covered in giant razor sharp boulders.

The people down there look so small.

 Oh my god, I’m going to black out….

 Thank God I peed already.’

“Ok, jump on three. 1.2.3.�

‘Oh my god that was the fastest countdown in history. Ok, just do it!’

 I bent down like I was going to jump like a pro, but froze, just long enough to say,

 â€�HOLY SPIRITâ€� (of course they got this all on film)

Then I was falling.

 My eyes were so bugged out of my head that I couldn’t even close them. I couldn’t scream because this fall wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be- it’s was actually… mesmerizing? I mean, the ground was rushing towards me and I can’t feel anything but the wind, but I wasn’t afraid. I didn’t even feel the rope tighten around my ankles or my body snap when the cord ran out of line, but as it bounced me back towards the bridge, I still couldn’t scream, all I could do was laugh hysterically. I mean the kind of laughing that makes a person roll on the ground and tears stream down their face (and maybe even toot with the diet that we are given). But man, it felt so good just bouncing upside down. Completely freeing.

As the men below did this really cool flip thing to lay me on the table and take me out of the harnesses, the sky opened up and it began to rain. The Nepali workers said that it was a ‘miracle’ or something because it started to rain while I was jumping and that now I am ‘empowered’. I was like ‘yeah… you know, I think you are right’.

Now here I am.

I’m in the middle of Nepal with this awesome experience under my little belt. I’ve got some really cool pictures and a video of me cussing that will score me a lot of facebook comments when I post them. Plus, now I can actually live up to the Northface clothes that I wear.

 As I look back on the whole thing, I can’t help but tie it to my relationship with my Creator. Of course I run the risk of sounding pretty cliché, but this is what is on my heart:

I think about the ledge of the bridge. How at the beginning of the race I was scared frozen of the person I was going to turn into in the upcoming months. I didn’t want to leave my friends and family. I was afraid to leave the guardrails of the life I had built up in the States. I liked them. I was safe there. Real safe.

But I knew that I had to jump. And I did. I got onto that plane, cried in my first class airplane seat (still bragging about that one daddy!!) and began traveling the world with some of God’s most precious creations>>U Squad.

 And now I find myself free falling all the time. Not really scared anymore but mesmerized by the greatness of God. Like, really? Come on God… really? And not just by nature, but by the web of brothers and sisters in Christ that I am meeting all over the world. I’m getting to serve beside them, and grow in real community that holds me to a higher standard of living. This is the church I’ve longed for my whole life.

 And I get to laugh with my Maker-a crazy joyous laugh that only comes after struggles and challenges.

 And then I get all empowered and stuff!

Mannnn, Christianity is more then Sunday morning meetings and a restricted lifestlye. It’s freaking bungee jumping.