During our last session at our Nepal (end of month 4) debrief our squad mentor invited us to listen to the Holy Spirit. We each went to our rooms, prayed, then went and followed the Spirit. As my roommate Emily and I were praying this is what we heard…
I heard the Lord tell me to go back to the place where I heard kids playing the day before when I was walking with one of our coaches, Rich. We walked by there twice and my “knower” didn’t feel it. I also had about 4 dollars in my pocket and I heard the Lord say spend it. Emily heard the Lord tell her to go to a coffee shop and talk to white people. We left our hotel around 9:40am to begin seeking what we heard. We said hi to a few people, but mostly just walked for an hour.
Around 10:45am I looked at Emily and said, “This is getting discouraging.” Eventually we ended up on the side of the road in front of a coffee shop. Emily walked into a book store across the street and I just stood on the sidewalk and watched as people walked by. For a long time I watched as a brother and sister rode their scooters by me. I was kind of in my own little world and I was playing with my thumbs and I looked up and I had missed a little boy in a striped shirt and red pants walk right behind me. By the time I looked up he was already at the next block. In my head I was thinking, “Dang it, I missed it!” I should have talked to that boy, but I wasn’t paying attention.
About 10 minutes later another little boy in a red sweatshirt walked by and Emily and I high-fived him. I asked him his name and how he was doing. His name is Raju and he is 11. I asked if he had brothers and sisters and if he lived nearby. He answered all of my questions with great English. He said he was on holiday from school for a week and he comes to the streets every day from 9 am to 4 pm. I asked him what his mom did and I asked if she stood on the street and asked people for stuff… that was my roundabout way of asking if she was a beggar. He told me he had an older brother, a younger sister, and a younger brother. I asked where they were and he tried to describe the street corner they were on.
So I said, “Can you take me to them?”
Raju, Emily, and I then began walking through the streets of Kathmandu to find his family. When I asked him to show us his family I had no plan. I just felt a peace. As we walked through the predominately touristy area of town, we got a few strange looks from people.
We passed a grocery store and I went in and bought bread, muffins, water, and a few suckers. Raju and Emily stood outside while I got the food. Then we continued walking. We walked about 15 minutes from start to finish. We came up to a large intersection in town and I looked as there was a group of beggars gathered around, but we kept walking a little further around the corner. Raju’s siblings were sitting by the curb and from a few yards away he pointed them out. I realized that the little boy in the striped shirt and red pants, the one who had passed by me earlier, was Raju’s little brother. I just looked at Emily and said “That’s him.” As we walked up Raju translated who we were and we asked their names and ages.
Jakura (5) is the little boy in the striped shirt and red pants. He is so playful and giggly.
Rejwenara (7) is their sister whose favorite color is pink.
Raju (11) is the man of the house who is so smart and his favorite color is red.
Safula (12) is another brother who said he wants to travel to another country when he gets older.
As we sat on the curb with these three boys and their sister we got some crazy looks. When people walked by they kinda stopped and I could see their expressions of confusion out of the corner of my eye, but we just kept talking. I’m sure it must have been weird to see two white girls sitting with 4 Nepalese children on the sidewalk. We talked about what they did when they go home at night and who they lived with… When I asked where their dad was Raju said, “He is bad, he stole from my mother and left us when I was little.”
I kept wanting to ask about their religion, but I didn’t know how to ask an 11 year old about that. About 91% of Nepal is Muslim and 9% is Christian and other so I kinda knew the answer before I asked the question. I asked if his mom prayed to a bunch of different gods and he said we are Muslim and you? I responded “I am Christian.” His face lit up with a smile and he began telling me about how he met some Christians the day before and they invited him to a church in Chinatown. I said well are you going to go… he responded oh i don’t know where that is.
After maybe 10 minutes of talking I asked if Raju could walk us back to the road where we first met him. He agreed and his older brother came too. Before leaving I took the bread and water out of my pocket and gave each of the children some. Jakura, the 5 year old, was so giggly and didn’t speak much English, but he had so much joy. He played a hand clapping game with Emily and at one point as we were talking about him he just fist-pumped the air. I gave him a muffin.
As we walked away I handed Raju the 2 suckers I bought. A few yards away there was a street vendor and I asked Raju to hand me one of the suckers back… without hesitation he handed me the sucker and I asked the vendor if she had any.. she pointed to the store next door so I handed the sucker back to Raju and we kept walking. Raju didn’t doubt I would give the sucker back, he didn’t get protective when I asked for it back. He just handed it to me. I went in and bought two more suckers so that all 4 children would have one. As I went in, there were people in the alley next door that looked as if they were on drugs and Raju said, “That is bad.” Emily went into teacher mode and said, “Yes that is bad don’t ever do that.. I have seen what doing drugs can do to people. I have seen people on that path and it is not good.”
As we walked I heard the Lord say don’t come back with any of the money in your pocket. So when we got back to where we met Raju the first time I gave him the rest of the money. Emily and I hugged Raju and Safula and we told them we loved them and we left.
Raju was a beggar, but he never asked us for anything. We approached him. I knew I was supposed to meet the little boy in the striped shirt and I thought I missed it, but the Lord took me right to him.
“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.” Romans 8:14-17
I was not looking for anything really big on this day. Honestly, I was kind of skeptical because I have tried listening prayer before and not heard anything. And this day I heard something, but I ended up somewhere else. When we listen and obey big things happen. The Lord uses us when we are open. The Lord has been trying to use me in big ways in the last 4 months and I have allowed him to an extent, but I have had a “fearful spirit.” However, when I take risks and do crazy things like following an 11 year old through the city of Kathmandu, Nepal the Holy Spirit invites me to truly be a child of God. To truly love like Jesus it takes vulnerability and risk. This story is not about me or a little boy, it’s about the Holy Spirit and how He leads and how He moves in big ways. We just have to listen and obey.
We’re doing the thing!
Much love, Carson
