My mind was blown today. My world was rocked to the core. Today was faith day. What’s that you ask? Good question. It’s a day that I had been both looking forward to and dreading at the same time. We were told to take public transportation, share the Gospel, and eat a meal. Seems simple enough right? There’s one catch though- live out the afternoon like Matthew 10:
5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers,[c] cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. 9 Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, 10 no bag for your journey, or two tunics[d] or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food.
So that was the objective. Take public transportation, share the Gospel, and eat a meal with no money. Take nothing with you for the travel. No cell phone, map, agenda. We were told to pray beforehand to ask God to show us images, words, or feelings that would take us in a direction that He wanted to take us. Sounds crazy, I know. I was cynical at first too. But praise be to the Lord who uses skeptics like me. Here’s our story.
We sat down to pray this morning as a team for God to give us the images He wanted to show us. Our team saw the following things:
The word Yo! written in yellow.
A blue plaid shirt with a long beard.
Birds.
A long hallway.
Yellow blooming flowers.
The feeling of despair.
So we prayed as a team for the Lord to guide our steps and we left. No local guide, no food, no water, no cell phone, no money. As we were walking away from the house, we passed a group of girls trying to carry chairs, a table, and a stove top up a steep hill. We asked to help them carry their belongings and they agreed. The girls led us to their tin home down a dirt road. Outside of the house bloomed multiple bushes of yellow flowers. Not only that, but the father (Abraham) had a yellow flower pin on his shirt and the mother (Maya) had a yellow flower in her hair. We found out that it was a home for children who didn’t have an adequate home, so they lived with Abraham and Maya. They had just finished building their new home and were moving in today with their 10 children. The name of the home is the Shalom Hostel. Abraham and Maya are fantastic people of faith and follow the Lord. They showed us into their home with one simple hallway- the same exact hallway that the Lord showed us during prayer. They went and bought us Sprite without asking if we were thirsty. Then Maya made us egg noodle soup and bought us waters while we played hopscotch with the girls. The girls gave us each a wooden necklace with the image of a bird- the Holy Spirit to be exact. We laughed much, swapped stories, and prayed together. We came with nothing and asked for nothing, yet the Lord fulfilled our physical needs.
Yellow flowers. Hallway. Birds.
On our way out of the home, we ran into a man riding a bike with his son. Then we walked awhile and talked to a woman in a vehicle who ended up giving us 60 rupees (60 cents) so that we could take transportation. When we continued on, we saw a store front that had the word Yo in yellow literally painted on the front, so we stopped. Across the street was the same man and son we had seen miles ago. They were transporting the same type of wood that we saw at the Shalom Hostel.
The word Yo! written in yellow.
We went down a dead end road and found a building that was filled to the brim with women who were sewing and working with wool. We weren’t quite sure who they were working for or what the situation was, but we could feel that sense of despair. Our team did the only thing we could do- pray.
Feeling of despair.
Further on our journey, we were walking and ended up running into a Nepali woman whose little daughter wanted to speak with us. She was in second grade and was all smiles. We told her mother about our faith day and she wanted to buy us something to drink. She took us to a store and bought us juice boxes. There was a woman at that store named Sanne (pronounced Sanna) who was a shoemaker from Holland. She designs her own shoes and has a factory in Nepal. We told her about our day and how we ended up talking with her. She gave us juice, apples, and bananas but not only that, but wanted to listen to what we had to say. We were able to share the Gospel with her and share our testimonies with her. Sanne said that she believed in herself only and that she wanted to lead her own life. I was able to share with her of my experiences of running my own life before I decided to follow God. I told her that if I were running my own life, I would be in a terrible place and wouldn’t have had the opportunity to be in Nepal. She said that she learned a lot from our conversations and she was glad that the Lord led us to her. She also gave us 60 rupees to take a bus home. The first bus we wanted to take stopped for us but then sped off. We finally got on the next bus where the driver was wearing a blue plaid shirt and a long piece of fabric covering his mouth that resembled a beard.
Plaid shirt.
It’s funny. If you would’ve told me yesterday that any portion of this story was going to happen to me, I would’ve laughed- scoffed even. But that’s what happened. That’s what happens when you step out in faith with literally to fall back on. Never in my life have I ever depended on God to meet my physical needs. And never in my life has the Lord spoken so clearly to me. Maybe you read this and scoffed, that’s okay. I’m not sure if I’d understand it if I didn’t experience it myself. My prayer for you is that you would be encouraged by the fact that not only is God still moving in this crazy world, but He orchestrates it all whether you believe it or not. If we hadn’t left the house for our faith day at the exact time that we did, we wouldn’t have ended up at the Shalom Hostel or met Sanne. Our entire day was perfectly planned by the Lord, I just showed up. May you be as challenged and stretched today as I have been by my own experiences and may the Lord never cease to blow your mind.
