So it’s month two in Nepal and it is starting to sink (slowly..) that this is my new reality. Even though some days still feel like a dream, 50 days into the race I have come to know two things:
1. There is no turning back
2. Even if I could turn back, on the hardest of days, I wouldn’t choose to.
I want you to know that social media, and even some blogs are only skimming the surface of what life is like here. My hope for this blog is to paint the most realistic picture of this crazy adventure.
As we landed in Kathmandu all of our noses were pressed to the windows of the airplane ooh-ing and aah-ing over the glorious Himalayas. I could just smell the crystal clear mountain air, despite the dingy plane air-conditioning. All of our souls were jumping for JOY over the idea of fresh air after a month of humid, dirty, odd-smelling places in India.
Turns out, Katmandu has one of the highest levels of polluted air outside of China, so each day on our mile and a half trek to ministry, with hoards of dust swirling around us, we have to cover our faces with scarves, bandana’s or masks to avoid breathing in mouthfuls of dirt and fumes. We look something like the desert stormtroopers in Star Wars on this walk. Many people on our squad have come down with horrible upper respiratory infections (myself included), making this walk that much more enjoyable.
We have a roof over our head this month, which is something to be so thankful for on the Race. But caveat! It is all squad month, which means it is the one month of our race when all 7 of our teams, 48 people total, are together in one ministry location. That means that I am sleeping in a room with no windows or air-conditioning, on the floor with 21 other girls. We like to call in “the dungeon”. If you stretch your arms out too far you are in someone else’s “personal space.” You can imagine how fun this 21 girl-never-ending-slumber party is when half the squad has the respiratory plague or the stomach flu and exhaustion is at an all time high.
The toilet we share is called a “squatty potty”, essentially a glorified hole in the ground that can only be flushed once a day, IF there happens to be running water left. Not to be graphic but I’ll let you know that the nickname for this is called “the crockpot”.
There is sometimes no water left for a shower and if there is, within 2 inches of the reeking squatty potty you get to simply dump some cold water on yourself. The better option is to just “baby wipe” shower, as we like to call it.
The water conveniently ran out the day after half of the dungeon girls passed around a lovely bout of lice. I went to preach at a church with my hair in a slicked back ponytail dripping sunflower oil and mayo down my back.
We have a stipend of about $4 a day to eat so basically we get to choose how we would like our carbs! Bread, bread with rice, rice with noodles, noodles with potatoes, or my favorite, Nepalese dumplings called Momo’s. The food pyramid for the World Race is hardly a pyramid. More like a rectangle that just says: Carbs. Shopping for vegetables or fruits is a fun game of Russian Roulette, the parasite version. Our favorite delicacy is what we call a peanut butter Popsicle. You just stick a spoon into your treasured jar of peanut butter and savor every single lick.
Like I said before, some people have been quite sick this month, which has meant trips to the hospital. Here, if you need any medical attention there is no doctor so you have to go straight to the hospital. (My lungs cleared themselves up and I was able to avoid the Hospital) Unfortunately, some of my squadmates had some pretty gruesome sicknesses so keep them in your prayers! HOWEVER, people became aware of a beautiful thing. The beautiful thing I speak of is that the hospital in Kathmandu is quite “bougie” and has many delightful amenities such as air-conditioning, hot showers, breakfast in a BED! Wi-Fi, and even TV’s with English speaking movies! Keep this just between me and you, but I may or may not know some people who went to visit friends in the hospital and stuck around for a hot shower or two.
So there you have it, life here is an adventure and a half and comfort is not in our vocabulary.
But life here is providing such greater joy than life plus all the comfortable things.
These 48 people have become family. We speak wisdom, love, and truth over each others lives when the going gets tough. And we laugh. We laugh a whole lot. To be honest there really is nothing left to do when you are sitting around a fire, trying to stay calm, and picking over 100 leeches off of each other. Or when you hear through the grapevine that a certain restaurant has plush napkins so you all go, not for the food, but in hopes of stowing away a wad in your to-go box to keep as toilet paper. Or when you sprint to the duty free store in the airport in hopes of getting a glorious duty free spritz of Gucci perfume sample, allowing you to feel like Beyonce for at least the next 2 days.
Yes, we walk close to 2 hours a day to get to ministry but on the other side of that walk God is doing some heart-wrenchingly beautiful things in the people of Nepal.
So I’ll keep taking a slice of life minus the comfortable things.
*** I intended to upload more photos but the Wi-Fi is not cooperating so there will be more photos to come ***
Update: Starting this week we will be working with rescue and rehabilitation of women and children impacted by human trafficking in Kathmandu. Please keep us and the people we will be encountering in your prayers! This work is heavy on the heart but we are so excited to come alongside and partner with the ministry here that is already changing so many lives.
As always, thanks for reading, thanks for praying, thanks for all the encouragement, it means the world!
XOXO
