Kathmandu, Nepal
The short time I’ve been in Nepal has been so different then the rest of my race thus far. Our squad has been back together this week which means one never knows what kind of shanagins will occur…
Let’s start explaining the title now.
Blood: Our squad was asked to help a nonprofit organization who has a banquet house whose mission is to simply love people well. We were able to be apart of this through talking and praying for people and serving them food. Iris also has an orphanage as well as a free clinic they provide for whoever needs it. We were asked if any of us had experience with working in a hospital and none of us had so I just raised my hand and said I’d be willing to assist. They said they would take any help they could get. So I went into this little room that was the Clinic and it simply had a few boxes of items: mainly bandages, creams and different liquids to clean wounds as well as gloves. That was it! The workers don’t get paid, in fact they had to raise money to even provide this Clinic with the few supplies it had. I saw some gnarly wounds that day… from people getting hit by cars, people getting drunk and rolling in fires, you name it. They were BIG wounds as well, still bleeding and open from their accidents. I won’t go into detail for the sake of wanting you to read the rest of my blog. After cleaning the wounds, we would talk a bit to each person then pray over each wound. Then the next person would come in.
Next, we started serving food and WOW. This is where the next word in my title enters: Rice. I have never seen so much rice consumed (being on the race we have eaten rice in every country but this topped it for me). I counted some peoples plates and a handful made it to plate number 4, piled high with rice and some curry to top it off.
Afterwords, people started to leave and I noticed a man who was sitting down and it seemed like he was convulsing or something; his body would tighten then release and repeat. It literally was a fight between him and whatever was going on inside of him. A few of us started praying because we knew a demon was in him. Even though he had no idea what we were saying since he didn’t speak English, the Holy Spirit moved him. As we were praying he would pick up the Bible, open it and try to read then he would suddenly throw it on the ground and turn away, grabbing the chair he was sitting in and start tensing up again and shaking. As one of my squad mates started casting out any evil spirits, I was praying for the fruits of the spirit to enter him: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindess, Gentleness, Goodness, Faithfulness, and Self Control. Slowly, after a few minutes he started to calm down and eventually he started crying and holding the Bible. I sensed he was free. He turned to us, trying to thank us and we kept saying, “Jesus! It’s in His name that you’re free!” He smiled as we walked away.
The next day, our team was praying together and I had a vision of my hair being cut off. I thought this was kinda random but I took it as I should get a haircut. So the next day I went to get a haircut and I was praying that I’d be able to share Jesus with whoever cut my hair. Needless to say, the man who cut my hair had so many questions to ask me once he found out that I follow Jesus. I was able to encourage him and it was so amazing. He voiced to me that he had stopped praying awhile ago because God wasn’t answering him. I asked him, “How are you expecting God to answer?” and he said, “Well in Exodus he answered Moses audibly so why won’t he speak that way to me?” Wow… what a great question! I explained to him that the Lord speaks in SO many ways and actually not many people have heard the Lord speak to them audibly compared to all the other ways. He asked me for an example and I smiled… I said, “Well for one, I have come around the world to tell you how much Jesus loves you and you’re never alone. Not to mention I was praying that I would have this conversation with you and look! The Lord is speaking to you through me!” He smiled so big after I told him this. As he was finishing up my hair, I wrote down any scripture that was coming to mind, gave it to him and left.
Finally, how do groceries fit into this blog? Well, after I got my haircut one of my squad mates asked if I wanted to go with him to a guys house who he had met on the street earlier that morning. We met up with the man and started to walk towards the bus station to head to his home. However, we found an even better way of transportation: a micro bus! (which is basically a van) We piled into this van and there were so many people and not enough seats that people had to trapeze their bodies so we could all fit! Talk about efficiency haha. We eventually came to our friends home and we met his wife and 3 young children. Their house was this one room where they slept, cooked and had their personal belongings in. There was no bathroom or sink, they had to go outside and use the community sink to wash dishes and their hands. Our friend made money by cleaning shoes and some days he wouldn’t make anything so his family would have to go without meals a day at a time. When we entered their home, they treated us like royalty. They made sure we had the best seats on their bed and made us tea and gave us cookies… despite them not even being able to feed their own kids! This is not the first time I’ve had this humbling experience on the race, but this was the first time I met a family who where so poor yet still served and loved others so well. After spending time with this beautiful family, my squad mate asked if they needed groceries and our friend thought we were joking. We kept saying how the Lord wanted to bless them and our friend started to cry. His family had never been offered that before and I think they were a bit shocked. So, we all went on a walk to the store (which was simply a counter you walk up to in 3 walled room where you can purchase bags of rice, flour, sugar, etc.) When we saw the total cost, my squad mate and I realized we only had half the amount in our wallets so we walked to an ATM. There were 5 machines. We used the first machine, trying both of my cards and both declined. I knew I had the funds so why wasn’t this working? We got to the last machine after every one had declined BOTH of my cards… so we both prayed that if this was the Lord’s will then let us bless this family. I tried my first card and it declined again and as I was trying the second I thought to myself, ‘Lord this is not my money, it’s your money,’ and out popped the money from the machine. This experience not only taught me obedience but it showed me that He is in control. We walked back and found out the Lord had provided 3 weeks of groceries for this family through us (actually, my friend ended up paying me back the full amount because he felt that the money was to come from him). We then prayed for their family, for healings from their sicknesses. Our friends wife had been in an accident so she was actually in a lot of pain so we were praying over her for a few minutes and she said she felt so much better. She said that was the first time she had felt that much relief since the accident. Praise the Lord! He’s so flipping awesome.
So that’s been my time here in Nepal. The more I am surrendering to Him the more he’s providing. Actually being apart of his kingdom has been an honor and I never want to stop. With that being said, all of you reading this right now, who have been praying for me and have supported me financially, you are apart of this too. Thank you so much!
I still need about $3,700 for the rest of my travels. Please ask the Lord if you are interested in helping me. Even just your prayers are so impactful so thank you guys! Love you all so much and please reach out if you want to talk or want specific prayer requests!
