Howdy!
We officially have been in Kathmandu for 5 days and boy what a joy it has been already! My team, there are 11 of us, are staying at a host home with Deepak, who runs a organization based on reaching the people in the mountains around Nepal. In Nepal, most people are Buddhist or Hindu, with a big emphasis on family as well as their shame/honor culture, which makes the religious aspects far more prevalent. We take bucket showers, eat more rice than I thought possible, wear face masks everywhere (pollution is real) and I am always cold-yet truly thriving. One afternoon we went to an old ladies home (basically a house of old ladies) and spent some time with them. The ladies are a story of their own, but what hit me was an eleven month old baby. At first, the baby was sleeping in one woman’s arms and when he woke up she passed him to me. As we went around the room praying for each woman individually I just held the baby and gave him his bottle. When we got to her, I asked the translator to ask what the babies name was. To my surprise, she didn’t know as the baby was not hers. After we prayed for her we learned that he was left at the hospital by his mother and somehow ended up at their house. So, in a village on the outskirts of Kathmandu in a home of old ladies was this baby with no parents, no toys, no diapers, no medical access, no other children and a lot of confusion around what his name was (ended up at Patruce). This brought me to tears and my heart broke as I thought of him growing up without parents knowing that he was abandoned.
As we left, one of my teammates wanted to pray for his mother and I realized how quick I was/am to judge. It was easy for me, as I held this woman’s son, to be angry at her. Angry she abandoned him, angry she did not take him somewhere safe, angry her child will spend a lifetime thinking he was not wanted. But, as we prayed for her, I realized that she is not this monster I made her out to be. I don’t know her story and probably never will, but I do know how much my own mom loves me simply because I am her daughter and the pain, suffering and hurt it must have caused this woman to leave her child. I cannot fathom the place in life someone must be in to leave their own child nor the guilt that comes along with it. I do not know this woman, but after being this baby’s “mom” for an afternoon I cant imagine what she is going through and pray that she finds healing from the Lord. I might not know the whole story but I do know my God who calls us to both love and extend grace to everyone.
As I sat on the hour long bus ride home I realized how great it is that Patruce (and all of us) has the creator of the universe as his Father, who loves and cares for him more than any earthly parent could. Seriously, we rejoice in that because our God is good and desires us!! As I sat there, I felt thankful for my parents who love and care for me far more than I ever deserved and a God who calls me His child. Today I came across a passage that says “God calls us to pray and think and dream and plan and work not to be made much of, but to make much of him in every part of our lives.” This sums up what it is like in Nepal, we get to dream of a better tomorrow, plan for how to best serve those around us, pray constantly, think in new ways, and work, for the kingdom, while running as fast as we can towards the cross, fighting to bring others along with us. Praying for the ladies, for Patruce, and thankful for a God who loves us so.
