Let me take a minute and share with you all what ministry has looked like so far in Nepal since debrief!
This is all-squad month, and all 54 (? I think?) of us racers including our squad leaders (shout out to Tammy, Lo, and Amanda!!) and, for a little while, our AMAZING squad mentor, Beka, are staying with us at a retreat center on the outskirts of Kathmandu. Our ministry host this month is the Williams family who head up an organization with so many different avenues that it would be different to explain.. The one ministry we’re involved with is their Agape ministry which reaches out to women and children mostly, based on the scripture in James 1:27 which says: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
There are 3 main slums in and around Kathmandu, and a lot of ministry is done here. The Agape ministry team tends to children on the streets and in the slums by starting non formal schools for them that run a few days a week. They also have a soccer ministry that plays with slum kids once a week and them prepares a meal for them and eats WITH them, like a big family. The Agape ministry seeks to love and find women by finding those on the streets or who are working in dance/restaurant bars voluntarily or involuntarily. Their team goes in to meet with some of the girls and talk to them, loving on them, building relationship with them, and sharing the Gospel of Jesus with them. These women that are rescued or choose to leave these jobs are walked with side by side by this team through healing and are taught job skills that will help ensure they won’t need to or be coerced into resorting to that sort of income again that exploits them and hurts them. Maybe some women won’t choose to leave, if they can, right away, but the Agape team has a presence in this atmosphere, and the Lord protects them there. These women at least can see an offer of hope from this team that is open to them no matter what they choose.
Family has taken on a new meaning for me here. This past week, we split up and go to play soccer with the slum kids and then eat a meal with them as part of the soccer ministry I mentioned above. We ate all in a circle, and heard a the Bible story of the Good Samaritan that a few of my teammates presented. Eating and listening all together showed the reality of our spiritual states even when our social and financial states may have been worlds apart. We all need food, to be fed physically, but we all also have a spiritual hunger that Jesus longs to fill in our relationships with Him. I pray these younger and even older ones that joined us in breaking bread felt honored and valued by us as we got to know them and meet some of their needs, while acknowledging the common needs we all have.
This family over this ministry in Nepal that is reaching so many ensures that they are living what they are preaching. They have a joy that is overflowing and a love for us, strangers from America but family in Christ. As a family, the Williams pray for the Lord to lead them to individual children that He wants them to intervene for. They have rescued so many children from terrible home conditions and have taken them into their own homes or had trusted couples adopt them. In their own family, the Williams have 2 adopted sons that they rescued from violent and unsafe homes. They brought them into a safe place of refuge, and the boys never left. Talk about the contrast of constancy and security that this act of love must have shown those boys in their early lives.
A week before our whole squad arrived in Nepal with them, their youngest son and a few other family members were in a bus crash. This youngest son was separated from the rest of the group traveling and was alone with open wounds for several hours before his parents got word of the accident and could find him. Some stitches and prayers later, we got to meet him and hear his side of the traumatic story. Mr. Williams encouraged his youngest son to ask Jesus where He was during the wreck, and this youngest son said the Lord gave him a picture of the bus crashing into Jesus with most of the force instead of the tree that they hit. What a beautiful picture of the sacrifice of Jesus for us always and especially in this specific instance with the youngest Williams boy. As this family is dealing with the trauma and fear they experienced for their loved ones, they are welcoming us into their ministry family and sharing their love and vision for Nepal with us. They didn’t miss a beat, it seemed, and were very vulnerable in sharing the hurt they were just beginning to process through recently. Please be in prayer for the Williams family and for the physical and emotional healing of the ones who were involved in the bus wreck. Jesus has already shown He was present right there with them, but we’re praying they’re encouraged in that He will see them through the entire healing process.
Starting tomorrow, we’re beginning some women at-risk ministry where we’ll help do some renovations on the women’s ministry building and begin to pray for women trapped in working for these dance bars I mentioned earlier. Please pray that when we actually visit these bars, the Lord leads us to talk to women He is seeking after, those who are in great need of hope and to be loved, not hurt or taken advantage of. Pray we can meet them where they are and express the great love God has for them and the life with Him that He wants for them and has already provided for through Jesus.
Also be praying that my team is healthy and not hindered by any sickness. We’ve had some teammates have a rough time here so far with health, and they need to rest and recover to be ready to engage with the beautiful people here! Pray for my little squad family to truly grasp what family is this month while we’re here all together. It is an amazing opportunity to walk in choosing to love each other and to reveal the body of Christ as we are a little mobile church body here.
This blog is all over the place, and I apologize! But I’m also realizing it doesn’t have to be a perfect presentation of what’s going on. I just want to keep you all updated and let you know you have an active role to play too as you’re in prayer for the ministry we’re a part of!! Know that we are being loved so well by this family and this team here in Nepal. It has been such a blessing from the Father to us. We world racers are a family that this Nepalese family is embracing. There is such beauty in the unity of diverse believers coming together, worshiping, and reaching out together to those Jesus wants to show love to. It keeps me in awe, guys! I am praying the Lord is showing you His heart for you as His children too. His love is so big!
Each of you are a beautiful blessing to me, and your prayers are invaluable!! I’m gathering pictures to post from India and Nepal so far, so stay tuned!!
