So as you all know, my team has spent the past week in the jungles of Nepal, under the giant foothills of the Himalayan mountains. Today for team time we went to sit under the gorgeous expanse of a giant oak tree. It had a beautiful view of the valley and mountains that lay beyond and we worshiped there in the glory of the Lord’s nature. Then, this woman walked up. She is the mother of one of the daughters that visits our house to play after school and we met her the day before. Sadly, Nepali is a pretty difficult language, and we haven’t learned much past hello ( Namaste) and okay (tick-cha). But one of my squad mates gave her a painting she had done and she smiled a smile completely full of the Joy of Christ… it was painted all over her face. She sat there for a while as we worshiped and listened. As we got up to leave, she sat next to each of us individually and looked into our eyes before giving us a firm embrace and kiss on the check. When she came to sit next to me we locked eyes for a minute and I could see the hope and the beauty and love of the Lord completely encompassed in those two brown eyes. She points at my rings and her eyes grew wider, so I slipped one of my rings (a silver wave that my Padre brought for me at PVT) off my finger and slipped it onto her pinky finger. She smiled wide and slid off her simple, silver wrap ring off of her cracked and callused hand and put it in place of the one I had on my finger. We grinned at one another again at our new treasures. Through hand gestures I told her that I would pray for her whenever I saw the ring on my finger, and she replied with yet another smile and a simple “Jamashihli” (jay-ma-see) which means “Christ is victorious”. She gave me a quick squeeze and a kiss on both cheeks and we went our separate ways.
It’s the divine appointments like these that make living life on mission so worthwhile. It’s the stories and treasures that follow which full my soul to the point of overflow and leave me astounded by the Lord’s intentionality. At the beginning of this week Gorkah was just a spot in the jungle that caused me to sweat buckets, rained everyday, and held many monkeys that are low-key terrifying. But now, to me it’s a beautiful community filled with many believers that need encouragement to continue thier mission. They have that twinkle in thier eye-the one that comes from close encounters with the spirit that leave you filled to the brim. They have the hope and love of Jesus, they’ve seen it transform thier lives and so they’re hungry to share it with others… and I am so thankful that I get to be a part of it and I get to encourage these new believers to share thier experiences and pass them down from generation to generation.
