She was sitting alone in the corner. She hid underneath piles of old ragged clothing and the blank stares of the people who passed by. She was withered and old. She was a woman whose years had not been kind to her. Jesus would have noticed her. He would have called her out to stand in the light. But I did not notice her. Everyday I walked by that same street corner and I never gave a second glance. But my teammate Mak did and because she did Mak was able to be Jesus to the elder woman who sat underneath the streetlights in Thamel, Nepal.
It was one of our last night’s in Nepal and my friends and I were going out to celebrate and eat a meal. We walked joyfully, having plans to eat American food and attend a musical gig my friends were putting on at the local pub. Once we had gotten close to the restaurant my friends conscience spoke up and the holy spirit told her to turn around and look at the woman in the corner of the street. Mak had seen the woman there almost every night and she couldn’t bear to not turn to her and be there for her. So with changed plans we turned and walked over and sat next to the elder woman who huddled underneath one of the local Thamel stores. At first she seemed frightened of us. Here was a woman who had most likely been ignored for years and she now had 5 American girls come to confront her. We tried our best to communicate with her but the language barrier proved to be difficult but we were determined. We quickly grabbed one of the local street vendors to translate for us. Even with a translator her speech was difficult to understand so we decided to do the only thing we knew to do…. feed the poor and clothe the cold so without delay my friends and I scattered to all the local stores to invest in buying her the warmest coat we could find, hot water to drink, bread, and a sandwich. We handed these items to her and with greatfulness she accepted. Well… She accepted all but one thing… She refused to take the sandwich and the extra bread she only wanted one item of food. She told us she preferred if we gave the bread to someone who needed it. This woman who was living on the street, living day by day, would rather share her meal with another who needed it. She only wanted what she needed and nothing more. This act of kindness was so extraordinary to us that we couldn’t help but ask, “Are you a Christian?” She quickly proclaimed that she was and we were able to pray for her. Through this entire process we seemed to have gathered a large crowd. Before we knew it, local street vendors, other homeless, and men and women of all kind stopped to investigate. The people invited us into their homes, invited us to go dancing, one woman even insisted on giving us beautiful henna art to adorn our hands. Our one simple act of kindness affected everyone around us. We ended up spending over an hour talking with all the people who stopped to ask us questions and also with the woman on the street corner who slowly ate her meal. We eventually departed from all our newfound friends and ate our meal at the restaurant with so much joy. We were so full of joy from the previous events that before we knew it… We had begun dancing on the front stage while the live band played and it got everyone in the restaurant dancing and singing. The joy of the Lord was infectious.
Nepal had not been an easy month. It was a month of cold and sickness and missing home during the holidays. It was easy to be discouraged and it was easy to think that during our time in Nepal we hadn’t impacted anyone. But that night proved me wrong, it proved that God worked in the small details, that for every little action he could transform it into a larger and more powerful reaction. No work done for Lord is ever in vain.
