To be humbled, hike for 5 days through the foothills of the Himalayas.
Cross the same river 30 times.
Have people who have nothing buy you Mountain Dew and cookies.
Have someone drive 8 hours into the city to pick you up, just to turn around and drive back.
Have a 15 year old boy willingly choose to miss school and hike for a week, patiently translating and answering all 1,000 of your questions.
Have pastors from remote churches trek with you and carry your pack because it’s too heavy for you.
Have a group of Nepali’s gratefully let you take twice as long so that you can stand under a waterfall.
Have someone buy light bulbs just so that you can see at night.
See children joyfully playing soccer with a popped ball and join in.
Sit in on a church service held in a church with no seats, no windows, and a dirt floor, and be brought to tears as you hear them sing praises.
Receive a flower necklace and handmade bag as thanks for stopping by for one night.
Eat in someone’s dining room, which is also a living room, which is also the bedroom, which is also the only room.
Drink tea sweetened by the honey of their bees; so sweet it hurts to drink.
Be schooled in the art of climbing mountains by a 5 year old in flip flops.
Sleep on the floors of churches that have been swept out just for you.
Eat the meat of animals killed just because you’re there.
Be the first American to ever visit a Nepali village.
Sit upstairs and rest while everyone works hard to make you feel comfortable.
Have pastors apologize over and over for being poor and not being able to do more, when they treat you better than you’ve ever been treated in America.
Preach in front of churches as they listen as eagerly as if you were Francis Chan.
Have pastors willingly change their route because the one they had planned is too challenging for you to do, even though they do it monthly.
Get served rice daily, even though it’s really expensive and only used for special occasions, and had to be carried in across rivers and up mountains from towns hours away.
Swim in rivers with children and listen to them scream in pure joy.
Watch an 8 year old girl wash her own dishes and clothes by hand.
Roll out your sleeping pad after learning that the villagers sleep on boards with a sheet over them for a bed.
Buy a soccer ball and play with 40 boys who can’t even remember the last time they played with a real ball in a dirt field with stones for goals.
Be loved well by people who you can’t even communicate with.
Meet a man who runs an orphanage for children, and dreams of adopting over 200 of them.
See children wear the same ripped clothing each day, as you wear your brand new clothes.
Listen to young girls praise God with whole hearts and happy hearts.
See the joy on their faces as they have their hair braided into French braids.
See the beauty of God’s creation as pure and natural as it was the day He made it.
Watch the sun set over mountains that spread as far you can see.
See the joy in people who have every reason to be broken and hurt.
Have your heart be so full of joy you think it may burst, day after day after day.
Be blessed more than you could ever bless.
