Nepal, last month, was wonderful. My team and the other all girl's team experienced our first dose of "village life" and we were a 10 hour bus-ride from Kathmandu. Ministry for my team was going out into the villages (usually walking for hours) to encourage the believers, share the gospel, and pray. We also did some gardening, helped build a bamboo fence, and painted a classroom. Some days we didn't officially have ministry for various reasons… like our contact had to go to a funeral and then a wedding, it stormed, there was a bus strike, and one day it was too hot. Uncle would look at us and say "I think you take rest today" and so we would. Life was slow and easy going and we filled our days with personal quiet times, reading, listening to podcast, hanging out, and napping. I didn't take a moment of it for granted. I truly felt like myself and I was free to be myself. I felt like I genuinely learned how to rest and enjoy the little things. I even loved getting up for tea time at 6:30am every morning. That says a lot for me. 😉 There were some harder days (like having the stomach bug and no real bathroom, bleh) and at one point my dad sent me a facebook message and one line said, "Still have lice? Sick of rice? Need some ice?" and I laughed for hours because the answer was a strong YES to all three questions. Anyways, I like to say the other themes of my Nepal month were relationships and responsibility. You put 12 girls together, in a village, and they spend the first whole week discussing relationships. (They then move on and spend the next two weeks discussing food but we won't talk about that. haha.) I mean not just general relationship discussions but tell-all deep past, present, and future get it out on the table and before God relationship stuff. The biggest thing I've learned is that being honest with God (and other people who are walking in their faith) really gives you the freedom to let go. I've walked through this all race-long as each of my teammates could probably tell you but I'm at the place where I can say, "I am enough. I am worthy. and I want God's best." (Honestly, part of me does not want to post this blog or I want to un-include this whole part because it seems oddly vulnerable, eeek!) Bop. Anyways, this naturally led to listening to relationship-related podcasts (Oh hey Mark Driscoll, Steven Furtick, and Andy Stanley – thanks for being there to fill up us racers during our crazy lifestyles.) and my team also listened to a series on responsibility. I've always thought of myself as responsible but those simple sermons helped me realize how much blame-shifting I have done throughout my life and how God created us to be responsible for ourselves. All year I've fought comparing myself to others on just about every level possible. (Here I go being vulnerable again, sigh.) and I'm so DONE with it. The quote that smacked me in the face during the sermon and has continued to affect me into this new month in Thailand is: "As long as I'm comparing myself to people I make excuses, as long as I'm comparing myself to myself and my responsibility then I can make progress." It's funny to me how I had to be in a village in the middle of no where to truly learn these things but, I am so thankful.
(My "favorite" road through the mountains… It was gorgeous. And nauseating.)
I'm currently in Chiangmai, Thailand an amazing city where we can get all of the food, clothes, and pampering we could possibly want (and realize now I don't need!) and working with Lighthouseinaction ministries. I'm team leading this month (which means I do more praying, problem-solving and communicating than normal haha) and we have two sweet girls (who are doing a Passport trip with AIM) who have joined our team for the next few weeks! We're heading to a village in northern Thailand later this week and then returning mid-month to continue doing ministry in the city. I apologize for my lack of consistent updates but please continue to pray for me!
