Nepal is a beautiful country. The people are kind and the food is delicious. And there are so many things to do in Nepal as well! You can go trekking up a mountain, visit one of the many coffee shops in the city, or explore one of the temples in the surrounding area. It has so far been one of my favorite countries that I have visited. In fact, to start the month, our ministry host took us trekking to one of the high points of the city! Of course, we did that for ministry purposes (we wrote down prophetic words on the rocks we found to prophesy deliverance and freedom in Christ over the city), but I was LIVING for it!
On the other hand, with as beautiful as this country is, the enemy has been fighting day and night to try to keep people in bondage. And that brings me to the ministry we were a part of this month. Our ministry host had a huge heart for women and children at risk, going as far as to even adopt, foster, or re-place the rescued children in different homes across Nepal. Many of the women we encountered were involved in the sex industry as well. With as hard a life as many of these people had lived, they were resilient and motivated to change their circumstances for the better. That’s what makes our ministry this month so beautiful!
For the most part, every day of ministry started with either slum ministry or tutoring children in English (I was usually in the latter group). Afterwards, we all met up to teach the women in the area English and some job skills so that they would be able to provide for themselves in a healthier environment. I will admit that I wasn’t sure I would be very good at this kind of ministry. I had never taught English before. In fact, until college, I thought I hated the subject of English entirely. But I found that teaching English was completely different then learning it, especially because we were teaching people who actually desired to be taught. I was surprised how quickly I picked it up and how much fun I had teaching! By the end of the month, the ladies were actually requesting for me to work with them in their classrooms! I felt so loved by these people in a way I didn’t expect. This ended up being one of my favorite parts of ministry this month.
We usually had a break during lunch. In the afternoons, we would pick up ministry with mandatory quiet time with the Lord. Quiet time with the Lord has become the most enjoyable experience for me since I have been on the Race. My level of intimacy with the Father has EXPLODED. He has given me more new revelations from the Scriptures than I have EVER received before in my life (all the years combined)! The inside of my Bible looks like a truck full of highlighters collided with a truck full of ink pens. But I like to think that this “chaotic mess” is a visual representation that parallels how the Lord spoke order out of chaos when He created everything. It looks like a mess at first, but when you really sit and listen to the voice of the Lord, He brings new, tangible things from it. I have connected more with His word than I ever have before, and my journaling Bible is evidence of just that (FOR SURE my new favorite Bible formatting— journaling all the way)!
After quiet time, we usually spent time in different slums singing songs and playing games with the children. My team CRUSHED IT in this ministry! First of all, we are a very musical group, usually spontaneously adding harmonies whenever we start singing anything, and “campfire-type children’s songs” are no exception. We had so much fun with the children. Shoutout to my teammate Jen for being a musical genius with a ridiculously large repertoire and teaching us many new songs!
We had a few special ministry days where the schedule completely changed. One day, we spent time in “cabin restaurants,” restaurants where sex trafficking is very prevalent. We spent time talking to the women there and encouraging them in the Lord. We prayed over them and spent a good amount of time just getting to know them and their stories. What was truly beautiful to see was how connected the ministry hosts were to the ladies there. Some of them had spent months getting to know some of the ladies that worked at these restaurants. You could tell by how excited they were to see us just how much of an impact our ministry hosts had on these women.
For the next month of ministry, my team is heading over to Rwanda! I cannot believe we are already going into our 6th month for the World Race! Please be praying for traveling mercies for my team as we fly out later this week!
In all things, be blessed!
AG
