Dear Nepal,
A lot of memories were formed during my month with you. Trekking the Himalayas, a girls day at one of the only not-sketchy spas in Thamel, eye-opening prayer time in the Hindu temples, riding an elephant beside the neon yellow fields in Chitwan, growing a relationship and talking about Jesus with one of the precious workers at the orphanage, nights spent eating popcorn and listening to live music at the cafe down the street, hiking a mountain and crossing a suspension bridge to love on the people of the leprosy colony, encouraging the Christians scattered throughout your land, sipping hot chocolate at Himalayan Java, getting to know the sweet girls who had recently been rescued from sexual exploitation, bartering in the shops for funky Nepali clothing, eating Oreos and momos with my friends at midnight on New Year’s Eve, worshipping with the elderly women who had been abandoned by their families, sharing the Gospel with the hung over woman in rehab, renting out a whole club (still don’t know where we had the funds for that) for a squad-wide rave…
Jesus told me He had adventure in store for the month and man He wasn’t kidding!
Nepal, your cities are noisy and colorful and oh so rich in culture! Your mountain ranges are magnificent in every way. Your lakes are peaceful and still. Your people are beautiful, and I’m grateful to have met a lot of them.
On that note, many of the people who live in your land are very deceived and lost. Your streets are full of incense, elaborate temples, false gods, altars on every corner, and desperate prayers to gods that don’t even exist. Your government has banned everyone from sharing the Gospel. You don’t like Jesus, do you? That was what broke my heart the most. I saw your beautiful people and knew I had the best news ever and couldn’t just tell them straight up. Nepal, you want to kick Jesus out, but you can’t. No matter how hard you try. How do I know? I know this because I sat in a church in the middle of Kathmandu that had 6,000 members. I visited a rehab facility where people who were once burdened by their addictions found true freedom in Christ. I sat in a thriving church located beside the lepers. While ministering in a tiny village deep in the Himalayas, a woman accepted Christ. I saw genuine relief and peace on the faces of the rescued children and women who found true freedom and redemption in Jesus. I was approached by two of your people who randomly asked if I was a Christian and then proceeded to ask questions about the Gospel. You see, the true God can’t be confined by the borders of a country. He is alive, He is active, and He relentlessly pursues His chosen children. He is so creative and capable of doing whatever necessary in order to reveal Himself to them.
Nepal, my time with you was a whirlwind. My heart was broken, my homesickness was raging, my patience was tested, my trust in Jesus grew as I was surrounded by people who needed the message of hope but couldn’t hear it from me, my body was tired from walking your streets and fighting off sickness from your polluted city air, my smile exploded as I saw the work that Jesus is doing in you, my gratitude for America’s religious freedom grew like crazy, and my mind was blown as I witnessed the ways the Spirit moves when human efforts try to shut Him down. Nepal, I’ll always pray over you and your people. I pray that you recognize the power of the Gospel and abandon the emptiness of false idol worship. I pray that more and more of your people find Jesus and spread His name like wildfire. I pray that you’ll stop punishing people for sharing the hope of Jesus. I pray that you’ll stop criminalizing the Gospel. And I’ll praise God for the fact that even if you don’t, He will still be present and fighting for the souls of your country. Nepal, thank you for being the place that God taught me how to minister in the places where it’s not allowed. Thank you for being the place that God prepared my heart for the persecuted country of India. Thank you for teaching me how powerful and unstoppable my God is. Maybe He will send me back to you someday. In the meantime, I’ll be looking forward to Heaven, where I’ll rejoice at the throne of God alongside many of your people who followed Jesus when you didn’t want them to. Nepal, thank you for being proof that JESUS CHRIST is the way and the truth and the life. May He shower you with mercy.
Your grateful visitor,
Anna
