Our team left Kathmandu and headed on a terribly long and swervy 15 hr bus
ride. And I thought that the long bus rides were over after Africa…little did
I know!! To give you an idea of how much
the driver was going back and forth from one side of the road to another, my
itouch scene kept going vertically then horizontally even though I wasn’t moving
it at all…if you have no idea what I’m talking about, its cool, just be very
thankful for your car today:)
We arrived in Khalada (sounds like Kole daha). It was a small village in
the farm lands. The pastors there are a newly married couple, Bharat and Shova.
They live with Bharat’s family who are all believers and have been
ministring in this Hindu community for many years. They have a church of
believers that is about 30 people. The church meets in Bharat’s home because
their church is in need of a roof. They have been praying for a roof and
windows for 5 years now. Bharat has given all of his savings to help build this
church and believing that the Lord will help finish the building.
Our time there was challenging and joyful. We lived in their small bamboo
home with the ducks, pigs, rabbits, and goats. My team had all 3 girls in
1 room and Chris in another, because of
the bamboo walls you could see right through the cracks, making getting dressed
quite interesting:0
Throughout the 6 days in Khalada we were able to visit, encourage, and pray
for the church believers. It was so encouraging for me to visit their homes,
have tea with them and see the love that the Lord has shown them. Most of them
have nothing, they live in bamboo or mud homes and are farmers. They work
extremely hard, farming the old school way by plowing with oxen and a hoe. They
raise animals like goats, oxe, chickens, pigs, and ducks. They struggle in this life but put their hope
in Jesus. They make barely anything and give God all praise for their
provisions.
During our time hanging out at the house a group of gorgeous kids from the
village homes would come and play every day. Some of kids were from believers
homes but others were not. One of my favorite boys was a 5 year old named
Milan.
(Jenny and Milan)
Milan’s birth parents were from India, but left this precious child on the
side of road when he was a baby. A Nepalese couple from the village found him
and adopted him. Even though the Nepalese couple adopted him, they did it more
out of “name,” to look good then love for Milan. This little boy will
leave home and come to Bharat and Shova’s wearing rags and extremely hungry.
Milan will stay for weeks with Bharat and Shova and his “parents”
don’t even care to find him.
He is a little boy longing for love, so in the week I was there I gave him
more kisses and hugs then I’m sure he has had in years. I did all that I could
do and that was to pray over him while I was holding him, and show him that he
is loved and has value. I would continually tell him I loved him and that Jesus
loved him. I was even able to find him a little spiderman action figure and
gave it to him. He held that toy everywhere he went!
As a daughter born into a family with so much love I simply can’t imagine
what it feels like to know your parents both left you and the family that has
you doesn’t really care about you. That has to do something to the mind and
emotions, but my prayer is that the Lord would redeem all that Milan has lost
and that the love I gave him in a week would be something he will never forget.
If I could, I would adopt him and take him to America but I know that the Lord
has plans a perfect plan for his life. If I can love Milan so much in only a
few days the Lord’s love is more than I can imagine. Praise the name of Jesus!!
Khalada Family
