Nepal is a land of incredible people, beautiful landscape, and unbelievably good food for insanely low prices. It has captured my heart even in the short time that we have been here. We have been working with a ministry called AGAPE and I have learned so much about relying on the Holy Spirt, listening to the Lord’s voice, and acting in obedience.
This month of ministry is also special because its our all squad month! All fifty of us are living together in a house that is used as a pastor retreat center when its not occupying racers. And we all have the same ministry contact within Nepal. Nepal has the fastest growing number of believers in the world. The Lord is doing amazing things here, people are hungry to know Jesus, and in result their hearts are being changed. The pastor that heads up AGAPE is so intentional about us seeking the Lord before seeking others. For the first hour of our ministry time we sit in the Lord’s presence and spend sweet time in the Word and in prayer.
It’s so important to have time with the Lord before doing ministry. I think this is so beautiful because this was a personal goal of mine for the race, to spend intentional time with the Lord daily, and its being fulfilled within our ministry. It’s so true though, our love for others is an overflow of Christ’s love for us. When we spend time in His presence, we naturally have an outpouring of the Spirit.
We have been able to pray over a lot of temples, which has been amazing and heartbreaking. In general the people of Nepal are so devoted to their spiritual practices, but they are devoted to something that is empty. We were prayer walking through a buddhist temple and stumbled upon a monastery. There were a lot of young boys there training to be monks. We were helping them practice english and asking them about their families. One of the members of our team asked if we could pray for them, and they said no, they would not like that. Here is where the Lord showed me there is power in language barrier.
I just looked at Brad (as if I was talking to them) and began to pray aloud for them. I prayed that they would come to know the power of our God. I prayed that the Lord would reveal himself to them in a dream or a vision. I prayed that they would grow up to be followers of Christ. Sometimes in foreign countries it can be discouraging when you want to share the gospel with people but the only words you know in their language are “hello” and “where is the bathroom.” But I got to experience the Lord use language barriers in a beautiful way. I was able to stand on top of a mountain in a monastery and pray for these young men without them even knowing. Language barriers allow you to go into the darkest places and speak the name of jesus over people that don’t even want it, and don’t know they need it.
