I sit in the interlude. The walls and floor are saturated with a cold unfelt on the Race so far. As my breath escapes me its fog is visible like the heat waves rising from the pavement on an Arizona highway in July. My fingers struggle to hit the right key as they suffer from being seized by the frigid air. Numbness dances on the surface of my skin as I discover the smile on my face. We made it to Nepal.
Before I go on with talk of our journey here and the present conditions, I want to give a conclusion of India. Going into India, I had little expectations of anything great. I didn’t know much about the country, other than a lot of its people escape to the US to own or operate hotels and gas stations. The first few days of debrief spent in Kharghar were actually quite miserable. Loud noises like gun shots sounded all through the night, the guard stood by with his double barrel shotgun, and sickness crept upon many of us Racers as the rest of the squad made absurd levels of noise at all hours of the day and night. Things weren’t looking good. But after the anxiety inducing and almost unnecessary debrief (according to me) we finally got to where we were going. My time at the orphanage and at the care center in the red light district opened my eyes and softened my heart. I now love India, the people, the culture, and the food. I have a new drive to help the country. I wish I could help them overcome pollution and street garbage, give them clean rivers and streams, and reveal the holiness of our Lord to them. But we did what we could, spending hours upon hours with the kids, having an overnight sleepover and making them no-bake cookies (thanks to the girls on our team), hiking with them up to a mountain top fort, and playing cricket in the nearby field. They perhaps brought me more joy than I brought them. Joy is evidently in their lives, as hard as that may be to conceive when thinking of ‘orphans’. But they have been adopted by God as better than sons and daughters, and they are in the good hands of one of the most dedicated men I’ve ever met. The pastor is working hard both day and night (literally) to give these kids hope and a chance at a better future. Please contact me if you'd like details on how you can be a part of this movement.
It’s sometimes tricky to present the Gospel to a religious group that will likely incorporate Christ into their belief system rather than put their belief and faith solely in Him. This was often the case in India, as made evident by seeing posters or figures of gods like Shiva beside images of Jesus. This is also the case in Nepal.
We left India in a crazy manner. We took a bus to the Mumbai station, took a train for 15 hours to Hyderabad, spent one night at the YMCA for team changes (again?), went out to dinner with the revised team (lost Hannah and gained Anna) to the Hard Rock Café where I ate too much dessert, then got a couple of hours of sleep between the bed and the floor (all the while attacked by mosquitoes) before loading up at 5:30am to bus over to the airport. Then our flight took us to Delhi where the connecting flight waited patiently as we were rushed through security and immigration. Finally, we hopped on the plane to Kathmandu. After about an hour, we landed in a scrubby looking airport and filled out visa information before being led outside by a uniformed man with a nightstick. The cold air and mountain views lit up my eyes and heart like a Disney movie. The sun set behind the stretched mountain range as a deeper chill filled the air. We finally loaded up into a bus and a couple of small cabs and made our way to the housing unit where another squad was spending their last night. We were provided a dinner of pasta, cauliflower, and bread. It was all fabulous, especially the bread because it is simply the best sliced bread I’ve ever had! After meeting with the other squad in a tiny house and entertaining conversation, we went back around the corner to our hostel to zip ourselves up in our sleeping bags for the night. Upon waking, I found that I just had some of the best sleep I’ve had on the Race. Thank you for cold weather finally! Breakfast was eggs, bread, and apples, after being briefed by our main contact.
With that said, here’s our agenda for the month of February in Nepal… We stay here for 2 days, exploring Kathmandu and loading up on affordable cold weather clothing before leaving the city until the end of the month. We will be doing a mix of manual labor to help construct a school and an orphanage, building relationships and evangelizing at futbol games, and showing a Jesus film in villages about 15 hours away! Our contact mentioned crossing rivers, hauling rocks and concrete, and being perhaps the first Westerners many people have seen. Additionally, we will not have access to the internet for most of the month, so please keep your prayers with us and trust that I will take good notes to post on this blog when I return. Lastly, I am very close to being fully funded (only $950 to go!) but I also don’t want to be overfunded for many reasons. I will give you a funding update as soon as I can access the internet again! Thank you all for supporting this experience and for helping to bring the Kingdom to parts of the world in desperate need of being shown Christ’s love
