UPDATE: some of you messaged me to let me know that the donation link did not work. It has now been fixed! Thank you!!
Hi friends!
Since my last blog, a few pretty significant things have happened in my race. We finished our time in Africa over the holidays. I spent Christmas Eve in Mozambique, Christmas Day in Malawi, New Years in South Africa, and then flew to Nepal! We are now in our third leg of the race: Nepal and India. After that we will spend time in Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia. It's crazy to think that we are in our last continent, and that when we finish in Nepal, we will only have four months left. Time is flying (or at least it feels that way sometimes)! The other major event was our final deadline for fundraising. With the new year, we were supposed to have the full $15,500 in our account.
Most of our squad met the deadline, but a few of us did not. Thankfully, they gave me an extension and I now have a little more time to raise the last $2,900. If you can pray about partnering with me in ministry financially, I would be really thankful. The people who have made this this trip happen through their prayers and gifts mean the world to me. If you would like to help me finish the race, click here! At that link, you can donate online or find the mailing address to send donations by check. Thank you so much!
Since arriving in Nepal, I have had an incredible time. This country has quickly become one of my favorite places in the world. The culture is beautiful, the people are wonderful, and the Himalayas are breathtaking! We have teams working with three different pastors this month: Churches Network of Nepal, Nepali Youth Ministries, and Pastor Megh Gurung. I'm getting to spend a little time with each ministry contact and I really honor and love all of them. They are incredible men of God, and we are blessed to ministry with them.
My first week here, I spent time with Josh, Sarah, Katy, and Lauren's teams getting set up in Kathmandu. They are working with Youth Ministries, but we have had some complications. Josh and Sarah and their teams were able to leave soon after arriving and are working with village churches in the south. But the other two teams, as well as Megan and I have yet to get our visas to India next month. This turned out to be more complicated then imaginable and I spent a good portion of the week at the Embassy.
Then, after our visas were applied for, we had to wait a week to process our eligibility. I met up with Julia, Ali, and Travis's teams, working with Ruben Rai of Churches Network, and joined them on their trip to the southeast. We had a 15 hour bus to a small town where we are helping build a school. The week I spent there was so wonderful. It was a beautiful, peaceful little town, and ministry was slow, so I got lots of time to spend in conversation with the teams and loving on the children around the area. I got really sick soon after arriving, and felt off for most of the week, but I had really good time alone with The Lord, and I realized that that was the first time that I had had any reaction to the food or water. In the past 8 months, I have been in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and now Asia, and only once have I reacted badly to the local fare. Incredible. I have been thanking Papa a lot more purposefully!
A few days ago, the teams went to a smaller, more remote village; it was a half day's hike from where we stayed. I so wanted to join them….backpacking through the rural parts of Nepal! What beats that? Unfortunately, duty called. I had to come back to Kathmandu to take on Caleb v. The Indian Embassy: Round II. The return had its perks though. I am staying with Ruben's family this week, and have loved spending time with a family as one person instead of a group of 20. I have also really enjoyed exploring the city and catching up with friends and family. (Reliable Internet is a treasure and I won't take it for granted again, Lord. Thank you!)
I have also been blessed with some really wonderful gifts from God this month. My dad's spiritual father, JL Williams (for whom I have done web work for the last few years) disciples a pastor here in the city and is coming today! I'm so excited to see him. He is like a grandfather to me, and I'm getting to spend a day with him soon. I also went to church with his spiritual son (my Kingdom…uncle?) Pastor Hanok at his church, Aradhana church. That was a big blessing. I love finding family in the craziest places.
As it turns out, the world is a pretty small place. And my other God-send this week came through my friends Ned and Rosie Alexander from Catch the Fire Raleigh. Rosie was born in Nepal before growing up in Toronto. She moved to Raleigh to help plant the church and since married Ned! They recently came to Nepal and met up with Joel and Tammy from Iris Ministries Nepal. Ned suggested I get up with Joel and when I did, they invited me to a worship night focused on soaking in God's presence. Worship was Saturday night and I expected a few people to be there. In instead, I found a whole lot of worshippers crammed into their living room. They have an open invite to whoever wants to come, and along with a few Nepalis, so many foreign missionaries were there. I met long term missionaries from more than ten organizations, along with three or four YWAM DTS outreach groups and a few others. It was incredible.
Before worship started, we all went around sharing who we are and where we come from and what we are doing. As I mentioned Raleigh and the Race, I met people from both! Carly did the race a while ago and moved to Nepal long term this week! She told Ryan Otto, one of the men on my squad, about the race and has gotten to hang out with him this week. Small world! But wait! It gets smaller!! A guy named Jess mentioned that he was from Raleigh too! It was pretty dark though, so I couldn't really see him, but I hoped we could talk later on.
Worship began (we'll get back to that…you know me; I'm more topical than linear) and I soon found myself in the overflow room which I didn't realize had coffee until I got there (honestly!). I got a cuppa and began reflecting on what God was up to when I realized that Jess (Raleigh) was the guy journaling at the table. I introduced myself and we got to talking. He was actually from Texas, but his wife is from Raleigh. We went on to discover that she also graduated from Wake Christian! Crazy! Well turns out that they also have a heart for the inner city of Raleigh, have also done ministry in Swaziland, and also love Morning Times! He is a web developer too, but left his computer home for the year they are spending abroad (and I'm a designer who did the same. Needless to say, I was excited. Jesus was up to something, and I was so glad to have been there that night. Jess and Elizabeth are moving home in a few weeks to have their first child and are praying for me for the rest of my race. I feel really blessed; and as I'm sure you all know, Raleigh people are the best people, so it was great to meet them.
Anyway, worship that night was really wonderful. After sharing our names, we had a time of sharing testimonies of Jesus's work in the city and in the lives of the people there. We all then entered into thanksgiving as we got excited, seeing a fuller picture of His hand moving here. I haven't experienced such abandonment and desperation in worship since leaving home. The freedom that spilled out in that room was powerful and the Presence was thick. God was moving and I was just really happy to be there. Soon after worship started, one of the men there shared a word God spoke to him through many of the testimonies. He said that this was the year of promises fulfilled. My heart leapt, but I didn't understand why at the time. Then, a woman announced that God wanted to heal someone with neck pain. Now, my neck has hurt on and off for the past few years, but it seems like it just always comes back no matter how much I ask for prayer, so I didn't say anything. Worship continued, and it was incredible. A while later, a man says that God wants to heal chronic pain. my heart leapt again, but i swallowed it and tried to ignore the feeling that was growing in me. Fast forward a few hours. Two cups of coffee down and I have to relieve myself. So I slip out and on my way back, sitting right where I had just had an awesome conversation with Jess, is the neck pain word lady.
Now those of you who know me well tend to describe me as someone who exudes faith and joy (they're my favorite!), but I've begun to notice that those words haven't described me in a while. I have been pretty down because of it, but I haven't known how to "fix" myself. I couldn't really find the root of it, but I had become overwhelmed by burdens, and I had stopped expecting God to move, especially not in me. It has been a while since I had had a really good encounter, you know? I still knew it was possible, but had begun looking ahead to home for restoration (instead of looking to God's presence for my rest and fulfillment). So with hesitation I approach the neck pain word lady, Necia.
As she prays, the pain goes. It just doesn't hurt – and I don't mean like I can't really tell, that's normal. I am trying to do things that should hurt and it just doesn't. I'm in a daze. Then a girl walks up. On her way out, God compelled her to come back and ask for prayer. Not for her neck, but for her stomach. It hurt terribly since she got to Nepal for here DTS outreach. Her (err, her Father's) timing was impeccable. Necia and I pray and about half way through, she is weeping. She had never felt God like that, and her pain was totally gone! After she leaves I'm trying to wrap my head around what has happened. Then God begins to reveal His heart for me. Necia mentions that when she felt the neck pain, it came with feelings of a lot of disappointment. Yep, sounds about right, I think. She and a man named Brandon begin to pray for me and these burdens and weights just fall off of me. Like, whoa. I haven't felt that free in months. It was incredible. I felt like I could just hope and worship and love again. It was really beautiful.
Between the gifts of meeting incredible new friends, encountering God and receiving healing, and getting to talk about Raleigh for a few minutes, I just all over again remembered how intimately and specifically my Daddy loves me and is for me. My faith and hope has risen above the spiritual heaviness and my spirit is souring with His right now. Please pray that as I am on these wings like eagles that He really does renew my strength and give me the ability to run and not grow weary and to walk and not faint. I feel like I have entered into the final lap of the race and the end is somewhere in the near distance. I want to keep in step with Him all the way back to America and into the next thing. God is opening some cool doors (maybe even into a new part of the world, thanks to my new friend Clint!) and I'm so excited to run this race with such a good Father.
Thanks for all your prayer and encouragement.
And for those of you who feel that nudge to give, a special thank you!
Also, per my mom's suggestion, I would love to hear from you. It is a good discipline to blog, but it isn't easy, especially when I don't know whether or not people are interested. I haven't had much feedback from my last few posts, and I think that has factored into my blogging apathy. So even just a line or two would mean a lot. Thanks everyone!
In His love,
Caleb
