It’s decided. Nepal is my favorite month on the race, so far. I hesitate to use the word “favorite” because God has taught me and grown me in many different ways while being overseas. Nevertheless, I use favorite because every experience in this country has been a first for me. And they have all been amazing.
One of the newest experiences for me happened within the first two days of ministry. Our host sat us down for lunch after arriving at his house and laid out our ministry schedule: orphanages, hiking, visiting temples to pray against the darkness, staying in the jungle for a week, and preaching. I was stoked! I could tell that this was going to be an amazing month.
Day one
We spent our first day hiking a small ways (after a few bus rides) to mountain top church. The church is made up of recently graduated bible school students which is ran by my host and his family. Our host said that they need encouragement. They learned so much in school but it was all mainly head knowledge. They haven’t fully experienced the Holy Spirit or what it means to live out the life of Jesus. I had the honor of sharing with them Revelation 21 and reminding them of what is to come. Small fact about me, I absolutely love Revelation 21. I can’t fully express, or even understand, the feelings I have while reading that chapter. There are too many feelings to describe.
After my team and I got to share and encourage the church, we all enjoyed lunch together! We did that in India too. We’d finish church and everyone would eat together. I love that. Makes it feel more like a family. After lunch, we set out to explore the woods that surrounded us.
Fun fact: Colby and I fell asleep in this clearing and woke up surrounded by goats.
From there we went to a christian orphanage. We didn’t get to spend much time with the kids but we got to sit in on a weekly fellowship time. It was at the founder’s house right down the street. All the kids piled into a living room. His whole family was there and we were there too! But that goes without being said. The room was packed with people. We started by singing praise songs in english and Nepali. It was an amazing end to our first day of ministry. We got to see people living the gospel out by taking in as many kids as they can and raising them up in Jesus.
Day two
The second day of ministry was pretty amazing too! We spent the full day at a Hindu orphanage sharing Jesus with the workers while playing with the kids. I don’t know how familiar you are with the law here in Nepali but it’s unlawful for us to be sharing the gospel. But there we were! And the workers were more than open to hear what what we had to say. I got the privilege to be with the kids all day! I taught one of the older boys some simple guitar chords and then pushed kids on the swing. I did that a lot. Shame that doesn’t count as working out.
The orphanage was on the side of a mountain a good minutes walk from a small town. Needless to say, they don’t get many visitors. I’m happy we could go and be with them even if it was only for a few hours. Who knows what could from our time there? Maybe, one day, it will no longer be a hindu orphanage but one for Jesus.
Another cool thing we got to do was teach in a Hindu school! It’s like school with the added touch of lessons about their gods and how to worship them. We went in as english teachers but our main goal was to evangelize to the teachers.
I was with the older kids in the “advanced class”. They were only 4 & 5 but already writing and understanding full sentences in english and Nepali. They were pretty advanced alright. This was the class with more structure so I wasn’t needed that much. It was a english medium school (a school where they learn all their subjects in english) but the work they were doing that day just happened to mainly be in Nepali. There were some english parts and lessons I got to teach but not much. More time to talk to the teacher! They didn’t start to follow Jesus but they were open to hearing about Him. That’s all you can ask for.
There are more blogs to come about Nepal. Too many thoughts and emotions to fit into just one. Far too many.
Thank you all for your continued support! I’m so close to being fully funded! Please help me stay on this race by donating here on my blog site. Every little bit helps!
Love, Caleb
Facebook: Caleb Dawson
Instagram: calebl_dawson
Email: [email protected]
