This week we’ve been playing games and spending time with the kids who live in the slums of Nepal. The children here are not loved well. It would break anybody’s hearts. A lot of the girls are sold into sex slavery before they are even born. Their parents see them as solely money makers. They are valued because when they turn 12, they make the family money with their bodies. It’s a lot to process as I look at each child’s face.
Children on the street are children who do not have parents. They build a family with other kids on the streets. They form a gang and do everything together. They steal together, beg together, and fight together. They protect one another. They usually make their houses out of books and plastic. A lot of kids on the streets sniff glue to numb the pain. Sadly, after just 9 months of sniffing glue, their brain is fried.
The children of the streets live on the streets even though they have parents. A lot of times the mom is a prostitute and brings customers home during the day, and then at night the dad comes home drunk and beats them. So they choose to live on the streets. A lot of times these children are used by mean men to beg for them.
Other children for the streets are the kids who live in the slums and who are taught at the Tara slum school. After school, they go to the streets to beg with their moms and siblings. They live in the slum illegally so the government could kick them out at anytime.
Seeing these kids and loving on them through the language of smiles and touch has taught me a deeper love than I’ve experienced before. I usually keep my distance from kids who use their hands to wipe after using the bathroom and who shower with dirty water and might have lice and any other unseen disease. I still sit with them and love on them but I’m always aware that I shouldn’t hold them too long and should immediately wash my hands afterwards. But yesterday, I realized that these kids literally feel loved by just physical touch and holding them and laughing even when I have no idea what they’re saying or laughing about. So it was worth the risk of lice (of which 10 of my squadmates got). No matter what happens, I know they will have felt loved. They will know Jesus loves them. That Jesus sent us to love them.
Another ministry opportunity this week was going to cabin restaurants and talking to the women who work there. A lot of the owners of these cabin restaurants are actually ex prostitutes. This was confusing to me at first, that they know the emptiness of the profession but still create another opportunity for business. I think they just realize it’s good money. It’s an endless cycle. Unless someone shows them another way.
When we asked them about their hopes and dreams, they had none. Some of the women my teammates got to talk to just wanted our friendships. They desire someone who truly cares about them. Not about what services they can provide, not about their body. But about them. Their story. When they are ready, Agape ministries gives them a way out. They rescue them from this lifestyle of not knowing who God created them to be.
When we visited a specific restaurant the other day, it was a miracle. Agape has tried to get into that restaurant before but they are always refused. But on that certain day, God opened the door, and He let us in. He started the conversation with Nombrica. He opened the door for us to play with her little boy who was only 18 months old. I got to hold him and make him laugh and see his smile. The language of smiles and laughter goes such a long way. It’s universal. His little 18 month old laugh reminded me of the lifestyle of joy we are meant to model. Making this little boy laugh and smile made me think of home. The people I’m thankful for who make me laugh. I have so much to smile about. It made me thankful for my team. My team who literally overflows with joy.
Visiting the restaurant got me thinking about women. There is POWER when a group of women get together. A lot of times, people think nothing good can come of the time women spend together. But I see a beautiful thing. They get to share stories. Be vulnerable. Know one another. And fight for one another. Fight lies together. Speak truth into one another. Defeat the lie of comparison. We are NOT meant to compare to one another. We are meant to see the amazing things in one another and call them forth. Speak them out.
And it breaks my heart to walk into such dark places. To know what goes on there. To know that if these men and women truly knew who they were and who God created them to be it would be different. God didn’t create them to find their fulfillment in sex or women or demeaning other human beings. He created them to partner together. To make each other better. To protect one another. To give life. We get to meet up with Nombrica again tomorrow so please pray for heart healing and for her to see herself how God sees her.
As we went into the slums and restaurants this week, God reminded me that we bring light everywhere we go. Wherever we walk, His light shines. Grocery stores, our neighborhoods, a coffee shop, Nepal, a hiking trail, a family dinner. So if you want a place to change, just go there. Your very presence will change things. Joshua 1:3 says, “Wherever your foot treads, that have I given you.” We have the authority to take over an atmosphere.
When we go into the slums to play with these kids and we go into cabin restaurants to talk to these women, our very light is shining. And they know. They see it. They sense the shift in atmosphere. If we want to see our city changed, we have to walk the streets and pray circles around our work or school. That’s why part of our armor of God includes the shoes for our feet that are the gospel of peace. We bring the gospel where we walk. We’ve crushed Satan underneath our feet. Most of the people here in Nepal come into some sort of demon attack on a regular basis so bringing the light into the dark areas creates an obvious change in the atmosphere.
Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the people’s; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.” Isaiah 60:1-3
God wants the nations.
For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations.” Isaiah 61:11
The nations WILL see the light.
The nations shall SEE your righteousness, and all the kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give.” Isaiah 62:2
