Every month, as most of you already know, we travel to a different country, get plugged in with a different ministry, and inevitably meet a ton of new people. The beginning of the month is stressful and crazy but in the end I have always looked back and enjoyed the relationships that come from the chaos.
After riding in a jeep with a drunk, elderly man, a baby, a translator, and my 5 other teammates for 7 hours we arrived in the village of Haripur. As we approached we saw a middle aged man in a nice looking blazer and button down shirt with shiny shoes.
His name was Pastor Achut or Pastor Bhua as we came to know him. He hardly spoke english and we were the first World Race team to come to Nepal and so we were just as foreign to him as he was to us. He showed us up the nice dirt path to his home and helped us get settled in for the month. God has such a funny way of putting people like Pastor Bhua in our lives. I have learned amazing life lessons from a man who speaks broken English and lives in a rustic treehouse in the middle of NOWHERE Nepal.
Lesson 1:
When evangelizing in a Nepali village just say “Namaste” and hand tracts.
Time and time again when it came time for ministry Pastor Bhua would call me alongside of him ….”Charlotte”……(the ellipses are for the long pauses as he thinks carefully of how to communicate)……just say “Namaste” which is Hello in Nepali, and “hand tracts”. Towards the end of the month I would joke with him, I was thankful that he caught on to my humor.
Lesson 2:
When there is an ox cart going to your desired destination, hurry and jump on.
One morning, a rain storm held us up from ministry in the market and so we were scattered throughout the 2 rooms in the treehouse. From down the dirt path to the house we just heard Raaz, our translator, yell “IF WE LEAVE IN 5 MINUTES WE CAN CATCH THE OX CART.”
Typical Nepal.
Lesson 3:
When there is no kaza, you start praying. God will provide.
Kaza is the mid afternoon meal in Nepal. You eat lunch at 9 AM and then kaza is a snack time at about 2 PM. One day we were traveling to some villages that were a little further away and so we had our “lunch” but then we left the house. Around 1:45 PM we were in a riverbed and it was beginning to rain. We had no reached the village and it was looking like kaza was not going to happen today. We were all pretty hungry because we had been walking for a long time and Pastor Bhua sensed this…..I asked him about kaza and he responded….. “Charlotte…..You…..Pray…..Kaza God Provides.” Sure enough about 15 minutes later, Sumahdur, Pastor Bhua’s son comes riding down the riverbed on his motorbike with KAZA!!!! Praise God for answered prayers.
Lesson 4:
When you want to drink the water buffalo’s milk, you must feed it first. This involves picking weeds from the wheat field with Ama.
Pretty self explanatory. Ama, Pastor Bhua’s wife, spoke NO english, at all. Midway through the month Raaz made a joke to me about having to feed the water buffalo, lacking anything to do I jumped on the opportunity to do some weeding in the field. The whole family came out to see what the crazy white girl was up to now and they all jumped in with me. It was a family affair. Ama (speaking through the translator, naturally) said “Your mom would be proud, but in Nepal I will be your mom.” ……I might have teared up a little.
Lesson 5:
When there is a wedding feast going on “YOU, COME, EAT.”
Pastor Bhua tends to speak in short, succinct sentences. The fact that he worked so hard was extremely endearing.
Lesson 6:
When you want to go for a morning jog, be ready by 6:30 AM, if you come at 6:40 you have missed your chance and he will have already gone and come back.
He was very protective and told me that he would go on his morning walk while I ran so he could keep an eye on me from a distance. I was out of the door at 6:32 AM he was already gone. They do not mess around about their morning schedules.
Lesson 7:
When the squatty potty is clogged, grab a stick and go bowling.
Hmm….yeah. Americans don’t have the finesse and technique when it comes to flushing a squatty. I mean we can push the handle, shoot we can even do it with our foot if necessary. Team Shefa learned how to master the squatty flushing….after only clogging it about 15 times.
Lesson 8:
When sharing the gospel you MUST have a tract bag and shoes.
This is my FAVORITE. This is when the idea for this blog came to me. We were preparing for a day of visiting villages and I didn’t bring a purse on the race. All the other girls had their purses to hold water and tracts to hand out. I was just holding the tracts. Pastor Bhua again….”Charlotte”……. “You need tract bag to share gospel.” ……. “Tract bag, shoes.”
By the end of the month Pastor Bhua and I were sharing a tract bag and we were going barefoot in some areas of the walks.
Lesson 9:
When you want to make pancakes, search the kitchen for flour, eggs, milk, and water…..just make sure you use the pump water.
What else do you do when it’s pouring rain, all your clothes are soaked and you have already had about 3 hours of quiet time….? You eat. Aimee and I set out to make pancakes in the less than familiar kitchen in the treehouse. Pastor Bhua quickly interjected and Aimee likened it to cooking with her Grandpa. Everything had to be, “Just so.”
Lesson 10:
When a fight breaks out on the bus, just move to the front.
Pastor Achut was always very aware of all of our team as we got on and off the bus but because of the language barrier sometimes he was more aware of the situation than we were. One day we were riding the bus back after a visit to a village and some young men didn’t feel they needed to pay for the bus ride. We were all crammed in the back in the middle of all of this when Pastor Achut just stood up and moved to the front. It was hilarious because we were all staring at each other the confused Americans and our guide just wanders to the front. Lesson learned…next time we will follow.
These are just a few insights into our month in Nepal with someone who will forever be my Pastor Bhua.
