I am in my second month of The World Race, and oh how time flies. We are now in our second country Nepal. What can I say about Nepal? It is the most beautiful place I ever seen! It is breath-taking seeing mountains all around, miles of green hills, rivers flowing through the mountains, and the scent and beauty of tropical flowers. Being here has given me an even more appreciation for God’s creations and the life all around me.
We have been blessed to be with an awesome family and community that have poured an abundance of love on us. I feel like I have a home away from home, even though it is one house with about 15 people in it. Talk about community! The other day I decided to take a shower. Not what you think, to take a shower you go to the water pump in the middle of the community and do your thing. That day it was raining and there were four girls at the pump. I wore my little wrap that keeps you covered, and then the experience began! One girl started pumping the water, the other girl begins handing me my soap, while another helped hold my wrap, and the other begin scrubbing me with a rock “literally” which was by the way one of the best things ever! Talk about COMMUNITY on a whole different level! Oh and of course it wouldn’t have been an experience without an audience! Spectators watched as I accomplished the task of showering in Nepal, embrace the culture and the experience!
Since being in Nepal ministry has looked quite like India, going to people’s home and sharing the gospel. Even though the ministry is similar the atmosphere and dynamics are different, based on the culture and society of Nepal. There are more questions, opposition, and still willing to listen and show respect at all time. Majority of the Nepalese people are Hindu because that is what the culture respects and accepts, they don’t know any other way, and they are raised in that religion.
The Hindu’s in Nepal follow a very strict caste system. They’re divided into four major castes, with hundreds of smaller subdivisions. At the top of the caste system are the Brahmins, which are the priests or teachers and their families from generations to generations. Followed by the Kshatriyas (rulers/warriors), Vaishyas (merchants and craftsmen), and the Sudras (laborers and servants) forms the lower caste. Menial laborers who perform “unclean” tasks are regarded as the “outcaste” or “untouchables” or referred to as Dalits (oppressed ones).
I never knew how much society had on a culture until my experience doing door-to-door in Nepal. My team and I with several of our contacts from Nepal shared the gospel to many people around the villages. We opened up, shared our lives and testimony with them, and allowed them to feel and see God through us. Even though some were very interested in the things we were saying and wanted that same love and hope we had in Jesus they could not because of the wrath they would receive from their families and community. Many said I cannot become a Christian because I would be disowned or rejected by their family, their community would not respect them, and they would lose everything if they took such risk.
It truly broke my heart to see them gain such joy and hope when we spoke about Jesus, but then say they can’t due to the pressure of society. They are enslaved to their own culture and society, chained to traditions, false doctrines, and oppression. Freedom is distant from their thoughts and approval is the present. The higher the caste, especially Brahmins it is extremely hard to get out, going to church to even “just to go” is not an option. One man from that caste system asked me how can I have joy and peace like you have, with a look of desperation in his eyes. The only thing I could do was say the joy and peace I have comes from the Lord, gave him a bible, and prayed that he would break free of the chains. It is easier for those of the lower caste to become a Christian and go to church because they are less looked upon in society and in the Hindu community. So actually, the lower caste community are more “free” then those higher ranked. So the mission of the Christian community in Nepal is very vigorous, but souls are drawn one-by-one. The Christians we have met are FREE, and have decided to take the wrath of society and their communities, and realized the wrath that Jesus took for them is more precious. So, please pray for the people of Nepal and for the Christian men and women God has called to this great war to defend this nation!
A verse came to mind when writing this blog,
Galatians 5:1 “It is for freedom that Christ has set free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
