Holy Moly, God is so good. This month, our first two weeks were spent doing prayer walks, visiting schools, preaching in church, spending time in a mother’s home, visiting the slums, volunteering at a feeding program, etc. These two weeks were AMAZING, and we were able to see so much of Kathmandu and the different ministries Deepak (our host) truly cares for in his community. However, none of these were his personal ministries.
I could write an entire blog about Deepak, his family, and the ways they showed me through their actions of what it looks like to serve God and serve his people, and maybe I will, but this blog is about his ministry called Exodus Himalayan Adventures. This man has a heart for the unreached people of his country. He has a heart to go places most people don’t want to go. In the last week of ministry, we were able to go to these places.
Our last week of ministry was spent trekking through the Himalayas to reach the unreached people of the villages. Our total hike was around 25 miles, roughly 15 hours, and we got to talk directly to only 6 people. The conditions were cold, one afternoon it rained, and we smelled like a dirty squatty potty that hadn’t been cleaned ever. This may seem like quite the distance to trek to reach so little people, but I promise I would do it ten times over again if I could have only met one of them.
After two full days of hiking, we woke up the third day and started the one hour descent down to a village “nearby.” One thing you need to know about Nepal is that it is STEEP. I’m talking hundreds of stone stairs steep. We arrived into this adorable village where the people are completely self sustainable, since they would have to hike over 15 miles to get close to a road. We were walking through the tiny village and met Santa (not the one from the North Pole) and his wife Durga. Deepak told us we were going to sit down and talk with them, with the purpose of sharing the Gospel. Once again, the people of Nepal proved to be more than hospitable, so they got us each tea and popcorn while we chatted about his family, their business, and all the other fun small talk.
We decided it was time to ask him what he knew about Jesus, so Deepak asked him in Nepali, and his answer was “I have never heard of Jesus.” WHAT!?! We talk about the unreached people groups of the world in church, and we pray for them, but living in the U.S. I had never come across someone who had no idea who He was or anything about Him. I’m 99% positive my jaw dropped, and then I started smiling because this man was about to hear the truth.
One of my teammates shared the Gospel starting from the absolute beginning with creation, talking with him about Jesus, the crucifixion, and ending with the Resurrection allowing us to have a personal relationship with God. We told him all about God and how much he loved him even though he had never heard his name. You could tell he was so interested but was also experiencing some information overload. After allowing him to ask questions and clearing up any initial confusions he had, his wife came around the corner taking a break from her work. She told us she was working but had been listening the entire time. She continued to tell us she listens to the radio every morning and there is a Christian message she listens to, but no one had ever come to tell her about Jesus in person. She was beyond excited to have us there and hear what we had to say. She went to her backyard, picked a flower for each one of us, and put the flower behind each of our ears as a gift and a thank you. I started weeping and couldn’t stop for a solid five minutes. At this point in my life, this was the sweetest and most memorable moment I have ever experienced. We were able to pray for these people, leave them with a Bible, and Deepak plans on going back with another team to water the seeds we were able to plant in their hearts that day.
The hour and a half hike up the extremely steep set of stairs was hard, but it could not rid me of the joy the Lord had instilled in me about what had just happened. These people now knew Jesus Christ. They did not accept him right then and there, but at least they have heard and have some things to think about.
Fast forward to the next day where we were absolutely exhausted as it was our last day of hiking. We were making a pit stop at another village to do the same thing we had done the day before. We stopped at this man’s house and entered in where we met his wife and a couple of other random people who had joined to meet the white people. These people seemed overly excited we were there, and we found out they are part of the lowest tier of the caste system (yes, that is a real thing). They are considered the “untouchables,” and nobody in the Nepali society has any interest in them except for their handiwork, which in this case was head stones. Before us, they had never served tea to anyone but each other because in Nepal, it is not acceptable for people in the higher caste to enter their home, much less take the tea they are offering. This gesture in itself meant the world to them.
After doing the same routine of small talk, we jumped right in to talk about Jesus. Once again, they had no idea who we were talking about. This time, I had the opportunity to share with them the Gospel once again starting from the beginning and ending with the sweet relationship we are able to have with the Lord now. The man had questions, and the biggest question was why God would curse him by putting him in the lowest caste. We were able to explain to this man there was no curse on him, the caste system was a result of man, not of God. After continuing to answer questions and speak truth into this man’s life, some of my teammates were able to wash their feet like Jesus did for the disciples. These people were at first confused, but we got to show them even more of Jesus by washing their feet, when they aren’t even able to enter into other people’s homes. Even one of our guides, who is not a Christian, started sharing with these people because of conversations our team had with him the night before. The Gospel was once again shown, and even more seeds were planted.
We finished our trek by lunchtime that day. We were exhausted, sore, hungry, and cold, but none of that mattered even a little bit because God is greater than every bit of that. He gave the entire group of us the physical stamina to finish this steep, steep trek. He gave us the words, demonstrations, and scripture to talk to these people. He gave us the opportunity to even go out and do this crazy trek, this crazy journey we call the World Race. He gave us some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. Most importantly, he filled each of us with His Holy Spirit and all the gifts that comes with it. God is here with me now. God has always been there with me before. God will always be there with me in the future. I cannot put into words the emotions and experiences I had this past week, but what I can say is God is GOOD. These are memories I will never forget, and I could not be more thankful that God chose me, a broken sinner, to serve Him in this way.
