So I haven’t actually gone on an official, formal trek in Nepal yet, but some of my teammates have been talking about doing it possibly some weekend (a trek is a hike for all you non-hiker people like myself- some lasting as long as a month) (at least I’m pretty sure that’s what it is-haha!). I want to go trekking for a weekend if they do; although, I have to be careful with my back. We have definitely done some mini-treks of walking in Nepal and going up inclines, so the title is meant for that a little, but it is meant for more of the figurative sense of trekking in Nepal.
But anyway! Let me tell you about Nepal! I’m loving it here! We took a flight from India to Nepal even though they border each other, but the city we were in was really far away. We changed planes in New Delhi. Security was really long there, and our flight got delayed. They also had some issue with our luggage, so it got delayed longer. It was also really scary as we landed because we went through some rain clouds, so there was a lot of turbulence, and at one point for like a second the plane like dropped (like it felt like the feeling of when you drop on a rollercoaster), and it was pretty scary. I’ve never experienced turbulence like that on a plane before. My sqaudmate sitting next to me on the plane said that she had before though. Anyway, we made it safe and sound- praise God, and then we arrived at the airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, and it looked different from any of the other airports that we’ve been to- it had a lot of wood and mirrors and reminded me a little of like a lodge or a cabin. It had been raining in Nepal, and we hadn’t seen rain all month in India. It was also considerably cooler in Nepal compared to India.
So if you read my last blog, I ended it saying that I was in a bad mood the last few days of India, but right when we got to Nepal, I felt like a new leaf had turned. Even though India and Nepal are right next to each other, Nepal just seems to have a very different vibe. There seems to be a lot less garbage everywhere, and you don’t see cows roaming the streets- it seems a bit more orderly and peaceful. Everything that I was having issues with in India seemed to disappear, and I was filled with this new excitement and contentment. We’re now on month 9 on the race with only 3 months left , so in my mind, we’re now on the last stretch of the race! I picture this like the last 100 meters when you run the 400 in track. I always liked the last stretch because you can give it all you have with the end in sight. I have a new sense of urgency and of not wanting to hold back, but to make the most of my time left on the Race. I want to rely and trust God and step out in faith to see him work. This month, I started and have been leading a morning prayer time with anyone who wants to come from our teams. I asked to wake up one morning at 5:30am with a teammate to help the cook make Himalayan bread that I saw him make the morning before to help him out and to learn how to make it. I’ve also decided to not spend any money on extra snacks, coffee, or pop this month, but to only eat the food given to us. I realized that I tend to indulge in little treats especially in touristy areas- but I think this will be good for my relationship with God- to find comfort and satisfaction in him and not food- and also good for stewarding money well and my health. I want to try to use the money I would’ve used on myself for others. This month two male squad leaders were added to our team- one is my old team leader Nate. I’m so excited and blessed to have them on our team. It is a good change of pace since I’ve been on an all-women team for four months. I also loved having Nate as my team leader and being on his team, so it’s nice to be on his team again. The squad leaders are only on our team for this month though. We also are with another team for this week, and then it sounds like we’ll be splitting up for the rest of the month. We might get to see each other, but I don’t know how much. That’s also a nice change of pace because my team has been alone for three months. Working with the other team has been awesome. My teammate Jake from my first team is on their team, so it’s nice to be able to see/work with him again.
We are in Kathmandu, Nepal staying in a guest house for the week in the heart of a tourist area. We got here at night, and it just felt like I was in Alaska or something- it reminded me of a cabin or a warming house at home too. It was so cold and the power was out, so candles were lit. We ate dinner by candle light. Kathmandu isn’t actually that cold right now- it gets up to like 70s or 80s or so in the day with the sun and like 40s and 50s at night I think, but our guest house hotel is so cold!!!! It doesn’t have any heat, and it doesn’t have many windows and the sun doesn’t come in at all, and the water is freezing- there is no hot water. We do have really huge blankets though that keep us warm. It’s nice for me because our entire race has been hot and sunny, and feeling this cold reminds me of Minnesota , and this actually seems like March to me. It’s interesting though because in Minnesota we always have heat and electricity, so I don’t really feel this cold sometimes. It’s just weird here because the guest house is colder than outside. I’m in a room with half my team, and we have our own bathroom which is nice. We have less electric power here than we did in India. Here we only have power for like 1 hour or 2 in the day and then it comes on again at like 10 or 11pm for a couple hours which makes our rooms pitch black most of the time, so we have to use headlamps and candles. We do have internet here, but it is very slow and unreliable.
We’re in a touristy area that sells a lot of what I would refer to as “winter gear” (although it is spring here right now) like jackets (a lot of fake and real North Face ones), scarves, yak wool, boots, etc., and they sell a lot of trekking gear. There’s also a lot of cute coffee shops, restaurants, spas, bars, etc. They also use the rupee here for a currency, but it’s the Nepali rupee, but they do accept Indian rupees, but they have to be in small bills. There’s people from all around the world in Kathman du visiting/backpacking and going on treks. Nepal is home to Mount Everest, so some are here visiting that I would imagine. Some people on my squad are taking a flight to see the top of Mount Everest. That’ll be exciting for them- I would do it, but it’s also 200 dollars. Kathmandu has a lot of mountains which I’ve seen that are really pretty. They’re not the Himalayas though, those are in another place in Nepal. Kathmandu seems to be a little bit more lenient in clothing for women compared to India. We see some women wearing traditional clothing, but there’s many wearing just shirts and pants. There’s some stray dogs here which I’m used to seeing in other countries now, but these dogs all seem a lot more furry and cute.
So the ministry we’re working with this month does a variety of things focusing on evangelism. It’s a man who is in charge, and there’s two cooks here. There’s a cook here who is so joyful and smiley. His hometown is near to Mount Everest, and he said that he learned to make a lot of his dishes while trekking. We’ve been eating a lot of bread and jam and potatoes along with soup, noodles, eggs, bananas, popcorn and hot tea. We’re in Kathmandu for one week and then going to some villages in the mountains I guess in the eastern part of Nepal. We’ve been told that it’s supposed to be colder in the eastern part of Nepal. I’ve been really encouraged by God and my squadmates because I feel like God has been moving and giving us joy. Everyone seems to love Nepal and be excited to follow and glorify God. Everyone always seems to be in good spirits here in Nepal, and we’ve already had a lot of stories of everyone being able to share Jesus with a lot of people in Nepal. It seems that the harvest is ripe here. The first day we went out to a Buddhist temple called “Monkey Temple” because there were so many monkeys there, and we prayed to our God there. There were a lot of wild monkeys on the streets in Kathmandu there. It was cool! Some of them were walking on the power lines which was kinda funny- maybe that’s why we hardly ever have power! Haha. Two other days, we just went out into the city to talk to people, and a teammate and I met this one girl who was so sweet, so we’re going to try to meet up with her again. Another day, we met with a man who just seemed like he needed someone to talk to, and I gave him a gospel tract. I really wish we could’ve talked to him more, but we had to go. Yesterday, we went to a slum that was like a 20 minute drive from where we’re living. There was tin huts and lots of garbage and flies and many of the kids’ clothes were dirty and ripped. We played with the kids there- they were so cute! I blew up balloons for them, and we sang some songs with them, gave them some oranges, and told them a little about God. They didn’t speak English, but we had a translator. I was holding this one little boy who kept clinging to me and was pushing me not to leave. Some of my other squadmates were talking with people and praying for them. Afterward, we went into the church, and it was encouraging to see a church right in the slums. Some on my squad saw that there were some instruments in the church, so we all decided to worship. It was really nice because it wasn’t planned. Today, we woke up at 5:30am to go to another slum area, and we helped serve breakfast to about 150 kids in the area through a Christian organization that I believe is Korean- they have a church there and a school. Some of the kids had spiffy school uniforms while others had really dirty and ripped clothing. The breakfast was rice with sauce and some green vegetables. We then went out into the village- there was a lot of big, fat ducks which I liked. I was holding a little girl, and she saw my cross necklace, and I asked, “Do you know Jesus?” And she said, “Yes” and kissed my cross. I brought a jump rope and some of the kids jump roped. There was a small, dirty river and I saw a woman and a child crossing it. The homes in the slums were made of tin and some were tents. I saw that some had pigs and chickens. There were four kids who appeared to be siblings that looked really dirty, and I gave them some balloons, and they loved them! One of the girls was jumping up and down and screaming when she saw them- it was so cute. One of the girls wouldn’t stop crying because her balloon popped, but I didn’t have any left. I played “Ring Around the Rosy” with them too. They walked my teammate and I to there house (a tent), and we met their mom who had an infant. She didn’t know English, but she knew the word “money”- we did give her money even though she wasn’t too polite about it, but I mean I think if I were living in a tent with 4 children, I’d probably ask a white person for money too. We also brought them some extra food we had from lunch. It’s good to be generous and remember that God calls us to take care of the poor.
