Hey friends!
We spent the past few days trekking into a remote village in the AnnaPurna Mountain Range. We hiked about 18 miles up and down the mountains to get in and back out of the village. We had a lot of rain but sights we saw and the people we met made this journey so worth it.
View of Fishtail mountai from the trail.
Another great view!
Suze, Bre, and I mid-trek!
Amazing sunrise over the Himalayan Mountain!
Bre and I waiting out the hail storm on a friendly stranger‘s porch! Drinking some hot black tea, a very common drink shared here in Nepal!
Trek break at a swimming hole!
Now to the good stuff.
We travel out there with a specific goal to encourage, teach, and share with an elderly couple who had converted from Buddhism to Christianity when they heard the gospel from a previous World Race team. They are the only believers in the entire village of 34 people and 14 houses.
We sat with them, shared tea and then a few messages from the Word about the Holy Spirit, creating disciples, and persevering through suffering.
The husband is going blind and the wife is illiterate but they shared how every night he did his best to read the Bible to his wife before bed and the joy they had when their grandchildren would come to visit them from the city and would read the Bible to them.
They shared their fears of persecution and their struggles of having faith with no community. Their fears of being exiled from their village. They shared that they had family members who had threatened them and asking them why they would change their entire culture so late in their lives. But they shared that they always respond that this is their desire and they know it is true.
The previous team had given them a Bible but the print was too small, and so his next trek our host brought them a new large print Bible. This time one of the girls on my team actually had brought with her a solar powered Nepali audio bible that she was able to gift this family.
We stayed at a home stay in the village and the woman who runs it told us that the wife had been down to her shop and sharing the gospel with her. She told us about her desire for the Lord but again she had deep fear of the persecution and abandonment that they would face. Thankfully we were had the privilege of sharing some messages from the Word and gifting her family a bible.
Our time in Asia has been filled with stories similar to this and it has really opened my eyes to how blessed I am to live in country where I am free to be a Christian, to gather in a church, and to share the gospel fearlessly. Seeing all of this has lead to me to wonder what my life would look like if I had to live with the constant and real possibility of being persecuted for my faith. My heart breaks for these families who do live in this reality but I am so grateful for the opportunity to step into their lives to encourage them and love them even if it is just for a little while.
