My team is spending the majority of the month in Chitwan, Nepal, moving to different cities each week and spending the last week in Kathmandu. The bus ride from Kathmandu to Chitwan was one of the longest, bumpiest, and most beautiful drives I have ever experienced. It totally felt like I was in the movie 'Mighty Joe Young' as we were traveling on this tiny side rode through the middle of the rainforest/jungle looking mountainous area with random waterfalls and rushing rivers. Nepal is definitely surrounded by gorgeous landscapes!
We are staying in a pastor’s house in Piple, Chitwan with all five girls in one room. You have a little walk to the squatty outside which is a few inches too short for me to be able to stand up in. Actually, everything in Nepal is a few inches too short for me to stand up in- I’ve hit my head on several occasions. I guess it makes sense because I have yet to see anybody over 5’5”. Probably the most interesting thing we ran into this month was how to bathe. The village has a water pump which is occupied at most times of the day for either bathing, clothes washing, cleaning, or fetching water. How do you take a shower at a water pump with people all around you ask?? Yeah, I’m still not sure. Which is why I went the longest I think I have ever gone and should ever go without a shower so far on the race. The other reason being that women wake up around 4 in the morning to bathe so the men are not around. Well, that wasn’t going to happen so I was happy to wait until our contacts kindly set up a tarp where we could shower with a bucket of water and have a bit more privacy. Unfortunately the tarp was a bit short and there was a massive thunderstorm happening as I attempted to shower that it was one of the most stressful bathing experiencing of my life. We all joke that showering is kind of pointless when you wash off only to put back on your dirty clothes. Or sometimes is so hot that you are practically sweating while trying to shower. It’s just too much work so you decide to go without until you literally can't focus because you are distracted by the amount of dirt on your body.
This week we moved to a location 45 minutes from Piple to do ministry for a few days in a bigger city. I am staying in a house and they actually have a shower head in the bathroom! Ministry this month is similar to India and we are doing mostly door to door and street evangelism. It has been quite the experience sharing the gospel so frequently, let alone to a predominately Hindu nation. Our team split up in to multiple groups since we have more translators and we could cover more ground. This has provided us all a chance to become more confident in telling about Jesus and sharing our testimony. Most Hindus believe in Jesus and really enjoy hearing about Him but the response we keep hearing is that they can not change their religion. They want Jesus but they must receive permission from their family before they can make a decision to accept him. If anybody from a Hindu family chooses to follow Jesus they are immediately cut off from their family forever. This is the case for all of the pastors we have been serving alongside of and a very difficult concept to fully understand. We have also come across many people who have never heard the name of Jesus before. It’s always exciting sharing what Jesus has done for us and watching people’s eyes being opened to the truth for the first time. Though most of our conversations are left open-ended, I am at peace knowing that we are planting seeds of truth and trust that the spirit is stirring their hearts to be more curious and aware of God.
I believe our ministry has been successful the last week but it is definitely a difficult thing to do day in and day out. Evangelism is wonderful but it can be tiring repeating the same thing at every house or to every person on the street for hours in the morning and again at night. This type of ministry is the only thing my team has done on the race and we are curious to see what other types of ministry will look like. I think it has been good to experience so early on in this journey and has made us much more bold in our faith and built up confidence in ourselves. Plus, we have really good food this month which has provided us all more energy! Praise God. Also extremely thankful that the Lord has healed me of all sickness and I am back to full health. Thank you all for your prayers!
