Hello Friends,
I’m so sorry for all the silence this month. Nepal has been such a crazy month. I got to paint my first and second mural, survived my first earthquake, and climbed the largest mountains I have ever seen on top of a really great month. I have conquered shaky legs, altitude sickness, and a stomach bug. This month has been filled with lots of laughter, some tears, a few small rants, and an experience of a life time. In spite of all the hard stuff I have really loved this month.
E squad had several days of debrief in Thamel, Kathmandu. I immediately fell in love with this crowed and bustling city full of windy maze like streets, amazing coffee shops and cafes, and amazing restaurants. It’s any person who suffers from chronic wanderlust’s dream.
I will return to this beautiful place one day.
Ministry
After leaving Thamel my team journeyed four and a half hours north to the mountain village of Hindi. There we met our contact Pastor Indra and his wife Jyodi and their two sons, Obed and Amos. The family pastors several church fellowships in surrounding mountain villages, has a orphanage that is home to eleven children, and a school.
While in Hindi my team lived and served with team Renovate. Each day our ministry consisted of something different. Most day some of us taught various lessons in the school and others (myself included) lime washed walls, sanded doorways and widows, and painted. Other days we hiked for several hours to near by homes to pray, worship, and fellowship with church believers.
The highlight of my time in Hindi was painting my first mural depicting the creation story on the front of the new school building and our hike on Christmas Eve. Both of these things were new challenges for me. I have always enjoyed art but never thought I could paint a mural. God has been restoring my love or art and creating and giving me opportunity to use those talents. It has been so much fun to fall in love with creating again. Our hike on Christmas Eve was the most challenging hike I have done. It took me four hours to get to the top. There were several times I wanted to turn back but when I finally made it to the top the view was amazing. It left speechless and in awe of the Father.
After leaving Hindi my team and team Renovate made the journey back down to Kathmandu. We joined another team at their apartment and met up with some new contacts to do a few days of ministry. This ministry included painting another mural and lime washing several walls. The church we were working with were so sweet to bless us with lunch and snacks each day we worked with them. I wish we could have been with them a little longer.
South Africa
Next month my team will be headed into out seventh month and third content. We will be leaving Nepal on January 2nd and headed to South Africa via Qatar. There are no words to describe the feeling in my heart to be finally headed back to Africa. I am so excited to be going back to the content that continues to steal my heart each time a return and to be getting the opportunity to visit new countries.
I will be in Port Elizabeth, South Africa for the month. Port Elizabeth is one of South Africa’s biggest cities and it is on the water. After the frigid cold of Nepal I am ready from some sun and beach. We will be working with a local church doing youth ministry. I will let you know more what that looks like once we get there.
Prayer
Please pray for my team as we head into out seventh month. We are becoming quite the experts at travel days, air ports, customs, visas, and bus rides. Pray that all our travel goes smoothly and safely. Pray for our health as we enter into malaria zones and come across different kinds of sicknesses. Pray for our hosts and contacts and their ministries. Pray that we would find time to spend alone with the Lord so we can pour out into our ministry and bless those we encounter.
Fundraising
Unfortunately I did not make my January 1st deadline. I currently still need to raise $2,344 to be fully funded. I will be allowed to continue the Race but I may have to take some time away from ministry some days in order to work on fundraising until I am fully funded. If 25 people commit to donating $100 in the month of January I would be fully funded by the end of the month!
Please join me in praying for funds to come in and for me to continue to trust the Lord provision and timing. Thank you for all your contributions to my trip and all your prayers.
Check out this video from my time in Nepal 🙂
