December 10-19, 2018
Our work here in Nepal looks a lot different than ministry in Swazi. In Swazi, we did the same thing every day for three months straight. While being in Nepal we have had the opportunity to do something new every day. Literally every day I’m doing something new and every week I’m going somewhere new. I’ll give you an update of what my first 12 days in Nepal looked like.
December 10
Today we arrived in Nepal. We applied for our visas and all of us got in! We took a large bus to the hotel and on the drive there I experienced culture shock. The sights, smells and sounds are a lot to take in and are so much different from America and Africa. When we got to our hotel in Thamel, we were able to walk around that night and get dinner. We had to stay the night because the second flight group arrived a lot later in the night than we did.
December 11
Today we left around noon time to meet our host and move into our permanent residence for the week. We learned a little bit more about what we would be doing and about the culture. To give you a picture of where I’m living, I am staying in a three room apartment with 20 other people. Three teams, each team in a room. The rooms do not have beds, just a small floor space. So my team is sharing one room and everyone typically eats breakfast, lunch and dinner in our room because we have the “most room”. We also have a small bathroom and a toilet that doesn’t flush and has no toilet seat. We also have a kitchen that a few Neapli people cook for us in. They make delicious food!
December 12
Today was our first day out! We got to go on a prayer walk at a monkey temple for the first half of the day. The temple was two hours away by public transportation (which is what we take everywhere). We came back for lunch and then walk to another temple and did a prayer walk there. The second temple was the largest one in the area for the god of destruction. It’s exactly what it sounds like. After we came back, ate dinner, and slept.
December 13
Today we got the chance to go to a Christian rehab center. Again, it too about two hours to get there with public transportation and walking. We were able to sing songs with the group of men there and a few of my squad mates were able to share their testimonies with them and encourage them. At the end we were ale to pray over them. We then went home for lunch and then set out again for our next spot. There’s an old woman in Nepal that takes in other older women off the street and gives them a home. She is known as the modern day Mother Theresa. We were able to sit with the women, love on them and pray with them. I was able to meet a woman who is 102! My best friend Liz was also able to communicate with a woman through sign too. Read her blog to see what her experience was like!
December 14
Today I got the chance to go to a leper colony in the mountains. It was a two hour bus ride and a 30 minute hike down the mountain into a valley to get there. There were quite a few people there who were Christians so we were able to encourage them and pray for them while we were there. Seeing people who have leprosy really puts into perspective the people who had leprosy in the Bible. Just seeing the damage it does to your body, you see that Jesus really did a miracle with the people He healed. These people, despite their pain, were so joyful and full of the Holy Spirit.
December 15
We went to a Nepali church for the first time. Nepali Church is incredibly beautiful. It was a lot like American church in some ways. They don’t have chairs in the building so we sat on the floor and you have to take of your shoes when you enter (which is like all places in Nepal). The music was beautiful, they had a full band and a choir and all the songs were in Nepali (obviously). The message was translated for us from Nepali to English by a Norwegian woman. This woman moved here and and speaks three languages (Nepalis, English, and Norwegian) fluently.
December 16
Today was our free day! I ended up getting lots of coffee and a $5 nose piercing. My favorite part of the day was when my my team celebrated Christmas. We weren’t sure what Christmas will look like for us because we will be in a mountain village and traveling on actual Christmas, so we decided to do it early. We exchanged gifts, played Christmas music and set up a pop up Christmas tree from a card my parents gave me.
December 17
Today 10 out of 19 of the people staying in the hostel got sick last night, so today we are all staying back and resting. We are pretty sure they all got some sort of stomach bug and it’s likely the last 9 of it will get it as well. One bathroom and 19 people about to get sick isn’t pretty. It smells like puke all up in this place. Pray for us. From what we have been told, we will get sick a lot in Nepal.
December 18
People are still sick so we stayed back until lunch and then went out to a girls home called Gentle Hearts Foundation and shared testimonies and encouraged them. Here, they take in young woman who don’t have a home or who have been involved in sex trafficking and give them a safe space. They give them an education, life skills and more.
December 19
Today I finally got sick. When I woke up my stomach was cramping so I stayed back. The rest of the group went to one of the members in the Nepali church to pray over him because he has been sick and then after lunch they went to an orphanage and played with kids. In the later half of the day, I was sent to the clinic along with a few others just to take precautions. They basically told me to drink water and that I didn’t have a fever…
So this is an overview of my first 12 days in Nepal! Next week I will be going to Chitwan, Nepal to do something new. Keep my team in your prayers as we go to our next town!
