Nepal has been a month of spending time with God. Our month is focused mostly on prayer, and lots of it. And it’s so needed. Less than 2% of the Nepal population is Christian. Most people here haven’t even heard of Jesus. We pass Hindu shrines and temples every 15 feet. Our first day in town we saw a water buffalo being sacrificed. Everyone has red dots on their heads and every shop smells like incense. You can feel the heaviness of the spiritual warfare in this place. You can see the darkness and sadness and hopelessness in the people’s eyes. Megh’s amazing son, Subas, is our main translator this month since his father recently had surgery and he treks us around. Only the younger population here speak English. Momma and Dee Dee (sister in Nepali) are super sweet and cook amazing Nepali food for us. We have to fight them to let us help cook or clean. They give us the side to side head nod every time we ask and chase us away from the sink when we try to wash a dish. Dee Dee let Payton and I help make potatoe Chapote one night and was very patient even though we made dinner late. We live in the outskirts of the Himalayas have a beautiful view of the mountains from the roof of the three story house we live in. It’s dead of winter right now. It was 28 degrees when we hit the ground from Africa. Yes, we all got colds from the drastic change. Fortunately, Kathmandu is full of vendors selling cheap knock-off clothes so we were able to add warm clothes to our limited wardrobe without too much financial pain. So one day I told God how frustrated I was at him for taking me from my comfy home with central heating and bringing me halfway around the world to sit in the cold and not be doing ministry. He very clearly corrected me. He showed me that my view of what ministry is, was a little off. He showed me that ministry is everywhere I go and with everyone I meet. He showed me that I am ministering to the tired, overworked women washing clothes in the cold when I smile and say “Namaste” (hello) and give them a reason to smile and feel special that day. He showed me that I am encouraging Momma and Dee Dee when I show them how loved and appreciated they are. He showed me how much we encourage the group of believers at the church and strengthen them to go out and minister to their own people. And he reminded me how powerful our prayers are. They not only are heard by God and help combat the spiritual warfare around us, but they strengthen and encourage the believers. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. James 5:16 While it might not be “normal” ministry or “get your hands dirty” ministry, it’s ministry. It’s what God has told this pastor is what is needed here right now, and it’s what I will do my best in while we’re here and along the rest of the journey. God has promised that the seeds we plant along the way will continue to be watered by those in the church that we’ve encouraged and lifted up, as well as by the missionaries that follow behind us. “Finally brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, ENCOURAGE one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.” Corinthians 13:11 “The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers.” 1 Peter 3:12 “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of seeds, when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.” Matthew 13:31,32 You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted, you ENCOURAGE them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed.” Psalm 10:18 *** BIG THANKS TO ASHLEY, PAYTON AND RYAN FOR THE PHOTOS!!! :O) ****
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Our host, Megh, and his family are wonderful. Megh is the pastor of a local church. The church building is small, but they pack around 100 people or so in there. (That’s where it’s handy not to have pews!) And they’ve helped start other churches in many outlying villages around Kathmandu.
However, because it is so cold and because we’ve had some minor injuries and illnesses (I sprained my ankle and Matt hurt his knees on our first mountain outing) we haven’t been able to do as many ministry opportunities as we would have liked. We attend and serve at church services, teach Sunday School and youth, attend Bible studies and prayer services, have worship services with the youth, visit Hindu temples and pray over them, hand out tracks in the village, and sometimes hang out and play with kids at the park.
We seemed to have lots of downtime, and I began to get frustrated. I didn’t want to just sit around praying, I wanted to get out and get my hands dirty. I was frustrated that there were so many needs, so many hungry people, so many children to be loved, so many sad people that need to hear the hope they can only find in Jesus, and all I’m doing is sitting around the house, praying.
