Monday afternoon all of P-Squad left Kathmandu for a small village, Melchor, in the Sindupalchok region of Nepal. Sindupalchok, and Melchor specifically were some of the hardest hit areas in all of Nepal after the first earthquake on April 25.
After arriving on the mountainside we are told to hike down about one to two kilometers to the church we were going to help clean up and rebuild for the week. As we start walking down our eyes were immediately opened to the destruction this region had faced just two weeks prior. We saw crumbled homes and stores, makeshift tent homes and countless faces of the Nepali people who had, had everything stripped from them.
When we finally made it down to our spot, with the most amazing view of the valley we set up our tents and tried to get dinner made before it got dark. As the sun began to set we were wrapping up dinner and my team (Team Time) decided we would take advantage of the awesome view and have a worship session for our team time. We sat as a team of seven and worshiped the Most High God with the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever seen. I was looking into a valley in the foothills of the Himalayas watching a lightning storm unlike one I’ve ever seen. It was a surreal moment. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more close to God than in that moment, soaking up his majesty on that mountainside.
The next day we woke up and got straight to work. From about 8:30 to noon we worked moving rubble from a church that had completely collapsed during the first earthquake. We had assembly lines going to remove the rubble in hopes of clearing the site to start rebuilding, and all in all enjoying doing something tangible for these people we were meeting. At noon we took a lunch break to eat the traditional Nepali meal the women of the church had so graciously prepared for us.
After finishing lunch I was sitting with some squadmates looking out of the valley talking and then everything fell silent.
The ground shook.
The mountains shook.
P-squad shook.
I shook.
The 7.4 magnitude earthquake is said to have lasted only 30 seconds, but it felt like the longest hour of my life. Those 30 seconds were life changing. I saw clouds of dust fly into the air, which was debris from homes in the valley. I heard the screams of the Nepali people in the valley. I saw the terror and confusion in my friends faces.
In the moments immediately following the women on the squad were told to stay on the ground for safety in case of aftershocks and those with medical expertise and some of the men went down into the valley a little ways. Soon after things began to settle down, we were told to begin packing up our things to evacuate to the top of the mountain for fear of landslides. As I began to pack my stuff and a few boys stuff, the guilt began to set in. The reality began to set in. The anger and sadness began to set in.
We were fleeing a mountainside that the Nepali people we had just been working with have to stay on. We were fleeing so that we wouldn’t get hurt when these people live there. We were fleeing when all I wanted to do was stay.
I was one of the last people packed up and was in the last group that headed up the mountain. I’m generally a slow walker and the rocky trails back up the mountain didn’t help that at all. As I slowly trekked up the mountain, I prayed and asked God:
“Why would you do this to these people?”
“Why have you called us to experience this with these people?”
“Why, just why?”
About half way up the mountain a very old and very sweet Nepali man came up to me with his walking stick. He tried to hand it to me and I simply couldn’t take it. This man just experienced his third 7.1 or above earthquake in less than three weeks. He lost his home, and he wanted to give me, an American fleeing the mountainside, his beloved walking stick. I was overwhelmed.
After him telling me probably five or six times to take the stick, I take it and immediately start crying. The generosity of this man was astounding to me. He was Jesus to me in that moment. He provided me with the help I needed to make it up the mountain.
He taught me a lesson. He taught me no matter what I’m going through in life and no matter what circumstances the Lord throws my way, I can move on. I can keep going.
That man gave me a stick that I will carry for the rest of my race as a reminder that in the worst times, when the world is (quite literally) crumbling around me, I can keep going. I can help the Nepali people. I can do anything and everything through Christ who gives me strength.
One stick at a time I can help those in need.
