life as a knocker

(ok sorry, no pictures yet because the internet sucks here)

I’m never leaving Nepal. I mean, everything about it scrams
‘Katy needs to stay here!’ As we stepped off the plane in Kathmandu, I was
immediately reminded of my time in Peru-which I loved.  The small brick airport, the little mountain
people running around everywhere, BEAUTIFUL mountains in the background with
small villages scattered here and there… I was a goner. I instantly fell in
love.

Our contacts picked us up in their sweet mini van and drove
us through the winding streets of Kathmandu to the orphanage where one of our
teams would be staying. When we pulled up to the three story house that was
settled nicely on a small valley hill surrounded by mountains topped with
afternoon rain clouds resting nicely on the mountain peaks, I knew that we must
have died and gone to heaven. No way could this be a real place on Earth. The
sun was beaming through the clouds and everything. Come on Lord, you are really
outdoing your self here…

The children at Asha are beautiful. The women who live here
are beautiful. The place even comes with two adorable dogs that instantly loved
me! I sang them my best friend song and they licked my hand <3 Just down the
street is the resort where you get REAL coffee and Internet. There is a terrace
on every level of the home and a two level rooftop where we eat our meals.  I could go on and on, but I think you might
get the point. It’s a sweet set up.

But we didn’t stay there. Our team was assigned to go the
mountains.

Offfff course. I’ve been praying to work with orphans this
whole trip and here I was- actually staying in the orphanage in the middle of
paradise.  >eeeekkk, it’s not about
me. It’s not about me. Its not about me…<

Our contact, Bovin, told us that where we were at in
Kathmandu was the prettiest place that you could go as a tourist. But where we
were going in the mountains was even more beautiful. And dannnng, he was right.
After riding three hours on top of the bus that is constantly blasting it’s
fancy horn around every corner, we arrive in Kothe, Nepal. Our church we are
staying at is built into the side of the mountain right on the aqua river that
runs through the village. Our contact here is a Nepali man who has a smile that
lights up any room he walks into, a voice that is so calm and collected you
know he is speaking from sheer confidence in the Lord, and is constantly
pulling his shirt up on our three hour hikes up the mountains, but his  natural swag makes his belly shirts somehow
very stylish. 

Our ministry here is, again, the type of ministry in which I
don’t really love. We are passing out tracks.  I can’t help but feel like a Jehovah’s Witness
when we go to the surrounding villages, talking to every hut, saying the same
thing over and over again.  But it is a
great way to experience the culture. Most of the people we visit want to stare
at us just as much as we want to stare at them. These people are beautiful. And
their houses are adorable. Most of them are three stories, each level is a
different texture accented with dark wood window shutters and balconies. But
the views could be better…

>insert beautiful picture of mountain view here<

When we aren’t doing ministry JW style, we are cleaning up
the roads which consists of picking up the trash on the walk way and then
throwing it in the bushes<< yeahhh. We didn’t do that for too long.  Then there are the house visits to the church
members who live too far away to come to church every week. These are the long
hikes we take up the mountain.  After
three hours of leg burning climbing, we make it to the little huts where we are
greeting by our Nepali brothers and sisters. We sing, we pray, we talk, and
then we eat. Then hike back down the mountain to eat some more :] Good thing we
are hiking so much here or I would have to buy a new wardrobe.

There is so much more that I would want to blog about but
I’m sure this is long enough so I’ll just make a list.

Top Memories in
Nepal (In chronological order):

• .
  River Rafting.
•   Surprise donuts with melted chocolate on the
  river over a campfire by Tiffany and Justin. Best. Team. Time. EVER.
• Hand made hiking sticks- thanks again Justin.
• Bungee Jumping off a 160m bridge.
• Cheese balls.