I am sitting on the porch of the paper machete-esque hut that we are living in this month and wondering who is the one spreading all the rumors that Nepal is a cold country. From where I am sitting, I see no mountains, snow or sherpas. It is HOT. This is probaly the hottest place I have been all year and as I sit here doing nothing but typing, I am sweating.
This month has been different, not because I am living in a middle of nowhere, farming village (already done that) or that our ministry is “door to door” evangelism and teaching in a school (check to both of those as well). Aside from becoming a leader and this being one of the hottest places on earth (yes, hotter than Hyderabad), this month is different for other reasons.
Our “evangelizing” here involves us walking up to two hours in a direction to the nearest village, passing out tracks and talking to groups of people under big trees. Keeping in mind that this is the hottset place on earth, this type of ministry could be pretty grueling as it is all outside, in the heat, for at least 4 hours at a time. Sometimes it is hard when the days get really long, but for the most part my team and I have had such great attitudes and have really enjoyed our long walks during the day. They are beautiful and give us an abundance of time to get to know each other since this is our first month together. Also, never have I felt more like a Bible-times disciple than this month. Our feet end up being sick after all the walking throuh the dusty roads and it is funny to think that the disciples would probably talk about random and stupid stuff like we do inbetween villages. The other day the topic of “What male celebrity would you choose to costar in a movie with you?” lasted us at least an hour.
Every other country we’ve done “door to door” in was a Christian nation, and Nepal is predominately Hindu so it has been interesting seeing the differences there too. When we met believers in the other countries they were considered normal, but the few we have met here face persecution from their neighbors at any time. We went to visit one lady the other day who was a Christian and after Amber got about two words of encouragement out she broke down crying with the weight of all that she was carrying and was just waiting for someone to come and lift her spirits. Stuff like that is really cool to be a part of…knowing that just our presence is an encouragement to people.
It’s also been funny to see how content we are with doing nothing. There are some days that we end up just hanging out because ministry gets rained out, and our contacts are always worried that we are bored. We can’t really go anywhere because there is no where to go and it’s not super safe. But when they ask us we all just look at each other and are like, “Meh, I’m good.” I am sure if I had days like this back at home or even a few months ago, I would’ve been going crazy but it’s like a blessing now. Even the “non alone-time” people love it.
This month has been hard in that it is blazing hot and we don’t have any communication with the outside world, and not a whole lot to entertain ourselves with, but it has turned out really well I think. Our food is delicious and we have had a great time learning and getting to know one another. When we first got here we were all a little worried that this might be hell month, but it’s been a lot of fun and God has been sustaining us and giving us the grace for this place big time. It’s always crazy to see the different ways people live around the world and more than I could’ve imagined live with hardly anything. It’s humbling and I hope someone slaps me if I ever complain about anything when I get back in the States!
