Chennai: That’s the end of India, four full weeks of
drenching, non stop sweat; high-stress, high-intense spiritual war-fair (which
I have no idea how to process it heart and faith wise); jealous, yet serving
congregation and endless, extreme church meetings. With touching and sweet
farewells from Pastor Davidos, his sons, Glory, her parents, Leema, her husband
and daughter Esther, and Arif at the bus station, we pulled away as the entire
farewell committee waved -continuously while following the bus for a while –
goodbye to us as we left for our big month six debrief in Hyderabad.
Hyderabad: In a word – convent. Our big six month debrief
took place in a HOT – I mean SERRIOUSLY HOT- catholic convent. At least I get
to say that I tried the convent thing and it didn’t work. HOWEVER things did
happen while we stayed there. I shared a room with an AMAZING woman of God,
C’dell, and God had me stew on some issues that had been fermenting – not like
wine but like rotten eggs – for a few months so that my sister and team-mate and
I could get it sorted out – JUST BEFORE OUR COACHES MAKE A SUDDEN TEAM
CHANGE!!! Charles got promoted to Team Leader – of another team – and the team
he got promoted to was lead by an adorable couple and AMAZING leaders
themselves, so two team members had to go to make the trade even. At the end of
India and beginning of Nepal I said good-bye to Charles and Alison and welcomed
the fabulous Hanes’ to my team.
NEPAL: Beautiful green country – especially coming from
India – with impressively steep hills that make a beautiful back ground to my
non-existent photos. It was cloudy, still a really nice change.
Team: Tiffany and Justin Hanes, Mark Norris, and Katy Gurley
Team Lead: Rachel Ritsima
Uninvited but pleasant surprise guest: Chelsea Hughes
Ministry: This month we shared a contact with another team.
The contact had two DIFFERENT ministries for us to choose from: Asha Nepal, an
orphanage and boarding house for rescued women from human trafficking, and a
rural village ministry in the mountains preaching the gospel. To me it was
knowingly giving up an AWESOME breakfast for hiking and preaching and no lunch.
To decide, we mud wrestled to the death with rusty spoons and squids, and,
after Chelsea Hughes slaughtered Jake Morris triumphantly, it was a mutually decision
that the other team should choose. God ultimately was calling the other team to
work at the orphanage that our contact was connected with, and we got the
feeling, and then the confirmation at their announcing their decision, that we
were going to be climbing the Himalaya’s all month bringing the gospel to an
unreached people group on mountain tops close to the Tibet border – yay. I mean
– YAY!
I DECLARE I AM GOOD AT PREACHING AND THAT I BRING GOD’S
KINGDOM WHEN I SPEAK!
Needless to say it was a stretching month for me.
We started the month on top of a speeding bus through the
foothills of the Himalayas’ – which are still pretty steep – sitting on our
packs for cushions while leaning against a wooden armoire that the
teenage/young-adult bus driver and friends hoisted onto the roof with us – an
amazing feat to witness. Having spent most of the time getting to know our
translator, and our fellow Nepali roof travelers, we took -they took –
brilliant pictures of the ride and view as we traveled deeper and higher into
the mountains until we reached our riverside destination, Kothe(Koh-tuh-hay).
We stayed with a small village pastor, and his entire family
-mom, dad, wife, sisters … grandmother or aunt? … nephews, nieces and
children. Nepal is still entrenched in a caste system, but being a foreigner I
couldn’t tell the difference – it had to do something with the eyes or last
name – but I knew that Pastor did not come from the upper class. Pastor was the
first person to receive salvation in his family. He was a witch doctor and the
son of a witch-doctor and after God’s handy-work became the first pastor in his
family and the small village where we stayed. We were allowed to have a hand in
furthering God’s kingdom by doing the strenuous work of hiking and preaching
and encountering strangers on top of the surrounding mountains.
And it WAS a stretch. For all who know me know that the
strenuous work out of hiking for HOURS is not on the top of my to do list –
neither is preaching. I don’t want to speak or say things that I don’t know
for-sure-for-sure that God is saying. I have had experiences where people spoke
for God and it got twisted, unintentionally and intentionally, and I don’t
think God appreciates it when we put words in His mouth, among the thousands of
fears I have regarding God, this is one of them.
We stayed at the Pastors church which was located by the
road. My back yard was one of the most river rafted rivers in Nepal -when river
rafting was in season. We got there close to the end of the off season. We had
scheduled days-off because there was so much they wanted done -I guess. But on
those days off we went for extreme sports. Yep it was a wild, crazy, but peaceful month.
Since our backyard was a river we would sit down on rocks
and have God times and just enjoy the peace that God allowed us to have. It was
also a great month for our new team. The Hanes’ really raised the bar for our
community to become better more serving people, a really needed change (that is
still in process). The peace also provided a safe control space for God to
allow me to fall into my fears to show me that there are a lot of things that
are in my life that are not of Him, and that there are a lot of thoughts,
fears, lies, emotions, and desires that I have not given to Him yet.
