Although our teams are now traveling through China, I don’t want to move on before at least relaying to you some necessary info about Nepal.
Nepal was an incomparable month. It was full of adventure, pushing past limits, witnessing the indescribable, engaging in edifying conversations, language barriers, hail storms, dal bhat, getting to use various water filtration systems, making lasting friendships, relearning myself and seeing spirituality in each person. I will never forget Jiri and Trisule, the mountain towns we were in, thanks to the open-handed and open-hearted people we met there. Some of the girls from the Jiri Bible school (pictured below) are a few of those such people.
The common denominator throughout all of these were conversations and people, two of my favorite things. What’s more, it was a month full of some new phrases and quotes I’d never heard prior. Some had me bursting with laughter or cringing or pondering for hours or simply repeating them to others to see their reactions. The following are a brief list of such phrases, in no particular order. Maybe you can guess which produced which affect on me. 🙂
A journey through Nepal in quotes…
“Wow, this is the coldest I’ve been on the Race so far!”
“I think we clogged the squatty potty. Do we need a squatty plunger?”
“Guys, today I saw a praising mantis on the road.”
“I was washing the shampoo out of my hair in the shower, and when I opened my eyes there was a FREAK on the wall in front of me.”
“I would walk up and down this mountain every day if it meant getting to do stuff like this.” *teammate referring to praying for a man with cancer on top on a mountain*
“That tractor’s wheels are hanging off the side of the hill…too stressful.”
“I wondered why it was so weird seeing the tops of so many heads. Then I realized I’d never been the tallest woman in church before.”
“I think I need to go to the hospital.” (Not me!)
“Am I in a dream or is this real life?”
“Now I don’t just know the language of the Cambodian people, I know their hearts too. I know what they really mean when they say something to me.”
“This is the cleanest I’ve been in 4 months.” *teammate after jumping into fresh river water*
*in reference to a guy who hissed at a teammate* “Yeah, we should go love him!”
“I am talking to my wife about adopting her into our family.” *our host about a girl we met in a village we camped at*
“You can come sleep in the church tonight because I think it will rain too much. And the wind will blow the trees down.”
“Do you have Mars bars?….No, not Mountain Dew. Mars bars.”
“You should pray for her.” “Ok, what’s wrong with her?” “The Devil.”
“Hey look! It’s a tickle stick!”
“Nah, that’s getting into God’s hidden will vs his revealed will…”
“I know myself and I know that if I went back home now, I would enjoy it for some time but then I would want to be back on the race.”
“Oh look! I’m bleeding!”
“You are the closest foreign friend I’ve had.”
“You should pray for me. I am 22 and I am not married.” “Haha Dude, I’m 27 and I’m not married!”
“That is probably the clearest night sky I’ve seen. There are so many stars!”
“We slept on a hill with some yaks! And the next day we ate yak cheese at a yak cheese factory.”
“I remember thinking, about the idol in the temple, ‘If I threw you out into the street, you would need my help to get back inside. You depend on me.'”
There you have it! And there are probably some other key quotes I’m not remembering that really struck me, but I tend to have a memory more similar to a goldfish than an elephant. This is me trying to work on that.
Also, if you want more clarification about any of these, too, just ask in the comments and I’ll try to give more info. There was a lot of goodness and many lessons learned in this month. I want to relay so much of it to you! Don’t be shy!
Changing gears…
This month, we’re gallivanting about in China (mostly central China), and could really use some prayer for specific things:
- Meaningful, spontaneous encounters with people
- Willingness to be flexible
- Team cohesion (I’m on an all-girls team this month with some strong, independent ladies…Andrea D, Nicole, Janea and Alissa)
- Desire to see God change people and places
- Resilience in the underground church
*Final note about fundraising: I’m <$200 away from being fully funded! If you feel led to give any amount, that would help significantly.
