Summaries: Nepal

Month eight took us to a tourist town at the foothills of th Himalayas: Pokhara, Nepal. Pokhara has a beautiful lake called Phewa Lake where boaters catch fresh fish daily and tourists can paddle boat across to get glimpses of the closest Himalayan peaks. The town of Pokhara is full of trekking gear shops, coffee shops, restaurants and souvenir shops. 

 

We stayed in a guesthouse at Maya ministries. Maya in Nepali means love and that was our host’s goal; to love on the people of Nepal with the love of Christ. We all had our own beds, that wee so comfortable and had thick blankets which were needed as the temperatures dropped significantly at night time. We would typically boil water in order to bucket shower with because the weather in Nepal was the most chilly we had experienced on the race and showering with the cold running water sounded miserable. 

 

Ministry included visiting the slums and visiting with families, praying with them and sharing the gospel as well as playing games and dancing with the kiddos. We also visited Buddhist monasteries housed in a Tibetan refugee camp and did prayer walks through them. Lastly, the girls in or group would visit dance bars in the red light district of Pokhara. We would sit alongside the men paying money to spend time with the women, and sadly young girls, working at the bar and attempt to engage them in meaningful conversation. Our goal was to make them feel seen, known and loved without expecting anything in return. 

 

Many nights the girls would be too busy and unable to speak with us due to the manager prohibiting them from wasting their time on us “non-paying” customers. This meant we got to intercede for both the girls and the male customers. It hit us one night as we were praying, that us walking into these bars may be the only opportunity for these men and women to experience the presence of God through us. Nights at the dance bars didn’t always feel fruitful, but it always felt meaningful and important. 

 

Outside of scheduled ministry, one of my teammates and I would walk into town and ask God to highlight people he wanted us to speak to. This turned into us meeting some amazing people with incredible stories. We met a Buddhist turned Christian art shop owner, a Hindu convenience store clerk, a Christian missionary from the states, and a Hindu women washing dishes in a creek who we would spend much time with in the days after meeting her. 

 

These divine appointments from the Lord became deep friendships for us and we even stayed back from a short trekking trip the rest of our team went on so we could spend more time with our new friends. During that time we were able to share the gospel with our two Hindu friends and prepare an American meal for them and our ministry hosts to include fried chicken, mashed potatoes and vegetables. It was a hit. 

 

We ate almost all of our meals out which consisted of lots of chow mein and momos. Momos are little dumplings that come either steamed or fried, filled with either vegetables, chicken or Buffalo. They were so cheap and delicious. We also had some really good American style food in town like pizza, pasta, French toast with bacon, waffles and sandwiches. 

 

Laundry was either done by hand and hung on the roof to dry or done by a laundry service ran by a neighbor we spent a lot of time with. Our neighbor proclaimed to be a Christian but didn’t own a bible. We were able to gift this neighbor with a bible and highlighted our favorite verses in. 

 

Off days were spent strolling through town and checking out the shops; hiking up the mountain across the lake to reach the Peace Pagoda, a famous Buddhist temple;  and paragliding. 

 

Nepal, the country and its people, is beautiful. 

 

. . . 

 

I’ll miss the momos and the chow mein. 

 

I’ll miss time spent with our American missionary friends.

 

I’ll miss sunsets over the lake. 

 

I’ll miss dinners with our Nepali friends. 

 

I’ll miss our host, Lumi, call her puppy, Lumi, in her high pitched voice in the evenings. 

 

I’ll miss worship in the prayer room on the roof. 

 

I’ll miss seeing the Himalayas.  

 

Songs that remind me of this month are: 

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