Currently running around Thamel (where we stayed for debrief when we first arrived in Nepal- about a 30 min drive from ministry site.) with a bag of dirty clothes (that haven’t been washed since India, gross I know) looking for a place to wash them with no luck… So here I am, at a café, battling wi-fi, writing a blog!
(Our beautiful rooftop view from the house we’re living at)
Trekking up mountains, praying over Hindu and Buddhist temples, visiting slums, playing soccer and ultimate Frisbee with street kids, doing prayer walks through nature parks. That’s what ministry has looked like so far here in Nepal! I wasn’t quite sure what to expect ministry to look like this month coming from India where everything was routine for us. Everyday looked the same there for us. We knew what time we’d be leaving for ministry and what we’d be doing, just in a different village each time. We are definitely having to learn to go with the flow this month! This is also all squad month so there are 55 of us living in one 4 story house and doing ministry together. There’s 7 of us piled in to 1 small room and sharing a bathroom and a little kitchenette with 14 others…it’s animated around here to say the least, but hey, that’s what community is, right?? That was one of my biggest obstacles I knew I’d have to face going in to this season of life, learning to live with people and grow with them when I’m so used to being independent and doing everything on my own back home. It has been a lot easier adapting to SO many bodies in one space 24/7 than I thought and has actually allowed some great relationships to form and others to grow deeper! It’s been incredible growing with each other in the body of Christ and seeing Acts come alive!
(Pictures from the slums we visited)
So, fun fact for you- in a study that was conducted between the year 1917 until this year, Nepal (population of 27.8 million) has the fastest growing rate of Christianity in the entire world! How incredible is that??? Revival is happening here in this country. It’s so encouraging! However, just like India, there is still a great amount of darkness lurking here. There’s still a lot of Hinduism and a lot of Buddhism being practiced. We’ve gotten the opportunity to go to several temples and pray over them and for the people there. It’s truly heart breaking to sit and watch these people come in and go through the motions of worshipping their “gods” in these temples. It’s even more heart breaking to see the elderly do this knowing they’ve spent the entirety of their lives doing this and living in fear that if they don’t do it, evil will come to them and their house. God, let these people see your face and know that they can be free in you and not live in fear for we have all authority in you. The enemy has no hold over us because we are protected by the blood of the Lamb. The Father’s arms are open wide and are ready to receive these people.
(Playing soccer with the street kids)
For the remaining time in Nepal, we will spend a few days doing women at risk ministry. Not exactly sure what that will be looking like but I do know it’s dealing with the women and children caught in prostitution and then the last 2 weeks will be spent living in villages doing village ministry! (No wifi at this point) I’m really excited to get into the villages! After doing it in India, God’s really given me a heart for it.
(From the nature park we prayed through. The first picture with the colored looking chalk on it, is a belief they have here that if they do that and worship the tree it invites spirits to live inside the tree)
Ahava Chara, aside from everyone having sinus infections, are all doing well! We’ve been able to grow closer together as well as growing spiritually together. We’ve had to walk through some healing and some small, but tough, things but that will only create more room for Christ to grow us. We’ve discovered popcorn is an international thing, haha, so every once in a while we like to enjoy popcorn and movie night together! It’s a nice way for us all to decompress and just enjoy each other’s company. We also have dance parties while cooking and just love being silly and not caring! I love this ladies so much! When we were first put on a team together, we all agreed it was somewhat of a random pick but knew that it would be good! Just in the month and a half we’ve been together, God has revealed SO much stuff that we have in common that we’ve walked through in life and now we’re seeing why leadership felt led to put us together!
(The Buddhist temple we visited and prayed over)
The area we’re in is a very safe place here. We’re able to walk around alone during the day if we wanted to, and at night time, as long as we have another person with us, we’re able to walk around then as well. The people here are so friendly and since we’re so close to Kathmandu and that being such a touristy place, they aren’t in shock when they see white people walking by! There’s just so much life here. God definitely spent some time creating this place. It holds SUCH beauty. I’m enjoying the mountain view all around us, even though thick smog covers it often. The same God that created such handiwork, created you and me and saw that it was SO good. We are the best idea he’s ever had. How cool is that?
I know that God called me into missions, and gave me a passion for going abroad, but I never knew what that was going to look like. Going in to this entire journey, I feel like God is giving me this time as “practice on the field” and to show me maybe more specifics of what area he’s calling me into. I also am praying that maybe one of the countries on my route will become “home” for me in the future. I know that I still have 9 more countries to go to but I trust that one of those will be it.
Things to be praying for:
- Health for our entire squad! We’ve already had 5 people go to the hospital since we’ve been at our ministry site (which has only been a week) 1 is out and doing fine and the other 4 have been there for several days now. It’s all stomach issues including E.coli, food poisoning, and major stomach issues so PLEASE be praying for them and that nobody else on our squad gets sick! We’re all suffering from bad sinus problems just because of the weather changes and it being cold here now but that’s manageable.
- The people in the villages we’ll be ministering to, the women and children we’ll be working with in the next few days, the street kids we got to spend the day with, the least of the least here.
- That the revival continues spreading throughout this country of beautiful, hungry, people and that God just reign down on them with his love.
Above everything happening, all is well here! Surprisingly, I am not homesick yet! I’m sure eventually it’ll hit but God has been taking me on such an incredible journey thus far, and I know he will continue doing so this year! The letters y’all gave me to take have been so wonderful and gives me a little taste of home! Thank you all who wrote me some! They really do mean a lot! We also are already trying to figure out how much clothes we can drop because just after month 1, we’ve all realized we packed WAY too much haha my goal is to have a pack weighing no more than 25lbs by the time I come home, we’ll see if that happens! Love you all so dearly and truly appreciate the prayers and support!
-Leah
“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11
Disclaimer: It IS possible to fit 28 people in a 14 passenger van.
