“Don’t talk to strangers”…. I’m sure you’ve all heard this command from adults at some point during your childhood. The reasons behind this command are definitely valid, but do they always apply?
One of my favorite days in Kathmandu, Nepal was Faith Day. On Faith Day, we were required to go into town, or where ever the Lord was leading with absolutely nothing. No food, money, or cell phones. We were required to completely rely on the Lord to provide transportation, food, and protection for the day.
I wouldn’t ever do that in America where everyone speaks English…yet this was my task for the day in a foreign country where I can’t communicate with the people because I don’t speak Nepali! …. FUN. I was NOT looking forward to asking random strangers to supply my needs all day.
I personally wasn’t looking forward to it but when the day came I was just ready to get it over with. I trust Jesus. He always provides. At this point I was interested to see what the Lord had planned for the day.
Naturally, my partner, Ana Maria and I prayed and asked the Lord to lead us before we went out for the day. As we prayed, the Lord gave her a picture of a taxi car with green writing on the back. This time I was blank. Once again, I was waiting for Jesus to surprise me for the day. (He knows what I need and want before I even ask.) I felt that the Lord wanted us to go left down the highway and continue on until we received further instruction. After walking for about ten minutes, we started to contemplate walking in the other direction because nothing was happening. Buses kept pulling over but we felt that the Lord was say, “No buses today.” Taxis and motorcycles were flying by but no one was really paying attention to us.
Just as we were about to turn around, a taxi turned left onto the highway with the word “ANGEL,” written on the back in green writing. As I said before, the Lord gave Ana Maria a picture of a Taxi with green writing! That was a good enough sign for us. I’ll follow the “angel” taxi. So we continued walking left down the highway but no one was slowing down. We continued to pray and ask the Lord to give us wisdom on what we should do next. Then I said to Ana, “I feel like the Lord is just going to provide a car ride for us.” So we started to ask Him to have the right car pick us up. Well what do ya know! Two seconds later here comes a cute little car down the highway. The driver saw us, started to slow down and eventually pulled over. We ran to the window and told the man what we were going on an adventure for the day and needed a ride into town but didn’t know where to go and that we had no money to pay him for a ride. Without thinking twice he said, “OK, hop in!” …..Thanks Jesus!
Cool! Our first provision of the day, a free ride into town! Suddenly it hit me…two young, beautiful, American girls are sitting in a car with a random stranger, half way around the world with NO money and NO phones to contact anyone and we are at his mercy. (OK, I totally had my team phone on me but that’s because I had to!) For a second I went back to what I learned about strangers when I was child. Thoughts started to flood my mind of what people back home would be saying to me right now. I was thinking of all of the cautions and warnings I received from worried relatives and friends that were constantly telling me to be safe and wise and to be aware of my surroundings. Awful thoughts started to flood my mind about how this man could be taking us anywhere and I may never see my family ever again. (I’ve clearly seen Taken way too many times.) But this was my task for the day and I know that Holy Spirit won’t lead me where He doesn’t go.
I chose to ignore the fearful thoughts in my mind and started to communicate as best as I could with my new friend. Let’s call him Raju. We chatted with him for a while and got to know him. His English wasn’t great, but we managed. We learned that he’s an owner of a restaurant and has a wife and two children. Once we got to town he dropped the car off to his friend because apparently it wasn’t his. He told us to wait on the side of the road until he came back. Raju came back on a bike about five minutes later and told us to hop on. That was pretty cool because we had wanted ride bikes earlier.
He drove us around on his bike for a bit but it was too heavy with both of us so he pulled over at a gas station to call some friends and see if someone would be willing to give us a ride. As we were waiting for another bike, the fearful thoughts started to creep back in. All I could think of is how the world is full of dangerous people and that I was in a dangerous position. Immediately the Lord spoke to me and said, “Liv, the world may be full of evil people, but it’s also full of good, genuine people that need to hear my Name.”
That was so humbling and so TRUE! Yes, the advice of being wise and aware of your surroundings is so important but that doesn’t mean that we have to be afraid of strangers. There are so many genuine, selfless people in the world that need a Savior. And it’s our job to make His name known. Holy Spirit will not lead me where He doesn’t go.
So once again I surrendered my fear. Raju couldn’t find any friends to pick us up so the three of us hopped back on his motorcycle. As we headed down the flooded street, he just happened to pass his brother on his moped! He waved him down and had him come along for the adventure. We went from having no transportation, to finding a car, to having one bike, and now having two! The Lord was certainly providing. So we took off. Once again, I’m with a complete stranger and Ana and I were split up because of traffic.
As I was riding on the back of this man’s bike, I was pondering these thoughts and praying for safety for the day. Then another thought came to me. This is my LIFE. I am a MISSIONARY. Faith Day is EVERYDAY! Whether I have money or not, whether I’m in a safe place or a sketchy place. Now, I believe that Jesus will keep me safe and provide for me wherever I go, but what if something bad happen? What if I was in an unfortunate situation and God forbid I was hurt. Would I still choose love? Would I choose forgiveness? Would I choose mercy and grace? I sure hope so… I also hope that nothing that horrible ever happens to me but it’s an important thought. These questions aren’t to create fear. This thought isn’t to have horrible expectations every time I walk into a sketchy situation. This thought is to test my ability to love and choose mercy and grace in all situations of my life. It’s just a thought.
Back to our adventurous Faith Day….
Eventually we left the city and started riding into the hills. At this point we had been gone for a while and we had no idea what part of the city we were in. It’s absolutely beautiful. Trust me; it’s a nice change of scenery when you’ve been walking around a polluted city all month. As we were riding into the hills, I looked over and I saw two squad mates talking to a man on the side of the road. Just seeing them gave me instant peace. I know it sounds silly, but it was nice to know that other people from our squad were out as far as we were. Then a few minutes later we saw my team mate Rachel and her two partners on the side of the road walking up the hill. This made me feel even better. I finally started to let go and feel some excitement for the adventure we were having. We found out later that we helped them wave down their own transportation for their faith day because they were waving to us.
Eventually we got to the top of the hill and went to a café where you could see all of Kathmandu. We went on the roof of the café and Raju and his brother bought us some cokes. We spent some time there and got to know them some more. The showed us pictures of their families and asked us what we were doing in Nepal and if we liked it. We told them why we were in Nepal and that we would be traveling for the next 9 months as missionaries. We had the opportunity to share Jesus with them for bit. There English wasn’t that great but Holy Spirit was still moving.
Then they took us to this awesome National Park. I have no idea what it was called but it was beautiful. Before we went inside Raju bought us a ton of snacks at the little shop outside of the park. We were set for food! He even paid for us to get inside the park. This park was gorgeous. There were caves everywhere, a huge river (with minor bits of trash floating in it), canyons, and a cute sketchy, rickety bridge that didn’t seem so sketchy until you walked on it. We walked down to a temple that was inside the park and were invited to explore the temple. It gave us an opportunity to walk around and prayer walk the temple. We asked them questions about their religion and what they believe which was pretty cool because it gave us the chance to share more about Jesus with them.
Once they were done showing us around the temple, we went back to the park to have lunch. We talked and got to know each other some more and the Lord continued to open doors to talk to these men about Jesus. We told them that Jesus told us to come to Nepal and that it was His plan for us to meet them and spend the day with them.
….Oh, and a monkey totally stole Ana’s juice box!
Faith Day was for sure one of my favorite days in Nepal. It gave me a new perspective on trusting the Lord and certainly increased my faith. The Lord wants to stretch our self-confidence, courage, and trust in His faithfulness. Jesus gave me an adventure in Nepal. If I allowed myself to be crippled by fear I would’ve never had the privilege of meeting these men and sharing the love of Jesus with them. Fear is crippling and binding but trust brings freedom and wonder. Trust and Faith are lessons that I keep learning in new ways every day.
