Fun Fact: Did you know that the locals say that Nepal stands for Never-Ending Peace And Love?!
Nepal you have changed my heart. You have opened my eyes to the wonders of nature and to the beauty of a smile. Living in a quaint tourist town called Pokhara was the best place for my soul and mind to find rest. To be able to take time to sit with the Lord more. To worship out by the lake. To spend hours at the same breakfast place each morning to pour into a sweet Mongolian family. God knew I needed this month to recharge. To pour heavily into myself to be able to pour out to others and to learn what life off the race is going to really look like.
So what did this month consist of exactly? It was full of different ministries such as:
-Doing some ATL work (Ask The Lord) to walk around the town with God leading our footsteps and the conversations
-Going down to the lake to keep building on our relationships with the Tibetan women who sell handmade jewelry. We would let them share their stories and ask them questions about each piece of jewelry. We would purchase a bracelet or earrings and always ask them if they wanted prayer.
-Visiting homes in the slum area to pray and continue to form relationships with locals. Also to fall in love with the sweetest children who smile from ear to ear when you call them beautiful
-Visiting the Tibetan refugee camp that is on the outskirts of town. Many Tibetans migrated to Nepal in the early 1950’s and built small communities of their own. We met more woman who sell jewelry with stones and minerals they brought from Tibet. We walked around the monastery and prayed bold prayers for Jesus in a place where other Gods are worshipped nonstop
-We spent a lot of time forming relationships with locals by eating consistently at the same restaurants. With only the options to eat out this month, we chose to do it intentionally. To get to know their stories in how they got the passion to open a restaurant. To pour love into them each day and be a small light in their community.
-We spent a couple nights a week working with the dance bar ministries. We would go into them to meet the girls and speak beautiful words of encouragement over them. We’d invite them to get lunch with us, and create a space outside of the loud bar to get to know them. This was such an impactful ministry for us! To show these young girls that they are seen and loved is something I could never get tired of.
This month was about relationships. It was about choosing to live with a mission mindset each day. To realize that life off the Race is going to be just that. I can choose to have the mission mindset each day and to intentionally pour into others, or I can choose not to. If I’m being honest some days this mindset was easy and other days it was hard. You have to wake up each and every day to first choose God, then choose to love yourself well enough to pour in, and then choose to pour out. That’s what it means to be living out ministry is life and life is ministry. You can live this life on the field in Nepal. You can do this life through working a desk job. You can do this life through being a high school student. You can do this life through being a stay at home mom. It doesn’t matter where you’re at or what season of life you’re walking through; choosing each day to be a day lived out to do God’s Kingdom work can happen anywhere and everywhere.
We leave in 2 days from the place that is known to be the place of Never Ending Peace And Love. There is already so much love and peace extended from this community of people, and it gets me excited to see God at work here. He is filling this place with the truest form of never ending peace and love, because He has placed courageous and bold people to share that. I can’t help but imagine this country becoming a place that exudes this true peace and love with all the nations around them. Nepal I believe God is going to move here, and I’m so thankful that I got to spend just a few short weeks here to see His work being done.
