Greetings from Nepal!!
I hope everyone is doing well! Oh, HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY too! God loves you so much, never forget that!
I have been in Nepal for almost a week; however, it was for our first debrief; therefore, have not started ministry yet. We have several debrief’s throughout the race! They are a time for processing, more learning, and talking about the race up to that point. It is a time to be reunited with our Squad Mentor and Squad Coaches (shout out to Beka, Toni, and Kerry because they’re the best) and have 1:1’s with them or our Squad Leaders (Amanda, Lo, and Tammy also the best) to discuss anything we need to discuss with them. It is also a time for the whole squad to come together, which is really fun, yet overwhelming sometimes with 51 of us all together! It’s a chance for us to catch up with everyone and share our ministry experiences with one another!
Our 1st debrief took place in this cool city called Thamel! It is a huge toursist attraction AS WELL AS a central hub for the hundreds of volunteers who come in to help rebuild Nepal from the devastating earthquake they had a few years ago. Nepal is struggling and trying to rebuild still. It is encouraging to meet people from all over the world flying in to help this beautiful country (home to the “Top Of The World,” Mount Everest).
During debrief, we had worship Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights (I helped with worship on Friday night with the help of Sookie, my Ukelele). We had opportunities to go to sessions (I went to 4 on Saturday morning), we had a team check in with Beka and the squad leaders, and just were able to rest and explore the city. We bought LOTS of things (mostly clothes because of the significant temperature drop) and many on the squad took advantage of the low prices and got tattoos! Don’t worry, I was not one of them haha!! I also was able to have 2 1:1’s, one with Amanda and one with Beka. Both 1:1’s were great and I appreciated both of their insights into the questions I had! During debrief I finished (like 99.5%) the sermon God has been telling me to write for 2 weeks now! That felt good! I also didn’t want to hang out with a lot of people, I was still processing everything God has been teaching/instilling in me!
Overall, it was a good 1st debrief. We arrived at our ministry “home,” where all 55 of us are staying yesterday (we gained another leader named dani, who is in charge of making sure we are doing blogs, helping us tell stories, helping us write blogs! It is a really cool position and our squad is excited to have her join us!) Today we are going out and doing prayer ministry. The next 3 weeks we are still not sure what that is going to be like so stay tuned!
Please pray for us as we do ministry in all squad month! Pray that we are continuing to learn and grow closer to God! Pray for the people of Nepal!
Thanks everyone, love you all! God Bless!
The beautiful mountains of Nepal at sunset!
We visited cafe’s ALL OF THE TIME during debrief!
