Our ministry this month, in Nepal, has been pretty across the board. The organization that our squad is partnered with has several different ministries within it, meaning that since we have been in Nepal, our ministry has looked different almost every single day. In the last 30 days, we have worked in bars with prostitutes and sex trafficking victims, we have worked in a women’s center, we have worked in a children’s center, we’ve painted, we have prayed at temples, we’ve played soccer with street kids, and we have gone into the slums of Kathmandu for ministry. Each of these experiences has been unique and completely different and it’s been so cool to see how God showed up in all of them.
But for this blog, I’m going to focus mainly on the slums ministries we’ve been able to do. Actually, this story is from the first time we stepped foot in the slums. On this particular day, our contact told us we would be going into the slums to pray for the people there and I wasn’t sure what to expect. Living in America my entire life, I’ve never seen a slum. On the bus ride, my mind began to paint a picture of what the slums would look like and how the people would respond to the “rich” Americans coming in to pray for them. When we arrived, nothing could have prepared me for the poverty that met me there, not even the images I created in my mind. Picture this: lots of children covered head to toe in dirt, some of them without clothes at all, lots of lean to houses, made of mostly tarps and some scrap metal, broken pottery pieces make up the ground, tearing through the flesh of the many bare feet that walk over it, the stench of trash, human waste, and a few unidentifiable smells fill the air, and many, many of the people are plagued with various ailments and sicknesses.
Shortly after arriving, we broke off into groups of three to try to find people we could pray for. The first twenty minutes or so was such a struggle for my group, as we didn’t have a translator and our acting left much to be desired. We began to pray that the Lord would direct us where He wanted us to go and use us in spite of our extremely limited Nepali. We walked into a tiny little store to try to talk to the store owner and when we started talking to him, his friend, who was in the store, responded to us in English! He began telling us that he and the storeowner were Christians and were about to leave to go pray for others in Kathmandu, that they would come to know the Lord. They insisted on giving us free sodas and fruit while we talked and prayed together. When we tried to pay him for the drinks and food, the storeowner responded “Please take this gift, the Lord sent you to us and you are my sisters, why would you need to pay for this?” We were able to spend the rest of our time praying for these two men, who were fighting to win Kathmandu back for the Lord. We were able to pray that their daily trips across the city, to pray for their country, would be fruitful and they would see many come to know the Lord. Our friend who spoke English told us that the rest of his family, including his wife and children, were all Hindu and how hard that has been for him. We prayed for his family, that they, too, would come to know the Lord. And we thanked God for this experience, for letting us meet our new friends, and for their generosity, that they insisted on giving us food and drinks, even when they didn’t have much to give. I think, sometimes, living out of a backpack, it is easy for me to have a poverty mentality. It’s easy for me to get caught up in the fact that I only have 4-5 outfits for an entire year or that I really, really miss my hair straighter and jeans, but the fact of the matter is, I have way more than I need. I am well taken care of and have enough things to survive for a year and to share with anyone who may be in need. I am praying for an abundance mentality, like my friends in the slums, who have much less than I have in my backpack, and still out of the kindness of their hearts, wanted to bless us by giving us some of their only possessions. Praying that I can have a generous heart that is quick to bless others as the Lord has blessed me, praying for an abundance mentality, no matter what my circumstances.
“for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.” 2 Corinthians 8:2
Our dear friends who own the store in the slums.
