I was planning on writing a blog post about our journey from Atlanta to Kathmandu. I even started writing it yesterday morning and was planning on finishing it up sometime today. I realized this morning that God has shown me so much in my first couple days in Nepal that there is really no reason to waste time talking at length about travel. It took us about 38 hours of plane rides and layovers to finally make it to the Kathmandu airport. We spent 14 of those hours in the Delhi airport sleeping very little and drinking too much Starbucks coffee. (I will say that I am completely amazed at how many American products I have seen in my first few days overseas. Some people may argue whether or not they think the U.S. Government is trying to take over the world, but there is no denying that U.S. Corporations have already succeeded in that conquest.) We made it to Kathmandu at about 9am on Saturday morning. That is pretty much the gist of our first travel days.
Now, let's talk about Nepal. I will start by saying that all of the pictures and videos I have seen do the sheer beauty of this place absolutely no justice. Our ministry contact met us at the airport and my team (Aperture) and an all girls team (Golden Arrows) loaded up all of our gear on a taxi van and started the 25 minute drive to a town to the south where we are staying and doing ministry. People try to tell you about the questionable traffic rules in other countries, but you haven't lived until you have taken a van ride through Kathmandu. It is the closest thing to total and complete anarchy I have experienced in my 35 years on this earth. There are no set lanes. There are not only cars, vans, busses, motorcycles, bicycles and scooters fighting to get down the street, there are also cows, goats, dogs, chickens, ducks, and people wandering back and forth across the road like the vehicles don't even exist. There is testimony in the fact that in a city of over 30 million residents everyone seems to get where they need to go without a river of blood flowing down the middle of the street. Riding in that van, all logic would dictate that I should have been completely terrified, but the truth is that I was completely at peace. All I could do was stare out of the window at the amazing beauty in all of that chaos and thank God for opening my eyes to soak in His creation.
We arrived to our ministry house in one piece and quickly realized how blessed we are to be in Nepal. The town where we are doing ministry is just south of Kathmandu, but it is far enough out of the city that all of that chaos doesn't really touch it. Our house is in a valley with mountains in every direction. It is surrounded by rice paddies and rustic homes spotting the valley. The house is four stories. It has a balcony on the roof with a 360 degree view that takes your breath away. Our contact lives there with his wife, his two small children, his brother, and two other Christians who are on his ministry team. We have hot showers, clean rooms with sleeping mats on the floor, and one of the bathrooms even has a western toilet (squatty potties are no joke by the way).
We were told that for ministry we will be preaching and worshipping in house fellowships everyday, doing children's ministry on Mondays, youth ministry on Fridays, door to door evangelism a lot of days and even a mountain prayer walk this Thursday where we will climb to the top of a nearby mountain and pray and make declarations to God. It's all very exciting. The Nepali people are a mixture of Buddhists and Hindus. Historically they haven't been very receptive to Christianity. I can't even use the name of our contact and his family in this post for safety reasons. Like the bus ride on Saturday, all of this should terrify me, but I'm at peace with it. I have felt the presence of the Holy Spirit in huge ways since being here. God is moving in Nepal and I'm just honored to be a small part of it.
We spent the day Sunday resting and shopping in the market for things we need for the week. We took another crazy van ride into the city. In our group there are three guys and nine girls. It was a little nerve wracking keeping everyone together and safe while we were in the city, but we got everything done without incident. Our interpreter, a college student and member of our contact's ministry team, went with us and showed us around and just got to know us. He comes from a Buddhist family and was disowned for three years when he started a relationship with Jesus. His family has since put their differences aside and accepted their Christian son back into the fold. I have faith that Jesus will break through to his parents through this amazing young man.
It is now Tuesday morning. We started ministry yesterday. I woke up early yesterday morning and after reading a few chapters in Love Does by Bob Goff, I spent some alone time on the roof with Jesus while the sun rose over the valley. I prayed and thanked Jesus for all He has done for me. I listened to worship music and soaked in the beauty of this magical place God has sent me.
We went to two different house fellowships for ministry. At the first one we were worshipping with the family of one of our ministry contact's team members. We sang some English songs and some Nepali songs. We even sang How Great Thou Art, which was my grandmother's favorite song. Our group sang it in English while the locals sang in Nepali. It was a beautiful mixture of sound. I know that my Grandmother was smiling in heaven. Nate spoke then we prayed, and had cookies and juice. We went upstairs and had a chance to pray for the mother of one of the members of the house fellowship. The woman was bedridden with severe asthma so we laid hands on her and prayed for healing. She was not only a Buddhist, but the wife of a leader at one of the monestaries. I don't know if she received healing, but there is testimony in the fact that she let Christians pray for her and love on her. In the evening we hiked through the rice paddies and brick factories to get to our evening house fellowship service. This time it was my turn to give the word. Surprisingly enough I actually volunteered to do it. Preaching was my biggest fear going into this journey, so even though I was terrified, I stepped up and did it. It took a lot of prayer, but the Holy Spirit gave me peace and spoke through me. We worshipped and we prayed. When the Nepali people pray, they throw out prayer requests then everyone prays out loud in unison. It is very powerful to experience
I don't know what this month of ministry will hold, but I pray that the Holy Spirit will speak through us and work through is in radical ways. I pray that the hungry are fed, the sick are healed, demons are cast out, the dead are raised, the blind gain sight, the deaf hear, and most importantly that people come to know the amazing love of Jesus. Nepal is a beautiful and chaotic place. There is a lot of spiritual warfare going on all around us. I know that our God is greater though, so I am miraculously at peace in the chaos. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and keeping up with this journey. Please keep me, my team, my squad, and all of the racers in the field in your prayers. Pray that God does radical things in the nations so that He may be glorified. You are all in my thoughts and prayers. Love Y'all!!!
