Short Stories from Nepal
1) The Bridge Kids
This month, our contact, Teresa told us many stories about Nepal and the culture that were so interesting. One story that stood out to me was about a Hindu superstition about bridges. Many of them believe that it is good luck and pleasing to the gods to bury children under bridges while they are being constructed. Oh yea… and they bury them alive. We were all in such shock, I remember Trey saying “Am I in a dream right now?" When we asked if the police did anything about this, she said no, they just ignore it because it is part of the religion. We asked where they got the kids from and she said they can be kidnapped if they are walking alone and the ones who have a mental or physical disability are more likely to be chosen. Please join me in prayer that God can break the bondage these people live in and that they realize that this is not right.
“Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.” Ephesians 5:2
2) The Sacrifice
Our contact Daniel was showing me pictures on his computer one day when we came across one of the most horrifying things I’ve ever seen. There was a picture of a few men with huge swords in their hands. The next picture was the product of those swords. A
huge field with thousands of water buffalo… headless. As I gagged, I asked Daniel to please explain. He told me the Hindu people take about 10,000 water buffalo up into the mountains in a remote field where they are mass slaughtered as a sacrifice to the gods. One man pulls the head of the buffalo while the other chops it off in one blow to the neck for it to be a proper sacrifice. Instead of a green field, the whole field is a pool of blood with huge headless buffalo. After seeing this, I am so thankful that the God I worship does not require this… He already gave the perfect sacrifice in His son, Jesus.
“But Samuel replied, "What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.” 1 Samuel 15:22
3) The Creeper
This month, we had a creeper. We first encountered him at the market the second week of the month. I was walking around in the market minding my own business (by the way, we are the ONLY white people in Nijgadh, so we got a lot of attention). As I was standing there I felt something brush my foot, when I looked down it was a man kissing his hands and touching my feet. Okay, I’ll take that, just please leave me a lone now. But no, he proceeded to follow me as closly as possible for the rest of the time at the market. Just see the picture below to grasp the full ammount of creepyness. I took this as he waited for us while we were buying our fish. Fast forward to the last week we were in Nijgadh. Crystal, Julie and I decided to get some exercise and run to the store (2 miles away) in the extreme heat. We are so smart. So, by the time we get there, we are dripping with sweat, panting, our faces are RED… we go straight for water when out of nowhere, 
creeper appears and is swiftly approaching Julie to kiss her feet. As he goes for them, we bolt to the store. But he doesn’t mind, he just crouches down and waits for us. To make a long story short, he follows us the full 2 miles back to the house. We were so scared but we ran anyway (as much as we could because we were already exhausted). Thankfully the Lord was with us and we made it safe and when we got to the house, the church was having a Bible study so there were many people there to confront him and send him home. He was very reluctant to leave but he did finally. Then he proceeded to come back to the house the next night, and the night after and just stare into our room. My team decided to pray for him because there was obviously some spiritual things going on here. Then we found out from our contacts that he was actually a very dangerous man.. he belonged to a local gang and he was pretending to be crazy so he could follow us and scope everything out. This is a story of praise to our Father in heaven who protected us!
“My comfort dwells only under the wings of my Lord. Under His wing I find my Pavilion, my Shelter, my Rock, the perfection of my protection. In this perfection His majestic splendor remains eternally unmatched in both the Heavens and the Earth. Never will I find the comfort, or protection I find nestled under the bow of His wing.” -Anonymous
4) The Girl Who Didn’t Know Her Husband
We had an amazing opportunity to go to a wedding this month and it was a really neat experience. It was in a small village in a little one room church. It was a Christian wedding, and 2 couples were getting married that day to a spouse that had been arranged for them. I wish I could have understood the service because it seemed like a great message… anyway, here comes the brides! Awwww, I thought, one of them is so happy she is crying! As the ceremony went on.. she never stopped crying… and she didn’t look 
very happy. I still thought she was though, why would a bride be sad on her wedding day? At the end of the service, she was still crying as she stood with her new husband for photographs. Okay… she’s not happy. When I asked our contact why she was crying, he just kinda giggled and didn’t give me a straight answer. So, I asked my friend who is from Nepal what the deal was. He told me she was crying because she had to leave her family and start a new life with her husband and she was sad to leave them. Ohhhhhh. Can you imagine that? You don’t know a guy… never met him, maybe talked to him one time and seen a picture of him but you are about to marry him and life as you know it will never be the same. I couldn’t help but think about how different it is in the states as far as dating and marriage is concerned. Please join me in prayer for these new couples that God will bless their marriage and that they will grow to love each other as they serve Him.
“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Matthew 19:4-6
5) Sakshem
I can’t even begin to describe how much I loved the kids and families of this village. Getting to see their faces every day in school made my day. Getting to see their hunger for the Lord made my heart leap. I know that this school is going to change this village from the inside out, starting with these kids. I think all of us had one special student that really stole our hearts this month… mine was Sakshem. I have yet to meet a little boy more full of love and joy than this kid. From the minute I stepped into his classroom, I knew he was special. He was much smaller than the
other kids in his 5th grade class, but they all loved him. He loved to get up and dance at any given moment, or just blurt out what was on his mind. We had a great time visiting his family almost every afternoon the last week we were there. They were all so nice. A few days before we left, I decided to 
write some prophecies for the
kids in that class since I was especially close to them. I almost started crying at the reaction I got while the kids read them. They were so excited and they were sharing their Bible verses with each other and asking me what they meant, so I had a great time just talking to them about God and the Bible. A little later that day, we were all outside having a dance party with the kids (this seems to be a theme on the race), Sakshem came up to me and slipped me a note and ran off. I couldn’t wait to read it. I don’t remember it word for word (it is packed away at the bottom of my big pack) But it said things like: You make my heart happy, you make my day nice when I see you … etc.. almost teared up when I read it. The next day, as we were loading up the car to leave, a few of the students came around. I was sad to see that Sakshem wasn’t there, but just as I was about to go back into the
house, I see him come down the street
with that same smile that melts me every time I see it. I was so excited I ran up and hugged him and he hung out with us as we got ready to leave. He was acting a little funny so I asked him what was wrong and he replied “My heart is paining.” (They say paining I think they get it confused with hurting… so cute). When I told Ben, he just smiled and said, God is really showing you His love through this child. How true that is! The way I feel when I see Sakshem or get a note from him or a sweet word or a smile, is the way God feels about ME when I do that for Him!
“Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love.." Ephesians 5:1
Praise the Lord for this month! He has shown me His LOVE, His PROTECTION, His PROVISION, and He has showed me what His heart breaks for in this world. He just wants us to love him like He loves us. How will you show Him love and gratitude today and through life?
Random Travel Pics on our way back to Kathmandu:
