Another (3am) early morning travel.
India to Nepal Boarder Crossing:
Comical
Willy nilly, lax,
Hot and chaotic.
With little to no guards or barriers, it felt like crossing a state line, but you could immediately tell you were in a different country.
The Nepaleese people look so different than Indian peoples.
And so far they are also most “smily” people group I have yet to meet!!
The weather went from super uncomfortably hot to cool.
It also seemed that they catered more to westerners, having a variety of foods, alcohol and wifi on all corners.
From the boarder of Nepal, my team
took a wild dust bus that felt like a roller coaster through the night.
Lots of good traditional Nepali music and strobe lights:::
fei, my dear friend, and i.
We arrived at 6am in Thamel, Kathmandu:
(the most touristy area of the capitol city)
Every street is decorated with prayer flags.
Everyone on the street is a treking tour guide or wants to be.
Easily over 50 outdoor equipment/hiking stores.
More coffeeshops and restruants than anywhere I have eeevveer been.
Live music everynight at most every bar.
Its a super dense place.
There is a unique instrument that men play on the streets called a Sarangi (click here)
We had a privilage of meeting one of the most famous Sarangi players who is part of the very small musical family, actually the family is part of a Musical Cast of peoples in Nepal.
Most of the family is Chirstian. They live outside of Kathmandu where they frequently host World Racers who partner with people in their village.
(You can read my previous blog for a summary of that)
One day, while in Kathmandu, my team partnered with a branch of Heidi Bakers ministry where we helped gather people on the street and brought them to a banquet area & fed them. There was a medical clinic and pottery shop attached to the common area too.
Another day a local church had us give talks on discipleship, evangalizm, and Bible study. We shared testimony, scripture and asnwered questions.
I tend to get a bit nervous about these things, as public speaking is not a place I see gifting in at the moment. But the crowd was my-sized, we prepared before hand, and the people were so gracious and welcoming.
During the week we met a trecking guide. (If you stay in Thamel for 3 days to a week, its a place you will likely run into many of the same “go getter” personalitys and street characters.)
We decided to go with him so we could get to know him more….. and push ourselves physically on a trek!!!!
(Above is my new team, Fellowship of the King!!)
Our guide and new friend Mohan, took us on a 3 day hike outside of Kathmandu.
On the 2nd night we stayed in a recreational football /thai chi field.
That dusk Ariel & I went exploring looking for the “1000 steps.”
We asked a guy where they were, then we started on the path he directed us to. About 10min later he came after us… “hey, stop, i told you gals the wrong way”
So we began talkig with him; he was new to the area. We both had the idea to ask if we could pray for him…. if you want to know what happens next click here shortly.
Many of this past month in Nepal consisted of living in Thamel, Kathmandu while our entire squad waited on Chinese visas.
It was great to hang with the entire squad.
But
During this time, one personal struggle I faced was not having a ministry host… therefore having to press in on my own and really persue opportunities and relationships with people.
At this point, the race feels very much like normal life.. (minus the struggle to find time away from people)
But this journey really is what we make it….. and everything boiles down to the time spent with Him.
