I REALLY was not even going to post this, but finally came to the conclusion that it should be okay. The following is my journal for the 10 day trek we just went on. Keep in mind the point of this was not to be written to an audience, but just for my safe keeping. Although, like I said, I feel like I SHOULD share it with you all.
05/23/2018 – Bus Ride to Gorkha
“Today was so hard. Riding on a hot, cramped bus for 9 hours and 45 minutes does NOT make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. It does not help that I had a fever and could not stop coughing my lungs up. BUT, my God is faithful, and when I asked Him to let me be in a good mood, He did. He gave me joy through the chaos. Even though I felt like death, my mood was untouchable! My smiles along with my pale white face seemed to be confusing to people, but my prayer is that it showed Christ to them in whatever way possible! So, what would sound like an absolute awful day was actually a wonderful day!”
05/24/2018 – First full day of hiking/Second full day
“I am exhausted. We only went 7.5 miles but it was practically at an incline for the majority of the time. Like yesterday, I prayed that even through my exhaustion and pain, that I could remain in a good mood. Again, He granted it. I gave the locals a big smile along with possible drops of sweat falling from my face. They gave me such a joyful smile in return! Tonight was awesome though; we sat on a rooftop singing praises to Jesus as the locals stood around and stared at us. These people do NOT understand English whatsoever, but what would it typically look like when 7 white people are on a roof playing soft, slow music, some with their eyes closed? I believe it portayed SOMETHING spiritual to these locals.
It is hard in Nepal. It is a closed country, so technically we cannot share our faith vocally with someone after approaching them (unless we want to go to Nepali jail). So my prayer is that God would open opportunities for us to share by someone coming to us asking us questions like, ‘Why are you white people walking through our village?’, or something like, ‘I want to know why you are on a roof singing like that!’ Our everyday lives should be ministry. Every single thing we do should point to Christ. God brought us on this journey for a reason. He will show us big things, but I also believe He is already using us to show others Jesus simply by our actions, and not allowing us to see it. Mainly because God can do what He wants, because He is awesome!”
05/25/2018 – Second day of hiking/Third full day
“We are off track. We move too slow to keep up with the program, BUT, that is okay. We will still be able to get to the villages that we wanted to go to! Today was HARD. According to my health app, we walked 24,000 steps today, about 12 miles worth, with almost an increase of around 1,000 meters in altitude. This pretty much means we went up, up, and up some more. My feet are toast…
After our lunch break, we walked across this bridge and had to wait for a herd of donkeys and horses to come through, so we sat and talked and played with some local children. Honestly, that is ALMOST all the interaction we had with people today other than small hellos and namastes. Well, other than the fact that we saw a group of white people at lunch. And according to our guide, they were Christian. They just didn’t talk much. The thought finally crossed my mind today, “Why in the world does God have us doing this?” I still do not know, and maybe I never will. But I just have to utilize what He taught me all about in Jamaica; OBEDIENCE. We do not HAVE to know the why’s. We just need to go when He says go, and let Him do the work He wants through us.”
05/26/2018 – Third day of hiking/Fourth full day
“Today was SO fun. The scenery was completely beautiful! There was actually a point where we turned a corner and saw some ladies walking. Like always, we greet them with a warm, ‘Namaste!’ The last lady stops, looks at Kaydan, and shows him a pretty rough cut on her leg from falling earlier in the day. We were able to get out our first aid kit and Kaydan bandaged her up. At the same time, the other ladies stopped, one with a baby. The lady with the baby stopped and showed Kaysha a bruise on the babies head, so Courtney and Kaysha prayed over the baby, and then put a bandage on the bruise. After all of this, we asked if we could pray for them, which they replied with a big yes and explained they they were Christians also! So we prayed over them, their travels, and families.
The truth of this trek is that it is non-stop. We don’t really have much time in these villages, so we have definitely been seeking out ministry opportunities when we can!”
05/27/2018 – Fourth day of hiking/Fifth full day
“I woke up this morning with literally the worst migrane of my life. But I decided to push through. Honestly, I did not enjoy today at all. I could not get the headache to go away, no matter what I tried. Every step, every cough, every sneeze, my head THROBBED. BUT, God loves us enough to give us the strength to push through and conquer the mountains infront of us.
Technically today was considered our hardest day of hiking due to just going up the whole day. I can DEFINITELY agree that it was. Through my headache, and stuffy face, I constantly prayed for strength to keep pushing hard. Long story short, we finally made it to our village. I still feel awful, but we made it. And that is all that matters.”
05/28/2018 – Fifth day of hiking/Sixth full day
“I did not go today. I stayed back in Chumling due to some stupid sickness. Katherine and Kaydan stayed also due to Katherine not feeling the best. What stinks is that as the day went on, the worse we felt. BUT, we sucked it up and walked to the village next door to find people to hang out with. We found a few kids to try and talk to, but of course, they did not speak English. But games are universal, so ‘Crossy Roads’ did the trick. We sat with these children for a good 30 minutes as they played and we all laughed together. Meanwhile, Katherine was up the hill playing hide and seek with some younger children, as their mother was doing some harvesting in the field.
I honestly have NO idea why God brought me on this trek. It is more than likely the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. And since it is so remote, there are not THAT many people. We have had encounters, and been able to pray for people, but I do not feel as if we have accomplished exactly what we have been set out to do. I could be completely wrong. This could be something where God is using us in situations that we cannot even see. It is not really up to me to judge that. So, what I am going to do is continue to walk with the light of Jesus shining from my body, praying for those we encounter, only to hope that God touches them in such a big way even if I do not see it.”
05/29/2018 – Sixth day of hiking/Seventh full day
“Today I feel SO much better. The majority of the day was down hill. We are on the way back from Tsum Valley to the Gorkha district to make our way back to Kathmandu. There were some pretty cool things that happened today. The fact that I busted my butt was not one of them, but definitely comical! As we moved along the trail, we kept coming in contact with porters. Porters are people who carry baskets of goods all the way to Tsum Valley for the ones in the villages. There was a time where a large group of ladies were coming with a man in the front. As the turned the corner, they noticed Mike standing there listening to music dancing his heart out. So what did they do? They busted out dancing also. Basically there was a dance party on the side of a cliff on a trail no wider than 2 feet. What was so funny was they as they were walking off, they kept motioning Mike to come with them, I guess as some kind of entertainment of some sort! It was just a wonderful time of joy for people who were just simply tired on the trail.
I have a tag on my bag that says, “Find Joy in the Journey.” That statement has been my motto for this trek. This is hard, and my mind is NOT always on ministry, but if I find Joy (Jesus) in the Journey, my mind will ALWAYS be set towards ministry!”
05/30/2018 – Seventh day of hiking/Eighth full day
“I woke up feeling AWFUL this morning. Although, I know that I still have a purpose for why I am here. Most of the day was fine, we had a guy walk with us all day, and I honestly think he is going to walk with us all of the way. Today was long though, and the last 45 minutes of the hike, I was really mad. I have had this stupid sickness for the WHOLE trek, and it does not seem to matter how much I pray and ask God to relieve the pain, or how many pills I take in hopes to ease it, it still hurts. Like I said, I was mad, walking alone talking to God wondering why I have had to suffer practically this whole trek. Why I have not been able to enjoy it for its entirety. God really set me in place. It is not up to me to worry about when I have sickness and when I do not. Remember when I was talking about Joy in the Journey? Yeah, He reminded me about that again. Even through the sickness, even through the pain, find the joy. This goes with everything in life. Why sit and wallow in self pity when you can emit this energy of joy that you seek out? I choose joy, even through the pain.”
05/31/2018 – Eighth day of hiking/Ninth full day
“So that pain and sickness I was talking about? Did not go away. Every step we took, my head POUNDED. But I had a little more of an insight today. Insight of finding joy through everything. It is much easier said than done, but you see it play out when you keep this in the back of your mind. At lunch, we met a man named Malcolm who was tattooed from head to toe, and VERY vocal about his political beliefs. Lets just say he and I did not see eye to eye when it comes to political standpoints. The cool thing is that it does not matter when it comes to Jesus. Jesus loves him just the same as me, and He wants a relationship just as much as me. After our conversation with him and our team, we decided to pray for him. He was so humbled afterward and admitted that he needed to leave before he started crying. God made such an awesome divine appointment with 7 Jesus lovers, and a 61 year old hilarious man for a purpose. We showed him Christ today. And I am SO confident in saying that.”
06/01/2018 – Bus Ride back to Kathmandu
“I do not have anything to say about today other than 10 and a half hour bus ride, and a $15 dinner all by myself.”
