I am barefoot, bleeding & stuffed in a public bus with 50 Nepalese village people. We are currently stuck in a stream leaning to our left on the edge of the Himalayan mountains. The past 24 hours have included jumping into water falls, fresh coconut popsicles, endless masala chai, hours of conversation & games of mafia, beers by a bonfire and trekking through the forest in down pouring rain to finally arriving at the summit of a mountain top that looks over the “Holy Mountain Range” and Mt. Everest.
We are on our way back down the mountain and out of the 17 hikers we have pulled over 100 bloody leaches off our bodies. We are still wet from the rain from yesterday’s storm & are riding this bus with a goat tied to the top. This is my life.
As I sit here and evaluate my current situation I can’t help but think about how wildly different my life is. I feel a mix of emotions. I feel sad to grieve my old life, a chapter that was so so good. I loved college & Los Angeles, my friends, being a student and the life I was living. But i have turned the page and feel like this chapter is going to change the trajectory of the rest of my book.
Leaving behind my comforts has stretched me but I realize how many things in my life did not fulfill me. Being here and being present in my everyday has given me such great space to see the bigger picture. I know God called me to be here and it feels so right to be exactly where he wants me to be. I want this feeling for the rest of my life. Not the crazy travel leach life, but a life where I am obedient to Gods call.
This whole month has looked so incredibly different than the last. I share a house with 50 other people where we share floors to sleep on, 4 bathrooms, a very small amount of running water, and a rooftop as our common space.
This month we are left in the dark about pretty much everything. I am told to show up at a certain time and just do or go wherever people need me to be. On the weekdays we spend the mornings at a coffee shop journaling and then walk 45 min to our ministry hosts home to have quiet time with the Lord or what the Nepalese people call it, “Amad”. Next we have worship with our whole squad for 30 minutes and share stories from the day before. Everyday we do something new which might include evangelizing to different villages, visiting Buddhist or Hindu temples, rescuing kids from the slums or helping women get out of sex trafficking. Ya know just the norm.
It is hard to put into words how much I am learning everyday. I get to see the world and meet new people every hour. I am making new life long friends who are family to me now & soaking in every second of this chapter. I thank God everyday for pushing me out of my comfort zone & teaching me what it looks like to write not just a chapter but a book completely dedicated to him.
