We arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal on Monday, December 10 excited, expectant and also a little anxious. It is a major change going from the bush of Africa to the crowded city of Kathmandu. On 12/12 here’s what I wrote in my journal.
Exactly three months ago today we were in route to Nsoko, Swaziland. I had no idea just how good Swazi was going to be. In one month, we will have been in India for a full week already and I hope to look back to today and say the same thing… I had no idea just how good Nepal was going to be. I can already tell it will be much harder to spend time with the Lord here than it was in Swaziland. With a different volunteer location each day and moving cities every week, consistency will be difficult. Living conditions might make it harder too since nobody has personal space or anywhere to go outside by themselves. The colder weather makes us want to crawl into our sleeping bags and sleep instead of getting up for morning devos. I know my intentional time with the Lord is going to look a lot different.
A week later and it has been a busy one packed with new places and new people.
We have gotten to…
- Go to a Buddhist Monkey temple to intercede and pray that the Holy Spirit would make Himself known.
- Visit an addiction rehabilitation center to worship, encourage and pray with the men.
- Make new friends at an old women’s home (I got to sit with a 102-year-old woman who was the sweetest thing ever).
- Hike to a leper colony and sing and dance with their community.
- Go to the Gentle Heart Foundation which is a non-profit organization that takes in exploited children and victims of sex-trafficking. They share the love of Jesus with the kids and seek to offer them a better life. We got to meet a group of girls about our ages and encourage them in their walks with the Lord.
- Walk to one of our guides homes to pray for him and his family. His wife made us the most delicious coffee and filled us with cookies.
- Play with children at an orphanage.
What a joy it has been to hop on a crowded public bus and ride standing the whole hourish ride to visit these amazing groups. It’s been hard for all of our bodies to adjust to the pollution, cold weather and lack of cleanliness but I know it is worth it to get to be the light to all of the incredible people.
14 out of the 20 people living in our apartment with one bathroom were sick with a nasty stomach bug which resulted in us missing a day of work. We are trusting that the Lord has a purpose in that but also praying that the sickness would go away!!
Thank you for your prayers as we have kicked off our time in our second country. On Friday morning we will head to Chitwan, Nepal where we get to see a completely different side of Nepal! I can’t wait to tell you all about it. We will be spending Christmas there which will be so cool. It’s been hard to be away from family now that it’s the holidays, but I know I will never get another Christmas like this one with these people. I hope you all have an amazing Christmas filled with joy and rest in Him.
