You are about to embark on a 12 day journey to Everest Base Camp!
This is not a story about an awesome destination but an incredible journey
Day 1: Hike to Phakding
I set my alarm for 4:30am so that we could leave at 5:10 SHARP only to be woken up in a complete panic to Amber knocking on my bedroom door at 5 o’clock. By the grace of God I was already packed so I threw on my shoes, threw away my conditioner (I don’t know why that made the priority list), didn’t brush my teeth and ran out the door.
As I sat out of breath in the car, Rachael turns around and asks me to pray for our trip…..
*Really? I just woke up 4.5 seconds ago, I’m frustrated at myself, I’m out of breath, I’m pretty sure I forgot something while leaving in a rush AND YOU WANT ME TO PRAY FOR OUR TRIP???*
“Sure, I would love to.”
As I prayed, the peace of God poured out over me. Calming my mind and my heart, slowing down my breath and allowing me to realize everything was going to be okay.
After arriving at the airport, we sat and waited for the weather to clear for about 3 hours until finally boarding our flight to Lukla (the 3rd most dangerous airport in the world).
As we flew through the Himalayas on a 15 passenger plane I was overcome by God’s beauty and sovereignty, leaving me with the question,
“How am I the one that gets to experience this?”
And God responded, “Because I want to experience really great things with you. I know your heart. I know how you experience me and my love. You wanted more intimacy, here is it!”
Once we successfully landed on the 100 yard landing strip, our trek began.
We trekked 15,367 steps, 57 floors, 5.8 miles, across suspension bridges with yaks, donkeys and puppies galore.
Night 1 of “what have we got ourselves into?” as we shivered to sleep.
Day 2: Hike to Namche Bazaar 9.5 miles, 21,668 steps, 218 floors
Phrase of the day: UNCLEAN HANDS it’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you but what comes out. What you speak about is what you’re thinking about, what you think about is what your heart is meditating on.
BED WARMERS AND HOT SHOWERS
Althought this was one of the hardest treks of the whole week, we had our eyes on the prize; HOT SHOWERS AND BED WARMERS!
After we passed babies with balloons who gave us high-fives and fist-bumps we met Steve, Stewart and Frida.
Steve and Stewart are 2 men from London who work with a blind school. Both are teachers, both are trekking to Base Camp, but only Steve can see. As Stewart trekked blind, Steve was right by his side every step of the way, holding on to him, encouraging him and guiding him one step at a time, all the way up the mountain.
It was a beautiful picture of how God walks with us through life
Then…
FIRST SIGHT OF MOUNT EVEREST!!
After trekking 800 meters/ 2,640 feet/ 31,680 inches in elevation, we settled into Khumbu Lodge where we met Seth
Seth is a professional seamstress WHO WORKED AT DISNEY! We talked and laughed as we discovered we worked there at the same time. What a small world right?
Just wait. You have no idea.
After dinner we basked in the glory of a hot shower and nestled into our heated beds
Day 3: Hike to Everest View Hotel 5.2 miles, 13,140 steps, 138 floors
Phrase of the day: “Who am I?” -God
Acclimation day. NO that does not equal a rest day! Acclimation day is where we hiked up to absolutely no oxygen just to hike back down in hopes of tricking our lungs into thinking we had more oxygen than we really did.
Sounds fun right?
It actually was because God totally met me on that mountain
As I struggled to breathe I was surrounded by one of the most incredible views, leaving me with the same question I had on the plane,
“Why God am I the one that gets to experience this?”
So kind and gentle he responded, “I already told you. I just want to experience really great things with you. I love that you are in awe and wonder of Me and My creation but more importantly I want you to realize I just want to spend time with you and experience all this WITH you.”
Like what? God. Who created Mount Everest. Wants to spend time with me.
Absolutely incredible! Our God is so big, yet so personal!
After drinking a cup of honey lemon ginger tea at Everest View Hotel, we began our descent back down
Many of you may not know, but I was actually pretty nervous about how ministry was going to look while trekking for 12 days. I just spent 6 months in structured ministry with people telling me the agenda for the day and giving me a layout of what they needed and what I should prepare for. But everyday we woke up on the trek I felt like I had a lot of knowledge if I knew how to pronounce the next town. A thought that haunted me was, “Am I actually capable of making ministry of everyday life?”
As we descended I was walking with our guide Raju, asking him about his religion of Hinduism. After explaining his thoughts he asked me about my country.
Country…….. Jesus……. same thing right?
So I decided to unfold what I believe, sharing the gospel.
He was so kind and gentle, receiving and agreeing with everything I was saying.
Raju didn’t receive Jesus into his heart right there on the side of that oxygen-less mountain but JUST WAIT!
Day 4: hike to Tengboche 8.2 miles, 20,425 steps, 183 floors
Phrase of the day: Be. Just be. Be yourself. Be content. Don’t worry about if you’re being annoying or weird. Don’t try to force intimacy with Me or search for the next thing for us to tackle or for you to grow in. Just be.
As we ate lunch along the river we met 2 friends; Mitch and Nick. 2 guys who had been traveling for a while and their last stop before heading back to the states was Base Camp— come to find out they were staying at the same tea house as us
In Tengboche was a Monetary which we had the privilege of going inside of.
Outside the sanctuary were small rooms for each of the monks to live in. Inside the sanctuary was a massive statue of Buddha with smaller statues of different Buddha’s, all behind the statues of monks. There were gongs to be rung to signify the beginning of prayer and pallets to sit/kneel on while they pray twice a day (7am and 3pm) everyday. If anyone else made the very naive assumption that all monks aren’t allowed to speak- all of these men spoke.
We winded down the night with some cards then hopped into bed at the socially acceptable time of 8pm
Night 2 of “what have we got ourselves into?” as we shivered off to sleep
Day 5: Hike to Dingboche 6.9 miles, 17,701 steps, 151 floors
Phrase of the day: how do I become like a little child? Making myself less, taking the lowly position of a child to be the greatest in heaven.
Every morning starts pretty similar. We wake up, eat breakfast, defrost our toes, pray and start trekking. However this morning looked a little different as Raju (our Hindu guide) wanted to join us in prayer. Every morning after this he joined us in praying in the name of Jesus!
LETTSSSS GOOOOOOOO!!
On the trail, while voicing my concern of frostbitten fingers I met Jared; a similarly aged guy from Australia experiencing the same dilemma. As we moped in being melodramatic at the thought of losing our fingers, we caught up to his friends Bryan. Amber and I, being OBSESSED with Australia took the opportunity to trek and talk and become best friends with them. In between gasping for air due to their pace and lack of oxygen, God provided me with a platform to share my testimony. They were incredibly kind and curious, asking questions and listening to our long-winded answers. Come to find out, some of the countries we’ve visited in the past few months, Jared was there at the exact same time, participating in the exact same adventures we did. So odds are that we had crossed paths many times before actually meeting each other.
SUCH A SMALL WORLD!!!!
Soon after making the logical decision to slow down and wait for our team, I lost what-are-the-odds to Rachael…. for 30 minutes the only way I could respond to anyone was in singing/song lyrics
Once arriving at Yak Lodge we ate Reece’s, drank hot chocolate, took a nap in our sun-kissed rooms then ended our night by hanging out with our new best friends (Jared and Bryan).
Day 6: Hike to Nagurgan 2.3 miles, 5,988 steps, 64 floors (2nd acclimation day)
While defrosting from our windy acclimation hike we enjoyed some pizza and hot chocolate, only to be interrupted by a French man asking if anyone knew Chinese. Oddly enough, 2 people had just lived in China for the last year and knew Chinese. As they left the dining room Jared followed, quickly returning to ask for Rachel’s assistance. There was a Chinese man who was struggling with severe altitude sickness and he needed her nurse skills. He had trekked to our location in just 2 days (it took us 6) and he was found in his room 3 days later, unconscious, struggling for his life. He was traveling by himself and had no insurance, therefore a helicopter evacuation was going to be tricky and very expensive. Luckily, our new friends Jared and Bryan had graduated from law school and knew how to document everything and write a contract, convincing the helicopter to come. Us? We prayed. We fought. We interceded to save the life of our brother. After about 2 hours of praying, warming, comforting, giving oxygen and repeating “shi-chi” which means breathe in Chinese, the helicopter arrived. The whole community helped get him out to the helicopter-pad; carrying him, his backpack, his shoes, the oxygen and the contract. For the first time, he was conscious for more than 5 seconds as they placed him inside the helicopter and flew away.
Amidst all the feelings and emotions; terrified, hopeful, sad, peaceful, happy, hopeless, excited…. I was frustrated.
I was watching a man die in the hands of Rachel, knowing that my God is a God of love and healing. I saw my brother taking his last breaths of air, knowing God could miraculously heal him. There were tons of non-Christians standing around not having any place to put their hope and I saw a perfect platform for God to show up, perform a miracle and win over the hearts of non-believers.
And that didn’t happen…
In that moment it just didn’t make sense.
However, stepping back, I saw God’s hand of love and mercy and kindness and healing all over the situation.
He knew the choice this man was going to make and strategically place all of us in the same location to help; those who spoke Chinese, a nurse, people to write a contract, and prayer warriors.
He didn’t miraculously heal the man in our hands, but he kept him alive long enough for the helicopter to come rescue him and then healed him in the hospital, which is a miracle!
Perhaps if the man were healed in that moment, he may have continued up the mountain, making more poor choices
And it didn’t seem like God won the hearts of those around, but I have confidence that our faith being put on display was enough to plant seeds that will one day be watered.
Day 7: Hike to Lobuche 8.6 miles, 20,372 steps, 111 floors
Phrase of the day: what does Jesus mean when He says, “what you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and what you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven”?
After a day like yesterday, everyday after seems pretty uneventful
Shortly after we arrived, we photosynthesized in the green house of our lodge then headed on a mini hike to get a glimpse of some glaciers, proceeded by a prompt 7:30 bedtime
I’ve never felt more like grandma
Day 8: HIKE TO BASE CAMP 8.7 miles, 21,369 steps, 84 floors
Phrase for the day: no expectations
This was by far the hardest day for me!
‘Nepali flat’ is actually a constant incline->decline->incline->decline
We hiked the majority of the way to base camp, stopped at our tea house for tea and cookies then continued to base camp
BASE CAMP WAS AWESOME! Honestly not what I expected at all. We never actually stepped foot on Mount Everest. Base Camp is just the closest you can get without mountaineering gear and a $40,000 permit. But it was still incredible to experience. It’s a crater-like feel surrounded by massive mountains and the purest glaciers you could imagine.
Although it was incredible, I could easily see how someone who was looking for themselves/success/to fill a void, could get to base camp, be disappointed and continue looking for the next best thing
It’s remarkable how if we put our hope in the things of this world, they will ALWAYS fail and leave us hungry for more, no matter how extraordinary they are
Once we returned, we channeled our inner grandmas by passing time with Sudoku and word searches until hopping into bed, then being immediately woken up to the feeling of suffocation due to lack of oxygen and 15 layers of clothing
Day 9: hike to Pangboche 11.8 miles, 28,143 steps, 37 floors
Phrase of the day: Identity Where do I put my identity? How do I accomplish incredible things and allow them to be a part of my identity but not allow them to become my identity?
(Example: “I am adventurous” VS “I obtain the adventurous spirit of Jesus”
This day was less eventful than others besides having to climb over icy rocks to get across the flowing glacier water
come to find out there was a bridge further up the way…YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE RIGHT?
Day 10: Hike to Namche 9.5 miles, 24,601 steps, 134 floors
Phrase of the day: Fight Fight for Rachael, fight to clean your inner sanctuary, fight to embrace the beauty of today within the circumstance of it being a difficult trek
This morning was a slow morning due to the fact that Rachael was up all night with food poisoning. That’s right. She got food poisoning in the middle of the Himalayas with a 6 hour trek down to the next town… And she did it LIKE A FREAKING BOSS!
Because we knew heated beds and hot showers were on the horizon we practically sprinted through the arctic Narnia, down the gum drop mountains and through the candy cane forest to land snug as a bug for a 2 hour nap
Once I awoke from my warm coma, Amber and I headed down to Everest Cafe for a chocolate donut, cinnamon roll and foo-foo coffee; followed by dinner and scrabble with the 2-and-only Jared and Bryan
Day 11: Hike to Lukla 13.6 miles, 31,805 steps, 163 floors
Phrase of the day: What worldly wealth am I possessing that Jesus is asking me to give away to have treasure in heaven and follow him? And if I feel the way His disciples did, thinking I have already given up everything to follow him, what’s next?
This day was one of the longest days ever. We had been trekking for 10 day straight at this point and we were suppose to be going DOWN the mountain but somehow continued to climb UP…
After 9 hours of trekking we finally arrive back in Lukla
We immediately went to find coffee because no matter how tired we are or how bad our bodies hurt, coffee is life…duh
On our way back we had our last encounter with Mitch and Nick then continued towards the lodge to have a dance party with our guide and porters
Day 12: hike to the plane .25 miles, 50 steps, -5 floors
Departing from the Lukla airport is a little less scary than arriving
When leaving Lukla you sit at the end of the runway until the jets are going as fast as possible then you plummet down the landing strip towards the the edge of the cliff until eventually there’s no road left and you are in the air!
In conclusion;
This trek was absolutely incredible
Like I said at the beginning, it wasn’t about the destination
The journey is what had the most impact
And I believe that very same thing about everyday life
We are so focused on the destination that sometimes we miss the beauty of the journey and process to get there
We went
We trekked
We remembered people’s names
We made relationships
We shared testimonies
We shared the gospel
But most importantly we experienced and brought the love of God to Everest Base Camp
