{this blog is from a few days ago, I have Wi-Fi for a fleeting moment!! But won’t have any more connection after this for around a week. It’s also not letting me post pictures right now so those are coming later. I am alive and love you all 🙂 }
Hey everyone.
I need to stop thinking about blogging so hard! It’s been too long since an update and while I have been kept very busy, I also admit I’ve been overthinking what I write. I keep a constant journal of thoughts, encounters, and musings, but have struggled to pull them together until now. Mostly because I’m self-conscious about how things flow or how my writing goes…but I know that’s not what matters.
So now I’m forcing myself to sit down and share. I really want to make sure that you know what’s going on with me and bring you alongside the amazing things unfolding over here.
And before I get started, I would like to again, thank those of you who have sent kind messages and comments my way. I take them to heart and screenshot them so I can reread them when I’m without wifi. Know that your words of affirmation make me smile!! Also, there’s still an India video on the way, just trying to straighten out some technical problems.
We all arrived in Nepal safely. Woo-hoo! The travel day was its own beast, a whole lot of sleeping on airport floors and scrambling to make sure our checked bags weighed the correct size. Turns out the airline we used flying into India was chill with our bags being 50lbs and below, but now that we were hopping over to Nepal, they had to be 45lbs or less. Oh man. It was kind of hilarious – around 40 sleep-deprived Westerners dropping their packs and hauling out whatever they could to make things fit. There was an interesting game of adding things to your friend’s underweight pack or stuffing whatever you could into your day bag. Thankfully our squad is the kind of family that’s adaptable and understanding enough that we all leapt into action to help each other out. Somehow, we made it all work.
I have two other takeaways from the travel day experience, other than the fact that minimalism is easier said than done –
1. I am so incredibly grateful to know I have a place to sleep at night
2. God is called, ‘Provider’ for a reason
I learned the first one when we were sleeping on the second of the two Indian airport floors. We had just touched down in Delhi at a ridiculous hour, I want to say – 1:00am? – and had wrestled our packs, settled down in a corner of the airport, and tried to catch some zzzs. I don’t mind sleeping on the floor much at this point, but what stuck with me more was the fact that we were all trying our hardest to be really quiet and tidy. This was because there was a chance the airport would kick us out. Our flight was still quite a few hours away, we couldn’t check in yet, and we didn’t have anywhere else to go at this hour. I think we would’ve figured something out if it came down to it, but what ended up happening was that the airport staff asked us to move, fortunately through security and an early check-in, instead of to the outside curb. But wow. It was an interesting feeling to know that everything was hanging in the air for a little while. I know that having no place to go at night is a reality for so many. It didn’t surprise me- but it sure was a sobering moment that made me very thankful.
Okay, so God the Provider.
During our travel day I was having a fun financial hiccup where my card was declined, leaving me with only my emergency American cash and a grand total of 0 rupees. Our team had also opted to save the remaining money we hadn’t spent on groceries the previous day, for when we arrived in Nepal. This meant: I didn’t have any money to spend on food for the duration of our lengthy layovers. We thankfully would get two meals out of our flights, but I wasn’t super excited about eating nothing in-between (as our combined travel time getting out of India and into Nepal was something like 27 hours).
I decided to just pray about it. I had been thinking a lot about the concept of God as a Provider and I asked that I just be able to ignore the hunger. Maybe sleep through it. A lot of folks have worse. And I wasn’t going to mention it to my squad, because it wasn’t the biggest deal…and okay, your girl hates to feel like a burden.
So we arrive after a long bus ride at the first airport, and hunker down for a while. We start breaking off into groups to go buy food and I’m just chilling, thinking, ‘I’ll deal.’
So I go along with some of them for the company, and one of them decides that hey, they don’t their chicken nuggets. Guess who gets a whole lot of chicken nuggets??? Me.
I’m sitting there, so crazy grateful that even though I didn’t ask, God saw my small need. And then again- when I go back to the rest of the group, a friend doesn’t want his sandwich and gives it to me.
Finally, my teammate hands me a little over a hundred rupees because apparently, our team didn’t use up all of our money on our off day, and she was doling out the extra.
These are all small little events, sure, but I can tell you they meant so much to me. I was hungry and God not only provided me an extra meal, but a little extra cash for the next layover. And for a hungry Racer that’s golden. It was a series of gifts that made me feel so loved; my needs being met when I had only ever mentioned them to my Heavenly Dad. Y’all, he sees us. How often do we forget? And forget to ask for what we need?
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Debrief (the week of rest we took upon landing in Nepal) was it’s own beast. I have a separate blog to span that, because I want to update you on our current ministry first.
Right now:
– I am living with two teams; my own A Team, and our sister team The Seekers. It has been a blessing that our teams have meshed so well, and I think, after almost two weeks together, we’re getting into the swing of all living side-by-side. It’s an interesting transition to go from All Squad Month in India, living with 40 other people, to drop down to 12 roommates here in Nepal. We’re all living in a flat that our hosts have rented for us, and from there journeying out for ministry every day.
– The first week, that looked like visiting and encouraging different believers. Being a Nepali Christian in Kathmandu looks a lot different than being Christian in the region of India we visited earlier. In India, where we were wasn’t majority Christian, but there were many churches and some Christian villages. Here in Nepal, especially because of the earthquake a few years ago, the Church is very spread out, with believers meeting in separate homes because our host’s church was destroyed. And although there are many different religions in Kathmandu, Christians face some of the harshest persecution. We were met with many stories of Nepali Christians being disowned from their Hindu families or refused work because of their faith. All this being said, our hosts asked us to share sermons and testimonies to encourage our Nepali siblings in Christ. That first week was amazing, including a hike out to a village church, and visits to individual believer’s homes.
– This week, we have been volunteering at a preschool. My heart has absolutely MELTED! They have been so incredibly sweet and silly, and it’s impressive how well they already speak both Nepali and English. There were a lot of dance parties, and one highlight was I got to draw pictures for them to color in for arts & crafts. Some of the conversations with the teachers about religion were really amazing, and it was very special to make friendships with so many people, big & small. It was a few days of a lot of love.
Tomorrow morning we leave to live in the district of Gorkha for our new ministry. We won’t have wifi for around 6 days, but I’ll have plenty more stories and photos to pass on to you all at the conclusion of our stay.
Again, apologies for such a late update. My love is with you all.
Short Q&A:
Q: How does the group decide who you are going to visit and why they are chosen?
A: That’s actually up to our hosts. The org that the World Race is run through, AIM, builds relationships with a lot of different people in the countries we visit, and some of those people decide to host World Race teams. Those locals that become hosts, since they know the country best and are also aware of the atmosphere we’re going into, talk to their own contacts and decide for themselves where we would most be helpful. So, our hosts will take us to different villages, churches, schools, etc, based on what they know about the areas’ needs, the people’s reception of us, and the connections they have in different places. For example, this week our hosts are sending us to a particular children’s preschool because they are good friends with the principal, and there is need for extra hands on deck with the little ones. Also, it’s a great opportunity to form friendships with the teachers, many of which are only a few years older than us.
Q: Who does the cooking in Nepal? Have you learned anything new?
A: Here in Nepal, at this particular location, our hosts are cooking meals for us. This way they can make sure that we get good food that won’t make us super sick. I’ve been really grateful for all the tea, and the one night they served roti for dinner.
However, we DID still learn how to make something new – momo! Momos are Nepali dumplings and they’re so. Good. We had a momo party the other night and all sat around folding up the little dumplings with varying degrees of success. Mine were very ugly looking, but at least they all taste the same in the end 🙂
Q: What’s your favorite part of meeting the children?
A: Well, I’m a sucker for kids to begin with, so I really love all of it. But more specifically, it’s the transformation they undergo: changing from little ones shy of us weird foreigners, to giggly pranksters by the end of our time together. At first some of the kids are so stoic. It’s beautiful how if one is persistent and kind – and a little silly – eventually they break out in smiles. I love the variety of their personalities and how so many of us are able to connect despite language barriers. It’s so sweet.
