Monday June 25th, 2018
Day 3 of trekking the Himalayan Mountains
This morning, we had to be up and ready for ministry by 6:00am! I so did not want to go outside! Not because I didn’t want to go to ministry but because I was up to enough with leeches! I actually broke down crying (no shame) yesterday when I had to stop, for about the 100th time, to pick off 8 leeches at one time right after about 5 minutes from the last leech check. I was stressing and just wanted to be helicoptered down lol. I wish. I was not in the best headspace this morning. Clearly. Not just the leeches but because of the news and events from past few days that I’ve been processing as well.. anyways. We hiked about a mile up the mountain from our Home-Stay. We came to a small 2-level straw/clay hut. Here we met an elderly couple that had accepted Jesus into their lives with the last WorldRace team that came into this village. In fact, WorldRace was the first to blaze a trail bringing the Gospel to this village!!
Those brown things on the leaves… that’s them.
As we sat on the front cobbled yard picking off more leeches our ministry host Deepak let them know of our arrival. We had arrived just in time – before they headed out into the rice fields. We sat on straw mats on the clay floor in a dark room. The only light in this room was just a small fire in a hole in the ground in the middle of the room that was like their stove. As we began making introductions, she began making tea for us; boiling water in the fire and pounding cloves with a rock into the ground for spices for the tea.
We learned the village people have been giving her and her husband a hard time about the fact that hey accepted Jesus into their lives. They would try to get them to convert back and would tell them that Christians get cancer and that they’ll get cancer as well. That Christianity is bad “religion”.
As we sat there encouraging them, the lady stood up and walked over to her little bed and from under pillow she pulled out a small Bible. They received this Bible from the last WorldRace team. Even though the only light was a small dim fire in the dark room, I could see her eyes sparkling in the dark as she clung the Bible closely to her chest with her two hands.
At this point, the husband had to go out and feed the cattle. We shared stories, with the wife, from the Bible to bring encouragement. Throughout sharing, she would pipe in with comments (through our interpreter) such as “Yes!! I believe that!”, “Yes! That’s right! That’s true!”, “I won’t leave Jesus no matter what the village people say!”, “Anybody can get cancer. Not just Christians!” She is such an energetic soul and continued to make us cup after cup of tea.
She then began to tell us how she can’t read the Bible because of her vision but that she loves Jesus so much! She told us how one day she prayed to Jesus and told Him how she can’t read the Bible and wants to know what to do! That night, she had a dream and saw Jesus standing in the middle of the room (the one that we were currently sitting in). She was so happy to see Him! The next day, she said, she went out into the village and began helping the people. The people that have been giving her and her husband a hard time… she’s not able to read the Bible but her love for Jesus and His love for her already sent a move! Sometimes we can read the Bible but be missing he passion that this woman has. Love drove her to reach out to those rising against her. I strongly believe that her and her husband will be able to bring newness to this village.
I came in not in the best headspace but by listening to this woman, left uplifted and encouraged. For people like her and her husband, the leeches and endless hours of hiking are so worth it.
Before leaving, they were so happy to be prayed over! They practically lept up! At this point, the husband had came back inside already. They rushed over in the middle of us to be prayed over. The joy on their faces as we prayed for them! No dim light could block that out.
As we walked out of their yard, I motioned to them and then to us (my team and I) and then pointed to heaven hoping she’d understand my charades of “We’ll see each other in heaven!” I think she did! Cause she pointed to her eyes, then to me and then to heaven as she brought her hands together in prayer motion. I left their home with a renewed energy!
Before we visited this couple, we stopped by the home we visited yesterday evening. The woman that had been sickly with a high fever for a few days. When we arrived, she was sitting on the edge of her porch, combing out her hair. Just less than 12 hours ago, she was on a mat under blankets on their porch. She looked so much better and more happy! We had prayed for healing and shared healing stories from the Bible for encouragement. We found out that she woke up feeling so much better this morning! Praise God for the healing!! I was very happy with the news 🙂
In the morning, healed and,
…the night before
We got back to our hobbit sized Home-Stay and had breakfast. This village, everything is so small! Even I, 5feet 2inches tall, had to crouch through some doorways so that i didn’t hit my head against the doorway! It’s small but very cute and cozy! At that point it was 8:30am and we began talking about how we wanted a nap! Lol. At this point, I’ve already been awake for 3.5 hours and had hiked and visited two homes!
and a view from above (from the day before) of the villages‘ rice fields(below)…
After breakfast, we shared the Gospel with our Home-Stay hosts. They liked all that we shared and want it but, they’re afraid of what the village folks will say or do once they’d find out. Said hat they’re waiting for others to accept and then they’d follow. We spoke against fear and encouraged with stories against fear and that maybe God wants to start the move through them but, fear didn’t leave.. it leaves me curious with how bad could it get for them? But as I learned from our time in the Chitwan jungles; we can plant seeds and the rest, we need to trust into the Gods hands.
We then packed up and prepared for another 3 hour hike. I pleaded with God for a leech-free trek down the mountain! Thank you Jesus, I had just a few at the beginning and no more the rest of the time! I almost didn’t believe it and kept checking my shoes and myself quite a few times just to be sure! If only it were so the past few days! Once we got to our end point, a bus picked us up and drove us to the nearest city, Pokhara. We got a hotel and for the first time in 4 days, I was able to take a shower and! We got hot water!! It felt amazing! We are all sooo sore!! And! Found out today that we hiked a total of 27 miles!!! I didn’t think we even did half of that! Wow…
….and the rest of this journal entry is too personal to share so I will end it here 😉
