It’s month 6 and we’re in our sixth country – Nepal. I’m on an 8 hour bus ride to our next ministry – trek through the Himalaya Mountains to villages of the Unreached people. My squadmate sits next to me sleeping and other teammates around me talking. Each conversation different but now that we’re half through with life on the WorldRace, our conversations are starting to become similar. What will life be like after we come back to the States? All the stories we have to share with loved ones. So many questions and thoughts cross my mind…
As I sit here, my mind keeps wandering back to another place. A story I want to share now.
A couple days ago we left the mountainous jungles of Nepal – Chitwan National Park. It was a beautiful place!! Completely wild! We lived amongst tigers, jackals, elephants, rhinos, cobras, etc… I only got to see the elephants though. Not sure what I would’ve done if I saw any of the others! …although I really wanted to! Many different bugs and spiders I’ve never seen before!The locals lived in straw/mud huts. Lived off of the land. Some of the tribes barely wore clothing. It was so hot there! All you had to do is sit still and you’d be in a dripping sweat. Imagine sitting in a sauna. Once it gets hot, you step out to find some relief in cooler air. Well, that was us, except for no relief of cooler air! Except for that slightly cool breeze that’d come in before a storm. Imagine sleeping in that too. No fans or AC. It took us about 5 hours of driving through the jungle, off-roading through trees and streams and boulders. After we got dropped off at a village, we walked another hour to our village.
It has been a childhood dream of mine to go to Unreached within the jungles. Never did I think I’d get to experience this when I signed up with the WorldRace! I took in everything. When I dreamt as a child, I also dreamt of many souls being won for Christ into the Kingdom! Healings happening here and there! Seeing beautiful places! When you hear stories, they’re often as such!
Today, I want to share the other side…
The eight days that we spent there, we visited newborn believers to encourage them and pray with them. Each home we visited was at least a 30 minutes walk in the scorching sun. By the time we’re at the home, we’re drenched in sweat and sit there fanning with a paper fun to cool off a bit. Sometimes we’d have to hike 45 minutes, sometimes 1 hour, or 2 hours. One day we even hiked 3.5 hours to even more remote villages.
The day we hiked 3.5 hours (one way), is the day that made me stop. That day we began our hike at 7:30am and we didn’t get home until almost 6:00pm. Seven hours were spent hiking into/out of the mountain. The rest of the time, we walked from one home to another sharing about Jesus. I would love to say that they all accepted Christ but, no one did.
We visited a witch doctor and his wife… after sharing the message and having a conversation, he wasn’t ready. We visited 2 more families and left with a similar response.
Imagine hiking for 7 hours through the jungle, up a mountain. Literally drenched in sweat because it’s so hot and humid. Coming upon a stream and getting excited to dip your feet in cool water for some relief but to find the water is hot. No joke. Blisters on your feet. Feeling weak. And then coming home feeling discouraged.
I’m not gonna lie or pretend to be strong. As I lay on my straw-mat bed and thinking about the week, I was discouraged. Not a single person accepted Christ our whole 8 days there. And this long hike was our 2nd to last day. I was so sure we’d witness salvation! But, I took it to God and Him and I talked about it. I was then encouraged and I want to encourage anyone who may be in a similar situation or any future missionary – or past or present. It may have seemed, or seems, as if it was all in vain.
But seeds were planted. With time, some grow into a plant.
I am confident in this in this situation because first of all, the Bible says so. And second, a lot of the homes that we visited there were people that were new/born again Christians! Some just a month into their new walk with Christ! Some of these new believers came to be through previous WorldRace teams that came before us! They too probably experienced what I did. Not seeing the harvest of their labor. But others came and watered, encouraged and the seeds grew. Others came and harvested.
One man we visited, in a neighboring village, used to be a witch doctor but now loves God. On Tuesdays he used to hold satanic worship but now as a believer, he invites his family and any community to his home on Tuesdays and they worship God together! Once a witch doctor, now a spiritual doctor.
Some of the new believers were so happy to see us and were eager to hear from Gods Word!
There are so many more great stories and testimonies we heard! God reminded me of each encounter we had and shed light on each one. We didn’t get to see our harvest but we got to plant seeds. A harvest starts with a seed. We just need to trust the rest into His hands and He knows best. I could feel His love to them through me! If my heart broke for them, I know His love is so much more stronger.
I will post a blog in a few days with pictures from our time in the jungle villages 🙂
Love,
Viktoriya
