Picture opening doors for people who don’t look you in the eye. Picture yourself walking by strangers and saying hello without any reply. Picture yourself waving and smiling to people as you pass without them even acknowledging you. Where are you? One thing is for sure you’re certainly not in the South! One little thing that I have missed since being gone is the simple hospitality that I am used to. Of course I know I abandoned all my comforts to serve the Lord and I am thoroughly enjoying it, but it is sad at times. Don’t get me wrong the people we have met so far are very hospitable once you talk to them and get to know them. They even go beyond what people in the South do sometimes; however, in the bigger picture most people look at me as if I am lost. Maybe they think I am after all I’m in the bush of Nepal. I am just glad that I was raised in a culture where we welcome all people like they are family (shout out to all who helped instill this in me!)
I do think that I have found the reason for their negativity or whatever expression is on their faces. I think it runs deeper than being an American. It runs deeper than having never met a white man. It runs far deeper than not speaking the same language. In fact it’s that they don’t have any hope. All the things they take comfort in are dead ends. The gods they worship are idols. Most don’t even know who Jesus is or they don’t know hardly anything about him. The extreme poverty and the things they face on a daily basis don’t make things any easier. The best way to say it is they are desperate for a savior. They are dying to know that there is a true God who cares. They need to know that there is hope. They need to know that there is a better life. They need to know that there was one who bore all their sins and defeated death. They need to know that there is no reason not to be joyous and happy every day. That’s why he sent WALDO here.
This first week of ministry has taught me so much. It has broken me down in even more ways than I can explain, so I won’t even try in this blog. Sunday we had the opportunity to go out to a local village via our first public bus in Nepal. To say the least it was the worst ride of my life. The roads are dirt/gravel with potholes EVERYWHERE! It was the most cramped I have ever been as well. The ceiling of the bus stands about 5’6”. Asians are not very tall people so it is not a problem for them; however, when the 6’ tall American comes to town his head gets bashed against every object in the bus. We finally make it to our destination and I am so relieved.
On our way into the village we stop by and talk with a group of people outside a store. They ask us the famous question. Why are we here and what are we doing? We respond with our names and where we are from. Then we give them a quick synopsis of Christianity. After this they talk with the pastor a minute and we then hand them tracks. After a few minutes we head off deeper into the village. After a short walk we run into a small group of people gathered around talking. If you didn’t know the 6 of us draw so much attention! No matter where we are or what we are doing people always stare us down! The pastor stops and begins to talk with them. After a few minutes we get the same question and give them the answers. He then asks us to hand them tracks. What happened next hit me deep. As I extended my hand to offer one lady a track she refused. She didn’t want anything to do with it. Before coming on this trip I remember having a conversation with Uncle D during a round of golf. He told me that not everyone I would come in contact with wanted to hear the good news. I knew this, but now it was really happening. Jesus tells us not to cast our pearl in front of swine. I had to kindly withdraw my hand and go about my business for the one who does want to hear. After a few minutes in conversation with the pastor a couple of guys ask us to come with them for 10 minutes (time is very relative here in Nepal). So we gladly head over. He takes us to a little hut with a table and they ask us to sit down and talk. We dig deeper into who Jesus is and why we were here. They are very interested and they start smiling. As we are seated many people start to gather around us. One boy walks up with a cross on his chest and my team leader asks him does he know what it means. The boy says that he doesn’t really know what it means, that he received it while attending a service in Malaysia. So Christian explains to him what it means. After this we were asked to sing a song. This was also the only day we did not bring one of the 3 guitars we have. So we do what we know to do and sing Amazing Grace.
We think that we are about to leave so we ask them if we can pray for them. One man who has joined to gathering tells us he has something wrong with his arms and another says he has a skin problem so we pray for both of them. There are also about 15 kids that have gathered now and one of the men say that a little girl standing by needs prayer. We ask what is wrong and they tell us that she has pain in her leg because one leg is shorter than the other. The pastor sits her on the table and examines her, sure enough this info was correct. So we begin to pray over the girl. We each have our hands on her, but my teammate Kacie puts her hand on the knee of the short leg. As we pray Kacie feels the kneecap move over, something happen in her leg, and her kneecap move back into place. NUTS! After we get done the girl gets up and tests it out. Unsurprisingly she says she feels better. How good is God? This was the first time I have ever seen an on the spot healing. As the next few hours go by more and more people keep coming forth wanting us to pray over them. I guess that it doesn’t help that Nepal ranked 140 out of 140 countries for healthcare, but who needs medicine when we have God? I think overall there were about 20 people we prayed for.
The reason my title reads like it does was inspired by this day. As we prayed for person after person I noticed that none of them had faith in the true God of the universe. None believed in Christ because they all bore the red dot of Hinduism on their forehead. The reason they bore the dot was because they had spent time with their god(s) that day; however, they are idols and thus were not coming through for them. They all looked like they just wanted to give up. There is no doubt in my mind they saw the light of Jesus in us and knew we had hope for them. They each wanted more than what they had or had experienced. They each wanted a fresh burst of life. I hope that they received that. I will never know how many were healed or how many accepted Christ, but I have full faith and knowledge that Christ did great things!
