There is a stirring

Since coming back to Kathmandu, things have been much easier. I have not been sick with breathing problems or digestive problems at all. I have a small cough but that is easily manageable. 

On Saturday morning, we normally have a time of worship in the prayer room. Children from the children's home come and worship with us. This Saturday, we moved the whole service to the slums. Clem (the leader of the prayer house) spoke on the story of Jesus washing the disciples feet. Probably much like the ancient Israeli culture, in Nepali culture the feet are disgusting. It is highly offensive to show someone the bottom of your feet. Everyone wears flip flops here, and they are taken off in the entry way and never worn inside. Feet are the dirtiest place on your body here. So Clem felt like God wanted to not just teach about foot washing, but to actually do it. The people were stunned. It was, at first, the ex-pats and a few of the orphans from the kids home who began washing people's feet. As we took turns, a few people from the slums began to wash other people's feet. I was able to get down and wash some feet at the beginning of the service. Maybe it was Gods grace, but none of my feet were super gross. One lady, whose feet I washed, was also blind. I prayed that God would heal her. I was very hopeful, but it didn't happen that day. I have decided that I want to fast and pray and see if she will be healed the next time I pray for her. The feet washing ceremony was really beautiful. 

On Tuesday morning, I will head back to Palung and Kunchal. I am hoping to be there for 2 weeks or more. I may have a small break in that time where I come back to the city. I will not have access to wifi there, so you won't here from me unless I come back to the city. 

Please cover this time in prayer and pray for super productive conversations,interviews, and clarified vision on what specific questions to ask. Also, visiting a Nepali dentist tomorrow. Hear great things, praying for a great experience !!!

Heaven on Earth

Flooded Rice Fields

In a town, a quiet village...everyday, like the one before. Little town, full of little people waking up to say: J' Masee. Sun sai chai?

Well, this isn't exactly a small village in France where Belle is found daydreaming, but if Asia has a counterpart, this might be it. Kunchal is the second village I visited this week and it's everything you hoped it would be. I feel a bit like Anne of Green Gables when she starts rambling poetically about how amazing and romantic a place could be. I think there are dreams hidden in our hearts that we don't even know ourselves and this one was mine. To see the rice flooded fields in Asia, stair stepped glory.

Houses above the rice fields

Grandparents

In this village, there is a children's home. There are many orphans here. Some parents died during the earthquake, some died of natural causes and others just abandon their children because of poverty.

Kids from the Children's Home

We were in Kunchal (Coon-Chal) just one day. The previous two days, we were in Palung. Palung (Pa-loong)reminded me of Lubbock in a strange way. As we walked the dirt roads in between fields, listening to the crickets chirp at night, it felt like home. 

Fields in Palung. Cabbage, potatoes, and other roots

It's true: Everybody does have a water buffalo.

One of the nicer buildings in the area.

Women do the majority of the agricultural labor here.

Luckily, it's much cooler in the villages.

Girls coming home from school.

Baby Sandwich on the motorcycle.

My time in the villages was amazing. It was so beautiful! Much less chaotic. The people were incredibly friendly and generous. We stayed with Ama and Bua (Mom and Dad) of friends who work in the city. They are pastors in the village. They took me to meet many people in their church so that I could record testimonies of how people have been saved in Palung. Miraculous stories each one. 

I would really  like to return to the village and spend the rest of my time there speaking with the same families and going deeper into their stories. I really need to hire a translator who can go with me for a few weeks to the village. This has been the most challenging part of my trip is not feeling independent in my research. 

As for my health: my lungs and stomach seem to have finally adjusted to life in Nepal. Being in the village helped tremendously. Over the next few days, I have some papers to write for class this summer and some laundry to catch up on, in hopes of returning to the village.  I have had a tailor make me multiple Nepali styled outfits. 

Here is one of the outfits. Sorry this picture is so much smaller than the others.

Please be praying for a steady interpreter and deepening relationships with the locals. Please continue to pray for my health. With about 5 weeks left in this journey, we are officially at the halfway point. The rest of my time will go quickly. The villages were definitely a turning point in this adventure. I don't know that I would wish Kathmandu on my worst enemy, but the villages of Nepal (that I've seen) are worth every struggle thus far. 

I will talk with you more soon!  

1/3rd completed

I haven't been able to write very much for several different reasons. I find myself acting like a filter in new situations. I take in a lot of new information and it takes me a while to figure out what I feel about everything. I guess it's like a computer system getting hit with too much electricity at one time and it can fry your system. Luckily I have been able to rest both physically and spiritually these first few weeks. This has given my body and spirit time to acclimate to being on the other side of the world. 

In a couple of days, Andrea and I will travel to a village about 4 hours outside Kathmandu. I am very excited. Though it will be my first adventure with squatty potties. Pray for grace and extra gymnastic like balancing skills! 

I have started my interviews. So far they are very promising. They are full of stories involving the supernatural. It is clear Nepali people are not just taught this from the church but are aware of it good & bad outside of the church. 

I also learned that my room faces right across from a Hindu temple. In the mornings I can smell Sandalwood incense being burned there. Unfortunately, they also perform cremations there and occasionally we smell that too. 

Out of the last 3 weeks, I have ventured out of the house about 5-6 times. Shopping, going to the market or a restaurant, visiting a friend. Usually the next day I am at home in bed with digestive/breathing issues. My immune system is getting stronger! Then on other days I attend prayer meetings in the building or bible studies with women. I have just been trying to slowly get to know people. It has been harder and slower because I don't have a dedicated translator with me all the time. 

Tonight we got to go to the outskirts of town and visit friends. The air was much cleaner there in multiple ways. It was very refreshing. 

Tomorrow is Saturday, their holy day. So we have church twice tomorrow. Most of the Westeners have left to go back home or to villages so the house is very quiet right now. 

As you pray not only for me but for this city/nation, pray that the JOY  of the Lord will be our strength. Pray that Christians will not walk in condemnation and for FREEDOM for those who don't know Jesus. Pray that God will release HOPE over this people and that the believers will not respond in fear but in LOVE , POWER and a SOUND MIND. Pray that divine ORDER would be established as a foundation and RIGHTEOUSNESS will be established on that order. 

Interesting facts: in Nepal it is the year 2074, according to local calendars. Most countries are on a 60 minute time zone difference, but Nepal is :45. So it's 12 hr and 45 minutes from NY to Nepal. Not 13 hours. They do their own thing here. 

Thanks for praying. Please keep me covered in the villages this week. 

Speechless

I have felt like everyone is waiting for me to say something about this experience and I come up empty every time I try to put it in words. 

I don't even know how to prioritize what's valuable information. This experience is discombobulating. Topsy-turvy. Not just a paradigm shift. Not just simple reversal: what was top is now bottom. Complete disarray and a scrambling of senses. 

This isn't a good thing nor is it a bad thing. It is simply disorienting. I have been punched in the gut and everything I once held dear, I count it now as loss. 

We walked by a woman begging on the street with three kids under 5. On our way to go to the gardens. We bought them some fruit. There are too many starfishes lying on the beach. 

Jesus forgive me! 

A handful of gratitude

In my attempts to be real and honest about this adventure, I am afraid that I have come across like i have been complaining. Certainly I was on day 1, but despite the adjustments, I am very grateful for this experience. 

I am grateful for high quality dust masks. 

I am grateful for tiny wicker stools that are strong enough to hold me up. 

I am grateful for my next door neighbor and for the shower I got to take today. 

In the midst of extreme poverty, I want to be generous and give money away. I forget that money is not really the answer to their problems and in fact, it could make things worse. God's ways are higher than my ways and his thoughts are higher than my thoughts. His definition of good is not often the same as mine. This nation is very poor in Spirit. The lack of basic gospel teaching much less discipleship can be overwhelming. I realize how often  I give out of my own strength instead of being filled with God and allowing his strength to flow through me. 

I have much to be grateful for. I just wanted to make sure that everyone knows that.

Also, the Christians say Je Masee (Jesus is the Messiah) instead of Namaste as a greeting. 

Tomorrow I get to go shopping. I am hoping to have a tailor make me one of these: 

As for research, I am just at the beginning stages of meeting people so I don't have many insights. I may get to explore gender and Christianity here because I will have a lot more access to women. On Tuesday mornings, several women gather for a Bible study and we will begin Philippians. 

Please continue to pray that God will guide me and that my time will be well spent. 

Je Masee

A brand new day

Yesterday was my first full day on Nepali time. It feels good to have my mind, body, appetite, etc all on the same continent. 

Yesterday I walked to a market and bought vegetables: cucumbers (as big as a squash and tasty), okra and huge carrots. I bought about 4 kilos of vegetables for $2.40. I also bought a 12 pack of liter water bottles for $2.00. I can take a taxi for about $3.00 too. They have these vehicles called Tok-Tok's. It's basically a three wheeled pickup that you cram as many people in the back as you can. One day we rode in one and there were 15 people in the back. I felt like I was in a clown car. 

My time here has been very interesting. Not what I expected it would be. Most of my days are surrounded by Westerners who are temporary missionaries here. Conversations surround how to get an extended visa, how to learn Nepalese, and some British-American rivalry. 

Water and electricity are not reliable. Showering is not something you do to start or end your day...you do it when there's water. 

I am in the stage of letting go of expectations or hopes about what this experience was going to be and learning to appreciate it for what it is. I don't know if my research will change or if I will have to be more intentional in connecting with Nepali believers. They usually come only on Saturday night for church. Saturday is the holy day here. 

Some of the missionaries are still going to the slums. That may be my best opportunity to talk with new believers in the slums. If I am honest, I don't want to go back there. It would make for great research but...

This experience has been a quick emptying of myself. I feel much like Peter & John (?) who said, "silver and gold, I don't have. But I do have Jesus." (Obvs. Paraphrased). 

That's all I know for today. Please continue to pray for my lungs, my research that God will guide me to the right place. 

The third day

It's 6 am on my third full day here. My time has mostly been dealing with jet lag and adjusting to life in the third world. It's fairly difficult being obese in America but I would venture to say that it's 10 times harder here. As was expected my body is going through some serious challenges. It is extremely hot here and even a quick walk is difficult. Heat exhaustion lingers around the corner ready to pounce at any given second. My other main challenge is my sinuses & lungs. I am an asthmatic and Kathmandu is one of the dirtiest and most polluted places I have seen. Even the locals wear dust masks when walking around all day. So I certainly have, but I can tell my sinuses and lungs are fighting hard. Thank goodness I brought several inhalers. Walking through the slums on the first day was especially challenging. Rivers of human excrement surrounding makeshift homes.  Smoke from fires, pollution from engines, smog, dust, fecal matter on roads, etc. My appetite hasn't been strong either. Please pray for my health. 

With these challenges have also come a lot of self-doubt. Questioning why God brought me here, etc. It has been a fight to remember that his ways are perfect. To remember who He is and who he says I am. Pray that I will remember and walk in my true identity. 

As for the experience itself, I am living in a four/five story building with probably 20 Westeners who are missionaries in Nepal. They operate a House of Prayer and everyone takes regular shifts in the prayer room. There are Nepalis that come and visit on certain hours too. I think church will be on Saturday and it is apparently very lively. I had initially hoped to go on excursions to the villages with people but I am beginning to rethink that. I don't want to isolate myself though. 

I have been praying Ps. 54:4 over myself. "Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me." 

"Don't call me Shirley!" -Airplane. (It's a joke. You will either get it or you need to watch the movie Airplanes)

Yesterday we adventured out for a bit. The roads smelled of dust, exhaust, and cumin. It was lovely. 

All of the Nepalis are shocked by my weight. Much to the chagrin of my Western interpreters who are having a hard time interpreting what would be considered rude in America. Everyone asks how much I weigh? Tells me to excercise to lose weight. And stares. It's been humorous for me but not so much for the interpreters. Just another reminder of how the choices in my life don't effect just me, but are carried by an eco system that surrounds me. 

I have only eaten American groceries so far. I didn't want an upset stomach on top of everything else. 

So, today is the third day. Jesus was resurrected on the third day. Scripture says that the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in me. I am asking God for resurrection power to fill me today. All of the places where my body is feeling the pull of death, that they will be filled with life again. Lungs, sinuses, joints, digestive system, hips and back. I pray that my body will choose life today. 

Dt 30:19-20 "This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."