😳😭🙀🙈😁🇺🇸😍
As is expected, I am feeling all the feels right now. Super excited to be home and super sad to be leaving. I think I have acclimated finally to life in Nepal but I am still very much an American who loves modern conveniences.
It will be hard to say goodbye to this life. I have had some amazing times. Here are my top five favorite moments (no specific order):
1. Praying on the land in Kunchal to become a ministry training center. This was a day where I felt alive for the first time in a long time. God has been in the process of reminding me who I am and what his purpose for my life is, and interceding over the land/nation was one of those moments I will never forget. I climbed a hill and went walking through the village that day taking pictures of everyone. Got incredibly sunburned. It was a great day!
2. Visiting Daman the first time. We went to Daman, which is a village about an hour away by bus from Palung. It is further up the mountain. It was rainy and cold, and felt like Fall. We prayed for/with some people from the church there who were sick. We ate dinner in the restaurant attached to their house. We were surrounded by Nepali's wearing thick wool scarves and shawls. It was perfect. The quintessential moment you hope for: huddling around a metal can full of hot coals. It had all the charm that village life in Nepal brings.
3. After the end of our training on Monday, all the teachers and translators were given official Nepali scarves as a sign of honor. What a special moment! Then one of the ladies began to spontaneously sing a worship song Nepali style. Then other women got up and began to dance. Before I knew it, we were all up dancing Nepali style together at the end of the service. As the IHOP-KC song says, "Ain't no party like a Holy Ghost party, cause a Holy Ghost Party don't stop."
4. Visiting Daman the second time. Andrea, Paul and myself decided to take a spontaneous vacation for a day at the Panoramic Everest Resort in Daman. From this resort, you can see all the Ana Purna mountains and the Himalayas including Mt Everest. The night we checked in, it felt like we were the only three people at the resort. We stood on the patio and began to spontaneously sing worship songs to Jesus. And then it was too cold so we went inside. The next morning we woke up at 6:30 to go see the mountains. #miraclesdohappen. Right before leaving, I went to wash my face. I narrowly escaped being attacked (over exaggerating) by a leech. Oh, the stories I could tell you. Then the owner of the resort offered us a ride back to Kathmandu in his keep which is 36284663828 times better than riding the bus. He even had air conditioning. 🙌
(This isn't a picture I took. My phone was dead. I took pics on my real camera but they aren't easy to upload to the blog so I am using someone else's photo.)
5. This has to be an accumulation of every moment in Palung. "Working" in "my office".
My "office" is the blue chair behind me. I would sit in that chair for hours praying, writing notes, writing what would become these blogs, etc... Oh how I loved my time in Palung. I love Ama and Bua (and the whole G family). They have welcomed me and cared for me like one of their own.
I could have easily talked about buying dill at the fabric store or my obsession with Nepali fabrics and thus my now extensive Kurta/Soral collection. I could have talked about the girls Jo & Scarlett from the prayer room who I have loved spending time with. Jo took me to Patan to see the Hindu temples.
During these last 10 days, I will be meeting with the Anthropology department at Tribuvhan University. I will also be finishing my interviews with the people at GHOP and one more man that is tied to the story in Kunchal. I didn't go to Pokhara because I have bronchitis again. I am trying to rest so that I can come back to the States healthy and whole.
Please pray for my health to be restored and for these last 10 days to be spent well and to end well. I can honestly say I hope to come back here someday...the villages are amazing, people-amazing, scenery-amazing.
My transition to America also needs quite a bit of prayer. After 2 weeks in the states, I jump back into working at Faith Community Church and finishing my summer classes and then beginning the Fall semester. On top of that I have to write my thesis, transcribe all these interviews, publish an article, etc...On top of the pace change, is the spiritual climate change, the health challenges, the reverse jet lag, etc. If you have been praying for me this whole time, please continue to pray throughout August. I will keep sending updates as I debrief myself about this experience.
Love you all!
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