Nepal Update 2

Namaste (Hello in Nepalese),

Well, the team and I arrived in Kathmandu Nepal on Thursday, July 2 (although it was Wednesday for you). Since we arrived around 5pm at Hotel Manang, we pretty much just ate dinner and got settled in.

Friday we traveled by bus to the monkey temple, the most popular Buddhist temple in the world I am told (it has an official name, but most refer to it as the monkey temple). They call it the monkey temple due to the large amount of monkeys just wandering around (which would have been a lot cooler if some of the monkeys weren't rabid). I think that a lot of the students really enjoyed the experience of being somewhere so old and such a part of the Nepalese people and religions. We found it to be a dark and empty place spiritually.

Saturday we went to Kumar, one of our interpreters, church. We were given headsets so that we could listen to the translation of the sermons. Unfortunately, none of the head sets worked, so we sat on a rug on the cement floor for over 2 hours (no more complaining about church services being long in the U.S.). Although it was disappointing to not be able to understand what seemed like a very passionate sermon, it was awesome just to worship the same God together.

After church on Saturday (Saturday is the Sabbath in Nepal. Which, funny side note, they still call it Sunday school even though it is on Saturday!), we visited a main Hindu Temple. It is the place where all the bodies in Kathmandu are cremated. When you walk in you can smell the burning bodies (they put the bodies on top of burning wood) and flowers (the bodies are covered with flowers to mask the smell). The ashes are then dumped as a ritual into the river. There is a bridge that divides the areas of cremation, one for lower class and the other side for royalty and high military officials.

Sunday the team went out to a village to do it's first day of street ministry and evangelism. I stayed behind at the hotel because I got sick again (or still). They had a great first day of ministry and I slept 5 hours. Good news, I started feeling better the next day. Thank you for your prayers.

Every day since we have gone into different villages and shared the gospel. The students have shared already with many people, with people praying the prayer of salvation everyday. We are making a very serious effort to then put those people in touch with a local church (which isn't very easy because there aren't very many). Our students are super excited about doing the street ministry and sharing their faith. I especially enjoy discovering which of the students truly have the gift of evangelism. They courage and faith is humbling to witness. Other of the students really are drawn to and have a heart for the children in the village. The laughter is contagious and beautiful.

Today we went to a school (it's now Friday, I started writing this post on Tuesday) to perform our street ministries with about 1200 students. And we went to an orphanage to love on the young children there. It was an amazing day of ministry for me. We did not have many opportunities to share the Gospel, but for those of you who know me well, know that I do not like ministry with young children. To put it bluntly, it is not where I am passionate or gifted. However, I am a firm believer that God gifts you with what you need to do the work He calls you to. I LOVED the time at the orphanage. I painted one girls nails, and then played a game with a handful of other girls. I took great pleasure in exaggerating my emotions to make them laugh. We then spent some time making balloon creations for and with them (I say creations because there were not very many recognizable animals being made). There was so much laughter and fun that kids from the surrounding neighborhood were peering in. How often to kids want to be at the orphanage. Yah, it was cool.

The last few days have also proved to be challenging health wise with many of our students suffering from bad times in the bathroom, or as I like to refer to it, there choo choo is coming way to often. We also have had several with colds and bad congestion. Not to mention the motion sickness that comes from the combination of the crazy bus rides everyday and the terrible pollution (you don't know pollution until you can feel the grit between your teeth just from breathing the air).

Okay, I know that this has been super long. Hopefully I will be able to do updates more frequently and so will be shorter. For now I will leave you with three facts about Nepal.

1. There are more temples (Hindu and Buddhist) than there are homes in Kathmandu.
2. Festivals are a big part of the Hindu religion. There are more festivals than there are days in the year.
3. There are about 30 million people that live in Nepal. There are more false gods being worshiped in Nepal than there are people. (Good News, there are roughly 6,000 Christian Nepalese people in Kathmandu!!!)

Thank you for your prayers for the team and me as we continue to bring a light to these dark lands.

Blessings and Love,
Mags