Being the feet of Jesus and partnering with church planters in the Himalayas

Ministry this month has been challenging, exciting, exhausting, and fun. We are living a dream. Our prayers were answered and our team is living in the Himalayan mountains for the month with a YWAM (Youth with a Mission) team. We all sleep in the same room in a house with our hosts with yummy food they prepare us and a rooftop and balconies with gorgeous views of the mountains, clouds, and nearby town/ villages. It really is surreal. I feel like I need to pinch myself on the regular. I’m almost positive this is my favorite month on the Race so far. I’m so grateful that we as a team get to live in somewhat forced community because it’s months like these that really develop and bond a team and I SO wanted that for Team Valor. So, thanks Lord, for this gift of a month for that is what it is, a GIFT from our Father above who loves us.

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
??James? ?1:17

Week 1 we arrived and had a couple days of rest to get adjusted and we met our team for the month:

Two YWAM married couples, each with one child each (a newborn boy and a 3-year-old diva of a girl)

Two single female YWAM ladies

Our faithful female translator

2 male seminary students from Hong Kong who speak amazing English

That’s right. Our team of 7 expanded to a team of 14. And it’s been so darn GOOD. We have grown very close in just 2 short weeks. We all mourned the loss of our female translator and 2 Hong Kong students after the 2nd week and it’s honestly not the same without them for this last week. It still never ceases to amaze me how you can get so close to other brothers and sisters in Christ so fast, even despite language barriers. That’s the power of our Lord: creating and strengthing bonds within the body at Godspeed, literally.

So, for the first week, we went on a bumpy, car-sickness inducing bus ride to a remote village. It took us 4-5 hours to arrive as the roads were awful with rain and there were trucks lined up that we had to wait behind to cross the rough terrain. We honestly thought we were gonna end up spending the night in the bus but eventually, we were able to make it to our destination, which was closer than our original intended location. Plan change! Pretty typical on the Race; you just learn to go with it 🙂  So, we partnered with the local pastor there and stayed in his church on our sleeping pads in the room with lots of windows and no curtains or any semblance of privacy. Village children peeking in at all hours of the day was normal.

We hiked 1-3 hours daily each way to various remote areas in the mountains to do house fellowship ministry. We basically visited different houses, shared a sermon or encouraging word, were fed generously by them, and then moved on to another house. We were visiting believers in unreached areas who had to travel 1-2 hours to get to the nearest church and needed discipleship and encouragement. It’s against the law to openly share the gospel in Nepal so our hosts preferred we do house fellowship with believers versus evangelism to unbelievers. We got exercise, were challenged to prepare sermons/ messages, and returned home exhausted every day. That good kind of exhaustion that means you did something worthwhile.  

“Look, there on the mountains, the feet of one who brings good news, who proclaims peace!”
??Nahum? ?1:15?a

Side note #1: “Near” can mean any distance ranging from 100 feet to 1-2 miles away. If your host says the destination is “near”, expect to walk/ hike for at least 45 minutes.

Side note #2: Hike= bus = truck = walk = moto (motorcycle). So, when your host tells you that you will walk 1-2 hours to arrive to the house, that “walk” could entail any combination of walking (over rocky, rough, steep terrain so in essence, hiking), hiking, riding on a bus (usually for 1-5 minutes so it’s not really worth your while), hitching a ride on a truck bed (because why not??) or holding on for dear life on a motorcycle (literally: I held on and contracted every muscle in my body so as to not fall off; 3 people on a moto is illegal for a reason; it’s hardest when going uphill not to fall off) without helmets, of course, while going entirely too fast up or down a rocky, unpaved mountain road.

Side note #3: Unreached people are very aptly named as it’s actually physically hard to reach them. The fact that they hike 1-2 hours on rough, rocky terrain weekly just to attend church puts us Americans to shame. Heck, sometimes I don’t want to drive 10 minutes to church, let alone hike in the heat for hours!

One evening, the Pastor notified us that a young girl and her mother were here at the church (our home for the week) and needed prayer at 9:30 pm at night. So, instead of going to bed, our team divided into two groups and one group counseled the mother on salvation and the reason for evil spirits (we believe she had evil spirits in her and she’d admitted to witchcraft and to putting a curse on her daughter) and one group prayed over the daughter (who was sick and cursed and not acting right). My teammate is gifted in this area and led the charge and killed it. The mother ended up accepting Christ after extensive counseling and gospel presentation by the Pastor, our translator, and my teammates. The 10-year-old daughter was healed and started acting normal again and was our sweet companion for 24 hours before we left. Such a cool thing to witness and be a part of and it was after scheduled ministry hours. As they say, life is ministry and ministry is life. All glory be to the Lord!

The second week, we returned to our house with our YWAM hosts. We served at the same church all week and each preached and did activation with questions after each message. We each had to step out and be bold and create sermons and deliver them. It was challenging but so good. It’s so amazing how each person’s message and writing/delivery style is so different. That’s the beauty of the body. Each person is so unique in how they think and what the Spirit inspires them to write/ say! I’m proud of my Valor ladies for stepping out of the boat this month in sermons: y’all are rocking it!

Our last two days, we had two people accept Christ. It was so beautiful and extra special, because originally I had preached the gospel message and felt kinda foolish at the end, because the Pastor said that everyone there was already saved. But, it was so sweet to see the Lord use us and our messages to work saving faith in these two people’s hearts. And it was such a gift from Him that we were able to witness it and reap the harvest. Because, so often, we don’t get to see the fruit of our efforts. We ended our last day with Communion. Sprite and cookies: ya make do with what you got 😉 And after the service, my teammate Danielle was able to lead a lady with evil spirits to the Lord (the 2nd convert) since she’d been on Danielle’s heart all week and Danielle was faithful to obey the gentle nudging from the Lord after ministry was technically finished! As a final treat, a church member climbed a fig tree to toss down figs to us as we stared up in awe of his generosity. We’d just inquired as to what kind of fruit it was and next thing we knew, he was up the tree, determined to obtain the ripe fruit so we could try it. This is ministry. This is Nepal.

Our last ministry is to our hosts. We are advised to help carry some of their load and to leave them more encouraged when we leave than when we arrived. So, we pour into them. Wearing them down and helping clear/ wash dishes even though they typically insist on doing it. Playing games with them and teaching them games despite the language barrier. Deep chats about ministry hardships and life for believers in Nepal. Learning Nepali words and laughing with them as we mispronounce everything. Helping make 100+ momos (local Nepali dumplings) in the kitchen one Sabbath. Playing with and holding their children. Visiting in the evening and just enjoying each other’s company. Taking funny pictures on our phones together and laughing because we can’t always understand each other but a picture is worth a thousand words, right? Thank the good Lord for social media filters: crossing language barriers one ridiculous photo at a time!

My teamie Christa has befriended the landlord of our house despite significant language barriers. The lady is full of joy and laughs over everything and it’s been neat to bond with her since she knows very little English. I’m learning that hand gestures and love from the heart goes farther than you think and communication doesn’t always require conversing in the same language. Plus, it’s an added challenge to bond with someone without knowing their language 🙂

We’ve helped her strip her legumes from the vines, herd goats inside, and Christa’s massaged her aching muscles (from heavy lifting, cooking). She’s given us cooking lessons and fed us traditional Nepali food and tea and I cherish her ear-to-ear smile and melodic, contagious laugh. She even wants Christa and I to marry her sons, who are chefs 🙂

Nepal is like coming home for me. Literally, it is so close/ similar to India and that is my heritage. The mountains are so good for my soul. The people we’ve had the privilege to bond with and our dear dear hosts/ YWAM team feed my soul even more. I don’t want to leave. This chunk of my heart may be the biggest yet that I will have to leave behind in this beautiful country with its even more beautiful people. The Lord is good and I am so thankful to be able to live and do life with remarkably young (ages: 18,19,21,22,24,33) Nepali believers on fire for the Lord and be grafted into their family for this month. Thank you my dear friends for showing me a little more of Jesus’ heart by how you live your lives and how you have loved us so well. I’m sure the Lord is already preparing our special room in heaven for our YWAM/ Hong Kong/ WR Valor family as you’ve requested. ??

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!””
??Isaiah? ?52:7? ?

If you have read this blog in its entirety, you are amazing. Thanks for faithfully reading and supporting me!