Our Most Difficult Day in Nepal

Our final night in Nepal was probably the hardest for me. In fact, I selfishly thought, “I could have done without this last night.” Why? I felt helpless, and broken.

Gajendra took us to a church in an area that is not considered an official slum, yet the children were like the slum children. What I mean is their parents are carpet factory workers, brick makers, and other workers who made next to nothing after long days of work and lived in conditions you could never imagine where we live. Some woke up each day searching for work just to come home with nothing.

We arrived, parked on a dirt road, and had to walk down a muddy alley to get to the church. The church looked like a dried mud building that had two very small rooms. One was used as the church, and one was used for a family who served as “watchmen” for the church. This is typically the case for churches. They allow a family to live in a room that is behind, beside, or a part of the church to keep watch over it.  Usually it is a very simple, small room without a “bathroom” or shower.

Before arriving we learned a little about the pastor from Gajendra.  The pastor and his wife are volunteers for Awana Nepal. He used to pastor a different church, but decided to break off and plant a brand new church in an area that needed it more. The pastor found land, and started to build the church. He ran out of money, so he sold his motorbike, the only form of transportation for the family.

The church has been up and running for close to a year currently has ten believers/members, and thirty children on any given week with sixty attending tution classes every night at the church. The pastor told us that he is beginning to get discouraged but we quickly reminded him that the parents will come. Keep on using the kids to reach their families.

As for the kids? Here are some of their stories.

This little girl was asleep on the floor when we walked in. She was dead asleep. Nothing moved her. Kids would grab her and drag her out of the way. Gajendra told us many kids barely have room to sleep and cannot rest at home, so they stretch out  in the church and fall asleep exhausted. This particular girls parents are both HIV positive. She hasn’t been tested, but odds are she possibly is, too. Her dad passed away, and her mother remarried. Her stepdad then raped her sister who is not much older than she is. It took a while for the little girl to share and for the stepdad to get caught. But he did, and was finally put in jail. As far as the little girl? She was “rescued” and taken from her family in order to protect her.

As for this cutie, as soon as we walked in the door she put a HUGE smile on her face and ran straight for me. She threw her arms completely around me and held on tight. To be honest, I almost made myself pass out holding the tears in as she held on to me. She had the most beautiful smile and eyes. I know she is not smiling in this picture, and often the kids do not. But she is beautiful. Her little belly reveals the malnourishment that she and many of these kids face. She lives in the small room attached to the church building with her mom. The humble room has one small “bed” and a small burner for a stove. That’s it. Her father passed away not long before, and her mom has not been able to find work. She leaves each day searching for a job, and sometimes is able to make enough money for food. Her son was taken from her and put in an orphan home because she could not provide for him. My heart sank. From what I hear about the orphan homes in Nepal, I pray he was put in a good home. I am hoping and praying that the mother will find work, be reunited with her son, and not lose the only family she has left in this sweet, little girl. 

The night we spent with this group was like any other night in Nepal. We played games, sang songs, did a craft, passed out snacks, and told them about Jesus. But this group was different. I felt like they grabbed my heart and refuse to let go. I cannot get them out of my mind.

As we got back to Gajendra’s, Parker felt the same way. We wanted to leave everything we had with them. We wanted to save the little girl and her mom living in the church from a life of poverty. We wanted to give them money. We wanted to find her big brother. We wanted to keep her from being put in an orphan home.

I felt helpless.

They are just like many of the other people in Nepal that have grabbed my heart.

They are poor; yet, rich. They are hungry; yet, filled. They have little; yet, are content.

Why?         

They are happy. They have joy. They have hope. They are blessed.

But how can they be blessed?

Because people like this pastor and his wife, who have very little themselves, pour their hearts and lives into serving them. They have loved them, cared for them, and taught them about Jesus and grace.

That’s it. They have Jesus.

And they have realized, Jesus is all they need.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3

Laterblog: "Sir, may I go to toilet?"

Well, this blog has been a long time coming, and it’s a long one. In Nepal, tutoring is referred to as “tution,” which completely threw us off at first! So here’s what a typical tution class looked like.

 The kiddos would arrive and stand at the door (shoes off) and would ask, “Sir, may I come in?” They would stand there with prayer hands until we said yes. Then, they would run in and have a seat on a very thin mat on a hard floor. In fact, Parker got so tired of answering their questions and giving them permission that he yelled, “No one ask to come in, JUST COME IN!” Too bad they only know a few phrases in English and didn’t understand him (heehee).

We let the kids get started on their own, and then we would work with them and answer questions. Several times kids just showed up and didn’t even have any books with them. These were typically kids that went to the government schools, not the private schools. Any kid that can afford it goes to a private school in Nepal because the government schools just don’t cut it here. A few times Rachel and Timothy (Gajendra’s children) would interpret for us. They were a HUGE help. SO many times Rachel or Timothy would say, “They want you to teach them English.” Parker served as our English expert, and I served as the math expert. I enjoyed watching him teach the alphabet and trying to come up with words they are familiar with hahaha.

The kiddos would work for a while, and then we would allow them to go outside and play when they finished up. However, they will not leave until asking, “Sir, may I go outside?” or “Sir, may I leave?”

We learned one of their little tricks. Sometimes many kids would ask at the same time, “Ma’am, may I go to toilet?” It was like a chain reaction! Obviously 10 kids could not fit in the toilet at the same time (nor would I recommend it as I often had to use the toilet). We realized the “toilet” excuse is often just like it is at home, and is just a way to get out of class. We often would see the kids chasing after chickens or bunnies, and not exactly “in the toilet.”

Then there’s the names. We tried our best to learn their names, but some of the names were so crazy we gave up! Then we had exchanges like this quite often:

            “What’s your name?”

            “My name is Nischal!”

            “Oh, Knee-Shawl!”

            “NO! Knee-Shawl!”

This went on back and forth as we would repeat their name ten times, exactly as they were saying it! They would start screaming it louder and louder to us (as if that helped). Then by the tenth time either they finally realized we said it right the past ten times, or they gave up. They would do the head bobble and calmly say, “Yes,” like nothing ever happened.

This whole idea of “tution” classes is an approach that Awana Nepal is starting to take. The government needs to know what Awana is doing “community service” wise for the country other than just teaching them about Jesus. Not only does tutoring attract the kids and families to church, but it also touches an area that is extremely competitive and important to parents and officials in Nepal: education.

Once the Hope Center is built, they will offer these same classes throughout the week. They will also feed the children a few times a week, and mix in a little Jesus at the same time. I am so excited that we were able to hold the first tutoring sessions for the Hope Center. We were able to see just exactly what the needs are when it comes to supplies and teaching methods, even the small things like flash cards. No one had any flash cards or really knew what they were!

After the last night the Pastor said parents were really upset that we were leaving. They said the classes were too short, and two weeks is not enough time! They said we need to keep holding the classes, because they can already see a huge difference in their children and they need us. How cool is that! A lot of these parents were still working while their kids walked to tutoring, so they don’t have the time to help. They need the community. It takes a village.

We started with about 18 kids, and ended with 60 on the last night. What a dramatic increase! Parker credits it to bringing his American football for them to play with. I credit it to my "nail-painting extravaganza," which is funny because I can barely paint my own nails. Who knows, but all I can say is that tution, American football, and running wild attracted sixty kids the final night as we shared the Gospel. Isn’t that what it’s all about? A great number of these kids are Hindu, and even more do not attend the church. Some are brick worker children, one of the poorest groups in Nepal. In fact, one Hindu girl, who does not attend church, chose to “win a prize” by memorizing and explaining the Gospel Bracelet after just learning it five minutes before.

At the end of the day, 18 kids stood up wanting to put their faith in Jesus. We do not know exactly what they learned, or what exactly they understood; however, as Gajendra said when we left, “We commit these children unto thy hands.”

A Cow Just Slapped Me in the Face

Yep. You read that right. Actually, it was just the cow’s tail. But if you think of the tail of a cow in a third world country, that’s not something people run around and get excited about. Especially since there were huge “cow patties” spread all around the cow.

Here’s the story. Today we were walking to the Hope Center (like we do each morning that the office is open). The walk is about 10 minutes. We cut through some narrow dirt roads, cross some trash piles, and each day we come to a small, grassy area we have to cut across. Yesterday they were plowing the field and put up a sign in Nepali that we are assuming says, “Do not walk on the field.” So we have to make do with a very small raised portion of grass in between two plowed fields for now (a bit wider than a balance beam). As we crossed the field, we came across a cow having their morning breakfast. The cow was right in the middle of our path blocking our way completely. The cows here don’t care if they are in your way, and they don’t budge for anything. So as we tried to walk around, everyone made it safely. Then it was my turn. I decided to go as quickly as I could, and wouldn’t you know it, right as I went behind the cow’s booty, he swooped up his tail and nailed me right in the face. This wasn’t a light tap or brush of the face. That tail NAILED me. It swooped all the way across my face, lips, everything! As I tell my ever so loving husband that the cow’s tail slapped me in the face, he starts laughing and says, “That was a really stinky cow too.”

So here I am...I have been cow-tail-slapped, and I have no way to wash it off for now. It’s actually really funny when you think about it, and I can’t help but laugh and smile as I type this. It is what it is...mark that one off the bucket list.

On to a more serious note. I ended our previous blog with, “To Be Continued.” The last observation we made in Pokhara was, “Holding a conversation about Jesus is a huge challenge.” In Pokhara, we ate at a hotel’s restaurant where we had previously eaten when we spent just one night there. One of the guys that worked there has to be the one of the friendliest people we have met. His name is Himal, which means “mountain.” Himal is a Hindu, and the man who runs the hotel happens to be a pastor in the area. We talked to Himal about the pastor asking him where his church was and all just making small talk. Himal then told us he had been to the pastor’s church. He said he is a very good pastor, and his church was different. He then started to explain the service from a Hindu perspective, much like we would explain a service we attend from a Christian perspective. It sounds like Himal was truly soaking everything in, but he was also very confused. Here's the challenge, Himal knows just enough English to carry on a basic conversation with tourists (taking orders, talking about where they are from, etc), but we were really struggling trying to talk to him about the service. Not only were we struggling telling him about what was going on, we were struggling because Himal is Hindu. Meaning, Himal is used to millions of gods, not just one God. We tried our best, and it was then I had sort of an epiphany. When coming to Nepal, we are often just planting the seed: showing love and starting conversations. However, to truly share Jesus we needed to know how to speak Nepali. We couldn’t explain to Himal in English the difference between our God and his gods. We know how to, but we couldn’t do it. In a way, I was disappointed when we left Himal that night, because I felt like there had to be something more we could do.

Then we both realized that that hotel is the right where Himal needs to be. The pastor has hired Hindu people to work at his hotel, he has the perfect opportunity to build a relationship and gain their trust, and then he gets to invite them to church. How cool is that.

I pray for Himal, and I also pray for the pastor. I do not know the pastor, and I do not know exactly the relationship that he has with his employees, but I can only hope that he will continue to invite Himal to church, and that a revival would break out among those workers in the hotel. I feel like it will only take one, and the rest will follow.

Below is a picture of a god that was carried into the city on a chariot by some of the Hindu people. We got caught in the crowd that night and boy was there a crowd! It looks like a Christmas tree. It actually fell at some point and killed someone. Hence the ropes holding it back. Just as Himal said, everything can be a god. 

"Move over, we need room for one more"

Sorry to disappoint if you are thinking the title means there's a kid on the way or something...

A week ago we spent four days in Pokhara. Pokhara is a major tourist city in Nepal as it provides beautiful and clear views of the Himalayas. Here people can parahawk, trek, boat, and catch a helicopter to try and capture the perfect view of the mountains. Unfortunately, you cannot really see the mountains in the summer and monsoon months as the clouds and haze cover them up. We still caught a few glimpses at times after a rain or early in the morning, but we never could quite capture them on our camera. This is a view from the World Peace Pagoda. The mountains are there, I promise! (I had to do a few color changes in iPhoto so you could see them).

Just a few observations from Pokhara. My intent is not to be offensive; rather, it is to give you some insight on the different cultures we encountered.:

Indian tourists do not have that southern charm. You would not believe the number of times Parker and myself had to move off the sidewalk or jump into a store just to get out of their way. I mean, I have been to India several times and I understand a bit about their culture when it comes to people bumping up against each other and pushing and shoving their way through the crowds, but this was different. There wasn’t a crowd; instead, it was just a group of five or more walking shoulder to shoulder not budging to let one person through. We went to Sarangkot early one morning (4:30 am) to see the sunrise. We got our first row seats, and about twenty minutes later an Indian couple came up and said, “Move over, we need room for one more.” By moving over as they requested, they sat down and partially blocked our view. Holy cow! You could tell it was cultural because after aggravating us they wanted to hold a conversation with us on where we are from, what we are doing, etc. Sometimes it’s hard to be mindful of the culture of others and hold a conversation with someone who just pushed you out of the way, but at the same time you have to. We are the foreigners, and not everyone has the same “acceptable” behaviors as we do.

Chinese tourists take “inside voices” to a whole new level. We laughed and laughed at how loud they could be in even in the restaurants and museums. Regardless, they were having a blast and enjoying taking pictures of the same thing a million times, while also squeezing in a hundred different versions of the same selfie. They also have their own form of bargaining. They bring calculators or iPhones with them and just flash the price at the storeowner. They are very persistent, and usually get a good deal. Hmmm, maybe I should start taking this approach.

Shopping is much more of a hassle. The shop owners were not nearly as friendly as those in Thamel. They would nag you, and say, “Have a look. Looking is free.” So we would walk in, and they were immediately over our shoulder saying, “How much you pay? I give good price. First customer get good price.” Needless to say, they were not “giving good price” and we often left with nothing in our hands. One guy in particular was selling fiddles and drums. He followed us forever nagging Parker (only us, no one else). He even waited for us to get finished with dinner. He kept sneaking up on us out of nowhere when we least expected it. It’s like a shadow, or that nagging kid that always seems to be stepping on your toes.

Beggars are much more prevalent. Being white, the beggars attack you. No matter how cute they are, we know we cannot give them money. One little kiddo, who couldn’t be older than eight, was sitting on the steps of a shop smoking a cigarette. He spotted us, jumped up, and immediately held up some paper in our face asking for money. This happened often, actually. The culture frowns on kids begging for money, and there are even signs stating this. Parents take their kids who appear handicapped and sometimes “frozen” and put a sign in one of their hands asking for money while positioning their other hand palm up and fingers folded over waiting to receive your donation. It’s incredibly sad, and breaks me even more to think about who these kids may work for or how they ended up in the position they are in. But at the same time, I felt there was nothing a little tourist like me could do to help.

Holding a conversation about Jesus is a huge challenge.  This blog is long enough, so this part is to be continued...

Faces of Nepal

All of the tourist shops in Nepal sell playing cards, calendars, and postcards titled, "Faces of Nepal." Why? Just take a look.

The people of Nepal are beautiful.

These are just a few pictures from our Kid's Camp in Damauli.

"Laterblog" from Chitwan

So we haven't been great about this whole blogging thing, but I wanted to share some pictures from Chitwan. Actually, I wanted to post a few videos, but just getting a picture to load here is hard enough! I will do "laterblogs" from the past few weeks. Better late than never!

Chelsey, Ansley, and myself decided to take an "Elephant Bath." If I would have known about the elephant bath earlier, it would have most definitely been on my "Bucket List." I guess I put it on my bucket list, and then marked it off in a matter of 48 hours. Not bad!

To take an elephant bath, we had to rent a lifejacket for 100 rupees (which is about a dollar). This seems cheap, but considering the whole elephant safari wasn't much more than that, it made me laugh a little. And the water was really clear, and not very deep.

Anyway, we walked into the Rapti River in Chitwan right behind our "resort." After the fact that I got into the river and let the elephant spray and dump me several times, I began to wonder about the safety of this river (my OCD self coming out). However, I am thankful I got to experience this! After telling Gajendra about our experience, he decided to let us know that there are lots of crocodiles in the river a little bit further up the stream. YIKES! Anyway, the water was fresh, the elephant was AWESOME, and it was a great way to end our HOT trip to Chitwan.

Excuse the fuzziness...this was actually a picture taken from the video. Maybe I can post the video when we get home!

 

This is of Ansley and Chelsey.  Chelsey's face CRACKS me up! Their elephant was not nearly as mindful and kept dumping them off. 

 

Post monsoon elephant ride followed by an elephant bath. We are looking rough, but it sure was refreshing. I was praising God for the rain! Thanks to our videographer/cameraman Parker Watson for capturing a most excellent experience.

The night we got there we went to a cultural show. The people living in Chitwan are the Tharu people, and they teach tourists a little about the history thru cultural dances. Parker actually wrote a paper about them for his Master's program in an "unreached people group" project. Look them up if you have time! 

I volunteered Parker to dance with them, and of course he didn't hesitate. The video is hilarious. Will definitely be sharing that!

Random Observations from Chitwan

           

We have been a little behind on our blogs. Please forgive us! When we get back every night all we want to do is shower and get in the bed. As I write this we are in Chitwan. Since our last blog we officially moved the Awana Nepal Office to the Hope Center, conducted two kids camps between Pokhara and Kathmandu, rode an elephant, and took an elephant bath.

There’s so much to catch up on, so I will just try to keep it short. Here are a few observations I have made:

Number One: It is hot. Extremely hot. In fact, our room in Chitwan didn’t have working air, and it was possibly 100 degrees last night not long before we went to bed. Our kids camps were hot, and we were gulping water to try to keep cool. Parker and myself had heat rash, but were relieved when the bottom fell out and a cool, monsoon-like rain shower blessed us on our elephant safari. Our cameras got wet, and we were soaked, but I thank God for sending us something to cool our bodies down and leave us stinky but feeling refreshed.

Number Two: When you drink a lot of water, you have to pee. When you have to pee at kids camp, you have to use a squatty potty. I went around back at our first camp, and there were so many kids in line I decided to wait. I came back not long after and the lines were almost completely gone! I had no idea how it got small so fast! Then I saw 5 or 6 boys pile out of one bathroom at one time, and 7 or 8 girls pile out of the other. I guess people like to go to the bathroom in pairs in every country.

Number Three: Nepal has “toilets” not “restrooms”.  Gajendra actually explained this to me. In fact, when it was finally my turn in line, a little boy looked at me and said, “Miss, you have to use toilet?” I said, “Yes, I do!” He said, “Ohhhh, Miss it very stinky.” Hmmm, that can’t possibly be a good sign when the local kids talk about how stinky it is.  I asked if I should hold my nose. He grabbed his nose and said, “Yes, hold nose tight!” Indeed, I did not rest in there. I worked hard for that potty break.

Number Four: No picture could grasp the beauty of Nepal. Whether it be the natural beauty, or the beauty of the people. As we looked at the Himalayas from Pokhara, we all wanted to a picture so we could show everyone back home and gloat over the fact that we saw the mountains. However, we could not get a picture to truly capture what we were seeing. The same is true with our camps, and the other cultural aspects of Nepal. We cannot possibly take a picture and let that tell a story. However, we must soak it all in and write it on our hearts.

Number Five: When it’s hot in the car, you roll the windows down. When you roll the windows down, you get black boogers, filthy clothes/faces, and dirty contacts. Enough said.

While we have been in Nepal I have been keeping track of a “thankful” list. I pull out my phone and type things in as I think of them. The first thing that comes to mind as I write this blog is air conditioning. The power just went out while I am typing (in a “resort” that claims to have all AC rooms and 24 hour electricity), and the room immediately became a sauna. As we rode up to our camp yesterday, two of the missionaries that we have been working with met us there and were staying two more days to conduct an Awana training. We had just been thinking about how our room in Pokhara didn’t have warm water, and how there were ants in the bathroom, etc. Then we asked Babu how they their night was and he said, “It was terrible.” He said their room had no air. I asked if rooms in the area had air, and he said,” Yes, but too expensive.” I suddenly felt thankful for the room I had, and wanted to buy them a room with air for the rest of their lives.

So here we are in Chitwan with power running on a generator that finally kicked in, but no AC.  We are about to eat lunch, and head back to Kathmandu. The ride is long (about 5 hours), and the roads are rough. But we are thankful for the time we had with the kids up this way, and thankful for what God has shown us through the people, nature, and by just thinking about how blessed we truly are.