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.