Day One Down

Well we officially have one full day down in Nepal. I can honestly say this trip has a different feel to it. Not that I am not thoroughly enjoying myself, but it’s just different. I will explain more later.

We woke up (early of course), but I was amazed at the amount of sleep we got for our first night.

Yesterday we spent the day getting acclimated to the city. We visited the Monkey Temple (it was hot!) and found we were all jet lagged and out of breath! We moved on to the biggest Hindu Temple where we saw people burning loved ones, carrying family down the river to be burned, and worshiping a huge bronze/gold ox. We were not actually allowed to go in since we were tourists, but we viewed it from the outside (actually we had to try and see around the cows blocking the entrance!). At one point I thought we lost Ansley, but when I turned around Ansley was stuck in the middle of an Indian family having a photo shoot. They loved her!

We took rest and drank some coke at what is soon to be the “former” Awana Nepal office, and headed to the Palace Museum. I love museums and had a great time learning about the history of the monarchy in Nepal and the massacre that took place. Read about it! I won’t go into details. We went to KFC afterwards and lit our belly’s on fire!

Then Prabin (the Awana missionary in Kathmandu) took us back to the hotel where we freshened up and then walked the streets shopping. I really missed my Mom today. I had a hard time getting back into bargaining and couldn’t find our regular shops. Parker was getting us into trouble using the word “dollars” instead of “rupees”. He told one man “one thousand dollars” and the man quickly and excitedly yelled “DEAL!!!!!”

We kept asking if people knew Big Mama, and one guy cracked us up. Parker said, “You know Debra? Big Mama? She’s short with gray hair?” He said excitedly, “Big Mama? Short? Gray Hair?” We said, “YES! YES!” He said, “No, do not know her.” Then Parker said, “She’s sassy!” He proceeded to say, “Big Mama, short, grey hair, and SEXY!” Oh boy! We clarified and continued our journey.

We ate supper at another nice restaurant called Kilroy’s. I had spaghetti, which has left the strangest taste, but was a nice surprise.

Today we are visiting an Awana club in the morning and hosting the first ever event at the new Hope Center. I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am about this Hope Center. I hope to post some pictures and updates so those of you who have heard me speak about it will get some details.

It has been so clear to me that God has a lot to show me these next 32 days while we are here. I can feel him working, whispering, and giving me a hint about what’s to come. I have no idea what this next month has in store, but I know God does. He has it all planned out, and has big plans for us. Please pray for us today as we have our first full day of ministry and step out of our comfort zones. We are still having a hard time adjusting , but are all wanting to leave have the biggest impact we can on the lives of the Nepali people.