To the Mon and Back

So, as I'm writing this, it's the last full day that I'm going to be in Nepal - the day after, we fly home. Before I left Vancouver, six weeks seemed like such a long time but it's crazy how fast the time has gone for me. I've learned so much about myself and who I am in God, I'm constantly praising God for hand picking me to go on this trip and be His hands and feet here in Nepal, reaching out to His people that He loves so desperately. This summer has been amazing for me and I've been trying to think of a word that can describe it... after praying about it, I've realized that this summer has been a summer of grace for me. God's grace is undescribable and as I'm sitting here writing this, I'm thinking about His grace and that I don't deserve it, I can't work to achieve it, through God's love for me, He has given it to me. Coming into this summer, I set myself up with such high expectations of what I was going to do this summer, of how many people that I would reach out to and lead to Christ. The standards that I set for myself are always high and if I don't at least meet them or exceed them, I feel like I've let myself down. After a couple of days of ministry and feeling very frustrated and discouraged, I went to God in prayer and just cried out. Now that I'm at the end of the trip, I've realized that the standards that I've set for myself, I can work as hard as I can but sometimes I won't meet them and now I've realized that that's O.K. God has set the standard's high for us but now matter how hard we work, we're not going to meet them - we don't deserve His grace but He gives it to us anyway. Looking back on this summer and not having led anyone to Christ, I've realized that I'm O.K. with that. The people that I've come across and met this summer, I was meant to meet them - God always has a bigger plan and a purpose.

So, over the past couple of days, we've done quite a bit and seen quite a bit of Nepal. We were able to go on a 4 hour trek through the Himalayas and it was STUNNING - as I was trekking, I couldn't believe what I was seeing - it was just so breath taking and while I was taking all of this in, I just kept marvelling at how beautiful and perfect God's creation is - my Father created all of that - I just kept thinking about verses that describe the work of God's hands and how beautiful and perfect it is - seeing all that we saw in the Himalayas really made me keep thinking about His creation and at how blessed I was to see it. The day before, we had the privledge of going to a Leper's Colony and spending some time with them there - we were told that they didn't speak Englsh at all and that it was probably going to be a little awkward at first so before we got there, I was praying that God would give us all boldness and that we would be able to push past that awkwardness and establish some relationships and when we were talking later that night, I realized that we were all deeply affected and influenced by the time that we spent there. Before going, we had gone out and got some treats to take to them (like juice boxes, candy, and lotion to rub on their hands) and it was amazing to see their faces light up when we sat done and just spent some time with them. I was really affected by the time that I spent with a couple of them - after putting Lotion on one man's hands and arms, he turned to me and said something that I got translated which turned out to be 'I want to thank you for travelling so far to spend time with me - if I hadn't gotten leprosy, I never would have met you' - I was so moved by that and realized that time is the best gift that I can give to some and what a blessing it is. When these people got Leprosy, they were considered 'Untouchables', so the fact that we were rubbing lotion on them and just touching them really moved them as some of them hadn't had anyone touch them for 80 years... I had the opportunity to spend time with one woman and hear her testimony and it just broke my heart. She's been a Christian for most of her life which was amazing to hear but what got me was that when she first got Leprosy, her parents didn't outcast her but when she accepted Jesus Christ into her life, that was when her parents kicked her out - she was such an amazing person to meet and her faith in Jesus just amazed me - she said that whatever happened, she would never give up her faith in God. We later performed for them and it was just such a gift to see them smiling and clapping and just enjoying themselves - we were all moved by them and didn't want to leave but we eventually had to. Later that day, we were able to go to an orphanage where about 20 kids are currently living - it was just such a treat to play with these kids and see their smiles - we were able to perform for them also and the biggest hit was the Puppets, some kids just wanted to hug the puppets constantly and dance with them and never let them go. The kids were so playful and joyful and we just ad such an amazing time loving on them and caring for them! Today is our last day in Kathmandu where we are going to one of our translators houses and meeting his 5 kids that he's adopted and raising on his own and then have our last day of Street Ministry here - tomorrow morning, we are going to a city called Pohkara for a week and then we are returning to Kathmandu for a week of debriefing... I can't believe this trip is already half over - I love Nepal so much and I'm just going to keep on enjoying the time that we have left here!

So, for the time that I've spent in Nepal so far, I've been thinking about Jeremiah 29:11 A LOT! "For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a hope and a future". It's just such a powerful verse for me and it's a constant reminder that it's not a mistake that I'm here in Nepal, God has a plan and a purpose for me and each member of the team. He hand picked each one us and blessed us with talents and abilities that we can use here in Nepal to constantly bring Honor and Glory to His name. When we're doing Street Ministry and reaching out to the people in the villages, the scripture is even more evident then - we have the opportunity to reach out to people that are lost and feel that they don't have a hope or are questioning why they're even here. It's such a privledge to be able to share the Word of God and be able to explain to them that through Him, they can experience a love that is so powerful, one can't even begin to fathom how great and powerful it is... I love the fact that I get to explain that with God, you can surrender all to Him and experience hope... I've had the opportunity to pray with some people and even though they didn't accept Christ into their lives right at the moment, the seed was planted and all I can do is leave the results up to God. It's in my prayers that the people that I was able to pray for that didn't want to accept Christ into their lives right away, will feel convicted to accept that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and that His word is the Truth, and that with a relationship with Him, they can discover that God has a plan and a purpose for each one of them...
This morning, we were able to go to a church service and it was just such a privledge and a joy to be able to worship our amazing God with them - even though we have a language barrier, we were created by the same God and we were all there lifting His name on High... it's so amazing to see their passion for God - they have such a hunger to know more about Him, it's contagious... they are such Leaders in their community and I pray that they are constantly walking in His light and striving to be more like Him, so that when people encounter them, they encounter God too... this afternoon we were able to go to the biggest church in the city of Kathmandu to attend the Youth Service and perform Dance and Drama for them, and what a treat that was! I love the fact that our Dance and Drama Performances can reach out and impact so many people - during the Praise and Worship, I burst into tears - it was the most amazing sight - seeing so many hands raised and hearing everyone sing, was one of the most beautiful sights that I've ever seen - I've come to love the people of Nepal and I just feel such a conviction to reach out and connect with as many people as I can!

So last night was a really powerful night for me - the entire team had the privledge of going on a prayer walk through the entire hotel and just letting the Holy Spirit lead us on what we felt we should prayer for - it was so ridiculous how powerful it was for me - it really amazes me that God doesn't just need our prayers, He wants our prayers so badly and I just felt so convicted to pray for every person in the hotel and across the city of Kathmandu. As my group and I were praying, we had people walking by and giving us the strangest looks but I realized that I didn't care - we included those people in our prayers and it was such a privledge to pray for them... I just feel so convicted to pray for every person that I come across because it's come across my mind, that I might be the first and only person that they encounter that will share Jesus Christ with them... Nepal is a dark place but God's light is shining everywhere that I and the rest of the team goes... today we were able to go to a main touristy sight in Kathmandu that is super big on what Hindus and Buddhists believe - it just made me so sad, my heart was breaking... it was the same thing that we encountered at the Monkey Temple - people felt that they were obligated to be there and they didn't even know WHY... they think that their beliefs is all there is, it's all they know... it's a burden for them to be there... one thing that moved the entire team was that we were able to see a goddess - who is 4 years old... her name is Kumari and she is chosen when she is 3-5... she is not allowed outside of the palace and she is not allowed to smile at people outside for fear that she brings bad luck on them... if she does go outside of the palace for a festivil, she must never touch the ground but must stay inside of a carriage... when she bleeds for the first time, she retires... this blew my mind... people who worship this goddess don't worship the same goddess, every few years she will change - it's sad that they feel they have to worship these gods even knowing that they won't answer their prayers or protect them... this afternoon we were able to go to an orphanage and what a privledge it was... these kids are so full of life but their background stories were so sad... I realized that the most precious thing that we could give them was our time and attention, and love on them we did... Their smiles were all that we needed to see... I can't believe how impacted I am by this trip... I didn't know why God wanted me to go to Nepal but I'm so glad that I obeyed Him and came here, God is moving in a powerful way and I praise Him for the opportuniy to come here and share with His people, people that He loves and created ad so wants to know! More to come later..

So, I knew being in Nepal wasn't going to be easy - I knew I was going to encounter quite a bit of spiritual warfare and people being so lost by worshipping false gods. However, a couple of days ago, we went to go and watch an animal sacrifice - for me, this was unbelievably difficult to watch. I prayed a couple of days before we went that God would break my heart for what breaks His and He did, He so answered that prayer... it wasn't so much that it wasn't a true sacrifice that got me (it truly was just a blood sacrifice), it was seeing so many sacrifices and so much blood spilled for so many false gods. When I first saw the statues for the sacrifices, my initial reaction was how these people could think that these were gods - it was horrific - there were burnt sacrifices of fruit and other sacrifices of chickens and goats. But what got me was that this seemed like a joke to most people, it seemed that they were doing it out of pure obligation since it's what they were raised on. We've done Street Ministry for the past few days and for me, it seems like young people especially don't see the point on what their parents have raised them on - they don't want to be apart of it anymore... I've had the opportunity to pray with people because they don't see the point and they are so lost. Today was an eye opening day for Ministry for me - I was able to talk to a woman who was apart of a church for a year but she had to stop going because she was forced to stop going by her community - she's been going to a Temple for awhile now and she says that the Spirits seem the same to her - she knows that worshipping false gods will do nothing for her but she feels discouraged by her community and doesn't want to go back to having Jesus Christ in her life. She and her entire community are going to be in my prayers. One of the craziest sights for me happened yesterday - I was able to talk to a lady who is the head of a Hindu Church and she believes that she is a goddess (a Snake God, specifically) - she is so set on her ways but her daughter wanted to know more about God - she was so HUNGRY to know more about God that she didn't want us to leave - we talked to a pastor and he is going to take her to church! God is moving through us and it's just so amazing!

Before Royal Servants sends out the teams on their Missions Trip, they have all the teams come together on a hayfield for a week of training - I say 'hayfield' because that's what it is - it's a hayfield that we camp on for a week. I didn't have any expectations whatsoever of what Training Camp was going to be like but I didn't expect it to be like that - as soon as we got there, a Royal Servants staff member came on our bus and said 'We believe in you more than you believe in yourself'; I really didn't know what to think of that until I saw the rows of tents where we would be staying for our training and my first initial reaction was 'Oh my goodness, what have I gotten myself into?' I knew that the week I was going to be there training was going to stretch me and it did - but looking back on it, I wouldn't have had it any other way because if I hadn't been uncomfortable and out of my elements, I wouldn't have gone to God even close to the amount that I did and my relationship with Him wouldn't have strengthened as a result of just the Training. Training Camp definitely takes you out of your element - you're woken up at 5:30 in the morning, you have 5 minutes to get ready and then you run your obstacle course as a way to start your day - I have to be honest, I wasn't a fan at first because I didn't like having to get up in the morning and run but the obstacle course wasn't about that - it was about building your team members up - God was constantly moving through us at Traning Camp a lot but this was one moment where I think everyone was seeing it - His kindness, His encouragment was just flowing through out each person when they were completeing the obstacle course. After breakfast and Praise and Worship, we had what was called 'Quiet Time' with God - this was one of my favorite parts of the day at Training Camp just because I got to spend an hour and a half alone with God, having Him reveal Himself through His word and just constantly praying to Him for strength and perseverance. One of the things that I loved about the Training was all the teachings that you got, to prepare you for overseas - before the Training, I don't know how comfortable I would feel sharing my faith but now I feel so equipped - the days at Training Camp were a lot like that - get up early, breakfast, Praise and Worship, Quiet Time, Lunch, Teaching, Dinner, Praise and Worship, Teaching but through all of it, I really felt that I was getting strenghthened in my relationship with God. I was so out of my element at first, I had the bare necessities to get me by, I didn't have a comfortable bed, it was HOT, I didn't get a shower for 5 days but it really makes me realize how blessed I am because of God and it really makes me appreciate the little things in life, like a simple summer breeze.
So, after the Training was over, we left the hayfield, did a last minute Walmart run, stayed over night at a GORGEOUS church and left the next day - I wasn't looking forward to this flight - I can barely handle 2 hours and this was going to be a 14 hour flight to New Delhi, India, a 10 hour layover, and then a 75 minute flight to Kathmandu - the flights were O.K. though, not to bad - we had all the movies that we could watch on the plane and some pretty decent food too - the layover was long but to be honest, all I wanted to do was sleep and then watch some soccer at the airport - the flight to Kathmandu was interesting though - right when we were about to take off, the pilot had to slam on the brakes because there were some birds on the runway - it turns out that there weres some other problems on the plane and we were stuck for another 2 hours while engineers had to figure it out...
All is well though because I... am... in... Nepal! When we got through customs at the airport and got all our luggage loaded (which was an interesting experience because everyone wanted to help us (they were looking for tips) and we didn't know where to go because the traffic over here is crazy (literally, there are no lanes so you go wherever you go), we left the airport and started to drive to Nepal... my first reaction to Kathmandu was that it was GORGEOUS but definitely poverty stricken - what broke my heart for the first time was that I found out that where we are staying right now is the NICEST part of Kathmandu, even with all the poverty (another thing that broke my heart is the annual income for people here is $463 a year - that definitely made me think about how I spend my money)... so we get to our hotel and get our bags in our room and we all wanted to do something but we were all so jetlagged that all we could do was go out to dinner and then go to bed.
So, the next morning we get up and have our breakfast (the hotel staff is letting us cook all our meals on the roof which means we have a GORGEOUS view of Kathmandu while we are up there) and had another teaching - this teaching was a bit different though because it was talking about false gods and this was to prepare us because we were going to a Buddhist and Hindu temple called the Monkey Temple. I prayed to God that He would break my heart for what was breaking His - in Nepal, there are 25,000,000 people and there are 30,000,000 false gods - there are more false gods here than there are people... that moved me to tears... we get to the Temple and there are 365 stairs to climb - along the way, we had people begging us for money and selling us stuff already - the whole time that I was in the Temple, all I could think of was the story in John 2 when Jesus drives out all the people selling stuff and exchanging money - this was exactly what this Temple was like - there were people selling stuff, there were money exchangers, there were beggars - people were more interested making money off people than worship - this was not a happy place - there was no worship - it looked like these people's beliefs were a burden to them - all I could think was that these people were worshipping for pretty much nothing - they're worshipping false gods - their gods can't protect them or hear their prayers or get them out of trouble. I'm sure that what I felt in anger was 1 millionth was God has always been feeling.
Today though, was a whole different story - we went to a Nepali Christian Church and what a difference! The people that came here were HUNGRY for God - they had such a passion, it was intense - all the time, their arms were up in worship and they were praising God. One cool thing in this church, is that they all pray at once - loud loud prayers to God - at the Buddhist and Hindu Temple, they had these prayer wheels that they spun that prayed for thousands of things at once but there was no joy to it - it should be an HONOR to praise God and lift your burdens to Him - He wants you to go to Him so bad! It made me sad at the Temple that the kids who were there, that was how they were going to be raised - it made me sad to realize that they didn't know that there is another way. That's why I feel so convicted to be here and share the Gospel and my faith - we were called here by God as disciples to spread His word and give people the opportunity to come and know Christ - it's crazy to think that I might be a small part in changing someone's eternity.
One of the things that struck me as awesome about the Nepali church is that they pray so much - they started with 5 minutes in January and are now up to 35 minutes a day - by Dec., they will pray for an hour every day - it's definitely making me think...
The weather here is hot, humid, and rainy but I love it - same with the food... I miss you guys so much and I can't wait to update you again!
Love love love you guys!
~Monica

It's now 12:45 A.M. June 25th - the first thing that comes to mind is that in 11 hours, I will be on my plane going to Chicago for a week for Training and from there, 5 weeks in Nepal. There's definitely been a lot of mixed emotions for me - obviously, a big one is excitement but another was almost a sadness - for me, it was my last WF, my last Sunday Service, and my last day at work for 6 weeks - I know that on this trip I will be praising God constantly for all that He has blessed me with in Canada but as I'm sitting here writing this, I'm just completely blown away for that God has done for me in my life during these past 3 years. He's blessed me with an amazing church family, He's blessed me with an amazing job, I've gotten saved, I've gotten baptized, I've gotten baptized in the Holy Spirit. I know that this trip is an absolute blessing from God - I know that if I hadn't made the decision to give Him control of my life, I would most likely not be going on this trip. I truly have no idea why I'm going to Nepal, I've never had any intention of going there - all I know is that while I was looking through the website of the organization that I'm traveling with, I felt God tell me to go to Nepal. I didn't know what to think at that moment but I know that I trust in God with all my heart and that any doubts I have in my mind, He is bigger and stronger than all of them. I'm praying that God prepares my eyes and heart for what I'm going to see and encounter there; I'm praying that in whatever situation that I'm faced with in Nepal, that God will put on my heart what He wants me to say/do, whether that be prayer, a hug, or just a smile. I'm praying that God will work through me in Nepal and that the people will experience and encounter His love through me. For me, it is such a blessing to be a blessing to others - to have the chance to be the hands and feet of God. I know that God has a plan and a purpose for me on this trip - I'm so stoked to be able to find out what it is.