Smell That?

Well by special request I have been asked to describe the smells of my experience in Nepal so far. The answer is not a simple, short one, but a complex, diverse one. Getting off the plane I tried so hard to take in all the new sights and smells, but failed to notice anything substantially different. The air is so dusty and polluted, that for the first week or so, I had a hard time smelling anything cause my nose was so stopped up. But afterwards I noticed them more. Walking down the street, passing by all the open little shops, restaurants, and rivers. The river was the first smell. It’s basically gross. People bathe there, wash clothes, wash vehicles, and I’m pretty sure all drains lead there, so it smells like sewage. Same with certain fields we pass, one in particular, collects a big manure pile for fertilizer. There are few areas that smell like a dump, and garbage, some places smell like urine, some like fire and smoke, and lots smell immensely of incense.
BUT, there are so many good smells. All the restaurants we pass smell of curry, which I love. I’m learning the smells of many unique spices, lots of chilies, and roasted corn. There is simply so much to take in, but I mostly recognized the yummy spices and food smells, which lure me into their tables and chairs. Good thinking. Hope that description helps a little bit, I’m a huge fan of adjectives, so I’m surprised in this description that I didn’t use very many. ;)

ISOM, and other pictures

ISOM

Guardian Village greeting cards, the kids made

www.guardianvillage.org

Our first grill out with bonfire!

Working on the roof, putting cards together

ISOM discussion

ISOM discussion

Baptism

Well we went yesterday, loaded up the bus, and headed to meet the man we were gonna baptize. It's a nice curvy, bumpy, trek to the spot, and we had a bit of trouble along the way. We had a brake line break, so we went to slow down, and ended up swerving almost right into another bus. The L-rd saved us from a head on collision. We stopped in a little village and got some tea, while the problem was being diagnosed. We had to go to a further village to get more help, and the L-rd got us there safely too! There we ate lunch and met and old man and young boy. The bus was fixed after a little over an hour, and we were so close to our destination village. We arrived with warm welcomes from the man and his father. They lead us to their house, and right outside D-n shared the gospel and encouraged all who gathered about this man, and his new life in Chr-st. The man's mother was loosing her sight, and having much eye trouble, so we laid hands and prayed over her. The pain all went away, and tears flowed down her face! She had tikka on her forehead, and worships in different temples, but she confessed, how could she not believe in a G-d who has healed her son and now her? The cool things God is doing. We then walked in to the forest to a mountain stream with a baby waterfall, and baptized this man into the family! A ten year old girl with us, who has accepted Christ was able to be baptized as well. So this family is so close to all being part of the family of Chr-st! PTL. The old man and the young boy came with us on this whole adventure. They were both beggars asking for rice for their village, and we said if they came with us we would give them all the rice they could carry. I'm not totally sure what the story was about the man, but the boy had his hand all wrapped up from cutting it super bad, and it was very infected. When we dropped them off, we bought them the promised rice, a flashlight they needed to get home, and shoes for the boy and his siblings. We were able to minister to them, and stay connected with a phone number. So we are continuing to pray for all these people that heard the Gosp-l to accept a salvation, and begin a new life living for the one True G-d.

     We had a long bus ride back home, and arrived at like 10:30. Sunday was a chill day. It was dreary outside, so family had a game/relax day. We played settlers, made noodles, watched Wreck It Ralph, ate dinner, had family worship, and now hitting the sack. What wonderful things the L-rd is doing.

cutie we met having tea

waiting, sugar cane

goofing off while waiting

yup we're goofs

Chugar Cane

kurta

My Kurta!! 

I Miss...

ISOM has begun! The first classes are with Joyce Meyer on Wilderness Mentalities, and the globitos get to be facilitators and lead discussion after the group watches the English/Nepali video class. It's been fun and interesting with all the translating happening, I hope I'm understanding what they are saying..
The days the other girls lead we rotate tutoring, so I have been once with the girls and once with the boys. The girls are WILD. I think cause there are so many of them. My best efforts included, running around the room all over furniture, and me, girls touching my face and braiding my hair, and singing a few songs. The boys, well they all avoided doing homework, so I had one little guy that I forced to stay with me, and guess what? All his work got done!! One on one help  right there... then some older boys came in the room with guitars and started jamming and even playing one of the english worship songs we introduced at youth! cool beans! we had lots of fun. At the home in the mornings, we have been cleaning, and helping with taxes and money, and making store runs, and trying to help in any way we can. I have gotten to take some naps, which has been much needed, and gotten to skype with my whole family by this point!
I'm missing a few things from home. besides my family:

clean air
fruit (dried and fresh) (mangos)
mexican food
my bed
electricity
showers
my guitar
english church services
fresh vegetables
my full wardrobe

kinda petty things, sure, but I think it's ok to be a little home sick. I still do love it  here, the people, food, walking everywhere, and just the simplistic culture.
So, the church is doing group evangelism on Saturday, but we just found out that we will not be there for that, due to the fact we are headed to Chitwan sp? or somewhere near there, and going to get to see and celebrate a man getting baptized from there. He made a decision for Chr-st at a family camp they had here about a year ago, and has been waiting to celebrate his baptism with the whole family! so excited, hope I'll get to post some pictures of that!! Until next time ta-ta.

Same area, girls hostel.

Where everyone plays

The entrance to the church, and the community center area to play and do stuff right outside.

The inside of the church.

Been getting busier! Which is a good thing. We now know how to do some
of the cooking, and got to make the family a Mexican feast one night,
with a little Nepali flair ☺
This past youth meeting we got to lead some American style worship,
which was so much fun too! Bringing United Pursuit Band and Jesus
Culture to Nepal! Lauren and I played guitar, Sarah on keys, we all
sang, and I got to lead. What a fun time with those precious friends.
I think I’m starting to know most of their names, which is a huge
accomplishment.
We have started tutoring the younger kids at the hostel, who need a
little extra help to catch up. So, we visited the girls all together
first and it was on Valentines day, so once the work was done, we sang
some songs, and some Taylor Swift “Love Story” to begin that night.
Sarah made some brownies in the toaster oven, and all the gals were
home so we watched A Cinderella Story for our chick flick night, it
was a blast. Then the next day we visited the boys at their home, and
helped with their work as well. After of course we made lots of racket
banging on the table and making some sweet beats! They are full of
energy!
We will be switching off who facilitates the ISOM classes every week,
as well as rotating where and when we tutor. So we all get a chance to
do everything. ISOM classes are Mon-Thurs 4:30-6:30. Tutoring is the
same time and day.
So our schedule sorta looks like this:
Sunday: day off!! (for the most part)
Monday: ISOM/tutor
Tuesday: ISOM/tutor
Wednesday: ISOM/tutor
Thursday: ISOM/tutor
Friday: ?
Saturday: church/youth

Church here tends to last from about 10-2. Then youth from 4-7:30
Kinda long services, but fun. Sitting on the floor, sometimes freezing
cold, sometimes really hot, it’s an adventure. I really enjoy it
actually.
So, all the mornings and free times we have, we help the family with
odd jobs, clean, run errands, do classes ourselves, worship, pray,
cook, EAT, rest, and just other things. Still loving it here, the
people mostly. This next week after church, the congregation is going
out doing evangelism! So we get to partner with the youth, and go out
with a few of them! So excited!! Thank you for all your prayers and
support! Love You.

New View

After our hike, we took it easy. Took a little walk to a small store to get me some Oreos and Pringles! Yum! Then a little walk with Kristi to discover a new lookout. Beautiful! The song that always comes to mind is God of wonders!

Saturday we went to Dulakil to the NewSong group meeting there. It was a wonderful little gathering in a small little town, but it's very under the thumb of the enemy. So many temples and gods and such a bad spiritual environment. Youth group Saturday night was good, and Sunday was great! We woke up and got out with the youth group before the sun was up, and went on a hike up a big hill! So much fun hanging out with them. We made it to the top and cooked noodles, and played games, and had such a good time. When we went down, we flagged down a bus and the 30 of us rode on the top of the bus back close to home! What a good workout, and fun time with friends. John has left us, but our schedule will start soon.

So I have lots of pictures this time!! We got together with tons of people at the community center and made thousands of momos, like potstickers or dumplings, it took all day, but was so worth it! Tons of tears, because I was on onion duty! I got to talk to and meet many more people.

We took a trip into the city of Thamel, and did some shopping. We got to see many temples and gods all around the area, and really saw how some of these people live. Found some italian, Nepal Italian, and ate some pasta! 

the temple pigeons 

temple 

nail a rupee to this god to pay for your sin, one per sin

Shopping down the alleys

temple carvings

the crazy wires hanging all over

Then we went to Junu's school for sports day. They work really hard on this fun day of sports and games to present to the parents. Of course I got to volunteer for a few games, one of which, the relay, I wiped out, it was the best. A few bruises and scrapes to show my competitive side. O dear. We have been enjoying this first week here, but once our missions pastor John leaves on Sunday we will begin our structured schedule. Less free time, and less touristy stuff, but we will begin classes and tutoring. Who really knows, I can let you know as soon as I know myself :) All our health is getting much better, praise the Lord. Your prayers over this transition again with our pastor leaving would be so wonderful, thanks yous!

 drill marching

sack race

building Nepal 

Human pyramid 

Today's view in front of the house.

First Service

Church services here in Nepal are on Saturday mornings because the work week and school week are 6 days. So our first experience at the New Song church in Nepal was pretty cool. Everyone sits on the ground, men to one side, women to the other. The first part of worship are traditional type Napalii hymns and you sing those while remaining seated. The second half of worship is standing up. All songs of course in Nepalli. Lots of prayer throughout which is beautiful hearing all these voices being raised at the same time. What a time of exalting our Lord. Then the message, which John Hall, our missions pastor, taught and was translated. After service, a meal was provided for the congregation. Saturday nights are when the youth group meets, so we got to go back and the GBCers were on game duty.. its always us. We played this energetic/violent/fun/questionable game called eye of the tiger. the boys really got into it! And for this youth group time we did worship the same format as church, and can i just say these people of all ages are musically and rhythmically talented! Youth this week was about them getting to know us, and us getting to know them. So we kicked it off by sharing our testimonies. Then other students volunteered to share theirs as well and it was just a really encouraging, get to know you time.
     Sunday was the dental camp. We provided the community with free medical examinations and dental examinations. Us girls were on tray duty, placing the sterilized instruments on trays for the dentists. There were only two extractions the whole day, luckily! It was just tons of fun getting to meet people, learn names, and hang out with the Nepaliis. We went out to a yummy dinner that night.
     Then monday we relaxed, went into town to the store to get some groceries and things we needed, and also had lunch while we were there. We came back to the house and spent some time getting our wifi set up, and then jumped into worship and prayer together, and just spent time with the Lord. It was wonderful. We are excited to be here. The food hasn't gotten old yet, and the people are so sweet. I got to skype with some of my family, and everything is just still so exciting! Can't wait to see what the Lord has for me today.

NEPAL

The Travel Endeavors:

Well, we made it to Nepal safe and sound… sorta. Well, we for sure made it, but it was an interesting journey. Like I was last able to send we made it to New York, then boarded our 13.5 hour international flight to Mumbai. I was really siked to board this wonderful aircraft, have my own little tv monitor, and remote… everything was so fancy. A little ways through the flight we were served dinner, a chicken and rice dish, with salad, and yogurt, and some little Indian flared extras. Some of it was pretty good ;) I found some movies to watch and was enjoying the flight, until it became UNenjoyable. I just had a very upset stomach and some fevery symptoms, and felt awful! I got sick three times and felt nauseous until we landed. We then had to fix a minor bag situation where the tag to my bag got lost, but all was settled and we received our next boarding passes to Kathmandu. Found a little coffee shop and then looked for a place to rest for our 12 hour layover. I found a cozy little spot on the floor to sleep off and on for a few hours, and the whole gang tried to get some sleep. When time neared to board, we found a deserted little restaurant where we sat and tried some fresh lime soda, and ginger tea, pretty good. We boarded the next plane with only a minor problem of fingernail clippers in a carry on, but once all sorted out, we found our seats. Lauren felt pretty bad for that whole next flight, but remained strong enough to make it through without getting sick, praise the Lord! 2.5 hours later we landed in Kathmandu after getting the beautiful sky high view of many mountains, including Everest! Breezed through immigration and customs and found all our bags to be in tact. Finally we were about to see the real Nepal! We walked outside and there she was, Kristi, waiting for us with a smile and a hug! So good to see her. We loaded everything into the family Jeep and headed to drop John off at his house. The family treated us to a yummy Chinese lunch, I got some real good chow main, and we then drove to their cute house. I must say the sights driving around the busy city were shocking; unlike anything I have ever seen. Trash everywhere, crazy scary driving, pedestrians being brave, advertisements covering buildings, and animals just roaming everywhere. There was just so much new stuff to take in. The family had the cutest little room set up for us, a bunk bed with another twin, and three closets, and just really cute. We unpacked and rock paper scissored for beds, so I got top bunk! ;) We got the house tour, and the views from everywhere, especially the roof, are incredible. The family has two dogs and a puppy that live at the house and a guinea pig, a puppy at there student center, and a dog with two brand new puppies at the community center! Cuteness overload. The family all sat down to have dinner made by Junu and Shushila, a yummy meal of rice, buffalo stew, and carrots. But very soon we realized the jet lag had caught up with us. We hadn’t really slept in 50 hours, our faces were very pale, and the room was spinning a lot. So, they kindly let us retire early. Now the house was really cold, because there is no heat, but the beds and warm clothes did there job well and we all slept very well. I woke up fairly early the next morning at around 4 and just rested until the other girls started waking up, mainly because I’m on the top bunk, and its not too easy to get down without disturbing others. We retreated down for breakfast, which was oatmeal with fruit, coffee, tea, and later eggs, and fried rice. I got the pleasure of helping Asha with breakfast. Asha was abandoned at a temple as a baby and has some problems because of that. Her vision has some issues, she is autistic, and has a history of getting seizures daily. She has in the past week learned to walk though, and through much prayer many of her problems are leaving due to spiritual ties that are being broken. I just love this family, and how God constantly adds new people to it. After breakfast I took my first bucket bath, which is how I will be staying clean for the next three months, what an adventure.

            Our first real outing that first day Kristi took us on a decent walk to the community center. Schooling for some of the children behind was happening and we got a tour, and got to meet some young girls.We had planned to help organized some stuff, but plans got a little changed, so we took the walk back up the hill to grab lunch. Yummy yet again! Let’s just say, I’m eating well here.. We took one more walk to the center to help organize and sterilize dental equipment for a free dental camp coming up this Sunday. During my time there I had a little girl teach me a little Nepal dance, and I realized dance doesn’t look good on everybody, but we had lots of laughs and fun trying. Once the organizing was done we trekked back to the house one last time to go back home. Church services here are on Saturdays, so I’m very excited to go check out the Nepalii church tomorrow. But until then, I need a bit more rest and food to be rid of this jet lag! Can’t wait to see all that happens tomorrow! Until next time, please be praying for complete restored health, and receptiveness of foreigners to the people. Thank You!