Saturday, July 21, 2012

Birthdays, The Future, & The face of a street child..


Yesterday(July 19th) was Barret’s birthday. We got to celebrate Nepali style and we had a blast doing it! As a team we went and got an awesome breakfast at Soma Café in Jamsekiel chowk (pronounced choke). A chowk is an intersection. In the afternoon we surprised him by going rock climbing! It was so sketchy and I am pretty sure the ropes were 100 climbs over safety requirment. We all were safe though and had a blast! After, we got to get a little dressed up and went to dinner at Summit Hotel- they have ice cubes and we were all SO excited about cold water! To end the night, we went back to Sarah’s flat, sang happy birthday, ate cheesecake, opened presents and played “Murder in the dark.” I love this team so very much. I can’t imagine my life without them in it.








Yesterday afternoon we were able to talk to John a little bit about what our last 3 weeks were going to look like and where we wanted to serve. I can hardly believe we are already at this point in the trip. Part of my time I will be going to Pokhara (July 27th-30th) with Anna, Tanner and Barret. While we are there we will be babysitting the kids of each children’s home there for one night to give the parents a night to themselves. The 4 of us will be planning the parents night. While they are out we will be at the homes with the kids and the parents helper. Anna and I are going to take some time each night we are there to sit down with the older girls of each home and talk to them about things they are struggling with and how to find Jesus through it. My heart is for young girls and I am so very excited to have this time with them. Over the Saturday that we are there we will also being doing a futbol camp with the boys from ALL 4 homes in Pokhara. Tanner and Barret will take the older boys while Anna and I have the sweet little ones. During the days we will be going to the Dream Center land and help mow and do some yard work there. We are so excited about going back to Pokhara and all Jesus is going to show us!

I will also be helping paint a mural in two of the children’s homes in Kathmandu. There is a small team of us that will be going house hunting for the teachers that just recently moved to Nepal as well. I am so excited to be at the point to dive in and serve with Tiny Hands. It will give me a taste of what could be my future….

Today was SO very exciting and possibly life changing. We each got to sit down with John and Mike (Mike is the chairman of THI) and talk about a future with Tiny Hands. They asked me if I would be interested in working with Tiny Hands here in Nepal full time. Of course my answer was absolutely! I talked about how I have just fallen in love with the people of Nepal, the culture, and the awkward charm the miss-matched buildings have. Nothing matches here and I absolutely love it. John proceeded to ask me if I could build the best life I could think of for myself what it would consist of. I want to use my life to set captives free whether they are bound by the hopeless religion of Hinduism, addicted to the streets and drugs as children, or enslaved in trafficking. I want to take all that I am and use it to further the Kingdom. So, as of right now the plan is to come home, finish school and become and advocate for Tiny Hands. Being an advocate would consist of throwing product parties, speaking at different places and events and really just getting the word out of the work Tiny Hands is doing. When I finish school there is a very big possibility that I would move to Nepal and work for Tiny Hands full time. Wait… is this real life?!!? YES YES YES! Jesus is continuing to BLOW ME AWAY!!

Over the last four weeks we have walked a lot and to different places. Each time we walk somewhere we either see someone on the side of the road begging, or confronted by a street child who needs food. Even after four weeks, every time I see one of these two people my heart breaks like it did the first time. I feel so helpless and that I can do nothing for them right now. The face of a street child is something I will never get used to. I will never be able to build an immunity to that. In those moments it is so hard to not ask God “why?” It has been possibly the hardest thing for me to process over this trip. I feel like there is never closure over these issues. Those sweet boys on the street are sniffing glue to get high to escape this world and their pain for just a little while. If only they knew that Jesus is real, and that there is a bigger plan for their lives. The fact that they could give the streets up and find true freedom in Jesus. I want to come back to Nepal and go across the world and bring the hope of Jesus to kids like these; to adults bound by a religion, to girls enslaved by men. Can you imagine how those lives would change? To take a broken life and restore it with the hope of Jesus would be something beautiful to watch.

Jesus is teaching me so much about my personal freedom and all He is setting me free of. I am excited to take this season and be able to pour into other people who are yearning for the same freedom I am experiencing.

Prayer Requests:
-Talks that Anna & I are preparing for the girls in the homes in Pokhara
-School plans for when I come home: what school and choosing a major
-My future with THI and that doors would open
-These sweet boys we keep running into on the streets: that we would be given a chance to tell them about Jesus

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