Either way, God is still GOOD..

Good morning from Nepal! It is about 7:10am here and we are getting ready to head to breakfast then to an international church.

Friday night the group split up and all the girls had a sleepover at Sarah's house while all the guys stayed back for a "guys night." We had so much fun together. We went for dinner at a nicer hotel where the water was actually cold, didn't have an after taste AND we had ice cubes. Being here makes you realize all the small things you take for granted back at home, like Chick Fil A ice cubes. These girls are absolutely amazing. There is alot going on around me and in my life and I could not have asked to be placed with a better group of girls. They are constantly encouraging me and praying for me. After dinner, we went back to Sarah's and had some girl talk. We then made s'mores over candles. TNI- This is Nepal. We shared stories and laughed alot. I can't imagine my life without these people in it anymore- its crazy how Jesus can do that.

Saturday morning we went and got some breakfast at this awesome place by Sarah's house. Their french toast actually tasted like french toast!! Another thing I have taken for granted at home- mama's french toast! MMM!!! After breakfast, we met back up with the guys at our hotel and went to the American club to celebrate 4th of July- a bit late, but it was celebrated! We met a few new people and played some pretty intense games of "Mafia"- which I am now addicted to. To end our time at the club, we played some frisbee. Around 5 o'clock we headed back to the hotel and hung out. We went to an awesome italian place for dinner and then just hung out and talked as a team. I know I keep saying this, but I am so blessed to be here with this team. They are all so very encouraging and couldn't have been placed in my life at a better time. Here are some things you could be praying for us about:

-- On tuesday morning (your monday night) we will be traveling to Phokara which is about a 7 hour bus ride. Pray for safety and easy travels and no one gets sick!
-- Next week we will be in Phokara and Chitwan for the week- pray for our interactions with the children there and that we will be used through language barriers. Also, this is when we go to the border, pray that Jesus moves our hearts and trafficking becomes even more real to us.
-- Personally, I have some stuff going on and that I will continue to learn and believe that either way things play out, God is good. Pray that these things wouldnt become a distraction on this trip.
-- Pray that I continue to pour out all of me every day and that I take in every moment I have.
-- When we come home from Phokara is when we decided how we want to serve in Nepal for our last  3 weeks. Pray that Jesus will start revealing to us where He wants us and how He wants to use us for this last leg of the trip.

Love you all so very much!

"Only God can move mountains, but faith and prayer move the heart of God." 

Be Thou My Vision..

Every day I am falling more and more in love with the people and children of Nepal. I wish I could bring each of you to Nepal with me so you could experience the culture and chaos. There is no one reason why I love it so much. I just do.

Yesterday we had a discussion with Jon (THI President) about sex trafficking and the sex industry in Nepal. As most of you know, this is where my heart is and what I want to do with the rest of my life. Every year 10,000 girls will cross over the border of Nepal into India to be sold into sex trafficking. She will be promised a marriage or a job, but she is decieved and usually beaten, raped, and then sold. The average age of these girls are 14-15 years old.

Tiny Hands has a border monitoring ministry. They have 13 stations arcoss the border of Nepal. They have trained Nepali women and men running to stations to look for girls who may be trafficked. Though there are police on each border crossing, they are not looking for signs of trafficking taking place. Even if they were, they are easily bribed to ignore it by the traffickers. The Tiny Hands workers are allowed to stop men and women to ask them questions and look for "red flags" in their answers. If they find that a girl is being trafficked into India they will hand the man over to the police (which sometimes take care of it, and other times the trafficker escapes) and then Tiny Hands will take the girl to one of their safe homes to interview her on exactly how she got to the border with this man, educate her about trafficking and what happens, and she also hears the gospel.

These stations are so critical because the girls that Tiny Hands have intercepted, the majority of them have not been raped or put in a brothel yet. If you can get the girls before they cross the border, you can usually prevent the process from happening all together. And that is a HUGE praise! Nepal is a trafficking source. There are not brothels in Nepal where girls are held against their own will there. You will usually find massage parlors or dance clubs that are linked to the sex industry here in Nepal- very rarely a brothel. Most of the time how trafficking works, girls are brought from a poor country and brought to a rich country to make the most money off of her. That is why girls are taken from Nepal (poor country) and brought to India( rich country).

Part of the culture here is to blame the victim. Though we all know that none of the events of being trafficked are a girls fault, she would be blamed for what happened. All of this is linked to deep spiritual roots in Hinduism.

These people of Nepal are in such need of Jesus. We have been learning alot about the Hindu religion with is the main religion in Nepal. When I walk around and see people wearing the "third eye" on their forehead, it breaks my heart. There is no hope in this religion. These people need Jesus so badly, pray that as our team walks around we won't just stick out because we are Americans, but that the people of Nepal will see something different in us, and we will show them Jesus.

The work that Tiny Hands is doing for the kingdom is incredible. I am so thankful to be part of and so thankful y'all enabled me to do this work. I wouldn't be here with out you and I am so grateful. This trip is changing my life.

Our wonderful and protective guys! (Austin, Barret, Matthew,  Tanner)

Sweet Nepali boy in a childrens home- rescued off the street. 

God's Goodness..

It has been a few days since my last update. Sunday night I started fevering pretty badly. All day yesterday I was in bed. It was super discouraging because I couldn't be with the team or do anything. When I tried to get up I felt extremely dizzy, weak and naucious. I litterally couldn't go anywhere. I was a bit overwhelmed. I really started missing home because I hate being sick without my mom being there. But when I tell you this team is amazing, they are AMAZING! I was prayed over twice, some of the guys took our broken fan and gave me their's to keep me cool. They went to the market and got me some cold water. The girls came and checked on me and soaked a shirt to cool down my back. Sarah trekked through Thamel to find me anti-nausea medicine. 

We are reading a book about some of the attributes of God. The first one is about His goodness. It was in such perfect timing that we read this. One of my favorite quotes was this, " Ultimately, God isn't good because he does good things for us. And God isn't good because of something in us. God is good because of something in him. He can be nothing else. Both God and his choices remain good, even when they may not feel or look particularaly good to you." God isn't good or not good based on our circumstances. Even yesterday when I was sick, He was still good. Our circumstances don't determine the goodness of God. Just like we are sin, God is good. ALL THE TIME. I am so blown away by that. 

Last night I didn't fever. Last night was also the first night I slept all the way through the night without waking up. I woke up this morning feeling 10x better. I am not naucious at all, not so weak, and can actually walk around without feeling like I'm going to hurl or fall over. God is so good. 

I know alot of you were praying for me through that yesterday and I want you to know that Jesus heard you. I am so blown away by his goodness right now I could dance. Maybe I should? ;) I love each one of you very much & I am so very thankful for you! 

And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is make perfect is weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I will boast about my weakness, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore, I am well content wtih my weaknesses, with insults, with distress, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weakm the I am strong." -2 Cor. 12:9-10

Finally a team..

Yesterday was the first day we all became super comfortable around each other. It was an awesome day with everyone! I absolutely love it here and so thankful that God chose this team for me to be with on this journey. We are constantly checking on each other to make sure we are feeling okay, and making sure everyone is staying hydrated. The guys on the team, Tanner, Barrett, Austin and Matthew, have been so good about watching over the girls- especially when we are walking at night. Though the city is chaotic and a lot is going on around you- I love this atmosphere.

We got to experience our first visit outside of Thamel yesterday. Dhubar square is an area that is built up by temples where people still worship. In the Hindu culture there is also a “living goddess.” She is chosen from a certain family and put through tests to see if she is qualified for the role. Once she is chosen she is brought to Dhubar square where she will live. Her feet may never touch the ground so she has to be carried everywhere. After she hits puberty she will be released of her duties as goddess and expected to go back and live as a normal person. After you are a goddess, being accepted back into society is a very hard road.

Nepali language lessons are very interesting. Yesterday we learned more sentence structures and future tense. It was super intense and by the end of the hour we were all extremely lost. Our favorite sentence translates to.. “I ate water and sat on it.” That was Austin’s attempt to say “I will drink water.”

It is now 6:20am here in Thamel (at the time my internet isn’t working so this will be posted at a later hour). Today we will be attending our first church service and also be spending some time at our first children’s home. I am excited to see how this culture encounters God.

This trip is turning out to be so much more than I expected. I adore this country and my team. Sarah, our leader, is so incredible and such a great example. Though she is the leader she is encouraging and never looking down on us when we are trying to figure out how things work here. We all decided that she is one of the most hardcore people we ever met.. You kind of have to be when you live in Nepal.

Here are some prayer requests for these next few days:

-      -----We met a team from Azusa Pacific University.  They will be heading home in about a week. Pray for their debriefing time and their travels back home.

-       -----Pray for our interactions with the kids today on our first trip to the children’s home.

-       -----Ask that Jesus would continue to open our eyes to this culture and allow our hearts to be broken for these people.

-       -----As a team, we would grow closer together and continue to encourage each other. 

A taste of Kathmandu..

The view from our hotel roof.. Crazy mountains here- even on cloudy days! 

Me and Anna- the Nepali tea is AMAZING! They will teach us how to make it before we leave so I will glady make you some when I come home :)

WE FOUND A WALMART! We laughed so hard. Then, Nepali people laughed at us laughing. 

My room mate Taylor- The things we do for internet when we are desperate!

Our toilet has decided to stop working. We keep trying to fix it. Pray that it starts flushing!! 

Taste and see that the LORD is good..

"As you get out of bed in the morning, be aware of my presence with you. You may not be thinking clearly yet, but I am. Your early morning thoughts tend to be anxioous ones until you get connected with me. The true question is not whether you can cope with whatever happens, but whether you and I together can handle anything that occurs. It is this you-and-I factor that gives you confident to face the day cheerfully." -Jesus Calling 

This morning, I woke up super excited to blog about all we did yesterday! I woke up and looked outside, it was raining so we got to open up the windows and its so cool outside. Such a relief from the hot sun we have been facing since we have been here. I turned on some worship music and just have had some time with Jesus. As I read my Jesus Calling this morning the very first line said 'be aware of my presence with you.' We always know that Jesus is with us, not necessarily feeling it though. In a place like Thamel (pronounce Tom-El --part of kathmandu we are staying in) sometimes you forget that even though this place is dark and in need of Jesus, He is here. And these are His people. And His city. In His presence there is a peace that we find. In this midst of this chaotic city, Jesus is peace.

 Last night, we were all feeling the chaos getting to us. We just needed time to worship and re-focus though it has only been a few days since we left home. We all met on the roof and put on some worship music last night and just laid there in silence, listening, singing, and worshiping. We were up there for about 40 minutes and it was so refreshing. I laid in bed last night with a peace about being here and how Jesus is going to use me. He gave me a peace about being away from home, and though I miss my family more than ever, I am okay. Going into this trip, my prayer was to take everyday and live here in Nepal in that moment. Jesus is teaching me how to do this.. and I have a feeling its because you all have been praying for me. So thank you for that.. Jesus is using you and your faithfulness greatly.

When we got here we were talked to about the people we will encounter on the streets- especially the children. What we dont think about most of the time is that sometimes our helping hurts the poor. Most tourist that come to Nepal will see a street child and give him food or money. Thinking they did something good, it ended up hurting the child. The child will usually turn around a sell the food or take the money and go buy glue. As children, they will start sniffing glue and by the time they are an adult they are addicted to hard core drugs like heroine.These children become addicted to the streets. Though its not a good life, they are given more food (usually more than what we eat in one day) and things are handed to them. There have been children that have been taken off the streets and end up going back to it because its an addictive thing here-- alot like gambling. Here, drugs are very easy to get to, multiple people on our team have already been asked multiple times if they would like to but marijuina or other drugs. Its very in your face here. That being said, though we have encountered street children we are encouraged to not give them food or money unless we feel strongly encouraged to by the Lord.

Yesterday we started our language classes.. Nepali is not the easiest language to learn, but SO fun when you have a passion behind it. We also did a scavenger hunt around the city, and got lost and found our way back again! Last night we then went to Jon, THI president's, house and met another group here and played some games. Today, we will start learning some songs for the Children's homes that we start visiting on Saturday.

Its about 7am here so it is time to start the day! Going to go get breakfast and some INCREDIBLE Nepali tea. Goodnight to all of you back home :)

Its 4am and I am wide awake..

Here are some pictures of the places we have seen so far and our very humble hotel. :)