Sunday, August 29, 2010
Trekking 101
Not sure why I chose this title for this entry, but I did. Tomorrow I leave for a 3 week journey through the lower solu area of Nepal. I will fly into Phaplu and go from there for 3 weeks to many different villages sharing and discovering what the culture is like. For the next 3 weeks I will be out of communication and living in the "foothills" of the Himalaya mountain range. I will be in the shadow of Mt. Everest. Me and my team will begin an adventure of a lifetime tomorrow and it will continue until December. After all I've been through these last few weeks in preparation of this day will begin to payoff. I hope to update you as soon as I can. I will be returning on the 20th of September, that is if the weather permits. So expect to hear from me in that following week.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Prayer
If you haven’t already heard then I would like to update you on a recent event that has happened her in Nepal. Early Monday morning a plane crashed just south of the capital of Kathmandu. The 12 passenger plane took off on a extremely cloudy and rainy morning headed for Lukla airport, said to be the most extreme airport in the world. It is the airport that you fly into to do the Everest trek. When the clouds became too thick to navigate the mountains the plane headed south to loop back around to Kathmandu. Somewhere along the return flight home the plain experienced a malfunction causing the plane to crash into a field killing all 14 on board. Including 4 Americans. I don’t bring this up so you can worry about me, but so you can pray for those families that may have lost a loved one in that crash.
Catching Up
I know it has been a while since I’ve updated this thing so this may or may not be a long post. There is going to about 2 weeks’ worth of stuff in this post, but I may not remember some of well enough to go into great detail so you’re in luck.
Last week began as a tossup on what would be happening. The first two days were spent finishing up our training on the 4 fields. Some really cool stuff that I hope to bring back to use in the states. That was what we did Monday and Tuesday morning. Monday afternoon was spent studying language. Mr. G our language teacher is a really cool guy. He has taught us some great stuff and some not so great stuff. Simple things like “what is your name?” is Tapai ko naam kay ho? My name is Luke is said” Mero naam Luke ho”. So up to that point my Nepali was pretty much pointless. I knew random words and couldn’t put them into real sentences. Now me and my partner liked to make random phrases with the words we knew that made no sense. Something along the lines of: “Jesame bideshi bihe ramro hunuhunchha?” now “jesame” is a made up word for the word Ji Mase, which is a Christian Nepali greeting. So the literal translation is “… foreigner marriage beautiful can?” we would have whole conversations like this. It was great. Now the first 2 days of the week were pretty easy, the last 3 were jammed packed.
We had the amazing opportunity to spend 3 days doing some great training at a local church. We spent 7 hours a day for 3 days doing training. We had to do everything through a translator so it took a little bit longer. I did however get the chance to read through 9 chapters in Matthew. I also had the opportunity to teach a few sessions. Now I can’t go into detail, but let’s just say that I’m no longer the only person equipped now to go and do work. The idea of anything that happens here is the pay it forward method. This is the idea that if 1 person does something for 2 people, those 2 people do something for 2 more people, etc…. It is an amazing method. Now if this actually did happen then it could change the world in a way that no one could imagine. Me being a person that gets bored very quickly I wanted to figure out how long it would take to reach the whole world in this way. If every week the multiplication happened then it would only take 33 weeks to reach the world. If it was measured in months it would take 2 years and 9 months, 33 months. In years would be 33 years. Decades, 330 years. Now that is one amazing thing if you think about it. The entire world could be changed by one person in just 33 years. Mind blowing. Well enough about my random math equations. The training was not only great for me and my team but even more so for the nationals.
Then came the weekend. I love weekends here in the Kathmandu valley. They are usually filled with doing nothing. The best days ever. Now the weekend started with a trip to Pizza Hut, the nicest place to eat in all of Nepal. You have to dress up to go. Ice cream at KFC and coffee at a local café. To finish off a wonderful Friday night me and Nathaniel did one of the most intense workouts around 12:30am followed by about 100 stupid pictures of ourselves. Feel free to check out the pictures on my Facebook profile. Saturday I woke up late to discover that I had nothing planned, beautiful. Well that changed, but I was ok with that. I was able to attend a quick 2 hour training at another church, more quality stuff. To finish off the night I headed into town for a movie. Now the only English movie playing was Predators. DO NOT GO SEE THIS MOVIE! It was horrible. The experience was great, but the movie sucked. After we purchased our assigned seats for 300 rupees ($4) and our popcorn and drink for 170 rupees ($2.50) we headed into the theater. Around 45 minutes into our 1:30 movie the intermission happened. Weird, but great because I needed more popcorn. Overall it was an ok experience; I just wish it had been a better movie. Sunday just continued my weekend of relaxation. Started the day with some great reading and it finished the same way. In between that I enjoyed a wonderful game of tennis. I was able to work out the soreness of my muscles from the Friday night workout. Of course the best part of my week. House fellowship. What a great time to grow and spend time before the Father with fellow followers. Well that sums up my weekend. It was a great time of rest to kick off a week of intense language.
Week 3 of being in Nepal and week 4 of being overseas had begun. All that was planned for this week was language. Studying in the morning, engaging Boudha in the afternoon, and class in the evening. Well that was the plan at least. It didn’t really turn out that way. Some extra sleeping has happened, some shopping, and more relaxation has been what has really happened. Now like I said Mr. G had the tendency to teach us things that weren’t ever going to be useful. Since when has been knowing how to say parrot in Nepali ever been beneficial. Never. Unless you have to weird fascination with getting random animals, foods, or anything else for that matter tattooed in Nepali on you. The weird thing is I sort of do, but that is another story. I have made a great friend here though. He is an American guy my age. His name will be Faroning; there is a reason behind it that I would love to tell you some day. Now Faroning lives above my favorite restaurant Flavor’s. If you ever find yourself hanging around the Stoupa in Kathmandu, Nepal stop by Flavor’s and chow down on one of their juicy bacon cheeseburgers and a nice cold Coke. Then finish it off with a cup of coffee and nice slice of the pumpkin pie with a side of coffee ice cream. You’ll feel like you’ve stepped back home for a moment when you eat there. Then the monks start their prayers and you snap back to reality. Well he has introduced me to the wonderful sport of rugby. We were able to watch a game while enjoying some of the wonderful desserts offered there.
Now that brings us to today. The most interesting day of being here so far. It has been an adventure to say the least. I’m going to just fast forward to about 3:30 in the afternoon. Now there was a festival going on at the Stoupa that I was pretty excited to be a part of. I really wanted to engage the culture. The first thing I see is a man acting as Shiva. He is painted up and covered in snakes. After that I begin to see the “lost boys” running around hit people with sticks and whips and attempting to scare people. As time goes on I begin to see men dressed as demons, doctors, policemen, and many other random things. A lot of the people dressed up were doing some political satire stuff. Then out came the transvestites. What a site. About 30 men were dressed up as women leading a parade for the living a goddess. A young girl believed to be a living goddess. After all that was over we began to head to language. Well in a group of about 3,000 people we began to squeeze our way out of the Stoupa area. This is where it gets the best. At one point my partner, Alissa, was not touching the ground because the people next to her and squeezed in so tight that she was lifted off the ground. Well someone where in that throng of people is a man that now has my wallet. Yep, my wallet. I was pick pocketed. In my wallet was about 5,000 rupees ($70), my driver’s license, debit card, insurance card, and house key. I officially feel like I am in a foreign country now.
Well that has been my last week and a half. It has been filled to the max with some great adventures and some not so great ones. I will leave sometime on Monday for my first trekking trip. I will be in the lower solokumbu area for roughly 3 weeks. It’s going to feel great to get out of the dirty nasty city and into the shadow of the Himalayan Mountains. Pray that I will have a great time doing some great work. I would normally ask you to pray for my safety, but I would rather you pray for my ability to do work and that safety be second to my work.
Last week began as a tossup on what would be happening. The first two days were spent finishing up our training on the 4 fields. Some really cool stuff that I hope to bring back to use in the states. That was what we did Monday and Tuesday morning. Monday afternoon was spent studying language. Mr. G our language teacher is a really cool guy. He has taught us some great stuff and some not so great stuff. Simple things like “what is your name?” is Tapai ko naam kay ho? My name is Luke is said” Mero naam Luke ho”. So up to that point my Nepali was pretty much pointless. I knew random words and couldn’t put them into real sentences. Now me and my partner liked to make random phrases with the words we knew that made no sense. Something along the lines of: “Jesame bideshi bihe ramro hunuhunchha?” now “jesame” is a made up word for the word Ji Mase, which is a Christian Nepali greeting. So the literal translation is “… foreigner marriage beautiful can?” we would have whole conversations like this. It was great. Now the first 2 days of the week were pretty easy, the last 3 were jammed packed.
We had the amazing opportunity to spend 3 days doing some great training at a local church. We spent 7 hours a day for 3 days doing training. We had to do everything through a translator so it took a little bit longer. I did however get the chance to read through 9 chapters in Matthew. I also had the opportunity to teach a few sessions. Now I can’t go into detail, but let’s just say that I’m no longer the only person equipped now to go and do work. The idea of anything that happens here is the pay it forward method. This is the idea that if 1 person does something for 2 people, those 2 people do something for 2 more people, etc…. It is an amazing method. Now if this actually did happen then it could change the world in a way that no one could imagine. Me being a person that gets bored very quickly I wanted to figure out how long it would take to reach the whole world in this way. If every week the multiplication happened then it would only take 33 weeks to reach the world. If it was measured in months it would take 2 years and 9 months, 33 months. In years would be 33 years. Decades, 330 years. Now that is one amazing thing if you think about it. The entire world could be changed by one person in just 33 years. Mind blowing. Well enough about my random math equations. The training was not only great for me and my team but even more so for the nationals.
Then came the weekend. I love weekends here in the Kathmandu valley. They are usually filled with doing nothing. The best days ever. Now the weekend started with a trip to Pizza Hut, the nicest place to eat in all of Nepal. You have to dress up to go. Ice cream at KFC and coffee at a local café. To finish off a wonderful Friday night me and Nathaniel did one of the most intense workouts around 12:30am followed by about 100 stupid pictures of ourselves. Feel free to check out the pictures on my Facebook profile. Saturday I woke up late to discover that I had nothing planned, beautiful. Well that changed, but I was ok with that. I was able to attend a quick 2 hour training at another church, more quality stuff. To finish off the night I headed into town for a movie. Now the only English movie playing was Predators. DO NOT GO SEE THIS MOVIE! It was horrible. The experience was great, but the movie sucked. After we purchased our assigned seats for 300 rupees ($4) and our popcorn and drink for 170 rupees ($2.50) we headed into the theater. Around 45 minutes into our 1:30 movie the intermission happened. Weird, but great because I needed more popcorn. Overall it was an ok experience; I just wish it had been a better movie. Sunday just continued my weekend of relaxation. Started the day with some great reading and it finished the same way. In between that I enjoyed a wonderful game of tennis. I was able to work out the soreness of my muscles from the Friday night workout. Of course the best part of my week. House fellowship. What a great time to grow and spend time before the Father with fellow followers. Well that sums up my weekend. It was a great time of rest to kick off a week of intense language.
Week 3 of being in Nepal and week 4 of being overseas had begun. All that was planned for this week was language. Studying in the morning, engaging Boudha in the afternoon, and class in the evening. Well that was the plan at least. It didn’t really turn out that way. Some extra sleeping has happened, some shopping, and more relaxation has been what has really happened. Now like I said Mr. G had the tendency to teach us things that weren’t ever going to be useful. Since when has been knowing how to say parrot in Nepali ever been beneficial. Never. Unless you have to weird fascination with getting random animals, foods, or anything else for that matter tattooed in Nepali on you. The weird thing is I sort of do, but that is another story. I have made a great friend here though. He is an American guy my age. His name will be Faroning; there is a reason behind it that I would love to tell you some day. Now Faroning lives above my favorite restaurant Flavor’s. If you ever find yourself hanging around the Stoupa in Kathmandu, Nepal stop by Flavor’s and chow down on one of their juicy bacon cheeseburgers and a nice cold Coke. Then finish it off with a cup of coffee and nice slice of the pumpkin pie with a side of coffee ice cream. You’ll feel like you’ve stepped back home for a moment when you eat there. Then the monks start their prayers and you snap back to reality. Well he has introduced me to the wonderful sport of rugby. We were able to watch a game while enjoying some of the wonderful desserts offered there.
Now that brings us to today. The most interesting day of being here so far. It has been an adventure to say the least. I’m going to just fast forward to about 3:30 in the afternoon. Now there was a festival going on at the Stoupa that I was pretty excited to be a part of. I really wanted to engage the culture. The first thing I see is a man acting as Shiva. He is painted up and covered in snakes. After that I begin to see the “lost boys” running around hit people with sticks and whips and attempting to scare people. As time goes on I begin to see men dressed as demons, doctors, policemen, and many other random things. A lot of the people dressed up were doing some political satire stuff. Then out came the transvestites. What a site. About 30 men were dressed up as women leading a parade for the living a goddess. A young girl believed to be a living goddess. After all that was over we began to head to language. Well in a group of about 3,000 people we began to squeeze our way out of the Stoupa area. This is where it gets the best. At one point my partner, Alissa, was not touching the ground because the people next to her and squeezed in so tight that she was lifted off the ground. Well someone where in that throng of people is a man that now has my wallet. Yep, my wallet. I was pick pocketed. In my wallet was about 5,000 rupees ($70), my driver’s license, debit card, insurance card, and house key. I officially feel like I am in a foreign country now.
Well that has been my last week and a half. It has been filled to the max with some great adventures and some not so great ones. I will leave sometime on Monday for my first trekking trip. I will be in the lower solokumbu area for roughly 3 weeks. It’s going to feel great to get out of the dirty nasty city and into the shadow of the Himalayan Mountains. Pray that I will have a great time doing some great work. I would normally ask you to pray for my safety, but I would rather you pray for my ability to do work and that safety be second to my work.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Week 1 of Training
So it is Sunday night here and it has been a great weekend of relaxation and rest after an intense week. I spent the week taking different classes to prepare me for my time here. The morning was spent either spending time in learning stories to tell the local people or learning the mechanics behind preparing a “field”, planting “seed” in the field, helping the field in its growth process, and taking in the “harvest”, and using the new good seed to start the process over again. It is called the 4 fields principle. That was how my morning was spent. My afternoons were spent walking around the local community and engaging them and getting to know the local people and culture. Sometimes it was a blast and others it was nerve racking. After engaging Boudha, me and my team would venture over to our language class. Now Mr. Ganesh is a great teacher. In a week I have learned a lot about the language, but still can’t speak a word to save my life. I can read Nepali in Romanized script and understand most of it. I can’t speak it or hear and translate it well. Hopefully after another week I’ll be ready for some time in the mountains. So I have spent a lot of time in class this week. I had no idea I was going to be going to school while I was here.
One of my favorite parts about here has been the food. Now those of you who know me well would say that food is a major part of my life. I love it. One thing that I do love about this culture is that it revolves around food. It’s ok to eat until you want to throw up, and many times you have to with people here to not seem rude. The local food is not as bad as some places I’ve been. If you don’t have rice then you didn’t have a meal. People may eat again if they didn’t get rice with their meal. One of my favorite traditional Nepalese meals is mo mos. They are a dumpling filled with just about anything. Chicken, buffalo, vegetables, potatoes, cheese, and maybe a few other things. They come steamed, fried, and kothey *half steamed and half fried). My favorite is chicken mo mos fried. Now I also have some favorite restaurants. A local one is Garden Kitchen where they serve my favorite mo mos. I have discovered my favorite place of all this week though. It’s called Flavors. Now Flavors is not your typical Nepal restaurant. It doesn’t serve any of the traditional Nepalese meals, but they do serve BEEF! I’m not talking about water buffalo, but actually cow. The first meal I had there was one you would not expect to find in a place like Kathmandu, Nepal. I had beef Hungarian goulash. It was amazing. Later that week I returned and had their bacon cheeseburger. For a brief second as I took that first bite out of that juicy burger I thought I was sitting in a Chili’s back home. It was a small piece of Heaven on earth. To top off the week of crazy fullness I created something at home that has given me more joy that any physical thing here has. Sweet Tea. Me and my team got through at least a 2L pitcher a day, sometimes two.
So two cool things I want you guys to know about that I had this week. I have two new friends here. Both are shop keepers in Boudha around the Stoupa. Was is an older man named Som. He is a 45 year old man who lives with his wife, a 22 year old son, a 17 year old daughter, and his mother. I learned a great game from this man called Bagh Chal, or the tiger and goat. It is a great game of strategy. After playing with him for about an hour he invited me and the team to his house for dinner. Now through some confusion we missed the first time he offered (we thought he said 8pm, but he said 8am). We are going to his house this Tuesday afternoon and I’m super pumped to be entering my first Nepal home. The other person I met was a young man by the name of Milan. He owns a few items that he sells out in front of his uncle’s store. I sat down with him for a while and eventually he brought me to meet his father and uncle. We sat for about 45 minutes talking about life. We covered a little bit of everything in that time. Including my own story of where I used to be and the change I’ve gone through to become who I am today. It was an awesome opportunity. I plan on meeting with him a few days a week to continue this friendship.
Everything here has been great and it has far exceeded my expectations. There is a great work ahead of me and my team and I feel blessed to be a part of this opportunity. I’m about to enter into another crazy week of classes and learning. Please be lifting me up as I go through this journey.
One of my favorite parts about here has been the food. Now those of you who know me well would say that food is a major part of my life. I love it. One thing that I do love about this culture is that it revolves around food. It’s ok to eat until you want to throw up, and many times you have to with people here to not seem rude. The local food is not as bad as some places I’ve been. If you don’t have rice then you didn’t have a meal. People may eat again if they didn’t get rice with their meal. One of my favorite traditional Nepalese meals is mo mos. They are a dumpling filled with just about anything. Chicken, buffalo, vegetables, potatoes, cheese, and maybe a few other things. They come steamed, fried, and kothey *half steamed and half fried). My favorite is chicken mo mos fried. Now I also have some favorite restaurants. A local one is Garden Kitchen where they serve my favorite mo mos. I have discovered my favorite place of all this week though. It’s called Flavors. Now Flavors is not your typical Nepal restaurant. It doesn’t serve any of the traditional Nepalese meals, but they do serve BEEF! I’m not talking about water buffalo, but actually cow. The first meal I had there was one you would not expect to find in a place like Kathmandu, Nepal. I had beef Hungarian goulash. It was amazing. Later that week I returned and had their bacon cheeseburger. For a brief second as I took that first bite out of that juicy burger I thought I was sitting in a Chili’s back home. It was a small piece of Heaven on earth. To top off the week of crazy fullness I created something at home that has given me more joy that any physical thing here has. Sweet Tea. Me and my team got through at least a 2L pitcher a day, sometimes two.
So two cool things I want you guys to know about that I had this week. I have two new friends here. Both are shop keepers in Boudha around the Stoupa. Was is an older man named Som. He is a 45 year old man who lives with his wife, a 22 year old son, a 17 year old daughter, and his mother. I learned a great game from this man called Bagh Chal, or the tiger and goat. It is a great game of strategy. After playing with him for about an hour he invited me and the team to his house for dinner. Now through some confusion we missed the first time he offered (we thought he said 8pm, but he said 8am). We are going to his house this Tuesday afternoon and I’m super pumped to be entering my first Nepal home. The other person I met was a young man by the name of Milan. He owns a few items that he sells out in front of his uncle’s store. I sat down with him for a while and eventually he brought me to meet his father and uncle. We sat for about 45 minutes talking about life. We covered a little bit of everything in that time. Including my own story of where I used to be and the change I’ve gone through to become who I am today. It was an awesome opportunity. I plan on meeting with him a few days a week to continue this friendship.
Everything here has been great and it has far exceeded my expectations. There is a great work ahead of me and my team and I feel blessed to be a part of this opportunity. I’m about to enter into another crazy week of classes and learning. Please be lifting me up as I go through this journey.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Day 1 of training
Day one of training was today. What a fun filled day it was. What I’m about to tell you may not seem that much of a crazy day, but it was. If you have ever spent anytime overseas you may comprehend what my day was like.
It started out like any other day. My alarm went off at 7:30. I proceeded to roll around in my bed for another 30 minutes attempting to wake up. After finally getting out of my bed I decided it was shower time. I grabbed my stuff and headed towards my bathroom. Now my bathroom is a little odd. It’s a full size bathroom that is the same size room as most ½ baths are in the states. My shower head is almost directly over my toilet; thankfully it’s not squatty potty. The morning is the worst time for a shower, the hot water is powered by solar panels and if it hasn’t stored up enough energy from the day before it is cold water. So I took a cold shower and in the middle of my shower the power went out. Just lovely. I took a very dark cold shower to start my day. But my day actually did get better. I spent some quality time in the Book and it was absolutely refreshing. Then came training. Me and my team gather in the living room with a hot cup of french press coffee, my favorite. We began with our testimonies and then went into telling stories. We worked on the story about the man who was possessed by evil spirits. I’ll go ahead and tell it to you now.
One day Jesus and some of his closest friends were in a boat crossing a lake. On the other side of that lake lived a man that was possessed by evil spirits. Now the people of the town would try and bind him and chain him down but he was to strong and broke out of the chains. He was uncontrollable. He would wonder the hillside all night and day and go into the places where they would bury the dead and scram as loud as he could and cut himself with stones. Now when Jesus was still far off the man that was possessed by evil spirits saw Him and ran to Him and fell at His feet. He said “Jesus, Son of the most high God. Why are here to bother me? Please do not torture me?” Now Jesus had already commanded the evil spirits to come out of the man. Jesus asked the evil spirits “what is your name?” The evil spirit replied “many, for there are many of us in this man.” Then the evil spirit pleaded with Jesus to not send them far away. There was a herd of pigs on a nearby hill and the evil spirits asked Jesus “please send us into those pigs over there?” Jesus gave them permission. The evil spirits immediately left the man and went into the pigs. The pigs went crazy and ran down a steep hill. Now the men guarding the pigs saw what had happened and went to the city and told the people what had happened. The townspeople went out to see what had taken place. They surrounded Jesus and found the man who had once been possessed by evil spirits sitting down, fully clothed, and in his right mind. The people were fearful. They asked Jesus to leave. As He was leaving the man who was once possessed cam e to Jesus and asked to go with Him. Jesus said “No. Go to your friends and family and tell them all the wonderful things that God has done for you and the mercy He has shown you.” So the man did. He also went to the other 10 cities and told all that God had done for him and the people were amazed.
That is the story of the man possessed by evil spirits. It may be different than what you are used to, but that has its reasons. I also had language training this afternoon. Talk about a crash course. Over the next 2 weeks I will be taking over 15 hours of intense language training in Nepali. It is not an easy language. I pray that God will give me the gift of tongues so that I can learn it fast.
So I told you that the day started off rough with a cold and dark shower, but it is ending amazingly. I had a little bit of home today. Good old fashioned, homemade sweet tea. It was a blessing for sure. Hopefully it gets better with a hot shower in the light. Love all of you that are lifting me up daily. It is truly a blessing.
It started out like any other day. My alarm went off at 7:30. I proceeded to roll around in my bed for another 30 minutes attempting to wake up. After finally getting out of my bed I decided it was shower time. I grabbed my stuff and headed towards my bathroom. Now my bathroom is a little odd. It’s a full size bathroom that is the same size room as most ½ baths are in the states. My shower head is almost directly over my toilet; thankfully it’s not squatty potty. The morning is the worst time for a shower, the hot water is powered by solar panels and if it hasn’t stored up enough energy from the day before it is cold water. So I took a cold shower and in the middle of my shower the power went out. Just lovely. I took a very dark cold shower to start my day. But my day actually did get better. I spent some quality time in the Book and it was absolutely refreshing. Then came training. Me and my team gather in the living room with a hot cup of french press coffee, my favorite. We began with our testimonies and then went into telling stories. We worked on the story about the man who was possessed by evil spirits. I’ll go ahead and tell it to you now.
One day Jesus and some of his closest friends were in a boat crossing a lake. On the other side of that lake lived a man that was possessed by evil spirits. Now the people of the town would try and bind him and chain him down but he was to strong and broke out of the chains. He was uncontrollable. He would wonder the hillside all night and day and go into the places where they would bury the dead and scram as loud as he could and cut himself with stones. Now when Jesus was still far off the man that was possessed by evil spirits saw Him and ran to Him and fell at His feet. He said “Jesus, Son of the most high God. Why are here to bother me? Please do not torture me?” Now Jesus had already commanded the evil spirits to come out of the man. Jesus asked the evil spirits “what is your name?” The evil spirit replied “many, for there are many of us in this man.” Then the evil spirit pleaded with Jesus to not send them far away. There was a herd of pigs on a nearby hill and the evil spirits asked Jesus “please send us into those pigs over there?” Jesus gave them permission. The evil spirits immediately left the man and went into the pigs. The pigs went crazy and ran down a steep hill. Now the men guarding the pigs saw what had happened and went to the city and told the people what had happened. The townspeople went out to see what had taken place. They surrounded Jesus and found the man who had once been possessed by evil spirits sitting down, fully clothed, and in his right mind. The people were fearful. They asked Jesus to leave. As He was leaving the man who was once possessed cam e to Jesus and asked to go with Him. Jesus said “No. Go to your friends and family and tell them all the wonderful things that God has done for you and the mercy He has shown you.” So the man did. He also went to the other 10 cities and told all that God had done for him and the people were amazed.
That is the story of the man possessed by evil spirits. It may be different than what you are used to, but that has its reasons. I also had language training this afternoon. Talk about a crash course. Over the next 2 weeks I will be taking over 15 hours of intense language training in Nepali. It is not an easy language. I pray that God will give me the gift of tongues so that I can learn it fast.
So I told you that the day started off rough with a cold and dark shower, but it is ending amazingly. I had a little bit of home today. Good old fashioned, homemade sweet tea. It was a blessing for sure. Hopefully it gets better with a hot shower in the light. Love all of you that are lifting me up daily. It is truly a blessing.
The Weekend
So this last weekend was filled with some great adventures. I have been very fortunate in my over 21 years of life to have done a lot of amazing things. There is one thing that I have always wanted to do but have never really had a chance to do. That one thing has been to ride a motorcycle. Now you may wonder “how has a person like you Luke never been on a motorcycle?” Very good question. I have no idea. I solved that issue Saturday morning though. Now here Saturday is the day or worship. So me and one of my new friends went to a small village outside the city. Now let me paint you a little picture of what that ride may have been like. If you have never been overseas to see of driving is then I will try and help you visualize what it is like. Imagine trial you might take your off road vehicle on. Pot holes bigger than the car, trees sticking up out of the road, no lines, no signs, no light, and more vehicles than there is space. Imagine you are driving down your basic 4 lane road. Typically that means 4 cars, 2 in each direction. Wrong that means at least 3 cars, a bus, a dozen motorcycles, a few cows, and random people everywhere (don’t forget the trees and pot holes). That was what the road is like. On top of that it is monsoon season so the roads are muddy and wet. I’m sitting on the back of a very small bike riding through all of this heading into the mountains. On the way home I had to ride in the rain, even more of an adventure. Overall my adventures on a motorcycle are just beginning. I have many more rides in front of me over the next 4 months, and I’m looking forward to each one of them.
Like I said, Saturday is the day of worship in Nepal. I was able to attend an incredible place just outside the city. I walked in to hear an awesome guitar solo going on, with the bass pumping out, and some pounding on the drums. Let’s just say I felt at home. I couldn’t understand a word that was being sung, but it was beautiful none the less. The power went out at one point and the guy on the drums kept going and so did the people until the generator go kicked on. It was a blessing to be among such strong followers in a dark place. Gives new meaning to the term light of the world. I can’t wait to go back an experience it all over again.
So Sunday is my day off. It is an amazing thing at that. Although I’m not to worn out yet, I know I will be in 2 months and will love that day off. I was able to sleep in and get some great reading done. The Book has been amazing as of late. I’m starting at the beginning of the Good News and it has been amazing. I have heard some of the stories all my life, but the words come to life when you read them yourself. Matt has been incredible for my heart as of late and I’m anxious to move on to his friends. I got some great shopping done as well. I went to tourist central of Kathmandu. I had a couple things that I was determined to get. I was successful. I am now the proud owner of Band of Brothers and the first 4 seasons of NCIS. I am taking request for cheap movies if I can find them. Seasons of shows are cheap and easy to find here. Sunday night is house fellowship. A bunch of fellow “friends” gather in a home a spend time telling stories from the Book and in worship. It is a blessing to be surrounded by such a strong cord of friends. It lifts my heart.
Like I said, Saturday is the day of worship in Nepal. I was able to attend an incredible place just outside the city. I walked in to hear an awesome guitar solo going on, with the bass pumping out, and some pounding on the drums. Let’s just say I felt at home. I couldn’t understand a word that was being sung, but it was beautiful none the less. The power went out at one point and the guy on the drums kept going and so did the people until the generator go kicked on. It was a blessing to be among such strong followers in a dark place. Gives new meaning to the term light of the world. I can’t wait to go back an experience it all over again.
So Sunday is my day off. It is an amazing thing at that. Although I’m not to worn out yet, I know I will be in 2 months and will love that day off. I was able to sleep in and get some great reading done. The Book has been amazing as of late. I’m starting at the beginning of the Good News and it has been amazing. I have heard some of the stories all my life, but the words come to life when you read them yourself. Matt has been incredible for my heart as of late and I’m anxious to move on to his friends. I got some great shopping done as well. I went to tourist central of Kathmandu. I had a couple things that I was determined to get. I was successful. I am now the proud owner of Band of Brothers and the first 4 seasons of NCIS. I am taking request for cheap movies if I can find them. Seasons of shows are cheap and easy to find here. Sunday night is house fellowship. A bunch of fellow “friends” gather in a home a spend time telling stories from the Book and in worship. It is a blessing to be surrounded by such a strong cord of friends. It lifts my heart.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Kathmandu
So now the journey begins. I left Monday afternoon from Delhi, India and flew into Kathmandu, Nepal. This was no normal journey either. Imagine as you begin to come up over the clouds and look over to your right out the window and see the snow capped peaks of the Himalayas. As you weave in and out of massive thunderheads more and more peaks are poking themselves up above the clouds. As you begin your descent back down through the clouds you briefly lose sight of the mountains to only find a new set once you pass through the cloud layer. You may have thought you were high above the ground but now you are less than a thousand feet from a beautiful valley city surrounded by rolling hills cover in trees and Buddhist Monasteries. The massive plane barely has enough room to land on the tiny runway. Then you step off the plane to fresh air and some amazing sites. That was how I got to where I am now. Sitting on the porch of a huge apartment over looking one of the largest Stoupas, a monument to Buddha, in all of Nepal. That was just beginning of the journey.
Tuesday was a very amazing and spectacular day. I had an chance to see some great sites of what my work will be. We went to Hindu temple complex and see one of the most unsettling things I have seen in my life. The burning off bodies and the placing of their ashes in the river. As you walk into the temple complex you see the smoke rising up over the golden tops of the Hindu temples. As yo begin to get closer you pass shrine after shrine fill with offerings and different holy men ready to take your prayers. Next you begin to catch a smell here and there of something but you aren't sure yet what it is. As you go down the steps and enter the area of the most sacred river in all of Nepal you see a group of men carrying a body to a platform on the edge of the river. Following these men and more men carrying wood and straw. This is when you discover what the smoke was and the smell. You walk farther down the river towards the smoke to see piles of ash and wood ablaze on top of platforms jutting out into the river. My heart begins to hurt to see all the blind who are so blind to the truth. It spectacular and disturbing site to see. The sites and smells of that day will be with me forever, but they are amazing reminder of what it is that we all need to do. The idea that we are lights and that we have been called to go find the darkness of the world and expel it.
I know that last paragraph was a little dark but it is a very real truth that this world faces. I will try to end this post on a much lighter note though. I LOVE MONKEYS!!! I really do. They are some of the most interesting animals in my opinion. Even better when they live in a city. They are one crazy animal to say the least. They run around, jump on random things, and can balance on some very precarious places. The babies are awesome. They sort of stand in one spot as mom runs around getting food or chasing off other monkeys. As mom runs by they just jump and grab on as she jumps into trees or runs across a thin cliff. I did get to see evolution in process though. I saw a monkey with no front hands. He just ran around on his back legs like a person. It was pretty cool. He also seemed to be the ring leader of his group. The people here are also so friendly. When you smile at them they just smile back. This last week has been so much fun learning the culture of the people I will spending the next 4 months with. He has taught me so much about myself and the work that He has laid out in front of me. Thank you all for the love and support that you are giving me from back home. Know that I am loving it here and miss all my friends and family, well not enough to want to come home yet though.
Tuesday was a very amazing and spectacular day. I had an chance to see some great sites of what my work will be. We went to Hindu temple complex and see one of the most unsettling things I have seen in my life. The burning off bodies and the placing of their ashes in the river. As you walk into the temple complex you see the smoke rising up over the golden tops of the Hindu temples. As yo begin to get closer you pass shrine after shrine fill with offerings and different holy men ready to take your prayers. Next you begin to catch a smell here and there of something but you aren't sure yet what it is. As you go down the steps and enter the area of the most sacred river in all of Nepal you see a group of men carrying a body to a platform on the edge of the river. Following these men and more men carrying wood and straw. This is when you discover what the smoke was and the smell. You walk farther down the river towards the smoke to see piles of ash and wood ablaze on top of platforms jutting out into the river. My heart begins to hurt to see all the blind who are so blind to the truth. It spectacular and disturbing site to see. The sites and smells of that day will be with me forever, but they are amazing reminder of what it is that we all need to do. The idea that we are lights and that we have been called to go find the darkness of the world and expel it.
I know that last paragraph was a little dark but it is a very real truth that this world faces. I will try to end this post on a much lighter note though. I LOVE MONKEYS!!! I really do. They are some of the most interesting animals in my opinion. Even better when they live in a city. They are one crazy animal to say the least. They run around, jump on random things, and can balance on some very precarious places. The babies are awesome. They sort of stand in one spot as mom runs around getting food or chasing off other monkeys. As mom runs by they just jump and grab on as she jumps into trees or runs across a thin cliff. I did get to see evolution in process though. I saw a monkey with no front hands. He just ran around on his back legs like a person. It was pretty cool. He also seemed to be the ring leader of his group. The people here are also so friendly. When you smile at them they just smile back. This last week has been so much fun learning the culture of the people I will spending the next 4 months with. He has taught me so much about myself and the work that He has laid out in front of me. Thank you all for the love and support that you are giving me from back home. Know that I am loving it here and miss all my friends and family, well not enough to want to come home yet though.
My last days in Delhi
I know this may be a little bit behind, but I've been a little busy. So here is the update on my last few days in Delhi. It was a great time there. Got to make some great friends with some students there. We got stuck in a rainstorm in one of the mall areas and got the opportunity to spend about a hour talking to some college guys there. We talked about life in general for both of us. They wanted to know about America and I wanted to know about India. It was some great hang out time. Even got to become Facebook friends with one guy. I'm excited about that. Although I had a great time there, there was one setback. I got what is commonly known as Delhi Belly. Now if you've been to Delhi, or overseas for that matter, you probably know what I'm talking about. Here it also known as "loose motions". Now I won't go into any details, unless you message me and want to know. Lets just say that my stomach got upset and anything spicy that I put on top of didn't make it feel any better, and everything is spicy here. One of the coolest parts about being in Delhi came on Sunday morning. I had the amazing opportunity to visit a worship service there. It was small and was in a basement, but I could see some amazing things there. I couldn't understand the words, but I knew the power that was there. At the end of the service came the greatest part. I got to take part in communion with the community there. It was a blessing my life to see the work that is being done ahead of me and knowing that before I came and after I leave there will still be work being done. Delhi was great but overall it was dirty, hot, crowded, and very unfriendly. Well lets just say that was all about to change for me starting Monday afternoon.
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