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.