South Asia

Where do I even start? I haven’t given a good update in a very long time and I apologize for that. In the future, I want to find a better system to keep you all updated more regularly. One way to stay more up-to-date on what my life is like right now is my Instagram and Facebook. I post on there much more frequently. So, if you want to see more pictures that’s the place to go. But I do want to give a more detailed update here.

The last time I posted was about my testimony and I very briefly talked about being in Nepal, so let’s start there. Nepal is a beautiful country full of culture and hospitality. My time there was short and sweet and God moved powerfully. We had the opportunity to be together as a squad and to do ministry in two different locations; the city and the mountains. In the city, we were partnered with a church and spent our days doing house visits to encourage local believers. Oftentimes this looked like piling into a tuk-tuk and driving to a house meeting, or sometimes we walked there in the hot sun past the rice patties. These meetings were so encouraging. Our teams had the opportunity to share testimonies and lead worship to encourage the people who came and we got to be encouraged by them in hearing their testimonies too. One day we also got to do an adventure and safari on the back of an elephant!

Part two of our time in Nepal was spent in the mountains. While there we got to stay in our tents,  bathe in the stream, and do lots of hiking. LOTS. Sometimes we hiked twice a day. These hikes were the only way to reach the homes of believers
who live there and to share the gospel in the homes of unbelievers. They were also some of the most intense hikes I have ever done. The trails went straight up the steep hills and in some places were crumbling down the edge so that only one foot could fit without falling off the mountain. God tested our faith and we trusted in him. He kept us safe. When we would reach the homes we were greeted with kind smiles, worship, testimonies, and always with Mountain Dew. I have never drank so much Mountain Dew in my life, but I am so grateful for their hospitality.

During one of our treks, we had the opportunity to go visit the house of a witch doctor and his family. The other half of our squad who had been there the week before were also able to visit him and pray over him. While they were there he told them about a vision he had years ago of a peaceful man who told him he wanted to use him to heal people. We believe that the man he saw was Jesus and so we hoped we would get to tell him that when we showed up. Unfortunately, as we hiked up our host told us he was not at his house because he was out of town celebrating Mother’s Day with his family. We still went to check, just in case. He was gone but his daughter-in-law was there. We shared the good news of Jesus with her and asked if we could pray over her. She said no, so we moved on to other nearby houses. One of which was the witch doctor’s daughter’s house. She was home with her husband and some of her children.  Immediately when we saw her husband we knew something was different about him. He seemed so joyful and excited to see us at his home. We caught them by surprise so they swept the floors for us and put down mats for us to sit on. Together my team and I shared the story of the gospel and as we spoke I could tell he had a soft heart towards Jesus. When he heard about how Jesus rose again and the invitation he has to join the Kingdom of Heaven both he and his wife had smiles on their faces. Then our host leaned over to me and told me that both the husband and wife were saying that they wanted to accept Jesus!!!!! Praise the Lord! We got to pray over our new bother and sister in Christ as well as their house and family. This is the story of just one of the many families who experienced the love of Jesus in a new way while we were on the mountain.

The last week of Nepal was spent in adventure. Our host is passionate about adventuring so he took us on a 3-day trek through the foothills of the Himalayas to share the gospel and experience more of this beautiful part of God’s creation. This trek was eventful, to say the least. First, we encountered leeches along with the vistas on our hikes. I didn’t even know there could be leeches on land and then as we walked we saw, quite literally, thousands of them wiggling in the air and speeding towards my exposed toes. I only brought chacos and no socks because why would I need tennis shoes when it was so hot outside? I was wrong, I needed them. Then on day two, we spent the night in homestays in the mountain village and it was unique. My bed was directly above a water buffalo. Even so, I was grateful for a bed to sleep in and especially grateful for the hot milk tea we were served alongside home-cooked meals. The next day we completed our trek and made it to our destination in the city of Pokhara. It was a fun

tourist city and we had a couple of days to explore before heading to our next destination in Nepal. One thing I got to do for the first time was paraglide! I was a little nervous at first but it ended up being so fun and I would do it again.

Our final activity in Nepal was what we call a “Prayer Burn”. We drove up to the top of a mountain where we met our mentor at a hotel. The vision of these 3 days was to rest, reset, and spend time with God. We had a schedule where we each took turns praying during one-hour time slots so that for 72 hours our squad was being covered with prayer. On the first night there we were surprised by our Alumni squad leaders who flew all the way to Nepal just to see us for three days! Those days were so refreshing. I was able to catch up with friends and swim in the pool and what was most life-giving was all the conversations I had with others about the love of God and spending time in prayer and worship. We needed that reset before heading to Kathmandu and flying to our final destination in another part of South Asia.

And that is where we are now. We have been here for about one month and have had the opportunity to do several types of ministry and have also had some changes. First, while we were here we had a debrief with our mentor and coaches. We had time to attend teachings and learn more about God, do one-on-ones with leadership and other squad mates, and just relax and get to know our new city. After that week of debrief we had PVT which stands for
Parent Vision Trip. Many of our parents, including mine, flew out to meet us here and spent 5 days with us. While they were here we had time to just talk and catch up, do ministry together, and experience some culture and adventures together as a squad. Also, during the debrief we had team changes and role changes! I was asked to be the team leader for my new team. I am so grateful for them. Our team name is The Bachelor: The Final Season – Going Back to Our First Love. It is long and silly but still has meaning. We want to remember the excitement we had when we first started this race and finish strong by remembering who our first love is; Jesus.

Some of the ministry we have been doing here in South Asia is relationship building, visiting churches, kids ministry, and visiting with elderly men and women. We have also had enough downtime here to pour into each other as well. As a team, we decided to study 1 Corinthians together and spend time together processing this year that we have been through as well as working on our plans for re-entry in just 26 days. Time is flying.

I hope to do one last update soon or right when I get home. This has been the most life-changing year of my life and I can’t wait to continue telling the story of how Jesus loved me and saved me. I am already sad to be leaving all my new friends as we step into what God has for us next, but incredibly blessed to have them in my life. As always, I would love to talk with you now or when I get home. Post your thoughts or questions in the comments, text me, email me, etc.

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