Latest Adventure...

Here are the basic details of my latest adventure: traveling to two different villages with two very good friends of mine, Holly and Ben. They were going to do some language research of the minority language spoken in a particular region of Nepal, and I was allowed to go with to observe and help in any way I could.   We were gone for almost two weeks, traveling in the South of Nepal, along with our language helper Ravi*.  To switch things up a bit, I have included snippets of my journal entries during those two weeks.  Overall it was an amazing trip that included wonderful times of solitude between me and the LORD, read some great books on my kindle (Les Mis!), experimented with my new camera, and observed Holly, Ben, and Ravi doing what they do best J

First morning: wanted to keep sleeping! The bed is better than we had hoped for- Holly and I got foam padding! The house belonged to the Jameson* family, who first settled here in the 60s and started Kingdom work and translation. So. Much. History.  Dust and cobwebs everywhere, like a haunted house in some aspects, But its ours for the week! We don’t have to infringe on someone else’s charity. And we are all so happy with that.  Ravi looks fresh as ever – a very kind and studious man, but also quite humorous!

…Oh the memories that this village and house hold!  The kitchen – where Anna* prepared rice and daal and who knows what else for her family…the loft, now overcome with rats, but once upon a time a haven for children.  It never ceases to surprise me how the Jameson family carved a “home” our of the side of the mountain here. And they are remembered so fondly by all the villagers! God has given them a strong legacy here.

…The sun has been out every day!  It is so beautiful! And quiet – what a timeless place. No traffic, noise, pollution, NOISE, dust, trash, NOISE…almost as though this place has remained untouched by time and globalization.  I think this village is almost the same as when Anna and John* first arrived.

Church today in the village. Beautiful music and dance in their mother tongue.  About one hundred people attend on a regular basis. Mostly women, but there was a fairly strong presence of men as well, which is always encouraging to see.  I couldn’t help but think about the sacrifices that had to be made for this Church to exist, on the side of mountain in the seemingly middle of nowhere. Amazing how God moves for the sake of His people.  Whoa.

New village…first rough day. We were out for five hours straight doing research. The goats were bleating, making recordings a challenge. The villagers were not cooperative or kind. At times as many as 35 children were crowding in, loud, inquisitive, blissfully unaware of the attempts of the adults to shoo them away.  Bugging, poking, watching. Absolutely no personal space! Definitely feeling tired and grouchy after this experience. I suppose that’s not too bad considering we are 12 days in to our trip. But still. I am a bit discouraged with my lack of graciousness in my reactions to this particular village.

The daal bhat is soooo good here! I am going to miss it when we return tomorrow to KTM.

Traveling home to KTM – so excited to see friends and be home again. Saw an old rusted ski left on the side of the mountain as we crawled along the twisting roads in the jeep.  Who would ever think to ride in that? I felt sick just looking at it! If you fell out….it would be a long, horrible drop to imminent death.

HOME. Dust, noise, and pollution. But home. Friends, familiarity. Life is good.