Nepal Week 7

This past week has been nothing short of amazing. As my time grows short, I am so thankful for moment after moment that I feel challenged, stretched, and changed. I am also thankful for the moments that I know I will cherish for many years to come.

Wednesday night, I stayed with a friend of mine. This is the girl who got me connected with New Creation. She and her roommate are both fantastic women who are working in the area of sex-trafficking prevention in Nepal. The village we went to see is actually the village they plan to move to before the end of the year to continue their prevention efforts. They are both sweet, humble, compassionate women of God. They welcomed me into their house as if I lived there, too. Honestly, it was so nice to not stay in an empty house that night. I’d almost forgotten how nice it is to have roommates =)

Thursday, we got up early and met the YWAM teams at the bus station. Our group consisted of two YWAM teams, one from the New Zealand base and one from the Colorado base, my friend and her roommate, myself, and the woman in charge of the ministry Beauty for Ashes. BFA is a business that teaches women rescued from sex-trafficking how to make jewelry. BFA then sells the jewelry on behalf of the women and pays them a salary. Other than the founder, the management is all Nepali. She was taking the YWAM groups to this specific village because it is one that many of the girls trafficked to Kathmandu come from. She goes there often to pray over the space. Once we made some introductions, we got on the very crowded bus and began our four-hour adventure up the hills and out of the valley.

The village, Nuarkowt, is beautiful. It is at the base of the hills just outside the north side of the Kathmandu valley and has green land as far as the eye can see. As I stepped out of the bus, I was happily surprised to breathe in clean air. I gazed that the beautiful landscapes, surprised that I could see so clearly. It has been so long since I’ve seen a place where dust and smog do not fill the air. It was such a welcome sight.

During our time in Nuarkowt, we spent some time prayer walking through the old palaces and through more rural parts of the village. When we weren’t walking or speaking with local people, we spent time in prayer and worship or just getting to know each other better. It was so nice to be with other people. After staying in a house by myself for most of the summer, it was nice to have a roommate and to have people to share meals with. It also reminded me of traveling with my classmates from the India leg of this trip. It was wonderful and encouraging to spend the weekend with them in the village.

Life at the salon has been interesting this past week. Because of the increased business, I’ve actually been helping with the actual business. Obviously, I am no beautician, but they asked me to help bring hot towels, mix the water for manicures and pedicures, and other odds and ends like that. Let me tell you, it is always a challenge to work in situations that you have no experience in. It was very humbling to work in this way to help the salon. It was also very fun. The girls thrived off the energy that the extra business provided and it’s obvious that they enjoy their jobs. And, if I am to be completely honest, it was nice to not be in the office doing paper work =)

I am so blessed by the relationship with my Hindu shop-owning family. We speak almost every day and share a little bit of life together. They share with me more about their culture and I share with them a little of mine. Now, though, things are getting interesting. They invited me to go to with them to an international church on Sunday, the same church I visited earlier this summer. I am going with them, or course; I just find it highly amusing and wonderful that I am going as their guest. Great things are happening in the life of this family =)

I would like to ask for some specific prayers for this family. A friend of mine (who wishes to remain anonymous) has prayed and feels very led to help this family. We are trying to find a way for this relationship to be more of a business partnership instead of free aid. If they enter into a partnership for their business, they will build and expand their business in a way that makes their family sustainable. It will also maintain their dignity because they will not be “poor people” receiving aid from the powerful white American. They will be partners growing a successful business, improving their quality of life in the long run. My friend also wants to provide a scholarship for the son. This, too, would be something he has to work for. He must report to my friend once a month with an update of his grades and a short paper explaining what he learned that month. They family is touched and excited about the prospect of a business partner and a scholarship; we are just struggling to figure out how to make the business part work. The prayers I desperately want to ask for us to get this set up quickly. I leave on Friday, so we have limited time to sort this out. It is also hard to communicate with my friend who is still in America. This is such a great opportunity for this family; I just don’t want to mess this up.

I leave Kathmandu, Nepal in less than a week. It’s hard to believe that my journey is so close to the end. I am excited to come back to America, but I am sad to leave this place and leave the friends I have made here. I’ve adjusted to this beautiful place so quickly that life here feels natural. I will miss the girls at the salon and their bright personalities. I will miss walking home with the shop owner to drink tea and talk about the day. I will miss going to Nepali church with friends and enjoying sweet fellowship afterward. I will miss dinner on the rooftop of the house. I will miss the sweet didis walking in the street with their beautiful saris. I will miss this place, but I don’t want to spend a whole week saying goodbye. My prayer is that I can stay in the moment, say my goodbyes when necessary, and enjoy my last 6 days here.

This is probably my last blog until I get back to the States. I plan to post one more to tell you about my last week here and to offer reflections on this trip as a whole. Thank you all for your support and prayers over the course of this summer. This has truly been a life-changing experience and I am thankful that you wanted to share this journey with me. See you back in America.