Welcome to 2018!
As I head into the new year, one song keeps playing over and over in my head: “In His Time” by Diane Ball. This song was written in 1978, so it is not a new song, but sometimes it’s the wisdom of the past that takes us into the future. As many things happen in life that I do not understand, this song based out of Ecclesiastes 3:11 has become my prayer.
“In His time, In His time, He makes all things beautiful in His time. Lord please show me everyday as you’re teaching me your way that you do just what you say in your time. In your time, in your time, you make all things beautiful in your time. Lord my life to you I bring may each song I have to sing be to you a lovely thing, in your time.”
This past year has been full of many changes for me as I closed one chapter of my life to start a new chapter here in Nepal. I have learned a lot, but I still have so much more that I need to learn. The last verse or sentence of the song “In His time” says, “Lord my life to you I bring may each song I have to sing be to you a lovely thing in your time.” When coming to the field, you have a lot of glamorous ideas as to what you will be doing, saving the world one day at a time 😉 However, I have learned that each day here is me turning my life over to God and saying, no matter what happens at home that may tear my heart in two and no matter what happens here, my life is yours because, though I do not understand, you make all things beautiful in your time.
There are many things that I am looking forward to this year. We will be traveling to Humla for over two months at a time in April and in October. I hope to be able to help get several different educational materials made and translated into Nepali before our first trip in April. I also hope to be able to speak Nepali fluently by this time, which means that I will be increasing my time spent learning the language. I am currently working to get my research Visa, which is quite a process. I don’t have to renew my visa until the start of April, but the process of getting your research Visa takes several months so I am starting the process now. Keep me in your prayers that everything goes smoothly. I am also working to help get a program called CHE (Community Health Education) going here in Kathmandu. CHE is a program based out of the Assembly of God mint to be used as an outreach tool and I look forward to seeing how the program can be developed here. The other major thing that is happening right now is that I am learning how to drive a motorcycle so I can start becoming more independent as I travel the streets here in
Kathmandu (keep me in your prayers with this as well as my parents).
I continue to meet with a couple of different girls here who are helping me learn the language and the culture. I am so very thankful for each person God has placed in my life here and I pray that I can help impact their lives as much as they are impacting mine.
No matter if I am here in Nepal or back in the US I know one thing: life is full of ups and downs. There is something encouraging about Ecclesiastes 3:11 knowing that God does make all things beautiful in His time; all we have to do is give it to God and trust that He has got it all under control. The one who created
the world and everything in it will take care of the smallest details of your life.