Day-To-Day

“Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything; tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank Him for His answers. If you do this you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6-7

This last month has been a whirlwind of emotions for me, yet I feel that not much has changed in my day-to-day life, hence the reason it has taken me so long to post. When discussing this with my older sister she encouraged me to tell a little of what has gone on in my life, though it is not all directly related to me being on field. In this way, you at least know how to pray for me.

This past November my parents called me to inform me that my dear Grandma had a stroke, leaving her unable to speak, swallow, or move her right side. This was extremely difficult for my grandma. Not only could she not be her stubborn independent self, she also could not minister through stories and songs. For you who knew my grandma she had a story, a poem, a bible verse, or a song for everything; now, without her ability to speak, she felt lost. My father and the rest of his brothers and sisters encouraged my dear grandma to do rehab, and for them she worked hard to recover whatever she could from the stroke. However, she had told my dad that if God willed she was ready to go home.

At the end of January I received a message from my dad saying that my grandma was not doing well and that they were taking her to the hospital because of stomach pain. On hearing the news, I said a quick prayer and went to do my morning workout. Shortly after breakfast I received a call from my mom saying that my grandma had a huge mass in her abdomen that was completely blocking her digestive tract. They were pretty sure it was cancer and my grandma did not want to fight it or go through a painful surgery. The doctors had told my parents that without treatment she had hours to days to live. In respect of my grandma’s wishes, they made the decision to hold off on treatment. After my mom told me my grandma’s prognosis she turned the phone over to my grandma so I could see her face here on this side of heaven for the last time. I sang our favorite song to her, “The Wonder of Wonders,” and tried not to cry. She was still completely oriented and through the few words she could say she managed to mouth the words, “I love you and I wish I could kiss away your tears.” My grandma then passed away February 2 surrounded by her family. She got to go home which is what she had wanted to do for some time.

In my time working in the hospital, death became part of reality. I hugged many people and shed tears as their loved ones passed away. However, I somehow forgot how bad it hurts and continues to hurt when it’s your loved one that has gone. People leave indentations in our lives; some make larger marks than others, thus they take longer to heal when they are gone. My grandma was a one-of-a-kind lady who I learned a lot from, the main thing being her love for people and her passion for prayer. Life in Nepal goes on as I continue to heal, though I am finding things back home still need prayer. One of my college roommate’s 21-month-old son just got diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and another one of my roommate’s dad was also diagnosed with cancer. My heart is tearing, not because I could do much for these families back home, but I could at least be there. Nepal is home for me now, I am confident that it is where I am supposed to be, but it does not make the longing to be somewhere else hurt any less. Please join me in prayer for these families as they work to fight the battle with cancer.

Outside of some of the emotions going on back home, things here seem to be mundane. I have officially gotten my Student Visa cleared and on my passport! I am doing a research project regarding the cultural relations to herbal remedies in the Humla area (which is the area we trek in northwest Nepal). I am excited to see what insight this information brings to our team. Herbal medicine is the way of life in the Tibetan Buddhist area of Humla and I am curious if there is a way to utilize what they already know to enhance the medical world in their area. We are working to get things prepared for our next trip to Humla which will be at the end of April through the beginning of June.

Language continues to be a struggle for me. I have increased my time in language lessons in hopes that I can understand and communicate some with the people of Humla. I also hope to start writing just the basic letters in Nepali by the end of the month. My classes currently consist of me with my language helper as we go through new vocab. She helps me put sentences together as we talk to each other in Nepali. The sentence structure is interesting, I will give you a couple examples:
• English: I have a new bag
• Nepali: I have bag new a
• English: I am from the USA
• Nepali: I USA from is/are
It is interesting just learning how to say the sentence in the correct form with the correct formality. Here the respect level of the people and how you talk to them is very important.

My motorbike lessons are currently on hold and probably will be until we get back from Humla, as my teacher is out of the country until the end of July. I currently am looking into buying a bicycle so I can at least learn to drive in the traffic before I get my motorcycle. Here, if you are not going far, a bicycle is about just as good as a motorcycle as far as timeliness goes. If you are going any distance, though, a motorcycle is beneficial.

I just recently hired a housekeeper who speaks no English, which is great for my Nepali, although some of our conversations end up being a lot of pointing and smiling as we try to understand each other. I still enjoy spending time with my different Nepali friends and continue to enjoy what all they can show me about their culture and the religions found here in Nepal. As I make different connections with the people here my love for this world and the people in it continues to grow.

Life on the field brings many interesting challenges, I just did not expect the challenges coming from home to be so difficult for me to handle. I am thankful for the friends that are becoming family here and the support system they offer. I am also thankful for a never-changing God who hears my every prayer. God is faithful!