How far are you willing to go? What all are you willing to do to share the Gospel?
This last month I was privileged to go with a Doctor from Nepal and a nurse from Brazil to a couple of different villages to work with the pregnant woman and children up to age 3 in the area. The focus of our time there was on doing what we could to help prevent further malnutrition from occurring. The program that the nurse and doctor work through comes every month to the villages that have reached out and asked for help and that fit the criteria for malnutrition. Some areas here have the resources and money needed to stay healthy and many times they ask for help not because of a need but to see what they can get. However other villages need assistance as many of their young mothers and children are very malnourished. In this program vitamins are provided as well as two eggs per day to the mothers and children. The churches in the area are the ones who provide the eggs to the families every week. This gives the local churches ownership of the project and an amazing outreach opportunity. Once a month when the medical staff from this organization goes to the villages they take measurements of the children to make sure they are growing properly and if they do not seem to be measuring correctly they do what is needed to see what might be causing the growth deficiency. For expecting mothers, they also weigh and then they talk to about the baby answering any questions they may have. After the end of the examination part of the day a short class is provided on varying topics from nutrition to caring for their kids. Some of the woman we saw come in where as young as 14 years old. It is not uncommon here for woman to get married young. The woman or girl’s family cannot or will not take care of her anymore and so they arrange a marriage for her. One of the young women we saw was 14 with a two-year-old daughter. The daughter had some developmental delays due to a lack of oxygen at birth. The young woman had been given to her husband at the age of 12 because her parent’s had both died and her other family did not want to take care of her. Child marriage is illegal in Nepal; however, it still happens all the time.
Another village that we went to, we went to confirm that they were eligible for the program. We picked up the pastor on the way to the village so he could give us directions on how to get there. We took a jeep to the area along a path that should be walked and, in the future, will be walked by those from the team who will be returning each month. As we drove the pastor told us the story of how they church had come to be. The story was miraculous but what brought tears to my eyes was how the pastor his wife and four-month-old daughter were living. On arrival to the church that was still in the process of being built by young men (members of the church) no older the 25 we were greeted by about 50 women none of them older than 25. We were then directed behind the church to a shack that consisted of sticks leaned up against each other and some blankets laid on top of it. It was the pastor’s house. He has been working to build this church for the past 6 months and once the church is built, he would build a house for his family. On seeing this and his heart for this community that he said God had placed in his hands a well of emotions ran through me. Questions now running through my mind on what I am willing to do to share the gospel. We then started our examination of the women and children. Many of the children aging two and three looked like they were no older than one. The women who came to us were as young as 16. There was no doubt that this village met all the criteria for this organization to step in and help. The pastor told us that it takes the children here 45 minutes to walk to school. Many of the young teens during that walk will become intimate with each other forming families at very young ages (you are considered married here if intimacy has occurred). The pastor was running a school from his church to help prevent more young families from forming that had already formed. Also allowing the young families that had formed an opportunity to further their education without having to take so much time out of their day to go to school. There was so much to be done in the area, I was overwhelmed, but God has chosen the right pastor for his people here. And the organization I was working with will be a great asset to the pastor and his family as he continues to do what God has called him to do.
On arriving back from this eye-opening experience my little sister arrived in Kathmandu to join me for the rest of the Holiday season. What a joy it was for me to show her my world here. To have her meet the people I have fallen so much in love with. My girls were so happy to meet her and treated her as a sister like I new they would. These girls have not accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, though I pray everyday that I will get to see this happen before I leave. If not, I know God is faithful and will continue to work in their lives even during my absence from Nepal. I am working right now to connect them with other Christians in the area both from Nepal and other foreigners. I ask that you pray that the right connections will be made and that they will come to hunger after the love of God more and more.
Other things that my sister was privileged to experience here besides my amazing driving ;), the beautiful mountains here, the people, the culture, the religion, and amazing Nepali food, was some of the lifestyles people live here. She was able to go to a boys home of a dear friend I have recently made. She was able to sing and talk to these young men, encouraging them were she could. It was wonderful to see how God could use her here in such a short time. We then took they boys out for ice cream, something so simple yet so much fun for them. During our time at the boys home we were given the opportunity to pray for the boys. Though the boys are Christ followers one of the prayer requests we received was to pray that they would be strong as they constantly encounter the spiritual world. The spiritual world is very real here, everyone knows about it no matter their religion. It is very common here for people to see spirits and to have spirits living with them. This boys prayer request is one that I ask you to pray for all the people here as they learn the truth about the gospel.
This next month is my last month of my time here in Nepal. It will be a time of finishing my research project and spending as much time with those I have come to love as possible. I ask that you pray that I will continue to follow the leading of God in my short time left here.
This is a new year and as I have so much to be thankful for as I look back at this past year. I am excited to see what God has instore for the year 2020. I pray that as the young pastor in the village who was willing to live in nothing but sticks, I am willing to do whatever God asks of me no matter the cost.
How far are you willing to go? What all are you willing to do to share the Gospel?