http://www.ucanews.com/2009/11/06/abandoned-elderly-find-hope-through-blessed-teresas-nuns/
Above is a link to an article about a place where I have spent much of my time here in Nepal. I along with my fellow servant team members volunteer at Pashupatinath three days a week. It is difficult but rewarding work. We have many treasured friends in this place.
The article shows and talks about many things that are familiar to us.
The first photo in the article is of two of the Sisters of Charity whom we have come to know and love. In the photo they are caring for a woman who recently passed away.
The second photo is actually of Bekah, a friend and fellow Servant Team member, feeding one of the women we work with.
The article also features a quote from Padma Kumari, an elderly woman in the home who has become very dear to us.
So read and enjoy and get a little taste of my life here in Kathmandu.
11.24.2009
11.12.2009
conviction and encouragement
In community I have been learning a lot about my sin. I've been confronted with it on a daily basis. Confession has become an integral part of my day. If I do not confess my sin immediately, it festers and becomes worse. One sin opens the door for so many others. God has been using 1 Corinthians 13 to convict me and refine me. My daily confession has become that scripture in reverse:
I confess that...
I am not patient or kind
I envy and boast
I am arrogant and rude
I insist on my own way
I am irritable and resentful
I rejoice at wrongdoing
I do not rejoice with the truth
I do not bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, or endure all things
My love ends.
Jesus is convicting me of the evil in my own heart and my lack of love for my neighbors. But He is full of grace and mercy and is teaching me, ever so slowly, how to love.
Jyoti (my Nepali didi) shared these encouraging words with me the other evening:
Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?
-1 Corinthians 3:16
What an encouragement to remember that God's Spirit dwells in me and I do not have to rely on my own strength to love others.
I confess that...
I am not patient or kind
I envy and boast
I am arrogant and rude
I insist on my own way
I am irritable and resentful
I rejoice at wrongdoing
I do not rejoice with the truth
I do not bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, or endure all things
My love ends.
Jesus is convicting me of the evil in my own heart and my lack of love for my neighbors. But He is full of grace and mercy and is teaching me, ever so slowly, how to love.
Jyoti (my Nepali didi) shared these encouraging words with me the other evening:
Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?
-1 Corinthians 3:16
What an encouragement to remember that God's Spirit dwells in me and I do not have to rely on my own strength to love others.
10.04.2009
freedom.
"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery."
-Galatians 5:1
About two years ago I had a real crisis of faith. Encountering other religions in an academic setting was so challenging for me. When I read about Islam and Hinduism I noticed all of the similarities between these religions and Christianity and began to question the validity of our faith. I thought: "I have been born into so much privilege...Have I also been born into a country where the one true God is worshiped? How unfair is that?!" After much searching, God confronted me. He asked me to put aside everything else and look at the one thing that is crucial to our faith--the cross. Ultimately, the question was, "Do I believe that Jesus died on the cross taking on the sins of the world, and was raised again, freeing us all from our sins?" Shockingly the answer was, "yes" without a doubt. I had doubted everything else. But this, perhaps the most absurd part of the Christian faith, this I did not doubt.
Now, encountering another religion in the flesh, not simply wrestling with it in my mind but actually witnessing it every day, encountering people who practice it, seeing and hearing about the fruit of this religion--it is so clearly a lie. The truth of the Gospel is so evident when encountering another religion in reality and not simply in the imaginings of my own mind.
Nearly every Christan I know here was at some point in their lives a Hindu--many of them very devout Hindus. When they talk about their life now in comparison to their former lives, what they talk about the most is the freedom they have in Christ. They are no longer slaves to their sin. They are no longer constrained by the caste system or compelled to offer animal sacrifices. They are no longer bound by the expectation of an endless cycle of death and rebirth in which you pay for the sins of your former life in the current one. Their faces are radiant when they talk about their freedom, when they look to that same event that I was confronted with--Jesus on the cross.
I am discovering the truth of the Gospel among these beautiful people. Jesus has set us free. His power is so evident here. I have heard story after story of miracles He has worked and lives He has transformed. The Gospel is truth. We really do worship the one true God. When Jesus comes into contact with other religions in real life, He is not threatened. He is not vulnerable to criticism. He is not any less believable. In fact, He is more real than ever. And His Truth is more evident than ever.
His Truth sets us free. We who have grown up in Christianity tend to take our freedom for granted. But these people who remember what it was like to be slaves to false gods, who daily encounter friends, brothers, sisters, and parents who are still slaves to those same gods--Jesus' freedom is still fresh to them. And they praise Him for it every day. Oh if only we would do the same. If only we would know the depth of the freedom that we have in Christ. If only we would respond to that freedom not with selfishness but with love--the one thing that Jesus most desires of His followers.
"For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another."
-Galatians 5:13
-Galatians 5:1
About two years ago I had a real crisis of faith. Encountering other religions in an academic setting was so challenging for me. When I read about Islam and Hinduism I noticed all of the similarities between these religions and Christianity and began to question the validity of our faith. I thought: "I have been born into so much privilege...Have I also been born into a country where the one true God is worshiped? How unfair is that?!" After much searching, God confronted me. He asked me to put aside everything else and look at the one thing that is crucial to our faith--the cross. Ultimately, the question was, "Do I believe that Jesus died on the cross taking on the sins of the world, and was raised again, freeing us all from our sins?" Shockingly the answer was, "yes" without a doubt. I had doubted everything else. But this, perhaps the most absurd part of the Christian faith, this I did not doubt.
Now, encountering another religion in the flesh, not simply wrestling with it in my mind but actually witnessing it every day, encountering people who practice it, seeing and hearing about the fruit of this religion--it is so clearly a lie. The truth of the Gospel is so evident when encountering another religion in reality and not simply in the imaginings of my own mind.
Nearly every Christan I know here was at some point in their lives a Hindu--many of them very devout Hindus. When they talk about their life now in comparison to their former lives, what they talk about the most is the freedom they have in Christ. They are no longer slaves to their sin. They are no longer constrained by the caste system or compelled to offer animal sacrifices. They are no longer bound by the expectation of an endless cycle of death and rebirth in which you pay for the sins of your former life in the current one. Their faces are radiant when they talk about their freedom, when they look to that same event that I was confronted with--Jesus on the cross.
I am discovering the truth of the Gospel among these beautiful people. Jesus has set us free. His power is so evident here. I have heard story after story of miracles He has worked and lives He has transformed. The Gospel is truth. We really do worship the one true God. When Jesus comes into contact with other religions in real life, He is not threatened. He is not vulnerable to criticism. He is not any less believable. In fact, He is more real than ever. And His Truth is more evident than ever.
His Truth sets us free. We who have grown up in Christianity tend to take our freedom for granted. But these people who remember what it was like to be slaves to false gods, who daily encounter friends, brothers, sisters, and parents who are still slaves to those same gods--Jesus' freedom is still fresh to them. And they praise Him for it every day. Oh if only we would do the same. If only we would know the depth of the freedom that we have in Christ. If only we would respond to that freedom not with selfishness but with love--the one thing that Jesus most desires of His followers.
"For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another."
-Galatians 5:13
9.18.2009
One month
I've been in Kathmandu a month now and I'm often still overwhelmed. Sometimes it's so hard for me to think clearly about anything or to really focus on Jesus. It seems like every day in this place is a sensory overload. It's nearly impossible for me to hear God amidst all the commotion.
Yesterday I heard so many stories that broke my heart. Didi told us more about her life, which has been filled with so many trials. I heard stories about young abandoned girls who suffered horrible abuses and self-destructive addicts who have so little hope. Each story was difficult to hear yet filled with undeniable redemption. In their hardships God showed up in such powerful ways. If you met many of these people now, you would have no idea that they have suffered so much pain and rejection. They are now filled with indescribable joy and generosity. These people may have suffered much but they have seen God's powerful action in ways that we rarely see in the Western world.
When I returned to my room yesterday evening I tried to write about all that I had heard and felt, but I found that I could not put two coherent thoughts together. My mind feels so clouded. Please be praying for clarity for my mind. I don't want these stories to affect me for only a moment. I want them to penetrate my heart and soul. I want to see and know more of Jesus through the lives that He has so clearly impacted.
The only thing I could clearly hear from God was Him asking me again, "Are you willing to give your life for me and my people? Are you willing to surrender your will to mine?" My response: "Good grief! I thought we'd already been over this! I thought I'd already given my life to You and Your purposes!" But it's not just a one time thing. It is a daily surrender, a daily choice to follow His will above my own. The more I realize what it means to give my life to Him, the less I want to do it. But I know Him. I know He is good. And I know His will for me is good. It is better than anything I could ever plan for myself. So, even when I cannot think clearly, even when His will is not clear and His voice is not very audible, I will choose to follow Him. Because I know that the reward is greater than the cost. He is my delight and my reward and His love is better than anything else in the world.
Thank you Jesus that even when I am so overwhelmed that I can hardly think, I still know who You are. Thank you that even when I don't know where You are leading me, You are still trustworthy.
Yesterday I heard so many stories that broke my heart. Didi told us more about her life, which has been filled with so many trials. I heard stories about young abandoned girls who suffered horrible abuses and self-destructive addicts who have so little hope. Each story was difficult to hear yet filled with undeniable redemption. In their hardships God showed up in such powerful ways. If you met many of these people now, you would have no idea that they have suffered so much pain and rejection. They are now filled with indescribable joy and generosity. These people may have suffered much but they have seen God's powerful action in ways that we rarely see in the Western world.
When I returned to my room yesterday evening I tried to write about all that I had heard and felt, but I found that I could not put two coherent thoughts together. My mind feels so clouded. Please be praying for clarity for my mind. I don't want these stories to affect me for only a moment. I want them to penetrate my heart and soul. I want to see and know more of Jesus through the lives that He has so clearly impacted.
The only thing I could clearly hear from God was Him asking me again, "Are you willing to give your life for me and my people? Are you willing to surrender your will to mine?" My response: "Good grief! I thought we'd already been over this! I thought I'd already given my life to You and Your purposes!" But it's not just a one time thing. It is a daily surrender, a daily choice to follow His will above my own. The more I realize what it means to give my life to Him, the less I want to do it. But I know Him. I know He is good. And I know His will for me is good. It is better than anything I could ever plan for myself. So, even when I cannot think clearly, even when His will is not clear and His voice is not very audible, I will choose to follow Him. Because I know that the reward is greater than the cost. He is my delight and my reward and His love is better than anything else in the world.
Thank you Jesus that even when I am so overwhelmed that I can hardly think, I still know who You are. Thank you that even when I don't know where You are leading me, You are still trustworthy.
9.03.2009
God's eyes
Our days are so busy. I hardly have time to think. But a few days ago we had a cancellation in our schedule and we got the afternoon off. We went to Calvin's for lunch and had some sweet time of reflection and just resting in the Lord's presence. That is something I need so badly here. I am desperate for just a few moments of rest in His presence. During lunch Brook shared a beautiful story with us that has become my prayer for the past week.
Kathmandu is filthy. It reeks of garbage and urine. Pollution contaminates your every breath. The people work so hard and earn so little. But that is Kathmandu through human eyes, not God's.
Brook's friend, who had been living in Kathmandu for a while, traveled with a group to one of the most remote places in Nepal. They were trekking uphill through empty land, tired and exhausted. Then, all of sudden, they happened upon a magnificent lake. This lake was perfect, unpolluted by humans, crystal clear, a beautiful picture of God's majesty in His creation. It was so transparent that every pebble on the floor of the lake could be clearly seen, even in the deepest parts. It was breathtaking. As Brook's friend walked around the edge of the lake, God whispered to her, "This is how I see Kathmandu."
What a beautiful picture of how God sees us--messed up, broken humanity. All week I have been praying, asking God to let me see Kathmandu as He sees it. When I just want to punch the motorcycle drivers who have to honk their horns every two seconds. When I feel like I can't bring myself to take one more step up the steep hill to our home. When I pass a pile of the most horrible smelling garbage. When I sit on the ground surrounded by flies. Oh how I long for God's eyes. And slowly I begin to see the beauty. I see the foothills of the Himalayas just outside the city. I smell the fresh vegetable plants peeking over the walls of someone's home. I laugh with people who are joyful in spite of their surroundings (and sometimes because of them). This place is beautiful because it is full of God's creation. We humans can mess with it all we want. But the truth about this city is what God says about it. And He says it is beautiful. And it is.
So I have faith that I will find rest. It may not be in the form I am used to. But His presence is all over this city and I can rest in His presence as I walk through the chaos.
Kathmandu is filthy. It reeks of garbage and urine. Pollution contaminates your every breath. The people work so hard and earn so little. But that is Kathmandu through human eyes, not God's.
Brook's friend, who had been living in Kathmandu for a while, traveled with a group to one of the most remote places in Nepal. They were trekking uphill through empty land, tired and exhausted. Then, all of sudden, they happened upon a magnificent lake. This lake was perfect, unpolluted by humans, crystal clear, a beautiful picture of God's majesty in His creation. It was so transparent that every pebble on the floor of the lake could be clearly seen, even in the deepest parts. It was breathtaking. As Brook's friend walked around the edge of the lake, God whispered to her, "This is how I see Kathmandu."
What a beautiful picture of how God sees us--messed up, broken humanity. All week I have been praying, asking God to let me see Kathmandu as He sees it. When I just want to punch the motorcycle drivers who have to honk their horns every two seconds. When I feel like I can't bring myself to take one more step up the steep hill to our home. When I pass a pile of the most horrible smelling garbage. When I sit on the ground surrounded by flies. Oh how I long for God's eyes. And slowly I begin to see the beauty. I see the foothills of the Himalayas just outside the city. I smell the fresh vegetable plants peeking over the walls of someone's home. I laugh with people who are joyful in spite of their surroundings (and sometimes because of them). This place is beautiful because it is full of God's creation. We humans can mess with it all we want. But the truth about this city is what God says about it. And He says it is beautiful. And it is.
So I have faith that I will find rest. It may not be in the form I am used to. But His presence is all over this city and I can rest in His presence as I walk through the chaos.
8.27.2009
Didi
So...I've been here for about 10 days and so much has happened. It's all been very overwhelming. I'm trying to cram a million things into my head--learning a new language, navigating a new city, remembering the names of everyone I've met (and I've met A LOT of people), trying to remember all of the cultural taboos (such as never face the sole of your foot to anyone and basically don't use your left hand for anything--especially eating). We’ve had activities non-stop until today. It’s been mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausting.
But today we rest. Eshu dhanyabaad! (Thank you Jesus!)
There are too many things to write about. In order to refrain from overwhelming myself further, I’m only writing about one thing today…Didi.
“Didi” means “older sister” in Nepali. My Nepali paribahr (family) who I eat with 5 nights out of the week consists of my didi and dai (older brother). They are a married couple with no children. I call them sister and brother instead of mother and father because didi is actually the same age as Anne (though, she has been married for seven years).
Interacting with my Nepali family was one of the things I was most nervous about. It’s not easy to make conversation when you don’t speak the same language. Then I found out that I had the one family who speaks basically no English (ahh!). But the Lord is so good. Didi has been the best thing about Nepal. She is such a blessing. I come to her house exhausted and spent but leave refreshed and at peace. She is so animated and joyful. (Dai is also amazing. He has such a kind spirit. But he works long hours and I don’t see him often). Although she is only two years older than me, Didi is very motherly. (It makes sense. I imagine we sound like toddlers to them—“I…eat…today. My…stomach…pain.”) Every night when I go to her house she makes me get out my notebooks and show her what I learned in Nepali language class that day. She has so much patience. I can’t imagine that counting to ten and repeating the words for different parts of the body is very stimulating conversation for her. But she seems to love every minute of it. She is so much fun to be around. Whenever she was telling me how to say “I sing” and “I dance” she sang and danced. I am learning Nepali fairly quickly because of my evenings with her. (That’s another blessing because learning the language was something I was also worried about).
Didi and Dai live in a one room house which they have separated into two rooms with a curtain. Even though they don’t have much, she is so generous. Whenever I had a bad cough because of the pollution she gave me her Vick’s Vapor Rub (even though she suffers from a cough as well). My cough was 10 times better the next day. Didi told me she had prayed for me.
She loves the Lord and has such an amazing faith. Frequently, throughout the evening she’ll randomly interject, “Hallelujah!” I never really know why she says it at the moments she does but I love it. Her Hallelujah’s make me stop and look at Jesus, which I often forget to do during our busy days. They remind me to praise Him even though I’m exhausted, overwhelmed, and, at times, even resentful of our busy schedule.
Hallelujah! Thank you Jesus for Didi.
But today we rest. Eshu dhanyabaad! (Thank you Jesus!)
There are too many things to write about. In order to refrain from overwhelming myself further, I’m only writing about one thing today…Didi.
“Didi” means “older sister” in Nepali. My Nepali paribahr (family) who I eat with 5 nights out of the week consists of my didi and dai (older brother). They are a married couple with no children. I call them sister and brother instead of mother and father because didi is actually the same age as Anne (though, she has been married for seven years).
Interacting with my Nepali family was one of the things I was most nervous about. It’s not easy to make conversation when you don’t speak the same language. Then I found out that I had the one family who speaks basically no English (ahh!). But the Lord is so good. Didi has been the best thing about Nepal. She is such a blessing. I come to her house exhausted and spent but leave refreshed and at peace. She is so animated and joyful. (Dai is also amazing. He has such a kind spirit. But he works long hours and I don’t see him often). Although she is only two years older than me, Didi is very motherly. (It makes sense. I imagine we sound like toddlers to them—“I…eat…today. My…stomach…pain.”) Every night when I go to her house she makes me get out my notebooks and show her what I learned in Nepali language class that day. She has so much patience. I can’t imagine that counting to ten and repeating the words for different parts of the body is very stimulating conversation for her. But she seems to love every minute of it. She is so much fun to be around. Whenever she was telling me how to say “I sing” and “I dance” she sang and danced. I am learning Nepali fairly quickly because of my evenings with her. (That’s another blessing because learning the language was something I was also worried about).
Didi and Dai live in a one room house which they have separated into two rooms with a curtain. Even though they don’t have much, she is so generous. Whenever I had a bad cough because of the pollution she gave me her Vick’s Vapor Rub (even though she suffers from a cough as well). My cough was 10 times better the next day. Didi told me she had prayed for me.
She loves the Lord and has such an amazing faith. Frequently, throughout the evening she’ll randomly interject, “Hallelujah!” I never really know why she says it at the moments she does but I love it. Her Hallelujah’s make me stop and look at Jesus, which I often forget to do during our busy days. They remind me to praise Him even though I’m exhausted, overwhelmed, and, at times, even resentful of our busy schedule.
Hallelujah! Thank you Jesus for Didi.
8.16.2009
Leaving Tomorrow
I'll hopefully start updating this site regularly once I arrive in Kathmandu.
In the meantime, to learn more about who I will be working with and the heart behind the ministry, visit www.wordmadeflesh.org/organization/about.
I also love to read their publication, The Cry. You can read the latest edition online at www.wordmadeflesh.org/the-cry-vol-15-no-2.
In the meantime, to learn more about who I will be working with and the heart behind the ministry, visit www.wordmadeflesh.org/organization/about.
I also love to read their publication, The Cry. You can read the latest edition online at www.wordmadeflesh.org/the-cry-vol-15-no-2.
Blog Info
Location: Kathmandu, Nepal
Date: August-December 2009
Purpose: Serving Jesus among the poor of Kathmandu