Faith Without Borders

Well this is it my last day in Nepal! I cannot believe that it is here! These past two weeks have been amazing. We were able to work with my friend and her nonprofit organization that helps provided a better life and income for sexually exploited women. Every morning we would do prayer and devotion time with them and it was amazing to see how much God has been working in these women’s lives. These women who have gone through so much trauma and hardship can still find the strength to smile and love others regardless of what has happened in their past. God knows how hard is must have been for them. My team and I did a lot of organizational stuff for them and I know it was a blessing. In my opinion our time with them went by way to fast. Our last week was debrief week. Some of our time was spent in Chitwan National Park but was cut short due to a transportation strike. While there we were able to ride an elephant and a dugout canoe and do a jungle walk. These were pretty relaxing b...

After Birtamod we headed to Pokhara. We actually flew from Birtamod to Kathmandu in a small airplane, the flight took 45min. if we would have taken a bus it would have taken about 17 hours, which should tell you something about the roads here in Nepal (hint: they are the worst roads I have ever been on). The flight was pretty safe, I was able to do some homework, get some complimentary coffee and by happenstance see Mt. Everest from the air, so I was pretty happy. We then took a private van to Pokhara which is about 6 hours to the West of Kathmandu. In Pokhara we worked with another YWAM base and helped out with their slum kids, street kids feeding program and men’s drug rehab center fellowship time as well as general work on the base. One highlight for me was working with the street kids. These were all boys who for various reasons had to live on the street. Once a week a Christian man named Ram would feed them, give them a place to clean up and provide basic health care for them....

Since my last update my team and I have traveled to both the Far Eastern border of Nepal to an area called Birtamod (pronounced bit-a-more) and the West to a place called Pokhara (pronounced poke-a-ra). In both places we had the privilege and honor to work with some YWAM bases and partner with the different ministries they have. In Birtamod we got to hang out with some students currently involved in a Discipleship training school (DTS). This week was more of a time for us to relax, enjoy the heat and help out on the base in any way possible (e.g. cooking, cleaning…). For a couple mornings we lead worship and prayer times and got to share what God has been doing in our lives recently. In this area there is a very small population of Christians with the majority being Hindu. We were able to witness to some of the neighbors who invited us over for tea and on one occasion for dinner (which was a treat from the normal food we had to eat every day twice a day). One family had many que...

On one of our last ministry days, before heading East for the next week, we went into the tourist area of Kathmandu called Thamel. At night all the shops close up but the “dance bars” open for business. Dance bars are exactly what the name suggests. From about 9pm till 12am the women/ girls who work there dance in, at least by Western standards, modest dresses (e.g. tube tops and spaghetti straps). They dance, pretty badly I might add, to music while customers come to drink and talk with the girls that catch their attention. After 12am however the bars close and only remain open for high paying customers who pay to spend the night or a few hours with the women. All eight of my team as well as four Nepalese went to Thamel. We did a prayer walk down a road with many dance bars and asked God which bar we were supposed to visit that night. After many signs and confirmations we knew which bar we were to visit. In this act alone it was cool to see how God still talks to us and answers...

So good news the women we talked to in the bar have been in contact with our Nepali contacts. They even sent a group back to chat with the women and hopefully they will find them a place to live soon so they can start learning new skills and will hopefully start living a better life. Two of my students went out and talked with more prostitutes on the street in a touristy area last week. One they took out for tea to chat some more, she had a terrible headache but was willing to listen to what they had to say. They prayed for healing but nothing happened. The conversation progressed with them asking the girl if she wanted to become a Christian, she said yes and was lead in the prayer of salvation as soon as Jesus entered her life her headache was gone, it was amazing! Praise the Lord for his goodness to his children! This Saturday she plans on attending church with two of my students, pray for better opportunities and continued revelation of God in her life.   My team is still...

Well these last two weeks have been very interesting. They have gone by very fast and yet very slow at the same time. Last week we spent a lot of time recovering from Christmas as well as praying for our current and upcoming time here in Nepal. We also prayed on behalf of many of the pastors working here, which taught me a lesson in prayer. I have also been learning a lot on what it means to be both a leader and a student as well as a daughter, sister and friend, it basically means no free time. I know that as tough as it can be it is only for a short time and will be well worth it in the end. This past week we have had more of a set schedule, except in Nepal nothing is set in stone. Monday through Friday we work with a slum school from about 7am-10am and then do street ministry anywhere from 12:30-3:00. On Monday night we have prayer meetings, Wednesdays we have men/women separate bible studies and Friday evenings we have fellowship with those in the Agape ministry. On Thursday...

For Christmas weekend we went up to the Tibet/Nepal border and spent Christmas at a small orphanage. The orphanage is run by a pastor and his wife, it has about eight children living in it with some widows who live in the same building and help care for the orphans. We got to participate in both the Christmas Eve and Christmas day celebrations. We sang some carols that were off key, but the locals seemed to enjoy it. It was hard to be away from friends and family (I got pretty ill, complete with nausea and explosive diarrhea on a five hour bumpy bus ride) but I was also reminded about why we celebrate Christmas, it is not for presents and lots of food, but for the birth of a small child who would one day save the world. My Nepali and Tibetian brothers and sisters also taught me some things. Some of them walked a couple days on tough mountain terrain, just to come to church and worship the living God. They also showed me that Christmas is about proclaiming who Jesus was not i...

Hey guys, sorry it has been so long but many things have happened! I am in Kathmandu, Nepal with my outreach team. For the first month and a half we are here we are working with Agape mission. They have many different ministries that we will be a part of. Here is their website if you want to check them out : http://www.tamiasia.org . We have been here for about three weeks now and have had many experiences both good and bad. The first week we were here we did some open air evangelism with two other YWAM teams. They performed some dances and people gave their testimonies in between the dances. Dances are a big deal in Nepal and can draw a crowd in a matter of seconds, especially if it is a bunch of white people doing the dances. My team and I handed out gospel tracts and prayed for people. People who were sick and injured asked us to pray for them. We prayed for numerous people and many of them got healed. These first couple weeks have also been a time of adjusting to the cul...

Hey church family. Some of you might be wondering why I have not updated my other blog for a while. The simple answer is because I cannot access it in Nepal, there is something weird about web restrictions or something along those lines. So I have made the move to blog here! As you may know I have been interning with Youth With A Mission in Oxford, New Zealand since September 1, 2012. I was originally supposed to be working in the office and complete my eight month long internship there. After a week being in New Zealand God gave me a different vision of how I would spend my time with YWAM. I joined the staff of the Justice Discipleship Training School. I have been very busy but have loved my time thus far. Some of my duties have included teaching a lesson on intercessory prayer, leading prayer times for our school, being in charge of a small group of five girls and conducting one-on-ones with them. I also planned all our weekend activities as well as lead a Friday night outreach ...