Faith Without Borders

Dear friends and family,             Well I have been back in America for a month now. The first 3 and a half weeks were spent in Northern Washington visiting my parents and grandma as well as resting and figuring out my next plans. During this time I have decided not to return to ministry and to just “do normal life” for a while. I found a great used Subaru in WA and have driven up to Alaska with my dad, where I will be living and working for the foreseeable future. I have been blessed with returning to the job I left last August and living with some amazing family friends here in Alaska until I can get my feet back on the ground.             For those in AK I did bring some Beauty For Ashes products back with me, if you are interested in hosting a jewelry party let me know! I would also love to see you guys as well as share in more detail what I was doing in Nepal. Howeve...

Hey friends and family, I just wanted to inform those of you living in Northern Washington that this Sunday at 9am at Faith Community Church on the Birch bay- Lynden rd I will be speaking during the sunday school hour about my time in Nepal and answering any questions you guys may have. Cannot wait to see those of you that can make it out! I will be sending a more detailed update about what's next and what I've been up to since home a little while later. Blessings Kylee Nicholas

Dear friends and family, As I stated in the previous update I was not granted a visa and will be returning home June 28 th . This month has been equally restful and stressful. I took a long weekend earlier in the month to relax and take a breather since I have been going full on since the earthquake, although I don’t think I can fully rest until I leave Nepal. Work has been equally great and crazy. I am learning what it means to disciple women in a work setting as well as helping them deal with past hurts and present problems. I have also been saying many unexpected goodbyes, not only as I prepare to leave but as other missionaries have faced visa problems as well. So what’s next? Well I plan on staying with my parents in Northern Washington for at least my first month back in America. There I will get some much needed rest as well as pray about what is next and process what has happened these past 6 months. I will be looking for a job (in Alaska) as well as a vehicle as I sold mi...

Dear friends and family,             It is with a heavy heart that I write to say my visa was not approved. I will be leaving Nepal in two weeks’ time and arrive stateside June 29 th .  I have a lot to do in these last two weeks so prayers would be greatly appreciated. I will be sending another update with more details about my plans later as this information is recent and I still need to process exactly what this means. Thank you for your prayers and support. Kylee Nicholas

Dear friends and family,             Wow, what another full on month! At the beginning of this month I went on a 5 day research trip to Kolkata, India with two other women who work at BFA. This was my first trip to India and lets just say I’m not exactly hankering to return. Our purpose for going there was to seek advice and knowledge from other Christian businesses who are doing similar work as BFA. BFA is growing quickly and we wanted to get some practical advice from them. Also about 10,000 to 15,000 Nepali women are trafficked into India each year for sexual slavery and Kolkata has many brothels, some that only have Nepali women in them. We visited 3 of these and were able to talk to the women in Nepali for a long time, normally the women are not allowed to talk to outsiders as they are watched over constantly since they fetch a higher price. As you can imagine this was an emotional time for me, but as Christians we need to s...

 Hey guys, I just wanted to make you aware of this cool new thing were doing at Beauty For Ashes Nepal. My friend and co-worker wrote all about it this link: http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=addad9c09c809705aec4feb66&id=16844b8cf1 Basically we have designed a new bracelet and all the proceeds go towards helping to rebuild Nepal. It also ensures jobs for 20 more women at BFA, that 20 women who have a greater chance of not being trafficked and get a fighting chance at rebuilding her life after the earthquake. Thanks and God Bless, Kylee Nicholas

Dear friends and family,             Wow, what a month. At first I wasn’t sure what I was going to write in this update, it has taken me some time to even find time to write this to you all.  You see April has been a rough month for me even before the earthquake hit. For almost the whole month something has been wrong with me physically. I bruised my tailbone which made sitting, riding the bike and sometimes sleeping uncomfortable. Than I had the flu and then a cold on and off for the whole first three weeks of this month. It was rough, and then to top it all off the 7.9 earthquake hit at 11:45am on Saturday April 25 th . Normally on a Saturday I sleep in, maybe go to a coffee shop or walk around the city, thankfully I was at a garden in a nice open location selling Beauty For Ashes products with some friends when the earthquake hit. It truly is a miracle that I and almost everyone I know was unharmed and safe.  ...

Dear friends and family, March has been pretty busy but also a month where it seems like my life is starting to normalize. At the beginning of the month I attended an International Women’s Day 5k. Almost all our women came and we had such a fun time together and this allowed me some time to get to know the women outside of work. Another big thing this month is that Beauty for Ashes (BFA) has moved into a new and bigger office building. We are still working on settling in and getting everything set up. I feel as though I should take some time here to remind you all what BFA is exactly. So BFA is a business that employs women in Nepal. The original idea was to hire women who in the past had been sexually exploited and needed a job after they had been through counseling and aftercare. In Nepal there is a stigma against these women and many of them often fall right back into the sex trade. Today BFA still aims to employ these women but we haven’t stopped there, they also hire women ...

Dear friends and family, Wow this month has been full of surprises! It stared out with me going to a region north of Kathmandu with two YWAM teams from New Zealand. There we did some local outreach (which included praying for the local police force!) and prayer and worship in the area as it experiences a lot of human trafficking. Then one of the teams and I got to speak at a leadership conference in a mountain village about two hours north. I loved spending time with this team as one of the leaders was in my small group when I served in New Zealand two years ago! I also just enjoyed spending time in the mountains away from the polluted city and learning about a new culture and way of life. I was blessed to do some discipleship of the Nepali believers, which is greatly needed here. This month I have also been slowly fitting into my place at Beauty For Ashes (BFA). Right now I am helping with some projects that help keep the business running as well as slowly getting to know the wom...

Dear friends and family, I have finally made it to Kathmandu, Nepal! I am so excited to be here after months of preparation. I have just finished up a two week orientation on the country’s culture, beliefs, festivals/ ceremonies and worldview. It was an intense time of learning but I am excited to finally put what I have learned into action. I have also just been adjusting to life here. It’s a little like urban camping. We don’t always have electricity, or running hot water and you never drink water from the tap here, easy everyday things involve a little more foresight and strategic planning than they do back home (count your blessings!). Regardless I am loving it here and cannot wait to see what God does! This Tuesday I will be traveling to a region northwest of Kathmandu with two YWAM teams for the duration of a week. This region is known for human trafficking, there is a whole village that has no young woman or children because they have all been sold into sexual slavery. Our ...