journey to nepal: November 2006

Friends and Family:
I would like to say thank you for your prayers, encouragement, and financial and moral support through generous hearts, and the extended ways in which you have shown love to me as a brother in Christ. I mean that! God did not intend for us to live life alone, and I experience the fellowship and love of Christ through believers everyday be it through an email, a package, a card, a phone call, a blog comment, and/or a prayer. I hope you know that your generosity has helped in fighting the battle of isolation. I continue to look forward to hear how God is working in the lives of those I love. Thanks!
Jordan and I were walking back to the bus stop one day last week. The thought hit us hard; Thanksgiving was a few days away and for us it was going to be just another day. We noticed that the air that surrounded us acquired a crispness to it. And I instantly remembered our Arkansas fall seasons when the leaves begin to change colors and fall, when strolling around the square with your family was so important and fun, and when the time of the year changed from whatever it was to the joyous season of Christ, Christmas trees, Hot Chocolate, and good ole family fellowship.
Well, Thanksgiving was different for us. I wish I could have been home surrounded by the people that I love. I missed the steaming turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, and pumpkin pie. But, unexpectantly, we received a Thanksgiving meal that we will remember for a while. It was our typical weekly routine. We decided to make the trip up to our local café to check email and get a bite to eat. They were having a Thanksgiving special just for Americans. I could not believe my eyes. For $4 (285 rupees) we enjoyed a fried chicken breast, mashed potatoes w/ gravy, a roll, green beans w/ carrots and broccoli, rice, and lastly pumpkin soup. It was delicious! So, you don’t have to wonder anymore. We were treated, and rather well at that! However, I do wish that I could have seen you all.
This next month will not get any easier. Much like others, this is my favorite time of year. I love the feeling, the anticipation, and I love more than any earthly thing piling in the car with my family and heading to Nana and Papa’s where the rest of my family is waiting with puzzles, pretzels, egg nog, football games, soccer in the backyard, the “nut game”, the Christmas Nativity scene, and just the laughter and good times that we have. I am a family guy! Yes, this time will be hard. To my family, I am there in Spirit! (Ben, John, Alex, Austin, Nikki, Christian, Caroline, and Hunter: I will miss playing with you all in Ft. Smith) I know what I am and will be missing out on! But, don’t forget, that I have a family here as well, and the orphanage does celebrate Christmas much like we do back home. We have already drug out the Christmas tree, it is just waiting to be put up. Soon we will buy Santa Claus Christmas hats for all the kids. And we have already begun to teach them some traditional Christmas songs. My laptop dances to the melodies of Russell Dorch’s instrumental Christmas CD (if you don’t have it, get it) and a few other collected Christmas songs. Though the smell surrounding Nepal is not of fresh pine trees or baked Christmas cookies and chocolates, but rather the exhaust coming from a million motorbikes, know that we are taken care of. This year, we will celebrate a Nepali Christmas. And, it will be glorious!
I have received many emails from you all and I want to thank you for your consideration. My birthday was good. It started off rough and ended better. I went into town to do the weekly email and news check up. I talked to a few people and found out that a friend is not doing well at all. I will not mention any names, but please pray for this person. My heart is heavily weighted and there is nothing that I can do. Nothing! I hate that feeling! What was supposed to be a great day was significantly less. Someone that I care about deeply is struggling. And I am in Nepal almost completely removed from the whole situation and there is nothing that I can do. Prayer is the only answer!!!
It seems as if God has made that thought the underwritten theme on my heart lately. No matter what things I try to say or do to convince others, moreover control them in my own conniving way, I cannot change their heart. I taught the kids about Jacob tonight. We have been studying his life for the last 2-3 nights, but tonight I taught the kids about Jacob’s manipulating manner. If you are unfamiliar, Jacob deceived his elder brother, his father, and his uncle to control his life and get exactly what he wanted. After realizing that a charging, angry brother is approaching because of Jacob’s manipulation and how it has affected his life, he lifts up a prayer to God that is far from authentic and in an essence looks to control God’s actions as well. A man in the night wrestles with Jacob, wounding him at the hip. It is then that Jacob realized that he had wrestled with God. And, God was more powerful than Jacob. It was then that he was dependent on God, not to manipulate things the way that he wanted, but to provide him the courage and strength and honesty to meet Esau, his brother. He then realized that God is bigger than what he had initially thought. God changed Esau’s heart and made the reunion between the two sweet. God is not someone who can be tamed. And you can see this in his comment to Esau where he says that seeing his face is like seeing the face of God. (I mostly borrowed the thought from “Your God is too Safe” by Mark Buchannan. Get the book, great read) And, once again, the thought returns, “I am Jacob”. I like to think that I have control of myself and others. I like to think that God needs me to convince others about their sinfulness and need for a Savior. But, in reality, God doesn’t need me. He loves it when I pray for others, but he doesn’t need me at all! So, I am left where I began, that prayer is the only thing that I can offer for the unbelieving Nepali, my friend back home, or anyone else that I shall come across in the future, not my convincing words. And, I urge you also to join me in praying for him.
The day did get better though. Rina had prepared a nice meal! Chicken, veggies, and croissant rolls hit the spot. I bought a chocolate cake, enough for the kids to each get a piece, we blew up some balloons, and we played games for an hour. The kids had a blast! And, so did I. It was a great way to end a day that started off in the dumps.
Well, I better retire for the day. I need to hit the sack, but I will write sooner next time.
So to amuse your curious minds, I am leaving you with the Top Ten ways to know you are in a different country. Enjoy!!!

Top ten ways you know you are living in another country:

10: doing your laundry includes standing in a bucket while you mash your clothes with hot water under your feet.
9: you wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, and when you return to climb into your nice warm bed you decide to slip on your fleece that is hanging on your bed post, also where a dozen cockroaches are scurrying and have made their beds. (true story, Jordan is my witness)
8: doing the dishes means running some water over your plate to make sure that all the visible food is gone. (to all the mom’s out there: I know, I know)
7: driving is limitless. Imagine: no center lines, no real lanes, no traffic police, and thousands of nepalis who are in a hurry to get somewhere and armed with a horn. (however, in their defense, I have yet to see an accident)
6: a Coca Cola Classic can be as cheap as 15 cents. Does the Coca Cola bottling company know that they are basically giving them away here?
5: a trip to town means that I am going to be laughed at on the way to the bus stop, on the bus on the way to town, and as I walk around town fulfilling my errands and chores. (I know: it must be so amusing to see a very tall white guy try and get on a cramped bus that is shorter than him)
4: the question, “whats for dinner?” is irrelevant here…
3: getting in the shower is like playing the “who used up all the hot water?” game. Oh, I have a better game. Try this one, “Who hasn’t taken a shower in 4 days?”
2: walking down the street holding a 18 year old nepali’s hand (no not a girls) is not gay or wrong, its just different. (it is actually quite common for men of all ages to hold their friend’s hand while they walk the street. God is working on me and I am trying to be okay with this. I have almost gotten used to it)
1: a trip to the Immigration office to renew your visas looks more like 5 people standing around with nothing better to do, while one person tries to fulfill all the requests of the 16 demanding foreigners who are patiently waiting around the room. Meanwhile, Immigration officers #2-6 eat donuts and drink tea while admiring each others’ attire. Then they daringly try to tell Officer #1, the one who IS actually doing something, how he/she should do his job, all without moving more than the eight inches that are required to get their snacks into their mouths. So you are told to apply for the visa and come back two hours later, which is a trip in itself. So you do, and what do you get, more of what was mentioned; except this time you get to pay $30 (2150 rupees) and wait just a little bit longer. (It is so thrilling, we asked if we could come back on the 13th of each month, and they kindly accepted)

SO there you have it folks!