Today was my fourth morning waking up at the Khangsar Guest House located in Thamel, Kathmandu. Thamel is a popular destination for both tourists and trekkers and the Khangsar a popular hotel for those trekkers. The hotel rooms are a far cry from the images the website boasts, but flexibility is our strong suit. My fourth morning awakening in Nepal was in fact my first morning being bathed in sunlight. It has been quite dreary here. Monsoon season, after all. I began my day like I began my previous three: up at 6, walking with my bride to buy bread for the day (and dodging stray dogs, rickshaws, mud puddles...), back at 7 to wake our team, and begin heating water for tea and porridge (or malto).
The Jetlag was intense for most of our team though they've kicked it by now. Some actually referred to it as "Jetswag" or Jetlagged with style. We began our time here with Culture and Heritage days. On the 5th, Kumar (one of our translators, along with Anoop and Dependra) briefly taught us about Buddhism; we followed this up by spending a couple of hours at a Buddhist temple prayer walking and learning about Buddhism.
On the 6th, we learned a bit about Hinduism. We traveled to a Hindu temple, which we were not able to enter because we were not born Hindu. However, we were able to witness how Hindi people burn the bodies of deceased loved ones and then send them down a river. Young boys make a living by wading in the river and rooting through the sand for fallen coins from the pockets of the deceased. It is a sad thing to see, but very eye-opening. Kelsie and I watched a documentary about this back in May called Children of God.
On the 7th, we did the "Christian thing": we went to church. It had a format not dissimilar to "American" church. Musical worship, prayer, announcements, offering, worship, sermon, communion, and worship. Though it was entirely in Nepalese I was able to sing along with the very first song. I recognized the tune for I Will Call Upon The Lord and was grateful to participate, albeit briefly. This was the largest Christian church in Nepal and we all sat on the floor. I think I might bring that back to America. There was a good amount of fidgeting at first but it was a nice retreat into minimalism. The typical greeting in Nepal is Namaste, but with a fellow brother or sister in Christ it is Jayamasi. After church we drove to an orphanage and our students got to spend a few hours playing soccer, blowing up balloons and using puppets as ways of loving on those kids. It was great.
I have to go now. Kelsie will post a blog in a day or two to share about our first day of ministry!
Jayamasi
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