Waking up in Nepal

Our second day in Nepal went like this…………

We woke up this morning after a long nights sleep on a bed much harder than I remembered. The power was off at 7:00 last night, so what else do you do? (when you’re jet-lagged any excuse will work) I fell asleep as Kirk was going over his notes to preach at this mornings church service. Most of you know that the Christians meet on Saturday due to government regulations. I am always so anxious to be in the wonderful service with the fellow believers here. It always amazes me that our services are so similar. We know many of the songs–just Nepali words. We’ve also learned some of their songs. It was wonderful to see the faces of God’s precious people. We received a very warm welcome, a homecoming welcome. I’m so thankful for a great interpretor like Pramita who can tell me what is in their hearts and break the language barrier. It is astounding to me, tho, how much can be communicated in a nonverbal fashion and how that prayer transcends language. I’ve prayed for people, wishing I had an interpreter at that moment, and have seen God lift burdens, give peace, and do His work. AMAZING. Kirk’s sermon was about how God reveals Himself to His people by several compound names in the O.T. He is “Our Provider”of salvation as well as our ongoing needs, “Our Banner”, who fights our battles, “Jehovah Shalom”, the Lord our peace and  “Jehovah Rohi”, the Lord our Shepard, to name a few. This was the first of the series. It was a great God-centered time in the word of God. The sense of destiny in these moments is palpable. It is God-ordained that we be here.

My eyes started wanting to close after lunch. My body clock was set on U.S. time which was telling me “Don’t you know it’s 1:30a.m.? Then everyone decided to go shopping. Could I miss an opportunity like this? No way! I pulled myself together long enough for adrenaline to kick in. We drove the familiar streets to Thamel, a shopping district for mostly foreigners like us. Several shopkeepers greeted us like old friends. Yeah, we,ve been there a few times! I had to laugh. Last year I had Christmas money to spend and gifts to buy. This year my budget was much smaller, so temptation awaited around every corner. The fabrics are gorgeous! I did pretty well at resisting. Now I know what I will pay for something and I’ve got the ratio between rupees and dollars correct.

Once again, and thankfully, the power went off early. Our bodies were beyond exhaustion.