Day 2 (Thursday) Kathmandu, Nepal
The alarm went off early in the morning, so that Brent could eat breakfast and catch the bus to take him to where he would start trekking. I went down to breakfast with him so I could spend a few more moments with him. Our first breakfast in Nepal was good! The next thing I knew, we were upstairs packing away his electronics and he was late. They thought they were suppose to leave by 6:50 am but it turned out to be 6:15 am. We scrambled to get him going and he was gone before I could barely say goodbye. Two of the mountain teams left and the third stayed in Kathmandu for one more day.
I had almost 2 hours before the rest of the team was suppose to meet for breakfast. I took this as an opportunity to enjoy my quiet time and journal. It was great listening to the city wake up and to reflect on the things that I had seen and experienced the day before. The noise outside continued to grow and before I knew it, the city was awake and no longer quiet. We all met for second breakfast! I thought about eating as it had been hours. I decided not to and just hung out with everyone. We eventually stuffed ourselves in a small space and had another great team devotional to start off our day. We then crammed the 16 of us inside a van and headed out for a few errands. We drove through the crazy city streets still not used to the way the traffic was moving. We tried to snap pictures as we went, but soon discovered that it was hard due to the jerking motion of the van.
We made our way back to the airport to check on the bags that didn’t make it the day before. We expected to wait there for a while, but the next thing we knew, they came out with all 5 bags and no hassle! God is good! All of the bags with supplies made it to Nepal without trouble! Bringing these supplies to people that don’t have much or that have nothing, was fantastic!
The day was already approaching being half over, so we stopped off at a Chinese restaurant for lunch. It was great food and a great time of fellowship. This is where I finally was able to get Thank You down in Nepali after much practicing and with help from a friend. Dhanyabhad! The food was somewhat familiar, but different. I would say probably a little more authentic than our Chinese food here in the the states.
We then all crammed back into the hot van as the temperatures had begun rising. We headed off to go meet a young lady, about 21 or 23, that was interested in opening a beauty parlor in the red light district. God has given her the desire to serve in this way. She wants to minister to the sex workers while doing their hair, facials and nails. Most people do not want to touch these women, so this is a huge blessing to them. They will also offer ways for these women to know that there is another way and a way out. This could be dangerous for this lady to do, but she knows what path God has her on. What a great lady to follow God’s call even though it will not be easy! Please keep her in your prayers. We spent sometime praying with her before leaving.
Our next stop was a Children’s Home. We were all very excited to be going here as it is where several of us from Venture sponsor children. The kids were still at school, so we spent our time going to each room and praying over them. This home needs a full time care taker. Please lift this up in prayer. Pray that someone will take God’s calling and act to help these children. The kids came home and we spent some time getting to know them and play a few hand games and paper and pen games. We met our sponsor kids, but mine took a little longer to meet as she was in the corner with some of the other ladies. She finally made her way out and I got to talk with her, play games and get to know her. What a great opportunity to meet the child I have been sponsoring! Now I have more of a connection! Brent and I had written letters to her so that she could know more about us and we also gave her pictures of us. She is a sweet girl that loves science and is very intelligent. Nepali people in general are beautiful, but oh was she beautiful! It was getting hot in the room, so we all went outside to play some more games like Simon Says and sang songs like Father Abraham. It was a great time! These kids were so great! We were only able to spend a few hours with them, but the time we had was priceless.
We finished our day back at the hotel with dinner. I went to bed a little earlier and spent some time journaling before getting a good night’s rest! It also helped that I didn’t have to wake up as early. This turned out to not matter because I was awake early anyways everyday on the trip. I liked that my body woke up without having to wait for my alarm. It was a good first full day in Kathmandu.
