Day 9 (Thursday) Kathmandu, Nepal
This was an exciting/different day as half of the team woke up early in the morning to catch a flight at 7 a.m. Brent and I were exhausted as we had spent hours talking into the night about our experiences from the previous week. We met up with the other 17 people that decided to take a flight to see the Himalayas. The drive to the airport took no time as the roads were almost silent. After going through two security check points, we made our way to the waiting area. We were all fairly quiet as most of us were still waking up.
The time came and we boarded the plane. It was the most amazing view of the mountains and yes…I did see Everest! I was able to see the highest mountain in the world. This is definitely something that wasn’t on my bucket list, but I learned that I need to dream. If I don’t get to do something on my list, it doesn’t matter. If I actually do get to do whatever it may be, then that is awesome! The rest of the mountains were even more impressive. They had so much more character than the diamond shape of Mt. Everest. God’s creation amazes me.
After the flight we made it back to the hotel and had a quick breakfast. We wanted to spend a little bit of time out on the streets looking around before we had our de-briefing to go over the weeks events as a team. Brent, a friend and I went out around to go shopping for a little while. We ended up finding a shop that carried the game Tigers and Goats. This was a game that we had learned to play one night before heading out to Nepal. I was hoping that I would find one as it was one of the only things I wanted to buy. I didn’t want to spend my money on souvenirs, I wanted it to go to the people of Nepal. I was excited to find this and we each got one and took them back to the hotel.
As we were waiting for the meeting, we hung around teaching others how to play the game. It was starting to get hot out as we sat on top of the hotel roof. The meeting finally started. We were able to give our Nepal contacts feedback on the trip and discuss the weeks events. It was a great time and a much needed time as we had all been away from each other. We were able to hear what impacted each other the most.
After the meeting we all had lunch before everyone split off for different tasks. Some people went back to the Morning Star children’s home, others went to go unload the supplies that we had brought and others went shopping. Brent and I were with another couple shopping for a few things to bring home. There were several others in the other two groups which did not need anymore people. The groups were already big enough. We were able to go back to our friend’s shop and help support her some more. Brent and I decided to buy a couple things that he wanted. We then headed out with her in a tiny taxi with the 4 of us piled in the back. This made for a great experience as the back seat only had enough room for the two guys. We sat on top of our husbands as we rode throughout town. We stopped by a tea shop and I was able to buy some spices and tea.
I was feeling guilty for not going back to Morning Star, but we had a great time with our friends and getting to know our Nepal friend some more. We made our way back to the hotel. We were going to go head out to go minister at more brothels and then it started to pour rain. I was disappointed but it was pouring outside. Brent and I decided to spend some time together just the two of us. We went and grabbed our raincoats and headed out in the rain anyways. I took him over to the coffee shop so that he could enjoy the Himalayan Java. We decided to buy a bag to take home with us as well. As we were heading back out to go to dinner, we saw a place that had several paintings. Brent and I wanted to bring some type of artwork home with us. We found one we liked and waited as the guy packaged it for us so that it wouldn’t get ruined in the rain.
We were running late. When we left, we decided to run through the streets in the pouring rain. It was fun! We both got soaked! We had to take things out of my bag and hang them over our chairs for dinner. Dinner was great! It was a thank you party for all of our Nepal friends as well as a going away party. We spent a lot of time talking about everything that had happened over the last week and a half. Each group had picked one member to get up and give a 5-10 minute highlight of the events that took place. It was so great to hear all of the stories and see how God impacted each team as well as what He did for the people of Nepal. We said our goodbyes to many of our friends and headed back to the hotel.
We packed as much stuff away as we could so that we would have a little bit of time in the morning before we headed out to the airport. Mostly because the following day was our 5th wedding anniversary! We stayed up a long time again and finally fell asleep after another amazing day in Nepal.
