Nepal: Arrived!

30 hours of traveling turned out to not be so bad. I slept so much, more than I have since coming to YWAM in August. My luggage has been lost which I did not even mind. I showered last night for the first time in 4 days and luckily I brought a change of clothing with me in my carry on. It is strange because something I would have died at the thought of before coming to YWAM, did not seem to phase me. Yes, it would be nice to have my tolitries and towel, but I would be okay with only have two pairs of clothing. God has definitely revived my mind to a simple way of life. 

Wifi hub. This is my blogging setup.

My new home is amazing! There are four stories. The first story has a prayer room and a squatty bathroom. The second floor is our flat. There are three bedrooms, a small kitchen, and a bathroom. The third and fourth stories have apartments, but they are locked so I do not know what is inside of them. Then there is the blessed balcony. Oh, the balcony where you can see the bright colored homes, the mountains in the distance and the bustling streets below.

So far we have ventured to a restaurant where we had Nepalese food. Yesterday we hiked onto a mountain where we visited a Hindu temple. This particular temple was a place for infertile women to come and worship so they can conceive. The view is impeccable. You can see part of the city of Kathmandu on one side, the mountains surrounding everything, and the rice paddies on the other side.

Chel, me, Kat, and Kreu on our way down from the mountain
with the rice paddies in the background.

The sight nearly brought me to tears. Everything, even the alter for pagan worship was beautiful. We laugh and think the temples and things they consider sacred are ridiculous, yet so many infertile women will spend thousands of dollars in doctors visits, they will go into depression from an inability to conceive, they lose sight of God and have began to worship the gods that will bring fertility. But this is not for me, none of this was ever created for me. The view, the workmanship needed to resurrect this temple, the energy created to climb to the sight, none of this was ever intended to be for us. We have distorted creation so it pleases us. We have distorted the image of who we are, what we were designed for, and why we were given these passions. . I spent time writing in my journal while we were up on the mountain and God revealed to me areas of my life I have created temples of worship. Good things, things that slowly turn our minds off of God.

Mixed vegetables all from vendors. 

On a happier note, I have been doing meal planning with Teresa and food shopping. I am loving the food shopping. It feels so right and natural. I cannot understand the vendors and shop owners, I struggle with discerning whether the street vegetable venders are giving me a fair deal or not, I struggle with not having a fully equipped kitchen to cook in, but I am loving it. We have four forks in the kitchen, one of which does not have a handle. There are not paper towels, mop, or disinfect spray. We are cooking off two burners, one very small sink, and no towels to dry clean dishes with. Making dinner last night was interesting. We had very limited counter space to cut our vegetables on and we wanted to be sure we had thoroughly cook all them so we would not become sick. We had three pans, Italian sauce pan, noodles pan, and a veggies pan, but only two burners. Ensuring everything is washed and cooked is key to making sure we will be healthy, but is also so second nature to us. My natural instinct is to think I am so blessed with everything I have at home, but maybe I am being wasteful. God has placed me in circumstances that are forcing me to rethink how I live, despite being challenging at times, I am finding much joy in a simpler way of living.

Tea time at Hannah's Cafe!