So out of all the amazing things to share here is the short list;
1. We now have no power for 108 hours out of every week. I love candles.
2. The Prime Ministers car is sweet, his driver gave me and my friend, Nelson Sherpa, a ride the other night home as we were delivering food to some families in our church who don't have anything.
3. Made paper-plate tamborines with the sunday school kids. I didn't think much of it at the time, bought some plates, some glue, glitter, beans, voila! Later when we were visiting a family they wanted to show me the new decorations, beautiful paper-plate tamborines handing on their walls, it was the only color in their house. I had to focus to not weep infront of them as they were so proud and I had early so quickly dismissed such a simple small thing. I am a broken man.
4. Peope are starving for teaching filled with love. The vast majority of the teaching in sermons is huge list of dont's. I have had a few oppurtunities to preach and find people coming aftewards to ask if I could preach "that" in their churches. I don't know exactly what, "that" is but I think it has to do with love.
Stay warm!
Monday, January 12, 2009
Friday, January 2, 2009
Brief Moments of Light
I never ceased to be confused and filled with wonder. Sometimes it is along the lines of something a girl says to me that I totally misunderstand and walk away scratching my head (both a good and bad result I suppose) and other times it is in those moments that I expect one result and then encounter God in an amazing way and walk away with stars in my eyes. I figured to start the new year I would share a few of these moments with you!
I have ceased taking taxis, except on days when the pollution is particularly bad and I am particularly cold, in large part because they would drive me all around the area I was trying to go in an effort to raise the fare up. My Nepali is progressing nicely but I still have yet to learn how to say, "Now look here you rotten son of a...." This lack of learning might have a little do with my supposed goodness from my faith and probably in large part to my position as ambassador to a people in a dark kingdom. Therefore I take the bus. Buses here are awesome! Generally they are packed to the point that you can see the tires relax a bit when the people all pile off to let the one person in the back get off. Normally I ride on the outside of the bus hanging on slim window lining. I promise it is only to exercise my climbing muscles and in no way related to my enjoyment of the wind blowing my hair and rocking out to some P.O.D. (A energetic rock band for those of you not familiar with them.) Most people here would sell their friends bike from underneath them if they thought they could get away with it and the price was right. So I am riding home the other day, inside the bus (you can relax Mom!) and the man in front of me drops a one hundred rupee note. Now I have seen people fight over 5 rupees so my jaw about dropped out when the man next to me leaned over, picked up the money and handed it to the guy who dropped it. I walked away from that ride beaming.
My room is currently on the way up of a large hill. The bus is always kind enough to stop at the bottom of the hill to let me off. As I walk up there are numerous shops with all sorts of Knik-Knacks and snacks ect. There is one particular shop that is a semi bakery. I say semi bakery because located directly next door is a motorcycle repair shop. I am fairly confident the donuts are cooked in the left over grease from the motorcycles, I guess something got lost in translation. Anyhow, there are two beautiful little girls there. One day when I was snapping pictures left and right, I managed to take a picture of each of them and then do close ups with their mother's encouragement. I returned a few days later with the printed photos and gave it to them as a gift. Ever day I walk by now those two little gals holler over at me and commence to waving so fast that you can't see their hand or arms, just a little blur of happiness. It always makes me smile to walk by them.
Near where I live there is a Tibetan refugee camp. For those of you reading my emails you already know that I am disciplining a Muslim guy through the book of Luke. The other day during one of our times we decided to sit out in the sunlight, much warmer and life giving. As we sat talking, smiling and laughing a group began to gather around us. The people were curious what we were reading, I was curious what God was up to. As we explained to them they asked if I had extra bibles. I suppose if I had nothing better to do....ABSOLUTELY! The next day I dropped off a stack of bibles with my Muslim friend who is now handing them out to the Tibetan refugees. Even still when I think about the situation I have to giggle, only God would have a whitey ministering to a Muslim who is handing out the Word of God to Tibetan's.
On another and last humorous note, there are quite a few pickpockets throughout the tourist section of Kathmandu and especially on the bus. I think I have a good solution. With the recent cold spell, I often have a runny nose and go through kleenex like Nepali's do hot peppers. I now stuff my pockets normally targeted with used up kleenex and keep all my valuables hidden safely away. Maybe they will learn, then again with the current economic situation here they probably don't have a choice...
I have ceased taking taxis, except on days when the pollution is particularly bad and I am particularly cold, in large part because they would drive me all around the area I was trying to go in an effort to raise the fare up. My Nepali is progressing nicely but I still have yet to learn how to say, "Now look here you rotten son of a...." This lack of learning might have a little do with my supposed goodness from my faith and probably in large part to my position as ambassador to a people in a dark kingdom. Therefore I take the bus. Buses here are awesome! Generally they are packed to the point that you can see the tires relax a bit when the people all pile off to let the one person in the back get off. Normally I ride on the outside of the bus hanging on slim window lining. I promise it is only to exercise my climbing muscles and in no way related to my enjoyment of the wind blowing my hair and rocking out to some P.O.D. (A energetic rock band for those of you not familiar with them.) Most people here would sell their friends bike from underneath them if they thought they could get away with it and the price was right. So I am riding home the other day, inside the bus (you can relax Mom!) and the man in front of me drops a one hundred rupee note. Now I have seen people fight over 5 rupees so my jaw about dropped out when the man next to me leaned over, picked up the money and handed it to the guy who dropped it. I walked away from that ride beaming.
My room is currently on the way up of a large hill. The bus is always kind enough to stop at the bottom of the hill to let me off. As I walk up there are numerous shops with all sorts of Knik-Knacks and snacks ect. There is one particular shop that is a semi bakery. I say semi bakery because located directly next door is a motorcycle repair shop. I am fairly confident the donuts are cooked in the left over grease from the motorcycles, I guess something got lost in translation. Anyhow, there are two beautiful little girls there. One day when I was snapping pictures left and right, I managed to take a picture of each of them and then do close ups with their mother's encouragement. I returned a few days later with the printed photos and gave it to them as a gift. Ever day I walk by now those two little gals holler over at me and commence to waving so fast that you can't see their hand or arms, just a little blur of happiness. It always makes me smile to walk by them.
Near where I live there is a Tibetan refugee camp. For those of you reading my emails you already know that I am disciplining a Muslim guy through the book of Luke. The other day during one of our times we decided to sit out in the sunlight, much warmer and life giving. As we sat talking, smiling and laughing a group began to gather around us. The people were curious what we were reading, I was curious what God was up to. As we explained to them they asked if I had extra bibles. I suppose if I had nothing better to do....ABSOLUTELY! The next day I dropped off a stack of bibles with my Muslim friend who is now handing them out to the Tibetan refugees. Even still when I think about the situation I have to giggle, only God would have a whitey ministering to a Muslim who is handing out the Word of God to Tibetan's.
On another and last humorous note, there are quite a few pickpockets throughout the tourist section of Kathmandu and especially on the bus. I think I have a good solution. With the recent cold spell, I often have a runny nose and go through kleenex like Nepali's do hot peppers. I now stuff my pockets normally targeted with used up kleenex and keep all my valuables hidden safely away. Maybe they will learn, then again with the current economic situation here they probably don't have a choice...
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