Rooftop of the World

For the sake of you, the reader, this entry will be condensed from its potential length. It is hard to fit three weeks of experiences into a couple of paragraphs, so forgive me for brevity and choppiness. You will have to use your imagination as our photolog fills in the blanks for you.

Our trip to the village of Chimang was awesome. It was a total of 5 days, bracketed on both sides with tons of hiking, finding us in the middle of nowhere for 3 weeks total. The first two weeks were spent climbing through the mountains, and the last week in Chimang. Initially, hiking in the Himalayan Mountains is bittersweet. The joy and awe of the beautiful Nepali landscape accompanied with the sheer torture of hiking straight up for several days is a strange combination. It sort of analogizes the Christian’s race. The physical strain makes one forget to be aware of his surroundings. When one remembers to look up to see that he is being dwarfed by God’s creation, he forgets the physical pain. We must concentrate on something bigger than ourselves. There is much of God’s immanence to behold on this planet. Wicked men see the preacher, “Creation,” and suppress the truth in unrighteousness. We, as believers, often simply ignore the same preacher, refusing to allow ourselves to stand in awe while He is showing us how awesome God is.

Another great aspect of being out in a land of no amusements, no roads, no TV and no computers, is that you are given extra occasion with which to spend more time with God. His Word comes alive when we saturate in it and think upon it. We feel blessed in America to have our masses of gadgetry and we love our distractions, but they kill us silently. We should be nervous about how we prostitute our time.

Other pleasures to our trip included: opportunities of being able to talk with others about Jesus, dependence upon God for strength to walk and breathe, and for me: seeing my wife attack the unforgiving landscape.

[Paula has worked behind a computer screen for two years, has exercise induced asthma, and was frankly intimidated to hike a couple of hundred miles through the tallest mountain range in the world. >Understandable< She did it though, because she trusts in a God who can sustain her, Who is sovereign in each breath we take, and Who is worthy of being worshiped by every tribe of the earth. I am proud of my wife, to say the least.]

After hiking for 14 days, we arrived at our main destination: Chimang. Three years ago when I, David Runge, and Chris Greer visited the same area of Nepal, the Lord was with us. One example is when we were in the village of Chimang. During our week in the village the main believer in the village came to us to ask us to pray for her friend in the field. Her friend had been suffering from sickness and she also had nightmares each night caused by evil spirits. After praying for her she was healed and started attending the fellowship. At the time, there were only 3 or 4 believers in the all-Hindu village, so the number rose to possibly five. (including 3 children / no men) Three years later there are about 20 to 25 believers (including 6 or 7 men) with new churches started in the neighboring towns of Marpha and Tukche.(direct results of Chimang.) The churches are there, but they are immature in the Word and they desperately need deep roots. Hence, teaching at the church in Chimang was a valuable time – and there is perhaps additional involvement in the works.

We have been back in Pokhara for several days now and we head for Kathmandu on the Monday the 12th. There are still some people we need to visit, so pray for the Lord’s favor on our remaining time in Nepal. We head for India around the 19th of September.

ADDITIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

- We had a wonderful guide named Prem Rai with us who acted primarily as our translator. He is a great brother and we were blessed to have him with us. Endless hours of walking on the trails allowed much time for conversation. Our talks included: the New Heavens and the New Earth, elements in the history of redemption, the heart of man, the nature of Apocalyptic literature and the second coming of Jesus, biblical eldership and church leadership structures, women’s roles in church and family, modern Gnosticism, and other sundry topics. Of course, we made small talk too. Prem has the ability to be very childlike. And as a major bonus, his side job is as a masseuse. Nice.

- In the town of Manang, we visited a family which we met three years ago. They received us with joy and we were able to leave more bibles with them. The son of the family asked about becoming a Christian. He wanted to know what he could and could not do if he became a follower of Jesus. We shared with him a lot about sin and his need to be forgiven in the face of God’s wrath against sin. Pray that the Lord will use our time in Manang to save this boy, and his family. His name is Amrit.

- Praise the Lord, we did not have pay a bribe to the Maoists rebels, because we saw none! A day or two before we would have probably run into them, but a temporary truce was announced, and the Maoist rebels in the area pulled out. Then, after we had passed through the Maoist areas and arrived in Pokhara, it was revealed that the truce is not really going to happen. So we had timely provision. Additionally, Nepal is crawling with police – so we feel very safe here.

- Paula and I got to hear David bellyache every single day about how much he missed the body back home (which we do too, of course, extremely/immensely) and about how much he misses his “special friend.” Aah, how sweet.

- We’ve got LOTS of new photos! Please take a look. We have invested a lot of time into them so that you might continue to be a part of our lives, and see what we have seen.

PAULA'S JOURNAL ENTRIES:
August 19, 2005
August 26, 2005
August 27, 2005
September 1, 2005
September 2, 2005
September 3, 2005