Nepal, Part 3

So we finally make it to the place where we start trekking. From here on out, we were on foot. The scenery helped. :)Dal bhat (pronounced "doll bot") is what people in Nepal eat for pretty much every meal. It's usually rice, lentil soup, curry (usually meaning "a mix", but also usually includes the spice), a veggie, and a super spicy curry. The locals mix everything together and scoop it into their mouths with their hands. I really wanted to take a pic of our guides eating, but thought that might be rude, so I never did. But I definitely thought about it! :) They usually don't eat off such extravagant plates/bowls. The place we stopped at on this day served us with these dishes to welcome us and to show us honor.

One of the best parts of the trip was meeting and getting to know people. And, of course, to tell them about Jesus. We ended up giving this sweet girl below a Bible. She's a Christian, but all she knows is what her grandmother (also a Christian) told her from when a missionary went through her grandmother's town when her grandmother was just a child! I love to hear how the Lord takes care of His own and the love for Him passes from one to another! The girl below never had a Bible before and was so excited to see us in her town. She immediately spoke to us with what little English she knew, told us she was a Christian, and asked if we had a Bible for her. Amazing!!! Oh, and isn't she just beautiful?We were sad to say bye to her, but we had to keep going where people had possibly never heard. So onward we went.

As we kept going, the villages got smaller and smaller. Soon there were no restaurants, so for meals we were able to go into people's homes. It was so neat to be welcomed inside their homes. Even just their everyday chores were fascinating! These people are pros at keeping the fire going all night long and keeping things dry when needed, wet when needed, etc. It was amazing to watch them cook! Especially with a stove like this: Oh, and talk about fresh food! Eggs straight from the source, a pumpkin straight from the vine immediately peeled and chopped for dinner(p.s. do you see the honker of a knife I'm cutting with??), and fresh milk. Yum!!!!

Of course, this is all made possible by the free-roaming farm animals everywhere. Look at that precious little boy! Oh, that's another thing - Nepali people are SUPER strong! We'd be going up the mountain with our 20-30 pound packs and hiking boots and rain gear on and we'd hear "pitter-patter" coming up quickly behind us. An 8 year old child with 75 pounds of weight on his/her head with BARE FEET or FLIP-FLOPS would pass by us like lightening. Amazing!! And yet, a little disheartening at the same time. :) (Really, why was I breathing so deadgum hard? I work out! I trained for this!) I think the biggest compliment our guides gave us one of the days was "You did good today. Made Nepali time. You moved like a Nepali today." Yup, definitely a compliment and made me smile proudly. :)

Nepal, Part 2

After a few more sights of Kathmandu, it was time to get our head's in the game and start to map out our trip.We hopped onto a small planeto fly to a city on the eastern side of the country, about a 30 minute car ride from India.The sights were breathtaking.From this city we took a two day Jeep ride. For anyone who's been in a different country, it's not your typical US ride.In fact, I took a video to help prove my point.


On the 2nd day of the Jeep ride, we stopped at a tea farm. It was beautiful!Apparently this tea is of such good quality that the Nepali people don't even drink it - they ship it out to the US and Europe.

Big News

We interrupt this regularly scheduled program to bring you this breaking news:

As most of you know, the reason we live in NC is because my handsome husband, Brent, is in graduate school at Duke. Well, as you know from a previous post, Brent got his Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics! Brent's now interested in getting a post-doc position, and lo and behold, he got a job offer from a very prestigious place! Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory (LANL)!!!! I couldn't be more proud of my husband!

Of course, this means we're moving. To New Mexico. Like the-other-side-of-the-US New Mexico. Currently, we're planning on moving sometime around the end of October/beginning of November. Brent is getting in touch with the relocation office at LANL to confirm the moving dates.

We would really appreciate your prayers for this big move!

• Peace and patience with everything going on as well as with each other.
• That God's presence would continue to go with us.
• That we keep Him first in everything we do.
• That we will not lament leaving our awesome church but will look ahead to what and where God places us.
  
• That we'll find a good church to be a part of.
• That Lori will not lament leaving her job...too much.
  
• For Brent's new job to go well and smoothly.
  
• (I know it sounds lame, but) For friends. (Hey, we're going to be thousands of miles from anyone we know!)
• For Lori Gail to find where God wants to place her - whether that's school or a job.

P.S. Please feel free to leave a comment with any info you have about the Los Alamos/Santa Fe area (especially about good churches or areas to live) or encouragement/excitement!

Nepal, Part 1

I had an AMAZING trip to Nepal! I loved it! While it's a very spiritually dark place, I'm so excited that the Lord is working there! I'm honored to have gone and to have been used by Him.

After 20 hours in the air (not including layovers), we finally made it to Kathmandu, Nepal! For our stay in Kathmandu, we stayed at the Ti-Se Guest House.This was the view off the back porch of our floor of the Ti-Se. Welcome to Kathmandu!After settling in, we walked about 5 minutes to the stupa. It's almost like a town square, but spiritual.The sights were stunning, almost shocking.The colorful flags you see are printed with mantras, phrases, and poems. They are tied to the highest place to be offered up as prayers.People then walk around the stupa for good karma. The more they walk around it, the better their karma. There's also prayer wheels on every side of the stupa. The wheels are stuffed in the middle with the flags/prayers/mantras and people turn the wheels as they walk around the stupa to spread the spiritual blessings and for good karma. There are small rooms in the middle of the stupa that hold idols. People go and worship/bow to the idols.I'd never actually seen anyone bow down or worship a statue or image. It really brought the Bible and spiritual warfare to light.

Quick update

Traveling internationally takes a lot out of you and sleeping at the right times was a little difficult to get back into, but I'm back in the US and doing well! I'm working on getting together some posts about Nepal, so check back in the next few days! I already know the pictures and stories are not enough to relate everything that happened, but I'm so excited to tell you all about it and would love to fill in any details I can, so feel free to leave comments/questions.