Hello, friends and family,

I'm writing to tell you the story of my experiences on my Nepal trip. It was definitely the most challenging, exciting, terrible and wonderful adventure of my life.

It was overwhelmingly about transportation. Just arriving in Nepal took 53 hours. We drove to San Francisco, flew to Hong Kong, flew to Singapore, took a short bus-and-boat tour of Singapore, and flew to Calcutta where we were bussed to a hotel to spend the night. Then we flew to Guwahati, flew to Bagdogra, and then took a long bus ride into Nepal from there. Each day was a journey as well, from the town of Birtamod where our hotel was to the villages we visited to share the gospel. It took several hours by bus to drop off and pick up everyone at their various target villages, and the homes were on farms so there was a walk between each visit. My teammate (and roommate) Heather dubbed Nepal "the Land of Many Honks." As in, bus horns, constantly in use as the busses passed each other, carefully avoiding cows and bicycle taxis. Each of the many all-purpose trucks, the most common vehicle, had a beautifully hand-painted sign on the back, "Horn Please." Or, "Blow Horn."

The landscape is beautiful, with poplar orchards, tea plantations, rice paddies and corn fields. We crossed many dry riverbeds and could see hills in the distance. (The closest I got to seeing Mount Everest was the decorative mural applied to the toilet tank in our hotel bathroom. And the advertising billboard, visible from our balcony, which said, "Mount Everest Whiskey. A Souvenir From Scotland." We never figured that one out.) The town we stayed in and the ones we drove through were dense and colorful, with no surface unadorned with decorative molding, wrought-iron screening (no two patterns alike), signs in the hanging Nepali alphabet, or western-style advertising.

The people of Nepal have a beautiful variety of features, from Indian to East Asian. They regarded us with a thoughtful gaze, and responded in kind when we smiled, hands together in the greeting, "Namaste!" One man I met asked me what I thought of Nepal, and he nodded in agreement when I answered, "You live in a beautiful place!" Each day when I went out to tell people about Jesus, I was accompanied by a guide who knew the people and the area, and a translator. When we were invited into someone's house, we usually sat on the porch, below the main house which was raised on stilts above the yard where the animals were kept. As I began to tell the story of God's love for each person, which was shown through Jesus' death for our wrongdoing, neighbors would gather so there were always more listeners at the end of the visit than the beginning. Some people asked probing questions, and many stated that they were unable to give up their traditional beliefs. One young man prayed to accept Christ's forgiveness. He was a member of the very first family I shared with, and came at the very end of the day to our bus to express his belief in Jesus Christ. As it turned out, he was the only person I talked to who believed. Many expressed interest but were not ready to commit. This was difficult for me since my teammates saw many people come to believe.

I learned through my experience in Nepal that obeying God is what matters. He is not performance-driven as we are, and I had to let go of results and emotions, and simply do what I was sent to do, which was NOT to convince a whole village to accept Jesus. Rather I spoke my words, simply told what Jesus has done for me, and left the rest up to God who knows our hearts. I had the privilege of sharing in the blessing of 347 new believers, 592 who expressed interest, 2 churches strengthened, and 4 new churches begun. All in 5 short days, with the work being continued by our excellent partners, the translators and pastors we worked with.

The unparalleled highlight of the trip for me was meeting Christians halfway around the world. I encouraged and was encouraged by local Christians who I met in the villages. Our translators were an impressive bunch - many of them were from the neighboring country of Bhutan, and had been imprisoned and exiled for their faith in Jesus. In spite of their longing to return to their homeland, they had such joy and kindness to share with us. Our leader, Peter, was a pastor from India who is a modern-day apostle Paul and simply an incredible teacher, giving powerful messages while showing the kindness of Christ to each small child he met. The team of Americans, diverse though we were in ages 19 through 65, were united by our common purpose. Circumstances which may sound inconvenient, such as the daily power-outages and resulting meals by candlelight, seemed like opportunities for joy. (My most euphoric moment came when I finished a refreshing cold shower using a bucket of water, in the dim bathroom during a power-out. I'm serious.) We tasted heaven through our worshipful team meetings, caring for each other's illnesses, our jokes, and singing songs on the bus with our translators.

I hope I've given you a glimpse of the amazing experience I had, halfway around the world where everything is different except for the fact that God is in control and he loves us no matter what!

As we would say to the Christians we met in Nepal, "Jaimasee!" (victory to Christ!)

Katie