Archive for June, 2009
Posted on June 18, 2009 - by Kelly Verge
Nepal Mission Trip
For those who don’t know, my son and I just returned from a short-term Christian mission trip to Nepal. On this trip we backpacked in the lower mountains and ministered/witnessed to villagers and distributed bibles and tracts (in Nepali).
It was an amazing trip.
Obviously there’s too much to fit in a blog post. Hopefully a few photos and a bit of detail will at least give you an idea of what we were doing.
First, we landed in Kathmandu and took a couple of days to get adjusted to the time zone. It's a sprawling, noisy, dusty, crowded city. If anyone is interested in going trekking in Nepal or even just going for a visit, plan no more than one day in Kathmandu on each end unless you have specific need to be there. We saw lots of sights, but the city wasn't really the reason for our trip.
There were constant reminders that we weren't in the U.S. - almost everything was different.
Next we took a 7-hour bus ride into Pokhara. Much of the route looked pretty dangerous, but we consoled ourselves that these drivers make this trip all the time. Unfortunately, around halfway up the route, a truck that was approaching us from the other direction had a blowout and tragically went over the edge as we watched. It didn't just look dangerous - it was deadly.
Once we started on the trails, we did a great deal of brutal, vertical hiking.
We shared the gospel with lots of people who were all very welcoming and interested.
We met lots of locals on the trails.
We handed out bibles and tracts.
We ate lots of dal bhat - two times a day and as much as we could eat at each meal. This dal bhat also included potato curry (we ate lots of this) and bamboo curry (bamboo shoots were in season). The vegetables change with the season and availability.
We faced our fears (to be fair, the 250m wooden suspension bridge was my fear).
We saw some interesting sights...
...including lots of amazing vistas.
And of course we made some new friends.
On the way home from the airport my dad asked if I’d go back. My answer was, “not today.”
I’m sure I’ll go back someday. The people are amazing. They thirst for God’s word, and once converted they show a strength and depth of faith that’s really rare in the West.
The country and its people have tremendous need, and anything even one of us can do to help, no matter how small, could have a big impact in their future.
In Kathmandu we visited an orphanage, church and bible school (all run by Shyam and Paula Khatri, a missionary couple). Based on their needs, I’m going to start a drive for used Christian books as well as the funds needed to ship them to the school. The pastor plans on starting two new schools – one in the east and one in the west – so they’ll have a home for all of the books I can gather and ship.
If you have any questions at all about Nepal, Kathmandu, the mission, or anything else, just leave a comment and I’ll do my best to answer.
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