Saturday, June 23, 2012

the ganj.

"In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel." 1 Cor. 9:14

         this past week, i was in a small village called nepal ganj. nepal ganj is a 12 hour bus ride west of nepal. my team and i left early last saturday morning and arrived at the ganj that evening. nepal ganj is known as the hottest place in nepal. i might disagree. i think it might be the hottest place in the world...it was about 115 degrees almost the whole week we were there!
         we met with a missionary who lives there, named Autumn, who led our team that week. everyday we left our hotel at 8am and went to different churches in nepal ganj to teach the women of the church how to share the gospel through henna. we told them different stories from the Bible; such as the creation story, the bleeding woman, and Jesus feeds the five thousand, and drew the story on their hands with henna. the women at these different churches were mostly all believers. we taught them how to disciple women in their communities. having the henna on their hands is a great conversation-starter so we explained the significance of each story and how they can use these stories to ultimately share the message of the gospel. we shared this with over 70 women that week! we made sure they all understood and had a couple of them share with us the way they would to their hindu friends.
        the last day we were in nepal ganj, we went to a place called rescue. it's a restoration facility for women who have been sold into prostitution. we got to meet some of the girls who've been rescued and the women that work there. the girls in the facility were mostly nonbelievers. we got to share the story of the bleeding women with them and gradually shared the truth of the gospel. even though no one came to Christ that day, i'm continuously praying that the Lord would grow the seed we planted at rescue. please be praying for these women as well.

on our drive to nepal ganj. (this is for you, dad)

everyday we had about 20 women from the church
who came to learn about how to share the gospel
through henna.

the first woman i drew the creation henna on, while
explaining what each drawing means and the significance
of the character of God we see in the story of creation.

one morning we went to a zoo nearby called the jew. 
yeah, everything about it was hilarious.

playing duck, duck, goose with the beautiful children
at the orphanage we visited one afternoon.

of course i was in love with every single child at the
orphanage.

how can i forget...happy belated father's day to my 
favorite man in the world. forever i love you, dad.

     this past week was food to my soul. nepal ganj is not the easiest place to be in. however, the times i spent in the small church rooms, cramped with over 20 women everyday, learning more about Jesus, will forever be in my heart. the presence of Jesus was undeniable. the way these christian nepali women hunger for more of Jesus and their eagerness to tell their hindu friends, was so incredible to watch. 
     going to nepal ganj was so humbling. the Lord has been showing me the importance of preaching the gospel to myself daily, because i need it. being in a hard place like nepal, there's a tendency to sometimes make things about myself. He's continuously teaching me to depend on Him alone.
     things might have been hard in the ganj, but the more i lean on Jesus, the more He's revealing to me who He really is: infinitely satisfying. the more i fix my eyes on my Savior, the more joy i find in working with Him for the fulfillment of his eternal plans.

-milcah

"Many of us can not reach the mission fields on our feet, but we can reach them on our knees." 

                                                                                                          -T.J.Bach
   

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

namaste.

        hello from kathmandu! i left the U.S. exactly a week from today. my travel to nepal went so smoothly...thank you for your prayers. a lady who sat by me on my flight from New York to London was actually a nepali woman on her way to kathmandu as well. how awesome is that? so i got to hang out with her all the way to the kathmandu airport. i'm so thankful for the time i got to spend with her.
        the past couple of days in nepal have been really good but definitely hard and challenging in so many ways already. kathmandu is one of the busiest places i've ever been to. there are so many people on the streets...it can definitely be overwhelming at times. candace, anna grace and i live in a small apartment called apple pie! even though i like the name of the place, we've had so many problems... such as bed bugs, for example, that we've switched rooms three times already. but since we still have bed bugs in our room, we're moving into another guest house next week.
        last saturday, i got to go to a nepali church with one of our field partners, sanga, and her 12 adopted children. (the nepali Christians go to church on saturdays). although the church service was over 3 hours long, i was so encouraged watching the Christian nepalis worship the Lord in their language. from the kids, to the adults, the glory of God was clearly radiating through His precious children. after church, i spent the whole day with sanga and her children. it was the sweetest time i've had in nepal so far.
        on sunday, i went to an international church filled with people from all over the world. it was a great time of fellowship and prayer for the people of nepal. that afternoon, i learned how to draw henna on women and share the gospel while doing it. there's an American girl named holly who lives right beside us and is one of the girls who's leading our trip. on sunday afternoons, she invites nepali women to come to her house and then she tells them about Jesus by telling them a story from the Bible. afterwards, she paints henna on their hands and explains more about who Jesus is and the reason for our faith. it's amazing. i absolutely love sunday afternoons with the women.
       the last couple of days, i've spent much of my time with sanga touring the city, going to two of the largest hindu temples and prayer walking everywhere we go. yesterday, i taught 6th and 7th grade boys and girls about david and goliath. i let them act it out afterwards and we all just had such a great time.

My favorite kind of transportation.

One of my favorite boys at the  Christian nepali church.

Telling the story of the woman who
washed Jesus' feet while drawing henna on their
hands.

Just lovin on some of the precious kids that 
play outside my apartment.

The monkey temple, one of the Hindu temples
we visited. 

Anna Grace and I on top of the monkey temple.

The 6th and 7th graders I had the privilege of 
meeting and teaching God's Word.

            i am so thankful for the opportunity i've been given to come and spend my summer in nepal. this is truly one of the hardest places i've ever been to...but i wouldn't want to be anywhere else. my heart is so heavy as i watch men and women and children bow down to idols and go to temples to become "righteous." there is so much darkness here and i can feel it all around me. there are countless of people who are blind to the truth. so many people who don't know the one true God. so many people who are going to be forever separated from God and are on their way to eternal damnation if they don't come to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. being here and watching this is so hard. harder than i can put into words. my living situation and the lifestyle here doesn't make things easier but at the end of the day, i really don't care about my comfort. i am more concerned about these people's salvation and their eternity. please, please be praying for this nation. beg the Lord to make Himself known and to reveal to His people their desperate need for Him alone. 

-milcah

"If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for." 
                                                                                                                        Charles Spurgeon
  
    

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

nepal bound.

          Tomorrow will be the day i leave for Nepal. for those of you who didn't know, i was supposed to fly out last week. however, things didn't go the way I had hoped. actually, mostly everything about this trip has been the complete opposite of how I had thought it would be. praise the Lord i'm not in control of my life!
          A week before we were supposed to leave last week, one of my team member's (Kacey) mom was admitted to the ICU for liver failure. So she decided not to go. And then I came to find out that my passport wasn't going to come in time for me to fly out with the rest of my team, Candace and Anna Grace. so Candace and Anna Grace flew last week but i stayed behind waiting on my passport. thankfully, my passport came in a couple of days later. the church booked me another flight for tomorrow from Atlanta. i'll be flying from ATL to New York City, to London, to Bahrain, then finally to Kathmandu. It's a little over 42 hours of flight with layovers included...which is about 10 hours less than Thailand last summer, so Praise Him!!
         The other fun part is that i get to fly to Nepal all by myself. i'm definitely both excited and nervous. but then i remember the promises of my Savior...to be with me to the end of the age and i'm reassured that i have absolutely nothing to fear. at the end of the day i know my goal for the summer and that's to serve and love the people of Nepal, to be a witness for Christ, and to fearlessly proclaim His name, all for His glory.
        Thank you so much for your continuous prayers and support. please be praying for my travel tomorrow and that i would even meet people in the airport that i can share the gospel to! i will arrive in Nepal early Friday morning!

until then...

-milcah

"May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations." -Psalm 67:1-2