The Aftermath

I wish I was in Nepal. I miss it, I am reading my friend's blog and her journey through Europe is wonderful and makes me think of Nepal. I got to see Alex and Madi for the first time since Nepal, it was so nice! I am in my room finally cleaning up, taking one of my first breaths relaxing after Orientation (which went phenomenally) and the first rush of school. I wonder if I am getting stagnant in my life with God and friends. I want to be present on campus so it does not seem like Orientation came and went for the freshmen this year. I am excited for this year with the credential program at Westmont but I also would like simply to be working on my graduate work of becoming an RD. I can see God working in me this year and I pray that I remember him in ALL that I do and trust in him, like Nepal. Please be praying that while I am away from my friends in Nepal, I am present in their hearts and I am physically present in my program and the students at Westmont. Pray that I find a graduate program where God wants me, if he even wants me there. Thank you for joining me in this journey, I pray that you got to see God work in my life as well as yours. May the God of grace make his face shine upon you, may he be gracious to you. Amen.

Jouney Home

Tuesday morning we wake up around 6:30am and have our last breakfast as a family. I go to the local store to pick up the usual milk and eggs. That morning was very nice to say goodbye to the kids and Ramila, a good ending. Bishwa leaves and comes back around 11:30 to us who are ready to go and our team of 7 plus Bishwa have our final meal in Nepal. I hope there is a return for me, maybe to climb Mount Everest Base Camp. I am thankful for the journey even though I was challenged in a different way than I was expecting, God likes doing that to me. 

After our wonderful hour long flight from Kathmandu to Delhi we have a nine hour layover. Consisted of sleeping and enjoying a movie. Our team is excited for the coming plane ride because it has independent televisions for each seat, an upgrade compared to the journey to Nepal. In our 7 hour flight I saw two movies and 3 shows, it was wonderful. Our third flight from Germany to LAX was 12 hours and I was tired of the television so I enjoyed the book I brought, The Screwtape Letters. My goal was to finish before we got home, unfortunately I was 9 pages short. I also enjoyed the company! Unlike the journey to Nepal, our team sat together on the plane, mostly. I was fun to talk with someone I am comfortable with rather than a stranger. I also enjoyed the greatest hits of the Beatles, classic.

Upon arrival to LAX, my 60 timer that I set up on the previous Monday went off and it turned out that it took another hour to actually get through customs (international flights). My mom was waiting with my niece was waiting for me when I got through and I am delighted to see my family when I get home. I pray for continued unity in my family, me maintaining relationship as I travel wherever God takes me for Grad school and beyond. Stay tuned for my final entry, the aftermath.

The Final Weekend

My Dear friends, I apologize for the late blog, we ran out of internet right before the final weekend, then there was none on the airplane and I have been apart of Orientation this week so I have not had time to keep you updated. But there is grace.

For the Final week of Nepal there was a tense of a strike being very close. The entire last week we were unsure If the students would be in class. And of course we waited till the last minute to tell our cooperating schools that it was our final day, so we taught again on Monday before we left. The final week was particularly special, while we never had a chance to invite the children over to church, we played with them everyday after school, in the field near the house. I remember being able to see mountains on more than one occasion the last week.

Church on Saturday was probably not going to happen because of the strike but last minute, like morning of, Bishwa and Romila (host parents) decided to try it. Turns out the strike was for public vehicles and for private vehicles the strike started at 3. I don't know how word gets around but I am delighted that We got to go to church and and pray out loud as a body of Christ one last time.

We, the team, mentioned to Bishwa that we were interested in doing a Bible study on Monday night but it seems that he never set it up which turned out to be better even though our scheduled Friday night Bible study with a local church was stopped by a strike. So Friday night the Bible study turned into a team discussion and Monday night there was another team discussion but Bishwa and Romila joined us and it was delightful hearing their wisdom and sharing ours. I only wish we had more of those Bible studies.

Two more blogs, jouney home and the aftermath. Till next time.

Chitwan National Park

Wowwy! So there is a picture of me on an elephant when I'm about two but I have no recollection of this whatsoever! Fortunately I no longer have to feel like a liar when I tell people that I have been on an elephant!! I was also bathed by one (with dirty water but that's besides the point)! This past weekend I got to play with baby elephant, see rhino and live like a king because I had my own room in the hotel we were staying at (Idk if you remember but I'm the only guy in this group). On the last morning we saw two mountains (part of the Himalayas) during sunrise, wowwy! We don't know what they were but I like to think it was Everest because I haven't seen it yet so I am going to pretend it was. Although the ride there and back was 7 hours, it was well worth it to have a memory like that with my teammates.

My team is closer than ever, today (Monday, our first day back from our mini Chitwan vacation) we were all in the same room and doing nothing but still together with a peace that I have never felt with all 7 of us. Another way we are seeing God's love is in playing with the kids after school, the first week and a half we  did not invite them over but this last week we are trying to get them to come over every day so we get to know them better outside of a classroom setting. This is helpful for us because before we simply felt that our teaching wasn't doing much now that we get to talk to them and play with them hopefully more can happen. This is also helpful for our bonding as a team, we get to share with each other the highlights of our day and the highlights of our playing with them.

Going into the last week of this once in a lifetime experience I feel homesick and slightly tired. I understand I have to be present but I would like simply to be with my family. When I get home from this wonderful experience I have to immediately start my final year at Westmont so I do not feel that I will get time to rest. However, God will provide and I trust that he will give me rest and help me to be present both here and when I get back to be fully part of Orientation Team (my leadership position this coming year). I ask for your prayers in this.

Humbled by love

I cannot describe the humbling that has been happening this past weekend here in Nepal and on my team. I have been praying for unity in our team and this weekend was our first meeting including our host family and the walls that have been torn down in a matter of hours is amazing! We debriefed again (the 7 team members) and thoughts were revealed and more barriers broken. Thank you for your prayers and and great thanks to the one God who is teaching us and myself his grace.

In other news, my team went to church on Saturday and it was in English so it was a lot easier to follow (my Nepalese is pretty good just not good enough). After church we went to a Hindu temple which is known as the monkey temple which was very interesting to experience an intimate place of another religion. Sunday was great to go shopping in Timel (the tourist place of Nepal). Most of the team members and I finished shopping for friends and relatives. I loved experiencing the weather, we go into one store while it was sunny and come out five minutes later into pouring rain, go in the next door and come out sunny again. Bishwa and Romila (our host family) say it is monsoon season in Nepal so that explains it I suppose.

School with the 8th graders is going wonderfully! I have the oldest group so they know a lot of English but have trouble putting sentences together. My approach is to try to teach the story telling so they understand how dialogue works so when they are speaking they think back to the dialogues they have put together. Today, however, I forgot my lesson plan notebook at the house so I had up with something quick! While I was with the 7th graders and Madi was teaching I decided to go over sounds of the alphabet and the unique ones, especially the sounds I hear the Nepali people struggle with like 'th' and 'z'. The lesson went wonderfully! I noticed the most struggle with 's' vs. 'sh' but other than that I felt the individuals who were pronouncing it incorrectly found the error and did their best to correct it. I will review and finish the rest of the sounds tomorrow then return to story telling plan, if I remember my notebook. There is a Hindu festival this week so no school Thursday and Friday thus I will need to work with the shortened week. This festival has to do with people remembering their lost family members of the past year and taking "holy" cows while wearing masks down the street similar to a parade, we'll see.

Your prayers are still much appreciated. Thank you.

Nepal Week 2

My team and I have now taken the reigns of the previous English teachers (missionaries like ourselves who are awesome and really helped my transition to Nepal). Madi and I are now teaching the 7th and 8th graders, and everyone else is teaching either 5th or 6th grade. I have gotten to know the boys here, Vishwas is the younger and is about 8 years old. The older is about 11 years old and his name is Vishal. I am learning how to be an older brother and oldest son. I am bonding with my family here is Nepal and we are learning plenty from each other. Food is delightful and a little spicy but still good. I am teaching the 8th graders how to write English in a hope that they will learn form their writing how to better speak this foreign language. I am staying on the couch and loving it because it is softer than the beds. We are playing a lot of games and learning life to be not so urgent. I shared my testimony with 6 women (my team), it was hard and I am very vulnerable but we are growing. I am excited for what is to come but I ask is that you pray for unity in our group so that we can better serve the students of Nepal with God's joy and love.

Journey to Nepal

After two and a half days of travel I am restless and anxious for the coming adventure! On the first flight I had a window seat which I was excited about until 5 hours into the 10 hour flight! I was trapped and was too kind of a person to wake up my neighbors. The second flight was 8 hours and I was in the middle seat so not as bad but the Indian gentleman next to me was clueless of my personal boundary. Next, we had a 5 hour layover in the second safest airport in the world. It went by pretty fast especially because I took a nice nap. My team's last flight was only an hour and a half and we were fed! The first two flights had great food, well good food, so the expectations were not very high but the food filled me up wonderfully!

We arrive in Nepal at approximately 8:30am (Nepal time, which is 12 hours and 47 min ahead of California time). After getting out of the terminal we are hoarded by local taxi drivers. After 10 minutes of waiting we decide to go back inside to wait for ride. Turns out he got a flat tire on his way to the airport. All went well and we saw the training school then went to our host family's home. It is beautiful!!! I am currently sleeping on the couch only till Monday but I like it because the beds here are pretty stiff! Day 1 in Nepal has been restful. My body is adjusting to the time, 2 o'clock here my eyes got super duper heavy! So tomorrow (Friday) my team and I will be introduced to the kids we will be teaching. The plan is to teach a total of 4 classes Monday through Friday and 1 class at the bible college Monday through Friday between the seven of us. Then if we are able we can do a bible study for the local churches, there is one every night, so we will see! Until next time! love, Ricky