What’s Even Better than Seeing Everest

So, after the trip ended, Connie, Jen, and I flew up the Nepal for 3 days.

It was something we dreamed about before the earthquake happened. It sounds exotic to us as Americans, but the truth is it’s like going to S.C. from Georgia- right next door. And super cheap … do-able on a missionary’s budget. We knew it had to happen when, last fall, someone at Adventures brought back some blankets from Nepal for Connie’s business, Purchase Effect, and they sold like hotcakes. So that became the dream – to head up to Nepal for a few days for a mini-Purchase Effect trip (kind of like the Guatemala ones I’ve been on in the past). 

I got permission for the vacation time from work and everything looked like it was going to work out. Jennifer decided to join us, then April 25 happened… and with it, a 7.8 earthquake.

Adventures had people on the ground right after the earthquake (a World Race Squad lived through the second big one), and has sent repeated short term trips there since. We asked people what it was like on the ground and it seemed fine.

After praying about it, we were like… “Especially now…. Why not go?”

So on August 9, we headed northeast to “South Carolina”… better known as Nepal. Or Narnia, as I dubbed it years ago. We had a surprise waiting for us – Jennifer’s husband booked our hotel for us. We’d been planning to stay at a $6/night hostel in Kathmandu. But Jen asked Jeff to hook us up. They wanted to bless Connie and I, and he found an amazing deal at the Hyatt. The next thing we knew we were being taken to a 5 star hotel!

I didn’t know how to act in a place that nice; I’d never seen anything like it. Connie and I offered to pay Jen the $6/night (for 3 nights) we’d budgeted for… and even offered to up it to $10/night, but she told us just to buy her a coffee.

So we were blessed beyond anything we expected by these sweet friends – staying in this 5 star hotel for FREE!

*Photo of me by Connie Rock

I fell in love with Nepal from the beginning. It reminded me of India but more chill. Still colorful, with similar architecture, Hindu influences (along with Buddhist), food, and even language (I heard Hindi at times, believe it or not).

We arrived in rainy season, yet for 3 days, we had blue skies during the day. And from the moment we set foot in the town, God’s hand was upon us. 

It was like God guided us directly to specific people. We spent a lot of time in the market district of the city, making relationships with vendors. People got to where they recognized us. They offered us chai and water; chairs to sit in. They told us of their families; of where they were during the earthquake, and of how Nepal is struggling without its usual influx of tourists. 

Many welcomed us praying for them in their stores, thanked us for the business and encouragement, and asked us to come again.

*Photos I’m in by Jennifer Lucy Tyler

Down to the last day, this happened. Just this morning (I’m writing this on the plane from Nepal to Abu Dhabi), Connie stopped to buy Christmas ornaments and we all ended up praying in a shop with the shop owner, as Connie told him about God. Then, on the way out of the market, she stopped to buy scarves. While inside the shop, she was telling the storeowner about God while Jen and I were sitting outside being haggled by other vendors… until a man, reeking of alcohol and blowing smoke into our faces, came begging. He told us his wife had died in the earthquake and his baby broke his arm (or lost his arm… he just made a chopping motion on his arm and said, “my baby”).

There was so much pain in his eyes, even though we had no way of knowing if it was true.

I offered him cheese-its (my go-to travel snack and offering to beggars because I never give money). He accepted it and said it would feed his child. He told us his name (I can’t remember what it was), but he said he was named for a god, and then kept talking about his pain. So I asked him if we could pray to our God, the Christian God, for him. He said yes, so while Connie was praying with the shop owner inside, we were praying for this man on the street. We got to tell him more about God after as well.

I’m praying that whether he was telling the truth or not, that the Truth we shared will break through the fog of his drugs and stay with him.

We have story after story like that, almost like the hand of God was on this trip…. Ha! He so was!

What I thought about a lot while in Nepal was that everyone has a story. 9/11, the Khmer Rouge, WWII, when baby brother died, when daddy left, the earthquake in Nepal – everyone has a story of when life forever changed.

Everyone we asked about the earthquake told us exactly where they were, what they were doing, and how their friends and family fared. This is a nation that is hurting. Even miles away from the epicenter (and 3.5 months after the earthquake happened), the evidence is on every street of Kathmandu– piles of rubble, cracked buildings, construction everywhere. We went to a temple city where most of the monuments/temples had giant posters next to rubble/half standing structures showing what it looked like just 4 months ago.

And the biggest juxtaposition of all: a tent city against the property line of the 5-Star hotel we stayed in.

You can see it in the shadows behind their eyes and hear it in the tinge of desperation at the need for business, for commerce and tourism to begin again.

Yet we also saw laughter. The earth might have shaken, but the Nepali people are getting back up.

My favorite story came from our second day there. We were supposed to go a town with beautiful views, where we could possibly even see Everest. But then we heard it would 2x as long as we expected, would be 2x as expensive, and most likely we wouldn’t see anything because of the weather.

And from that point on, nothing we planned or expected happened.

We ended up going to a temple city instead, and like all tourist attractions, were haggled by would-be tour guides. We kept saying, “No,” until one guy just didn’t leave and started telling us about everything even though we said we weren’t going to pay him. Not too long after, a 10-year-old boy came. He asked for money. It’s so hard to say no, but it’s something we have to do.

But this boy didn’t leave. 

For the rest of the morning, this boy followed us around and kept asking for money. We said no time after time. We offered him food (he didn’t want it). Jen ended up giving him a dollar, thinking it would make me leave. He just said, “Not enough.” Connie asked him what he wanted, and he said it was $5 to buy a book.

We had to find out if he was telling the truth. So she told him if he really wanted a book, she’d buy it for him.

Our self-elected guide took us to a bookstore, where the boy asked for a Nepali/English dictionary – $5. We stared in shock… he’d been telling the truth. So we bought him the book. Now we’re planning a return trip in the future – to bring this kid a Nepali/English Bible.

*2nd photo by Connie Rock

I have other stories I’d love to share (like being dropped off in the middle of the city and then finding out all the taxis were on strike, like going to the river where the deceased are cremated and then dumped in the water in a Hindu ceremony), but I want to end with one that is full of hope. And that is it for me – this kid who didn’t want candy or a video game. He wanted a dictionary. He wanted to learn.

He is the future of Nepal.

When the three of us left that morning for the temple city, we were disappointed we weren’t going to go to the village with the views of Everest. “It’s the wisest and best decision,” we said. “Next time, maybe. But more importantly, there’s a reason we weren’t supposed to go.”

This boy was that reason. Not because Purchase Effect bought him a book, but because we got to spend time with him (when he didn’t leave, we started just hanging out with him), as well as our not-hired tour guide (who we ended up tipping because of how he helped us), who we were also able to pray for and share the Gospel with.

Nepal wasn’t an official “missions trip” for me. It was vacation time; and for me, a time to play with friends in a beautiful place. But the truth is, there’s no such thing as a day off when you’re a Christian. Even on ‘vacation’, we’re called to share the gospel whenever and to whoever. A missions trip is just a time with organized ministry; but in the “non-official hours”, that’s when life happens.

And why missional living is so important – being ready to live and share the gospel wherever we are.

“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” 1 Peter 3:15a