the thirst

The story!

2012-01-26T09:16:00.001-06:00

I didn’t know it was a romantic evening, or I probably wouldn’t have eaten so much! I cleaned off two whole plates of rice and lentils and veg of various sorts. I even considered sneakily unbuttoning my jeans while Simon went to pay. As we were walking out, he turned the wrong way… away from home. I was confused, and asked him if he was going the wrong way. He said no, and asked me to join him for a walk.

Walks are not completely out of the ordinary for us either. I gladly walked with him, and soon realized we were heading back towards our old tree. It was the tree we had sat under on our first date. We had picked the tree the first time because it was the closest thing to a scenic spot we could find after walking almost an hour. We walked all the way back out there, and sat ourselves down.

Simon commented on how he remembered the spot being a little more romantic. I couldn’t see any major differences from what it had been, but it warmed my heart that he wanted to associate romance with it. We stayed there talking for hours. I found out later that Simon was buying time until things got more romantic. It wasn’t working…

A woman with grey hair and a bent back kept walking up and down a little path beside where the tree was. She was carrying a candle, and would look up at us every now and then. We suspected that she was going back and fourth from the toilet out behind her house. She may have had some bowel issue or something. She did a good enough job of entertaining us while Simon waited for romance. Eventually she did succeed in her venture… we could tell by the smell. I was a little bit happy for her, but Simon was banging on about how it wasn’t romantic. I wonder what she made of us sitting there.

We kept talking and meditating together about life, God, scripture, ideas for the next year, and how we would get better involved in Nepali church, how we have grown and changed since coming to Nepal again…

About two hours had passed and I was starting to get cold. He gave me an extra coat he had packed and a goofy looking hat. It struck me as romantic that he had thought ahead to bring extra clothes! I was a rice-stuffed, down-padded puffball. I told him we had better head back towards our houses because we had meetings at school all day the next day. He said ok, but I had to wait a few more minutes.

He pulled out a ring and asked me if I would accept it. I was just about as blindsided as I was as the day he asked me out in the first place. I had not come up with a nice answer, and I honestly hadn’t fully decided for myself! I knew I loved him. Is that enough? I said a quick prayer… something like “Oh God help!” and what flew through my mind after that were the words of Psalm 139. “O Lord you have searched me and you know me” and “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

I realized that maybe I will never know Simon as completely as I would like to believe is possible before getting married. I’ve known God for as many days as I can remember, and He has known me all the more. I have felt His hand leading me into this relationship, and giving me peace to pursue it even when it seemed risky and almost foolish. I saw in that moment under our tree that God wanted to show me His love through the man kneeling in front of me. Based on this maybe three seconds of thought, as shocked as I was, I felt confident enough to mutter out something like “I will.” I have never felt so blessed as the moments after that.

Simon proposed again in Nepali, just to show me he could. A lot of hugging followed that, and then some praying, then a one or two-mile giddy walk home. The ring turned out to be beautiful… A picture will follow whenever I can borrow a camera off someone.

If you would like to read Simon’s side of the story, click HERE!!

Love,
Wendy

An Old Year

2012-01-01T21:20:00.006-06:00

Hello Friends,

I have many reasons to celebrate the New Year and I anticipate new blessings and changes, but I always tend to use this day to look back at the past year, and mark God’s faithfulness through it.

One year ago today I was able to celebrate the New Year with Simon and the Abrahamian family in Minnesota. It was snowy and cold, and we dropped 20-gallon bricks of ice off a balcony as our own ball dropping ceremony.

In the spring I graduated (finally) from Moody Bible Institute. Maybe a bachelor’s degree is not much in this new day and age when post-secondary education has almost become the standard, but I felt immensely privileged to be given that piece of paper. It was like carrying four years of studying, and working, and ministry, and friends in my hand and I felt unworthy to carry it. It is also only by God’s grace that I did not fail any classes or run out of money to pay for them.

In the summer I said my goodbyes to Chicago, and returned to Minnesota to spend time with my family and to earn some money. It was a good time of recovery from the stress of the last year of Moody, and a time of preparation for Nepal. In mid-July I said some more goodbyes, and hopped a plane for London. I spent two weeks in England with Simon and his family. We were in almost non-stop motion seeing places and meeting people. The day before our plane left again for Nepal, we were on the Southern coast of England at one of Simon’s friend’s weddings. We left at midnight after the wedding to arrive in London the next morning where Simon spoke in two services at church. We then packed our bags after lunch and caught an early-evening flight to Kathmandu!

In August I became a teacher. (Or started the long process of learning how to pretend to know how to teach). I think I was about as nervous that first week as I have ever been about anything. I didn’t know how to prepare for a class, or how to plan a lesson. I didn’t know the students or how many of them I would have or how they would behave. I spent much of the first few weeks trying to survive and make some sort of good first impression. I don’t know that I did so well. Many of the students learned quickly that I am soft, and don’t know any cool disciplinary tricks.

The school I am working for, KISC, is a mission school. The student body represents an internationally vibrant church and mission-sending community. I have students from every continent except Antarctica, with no obvious majority. There are also a number of non-mission, non-Christian students - mostly Nepali, who come for the Western education in hopes of enrolling in a Western university.

Most of the classes I teach are RE classes. I didn’t know RE was a subject until I came here either. RE is a part of the British curriculum. It stands for Religious Education, and it is maybe about the only possible thing I am qualified to teach. Each grade level has a period of Biblical studies worked into the curriculum, as well as subjects like world religions, theology, ethics, philosophy, and church history. I love it.

In October I was able to go with the 7th grade class, (Simon’s homeroom) on their class trip to Chitwan National Park. I was able to enjoy the much sought after experience of riding an elephant through the jungle. It was also a great time of getting to know the students and building trust with them. It is a scary thing to be responsible for 20 seventh-grade students in a land of rhinos and elephants, tigers and crocodiles, and a zillion possible illnesses.

Christmas break has now arrived. Simon and I felt that a good vacation was an appropriate idea. We decided to spend the last four days in Pokhara, the land that I love. We spent the first two days visiting and hanging out with Nepali friends. The last day, however, was to be purely vacation. We rented gas-powered scooters for the day and scooted our way from one lakeside to another. The Annapurna mountain range was showing off its gorgeous face all day long, and we scooted to quite a few incredible viewpoints. I was living on the wild side, having never really driven in Asia, or on the left side of the road. The best part is that the whole experience, scooter, gas, lunch and all, cost me about 10 bucks.

Yesterday was a long bus ride back to Kathmandu. Today it is New Years Day. I have a few more weeks of vacation, but I plan to use a bunch of it to prep lessons and plan assessments for next term. It has been a very blessed year. If this update has interested you so far, you must love me. I would assume that you would also enjoy a few photos.

Happy New Years!

Take care,
Wendy

One year ago in Minnesota.

London, summer 2011.

Simon's mom took us to a castle/stately home.

Simon's dad took us to a football game.

Simon's sister got us tickets to see Wicked.

Simon's brother took us out to central London.

Nepal 2011

KISC courtyard looking left. The building on the left is the gym/assembly hall.

Straight ahead is the office/meeting room/staff lounge/kitchen building. To the right is the main classroom building.

Right: main classroom building, left: reception office and upstairs is 11th and 12th grade lounge.

With the 7th grade students in Chitwan. We were spotting crocodiles along the river from the safety of our wooden canoe. I've never seen these kids sit so still and quiet!

A wild rhino that wandered up by our hotel.

Some of the students on an elephant.

Pokhara visit December 2011. When I met this guy he weighed 7 pounds. Now he has passed his first two tests in school!

Begining of our scooter adventure. Lake #1: Fewa.

Mid-way break to enjoy the view.

Scenic lunch break. Almost there!

But not in so much of a hurry that we wouldn't take the time to be serenaded by some very skilled Nepali folk, (dohori) musicians!

Success. Lake #2: Begnas!

Just kidding about the beer.

2011-04-24T20:56:00.006-05:00

I went to Grand Rapids, Michigan this weekend to visit Anna for Easter. I got a ride with a very kind, young family I had not previously met. The Adults were probably in their late 30s, and they had two sons, 5 and 6 years old.

It was a family tradition of theirs to stop at the Cracker Barrel, a local family restaurant, so we did. On the way in the hostess asked the parents, "Three kids?"

I know I look young sometimes, but this was a bit extreme.

"No, just two" said the mother, a bit confused, to which the hostess replied; "It's ok, sometimes you have one who's an in-betweenie" and she proceeded to give me a kids menu and crayons!

So I colored a lovely picture and ordered a beer.

Hmm

2011-04-19T15:28:00.002-05:00

"Ancient Israel was to be a community working under the economic principle of solidarity. Rich and poor were bound together. If the poor could not get out of poverty, the rich would eventually be involved in seeing things righted. It would be a bizarre anomaly in Israel for a member of the community to get so indebted as to become an indentured servant. How strange an ancient Israelite would consider the great American pastime whereby a family gathers around a game board, and the objective of the game is to obtain all of the property on the board, and then, after building houses and hotels, to charge your kin such exorbitant rent that each of them goes into financial ruin one by one!" -Scott Bessenecker

Caffine for me, Glory for God

2010-04-24T14:23:00.004-05:00

Coffee doesnt seem do do the same thing it used to for me anymore. I suppose that is when you know you've crossed the line into addiction. Maybe coffee beans are less potent when harvested around finals week? I realized today that I only have 22 days till my friends graduate, and I will be on a plane headed for S. Asia again. (I recieved my ticket in the mail yesterday!) So any of you who have committed to pray for me... I need to take you up on that.

Feelings about returning seem to evade me. Perhaps I am just on survival mode for the present, and haven't really been able to process anything. One thing I have learned is that stress is not from the Lord. It comes from my striving to be sucessful in whatever the venture, whether that be an internship in S. Asia, or making good grades, or building good friendships, or increasing financial stability. God is honored when I love and obey Him, whether I succede in my other ambitions or not, and ultimately the goal of my life is not success in these secondary things. So I am committed to let my soul find rest in God.

If you have the heart to pray for me, pray that I will obey and love my Lord all the way through these caffine saturated weeks, and ask Him to take care of me in the secondary categories of life.

Thanks beloved.

finals week!

2009-12-06T00:10:00.002-06:00

It is midnight. I am in an odd mood.

Here is my quandary…

I am currently working on a formal exegesis of 1Timothy 2:11-15.

“A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. But women will be saved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.”

If I ever dig myself out of this pile of commentaries to come to a conclusion, I will indeed find myself within a theological paradox!

If I am to follow a redemptive-movement hermeneutic and claim that the spirit of this passage does not restrict women today from teaching with authority, I could never be sure that it wasn’t just my woman nature allowing me to be easily deceived by false teachers!

If I am to conclude that women cannot teach men, then I suppose I ought not turn my paper in for fear that my male professor might read it and be taught! Although if I conclude that women are easily deceived I should assume I am deceived in my understanding, thus proving that women are not easily deceived, and should be permitted to teach. 1.

I suppose it wont matter if I can just remain silent while writing the paper.

Just to be safe, I better get going on that childbearing.

Footnotes

1. Please realize that my authorial intent in this passage is humor and not an accurate portrayal of the views of any school of thought in regards to the egalitarian/complimentarian dialogue.

Why teenaged boys need to shave

2009-07-17T14:21:00.002-05:00

Hello friends! Thank you for your prayers for me through this transition time. I haven’t felt as compelled to write blogs lately since connecting in person has become much easier, but Doug Kraft keeps nudging me to write more. I got the day off today, so why not. As a general update; I am working a few jobs for the summer, goofing around with old friends, and getting ready to re-enroll for linguistics at Moody in the fall.

Since Nepal I have devoted life to planting flowers, moving rocks, and clipping shrubs, with a periodical peppering of pizza delivery. Many people have replied with pity when I tell them I am doing landscaping as summer work, but really it has been a fitting occupation for this spot in life. Digging and raking leaves me healthy and provides a lot of time for thinking and processing, and not to mention all the joys of sharing life with a handful of middle-aged, ex-alcoholic men. (Not even sarcasm). Having any job these days is a blessing in and of itself.

The question of the month has been; “What have you learned (/How have you grown) from your time in Nepal?” I still can’t figure out how to answer that. I made up a few excuses… Nepal did not cease to exist when I left, nor the people I lived with, nor the students, nor the pain, problems, poverty, joys, friendships. I am still living in the reality that “Nepal” continues to exist. I wake up in the morning wondering if Ayus (baby I lived with /watched grow for 8 months) has learned to talk yet, or if Sayoni will go through with her wedding next month, or whether someone went to talk to Raj about not beating the shit out of his kids this week. I still get frequent emails from those friends who have email, letting me in on daily life. So in a sense, the “experience” of Nepal is still actively affecting me.

The main difficulty I have in answering that question is that, though there was certainly learning, I am not sure Nepal was actually a time of “growth.”

We rolled up to another private estate that needed some hedge work. I got started on weeding the garden and clipping wild hairs from the euonymus while my boss, the guru of all things green, scoped the yard for any improvements he could make. He stared at a particular lilac for a while, chewing on some sort of decision. The bush was massive, big enough to house a few 7-year-olds with wood planks and hammers. It had huge branches with lots of flowers, but it was leggy and awkward looking with limbs stretching to the four winds. It didn’t fit right into the rest of the garden. I went back to the bush I was working on, taking out the little bits of dead wood and tips that grew in wrong directions. Later the boss called me over to help pick up debris. Where the lilac had been standing were only sticks. Its every single branch had been cut down to the stump. I asked Mike if we were going to dig it up and replace it. He said, “No, it will live! This thing has roots. It’ll grow back beautifully!” I had my doubts… it looked hacked, dead.

Trimming a tree usually just means take out dead, make it a little rounder, clean up the bottom… but an experienced gardener knows when and how far to cut back, even the good branches, to make it more what he has in mind for his garden. I see the months spent in Nepal as more of a trimming time for me. I went in with lots of passion, direction, hopes and plans. Now I am back, feeling a lot smaller, wounded, without clear direction or defining passion. (Not to say that missions or Nepal are out of the picture… I am already hoping to do my internship there next year). In truth, I do not feel like I grew this year… more like I shrunk, but my hope is in the Gardener, His wisdom and mercy.

What's been going on..

2009-04-04T03:58:00.003-05:00

Hey friends.

This may well be my last update before I leave, as these last days have filled up well. I suppose you can pray for me just for that. I am trying to figure out a two day seminar, registration for classes at Moody, packing, travel, saying goodbye, saying hello, finding a job, a bunch of paperwork... All that aside, I am also hoping to understand some of how God is leading and teaching me in all these areas.

It has now been two weeks since the school's graduation, and now the kids are on a sort of summer break until the Nepali new year. I've spent about half of those nights at different kids houses, hanging out with the families, and getting to know the parents, grandparents, and all the other old people living with the family. It has been a blessed time living in a community that so easily opens itself up and shares life, the good, the bad, and the dal bhat.

Last week a team of Young Lifers came in and put on a sort of summer camp for all the local youth. A handful of different churches were also represented, and the youth leaders were invited to help, so that was my life last week. The seminar was fun, and I connected really well with my small group.. What stood out to me the most was the visible spiritual warfare throughout the seminar. It was a healthy 50-50 mix of believers and non-believers. At one point during worship a girl started manifesting demon possession and lost consciousness. We woke her up and prayed for her until she came back to her senses. I can't really explain that one any more than that. Later in the week as the speakers were starting to really get to the point of new life in Christ, a minor war broke out amongst the older boys. The leadership had to cut the last day short when the boys started coming with weapons. Even with all the adversity, many youth made the decision to follow Christ! They were also able to meet the Christian youth from their own areas and connect well.

Tomorrow morning I am leaving for a seminar in a village called Palung. I have about six hours of teaching time to fill, and a translator who doesn't really speak English, so I have to at least know all the important words in Nepali. Pray for the seminar, (a sort of leadership seminar for village pastors) and for my translator (Indra) as well!

After five days in the village I will come back here for my belongings, and a little goodbye party at the church. The next day I will head to Kathmandu, spend a few days with friends at the base there, and then take off for Chicago! You can also pray for travel time, since I have never gone that far alone, and it is a moderately intense itinerary.

Sorry, this is sort of just a list of happenings and nothing too thoughtful.

About that murder... I had just gotten on the bus in Mahindra Pul, the biggest shopping area in Pokhara, and started chatting with the lady next to me. she was wearing a red sari, and her stomach flab was enveloping my arm. We then heard a bunch of screaming, and I stood up to see what was going on. A man came tearing across the street in front of the bus with a Nepali khukhuri knife in his hand. He got to the other side of the street and started hacking at a guy standing there. At this point everyone realized the streets were dangerous and all the shop owners slammed their steel garage door shops shut. People were running and yelling everywhere, and the guy getting swung at also took off. The bus driver had started the bus, (though the bus was certainly not full and the next bus had not yet come) and squeezed it down the street as fast as the chaos would let him. I didn't see the guy after he took off cause he went down a side street, and the other guy was following him as the bus left. I was moderately horrified at that point, but I figured the guy got away with a few bad cuts. I found my seat and wondered to myself what kind of rage could possibly provoke a man to attack another in broad daylight with a sword. I didn't find out till the next day that there was indeed a murder in Mahindra Pul in the middle of the day. So that is the story. I don't have any cute moral to wrap it up with, and I don't really know where to file it in my mind either.

Another brief note, thanks for your prayers and encouragement. I am doing a lot better than the last time I updated. I am still confused about a lot of stuff, but I don't feel so depressed or lonely. God is teaching me how to focus on Himself again.

Peace to you, beloved.

Days and nights part 2!

2009-03-10T21:34:00.000-05:00

It has been so long since I last updated, I feel obligated to apologize. I am still alive and healthy. Nepali is a lot easier these days. I am still busy with the school and church and all sorts of other tasks… there’s no lack of work, but still seems to be more peace and sanity than in school. It is also dead dry here now. Dry season… go figure. I’ve been told that it is a particularly waterless year though in this area. Dust is everywhere… flies… dirty boogers… hazy air. All that once was green and living is now grey/brown and dead. I wonder what it is like to live in a desert?

I will admit that these last couple months have been harder on me than the first five. I guess some of the excitement of exploring a foreign land and culture has worn off and been replaced by the seclusion of it. I seem to have convinced a lot of people that I am just a Nepali girl with lighter skin and less hair. I know how to be adaptable, and a lot of my habits and traits seem to fit well with this culture anyway, but within I still feel like a foreigner. The way I see and understand life, and many parts of faith, is still radically different than the average Christian Nepali, and quite impossible to explain even if my Nepali was perfect. In my fight with loneliness and some sort of depression, I remind myself of how it isn’t good to be emotionally or spiritually dependent on people anyway, and that this is an opportunity to grow. But, on the other hand, no man is an island. Still, it shouldn’t matter so much what culture and people I commune with, so long as they are part of the family of Christ. Honesty I am surprised by this whole slump I’ve been in the past few months… I haven’t been able to write much mostly because I feel quite empty myself. I guess I figured I would always be the friend on the outside of this kind of struggle looking in. My disposition is usually so steadily bent towards eternal sunshine that I am often even attracted to the melancholy to have a better grip on the reality of life in a broken world.

The real sinker is that I am not really in a good place to take depression seriously. I think in the first few months I stayed here I mostly saw the beauty of this place. I looked around at the sheer simplicity of life, and honestly envied it. People here have a strong aptitude for enjoying simple things. Kids play with rocks for hours on end. Old men meet at the corner every morning to tell jokes and drink tea. I could swear they have been friends since the days they had been playing with rocks. It seems like a beautiful life of community, rich in culture, not hidden behind walls of security, no need to find deeper meaning in life than the goodness of life itself.

As I have continued to envelope myself in this Nepali life I am coming to see more and more the depth of brokenness of life here as well. How can I complain about being a lonely foreigner when my student has a drunkard for a father, who cant even afford to buy him flip flops, or take him to the doctor for the skin rash that is turning his ear into a pussy, bloody mess. How can I validate my feelings of uncertainty about the future when my best friend just lost her husband and has obtained certainty of a quite bleak future struggling to survive for herself and her son. How can I feel depressed about my lack of spiritual understanding when I am swimming in a sea of people who do not even understand that Jesus is the all-powerful God, who holds salvation for this land.

So maybe there is a drought here. I do believe my personal struggle is more a result of my failure to remain in the Living Water to be filled with joy, and instead I have leaned on outside circumstances, which have not been so cheery. Pray for me. Time here is too valuable to stagnate like this. Pray for my friends, church, students, this nation. Pray for rain.

Days and nights

2009-03-09T08:12:00.000-05:00

This is a pic of Bhabi, her son, her neice and I.

And back

2009-01-21T06:52:00.000-06:00

Hey friends,

Thanks for your prayers. Kathmandu was a good time for me. I was especially impressed at the hospitality of the city. It seemed I couldn’t go into an office without being given tea, and I couldn’t get on a bus without someone paying my fare. I got a visa, and the computer is working again! I also got to visit and was blessed by Andrew and the Word Made Flesh team there. If you want to hear a good story, ask me about my Kathmandu visa trip when you see me. (I cant post it here for a number of reasons…). Also, for those of you who haven't heard, I will be flying out of Kathmandu on April 15, headed for Chicago. See yall soon eh?

Coming back was a bit tougher. On the way (the one main road between Kathmandu and Pokhara), there was a big accident. I little kid was hit by a car, and a bunch of people died and were injured, so in a quite sober mood we all sat in a traffic jam for four hours. After arriving at the base and passing a little small talk about how the trip went and why I was so late, my roomie told me that a man we had been praying for when I left for Kathmandu had died that day. He was the husband of one of my good friends and co-teachers in the CSM school, and he had just been hospitalized the night before I left. We found out that he had been suffering from tuberculosis and jaundice for a long time, but had never told anyone. My friend, Bhobi, is a believer, as is her young son, but her husband and everyone else in the family is not. Bhobi is one of the women who, at the women’s fellowship, consistently asks for prayer for her husband and family. Now she is quite inconsolable, as is probably fitting. The last few days has just been hanging out with Bhobi. Honestly, it is pretty tough. Life for her looks pretty bleak right now. She is the only believer in her whole extended family, which has put a considerable amount of distance between her and her support systems. Her family refuses to visit her, or help her in any way. There are also a bunch of issues with the in-laws seeing as they are also all Hindu. She has to undergo all the Hindu mourning rituals, which to me seem like torture inflicted on the mourning person to make sure the time bears enough sorrow to satisfy the dead. And not to mention that in this culture, remarriage of widows is greatly looked down upon. There is also the problem of the huge hospital bills that were racked up in the attempt to save her husband. It is just hard, and there’s no way out of it. This morning I was sitting with her, combing her hair, and trying really hard to understand what she was telling me. I was really blown away by the fact that she is only a few years older than me, but yet the widowed mother of a seven-year-old boy. What is more incredible is that in all the time I have spent sitting with her, I haven’t once heard anything but praise to God from her lips. Yes, she weeps, she worries about her son, about her future, she has spoken of suicide, but never once has she considered turning from her faith, and I doubt she will.

For me it is strange, because it is easy to feel her heaviness with her as we sit together in her house. I can bear that sorrow to some degree with her. But, for me as soon as I step outside of her house, the weight is mostly gone. I can go back to the base and joke around with my roommates. I can get a good night’s sleep no problem. I can go back to America in a few months, and forget the grief of this country For her it isn’t something she can get up and walk out of. I think that is why her faith is proving itself to be so solid. She knows the One who will never leave her alone in her grief and in the struggle that lies ahead.

On another note, this is the first time I have really appreciated the language barrier. I usually feel quite awkward hanging out with people going through great grief. I feel like I need to say the right thing, but I fear it will come across as only ‘the right thing to say’ and thus empty. Anyway, it isn’t so tough for me to just sit with Bhobi. If there was anything good to say, God knows I wouldn’t know how to phrase it right. I don’t feel weird not saying much, and she doesn’t have to say much either.

So that is how it is right now.

Kathmandu bound

2009-01-10T20:26:00.002-06:00

Ha, well in my attempts to post that last one I came to understand that my computer is busted. I promise to post the Christmas blog when/if I get it fixed. I am pretty sure there is a good place to bring it in Kathmandu, which is where I will be headed this Wednesday.

I'll be going there for the purpose of working out visa issues, so pray that my travels are safe and that I find favor with this country and am granted another three month visa. This is pretty important at this point.

I am also looking forward to seeing a few familiar faces this month! Scotty and his 212 team are headed this way, and I hope to catch up with Andrew when I am in Kathmandu. There are also some neat Bible translators headed right to the base who are well acquainted with friends of mine on both sides of the globe! It should be an exciting month!

Another prayer request: I am trying to work out a summer job for when I get back to the states, (mid-April). I've heard that this may be a difficult task this year with the economic state of things. If you know of any good openings, (preferably in Chicago or Minnesota, but I am open) lemme know!

My apologies for another boring blog. I love you all!

Yours truly,

December 25!

2008-12-25T06:11:00.001-06:00

hmm this isnt working

Holidays

2008-12-20T21:04:00.001-06:00

Wow, it has been a while. I didn’t think the business flu that comes with holidays in America would get me here, though it seems some strand of it has stretched this far. The holiday season here (among believers) is a time for outreaches and programs. There have also been short-term teams in and out, so I haven’t been lacking in things to do.

Thanksgiving was neat. It was one of those days… I was sitting amongst a small group of believers in a small Tamang village. We were all squatting around a buffalo-dung powered stove, decked out in jackets to stay warm, eating what they call dedho. (It is sort of like malt-o-meal from a few days ago, without any sugar, maple, or chocolate, and you dip it in meat grease so it isn’t so sticky and goes down easier!) So I was sitting there, looking down at my plate, and at that moment I remembered that that very day was Thanksgiving! (Nepalis don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, so I hadn’t been thinking of it too much). I was tempted for a second there, while staring at my plate, to skip the thankfulness part of thanksgiving. That plate, the smell, the mud floor, everything seemed so far from the warmth and happiness I am usually so thankful for on Thanksgiving. That plate seemed almost like an ironic joke when I thought about what my sister and brothers would be eating 12 hours from that moment. Then I looked up.

I looked up that thanksgiving night and saw 10 faces glowing in the light of the stove. Two of the faces were of people who, putting cultural/language differences aside, have become dear friends, and who have loved me better than I have ever loved a foreigner in my own land. One face was a man who has also become a close friend. He reminds me of my own dad; a goofy, outgoing guy with a simple sense of humor and a love for the Lord. He leads the church-planting outreach team. Four more faces were those of a young Nepali couple and their two young kids. They had left the comfort of their own hometown to be the first Christians to live in this Buddhist village, and next to them were the first three members of the church they are planting there. I used the best Nepali I could come up with to tell that family of believers about Thanksgiving, and they decided it would be best to pray again, (we had already prayed for the food) and offer God our thanks. I don’t remember thinking about turkey after that!

It is all too easy to stare down. To think about the things I am missing. Even now, Christmas is so soon, and it is easy to think of being with my family, or to think of those familiar, sweet hymns we sing in this season. It is easy to think of the things that could be had, or have been had. Still, day-by-day God continues to lift my eyes up to Him, and to the great riches he has dumped on me in this incredible chunk of life. With my eyes up, I have seen a sick woman putting her faith in our Jesus and being healed. I also saw her whole families then join the church because of it. I saw a Nepali DTS team come back from outreach glowing with stories of what the Lord had done through their submission to Him. I’ve seen one of my own students put his faith in Jesus! I’ve followed Jesus alongside brothers and sisters from India, Nepal, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, USA, Sweeden, and Spain. I’ve seen flocks of parrots flying over rice patties through a sunset that fell behind a mountain unclimbed by humankind! With my eyes up, I have seen God’s glory! Pray for me, that He will keep my eyes up and on Him.

Barf and finances

2008-11-25T22:32:00.002-06:00

Well friends, I come to bring that joyous news you have all been waiting for: support raising details! Yep, I finally got something worked out, though it isn't perfect, I think it will suffice.

YWAM has agreed to let me raise some support through their Colorado base, but only the support goes to the Pokhara base's account. What that means is if you would like to help pay for my room, board, and ministry expenses, (which come to about $100 a month, 8 months... ) then you can send support to the Colorado address at the bottom! It is super slick, and they will send you a fancy receipt for your tax deductible claims... nice. The other side of support raising will be trickier, cause I cant do it through YWAM, so there will be no tax deductible, and you would just have to trust my parents that your support will go where you want it to. I still need to buy a return ticket from Nepal for my trip home in April. I am guessing that will be another $800. If you want to help with that, you can just send checks to my home address, (also at bottom) and make them out to my parents. =) Gotta love em!

It would also be super nice, (since I am not sure how I am gonna keep track of this, and I would like to thank you personally) if you could send me an email and let me know if you decided to support me financially.

Ha, I am sorry, this is a lousy support letter. ...not even a letter! Please do not feel obliged to support me financially. I also want to thank you all who read this for all your spiritual and emotional support already! The feedback has been awesome and I have found many like hearts. I think leaving Nepal will be hard in another 4 months, but I am exceedingly thankful I have such a neat family, (in a broader sense) to come back to. Thank you also to those of you who helped me financially already, even without my askin, and without a system of any sort. Y'all rock. God bless you.

CO Address:

Nepali Alliance
P.O.Box 60579
Colorado Springs, CO 80960

(Make checks payable to YWAM, and include a note designating funds to Wendy Cornelius. Do not put my name on the check!)

Home address:
4638 Twin Haven Rd.
Minnetonka, MN 55343

(Make checks payable to Joanne, or Larry Cornelius)

Peace to you friends,
Wendy

P.s. About the "barf", well partially I was just enjoying the B theme of my titles, but I thought you also would love to know that this week I experienced my first real deep-Asia sickness! Honestly, I am still marveling in my body's ability to eject its entire contents in a matter of hours... it really is an incredible defense system! I am feeling better today, and drinking lots. No worries. =)

P.p.s. About 2 posts back, I did mean dam, not damn. Hehe, sorry guys, not too focused on English these days!

Border crossing

2008-11-20T06:52:00.000-06:00

Got another visa… Good for two months! Praise God!

On the other hand, I never got to meet up with the DTS team due to visa complications, and a change in their location. That was a bummer, but I am back, safe, and legal to stay, so I am happy.

So people say that this living overseas is really hard… I was starting to think it was all a lie, cause adjusting has been a relatively easy and enjoyable experience for me. Honestly I still think it will be a heck of a lot harder to say goodbye to this place than it has been getting used to living here. However, this weekend visa excursion was my first real low.

Loneliness is a powerful thing. There are times in life, maybe most often, when solitude is desirable… a sweet release from all the stress of life and expectations of others. A chance to rest, clear ones mind, think about life, beauty, love… and there are other times when one would just rather not be stuck in a room with oneself. After a long nine hours on a bus, blaring Nepali folk songs, winding around corners, and up and down mountains like a rollercoaster ride… Actually a nine-hour roller coaster ride is a pretty close description, but it was one of those skanky, old, wooden coasters with hard seats, and an old guy who smells like something died in his pocket snoring on my shoulder! The fun part was the restroom stops where all the guys and one or two women would get out and find a place to pee along the road. I don’t think they had ever seen an American girl do that… haha! I laughed aloud when I saw every single wide eye on me as I emerged from the woods there. (Many then quickly turned their heads away). Anyhow, after all that and a preliminary trip to the immigration office, I found myself in a shabby hotel room in the middle of nowhere. My visa was in jeopardy, (who knew that volunteer teaching is illegal under a tourist visa!) I was feverish sick, tired, nervous about the visa, bummed about not being able to catch the team, nasty dirty from travel, itching like crazy from the mystery skin rash, (No worries Mr. Whitney, I have since gone to a nicer clinic), fighting off a hoard of potentially malaria-carrying mosquitoes, and realizing my own loneliness. The funny thing is none of those factors are all that bad, but couple any of them with a sharp sense of loneliness and they become hellish. I will confess I honestly thought about going out and buying myself a bottle of booze to feel better. Hehe, some of you will be very worried at that statement! I couldn’t actually do it, no worries, though I will say for the first time it was a legitimate temptation.

Beneath all that I had to seriously ask myself why I felt lonely in the first place. I realize theologically that as a believer I am supposed to have a constant and beautiful union with my Savior, so any time I really feel lonely, it is also coupled with the guilt that if I am right with God, I ought not feel loneliness! Often times at that point I go find a friend to goof around with, or go find some work to busy myself with, but on the border of India there really aren’t many other options but to go deeper into the root of my loneliness itself. (Besides maybe get wasted… =) ).

I wound up stumbling into repentance like an old friend. It sometimes feels weird going back to the ol’ youth group style confession… Feels like I am going backwards in my walk of faith because I somehow associate repentance with my initial understanding of the Gospel; the prayers you pray so you don’t go to hell. That, and I have been programmed to think that I have to write my sins on paper and burn them in front of a bunch of people with some guy’s guitar accompaniment in order for my repentance to work. Ha, even then it never seemed to “work”. Seems like all those sins I burned, buried, nailed, shreaded, whatever, somehow found their way back into the ink of my next pen. Now as I write this I recall times of lonely weeping and sorrow over how messed up I am, times of nervous confession in front of crowds of semi-strangers, times of even more nervous confession whispered to intimate friends… but somehow as I sit here typing I can’t deny that I am still a mess.

Staring at the obnoxiously blue walls of the hotel room, I began my fight with God. “What is the point of repenting again? We both know this doesn’t work.” Still, the emptiness of the room was too haunting to leave the awkward distance between myself and its only other Inhabitant, so I just did it. I didn’t feel particularly repentant, I felt more like I was just letting off steam, and I felt more guilt that I couldn’t even really feel sorry, my heart was so hard. Still, somewhere in the aftermath of my anger and guilt wallowing I came back to thinking about God’s love, and that is when it all started to make sense. I actually accused God; “You only love me because of Jesus.” Yes, was His simple answer, and at that I realized what I had done. God had not put distance between myself and Him because of the sins I had not repented… I had put the distance there myself because I refused to simply accept His love. Once again, I wanted to deserve it. Part of me felt dumb because this is a lesson I have learned and re-learned a million times, but with the depth of the love of God fresh on my mind there was no room for guilt. I wasn’t thinking about whisky anymore either. The walls were kind of pretty!

Since my last update someone asked me how to pray without letting it become an empty routine, or cold discipline. This is my answer, though I admit I often forget it myself. Remain in the wild and jealous love of Jesus. Dwell on it. Trust it. I think you would die for someone you really loved… this stuff is that powerful. There is no better motivation than the awareness of His undeserved love. This is the base we must stand on in order to live out the fullness of the Gospel. This is the fire that gives life meaning, the banner of the coming Kingdom, the chorus of the children of God: He loves me.

Barack Obama

2008-11-08T03:57:00.003-06:00

Hello friends,

It’s about time to update again. This one is just gonna be prayer requests. I will post some thoughts later.

Next Friday I will be leaving for the Indian border town called Sunaoli. It is a short bus ride away from Pokhara, about the same as going from Chicago to Minneapolis, but I will be going solo so pray for safety, and that there are no strikes that day.

In Sunaouli I will renew my visa. Pray that the border officials grant me another three months without too many questions. I am trying to figure out how to be honest without jeopardizing the ministry here. (Nothing to worry about too much, usually things in Nepal are pretty loose and there is no national electronic records… my last visa was hand written… But technically proselization is still illegal in Nepal, and YWAM is a ministry with that focus.) Prayer never hurts eh?

On the way back I will also meet up with one of the three DTS outreach teams, spend a few days with them to see how they are doing, and drop off supplies and money. I am excited for that! Prayer for the teams is still needed. One team has been experiencing a lot of sickness as living conditions in the villages aren’t so good. The team I will visit, thus far has had an incredible time of ministry. They are working with and serving a church plant in the Terrai, giving gospel presentations all around the area. I am stoked to hear their stories!

Back here at the base things are mostly going swell, pretty calm around here with the DTS school over. I’ve been reading some good, challenging books, trying to keep my heart fresh and my head sharp. Nepali has become a bit frustrating lately, not so much that learning has slowed down, but that the expectations have speed up. People are asking me to teach Bible lessons without a translator, I am expected to understand specific instructions without translation… stuff like that. I am picking up simple conversation well enough, but I think people are forgetting that I am still nowhere near fluent. Ha, pray for the gift of speaking in tongues I guess!

As I become more and more at home in this environment, I am gaining understanding of the layers of the people I am working with. Yesterday morning I felt specifically led to pray for unity on the base. Since then I have come to see how big a stronghold division here actually is. I had a conversation last night, and another this morning with people on two sides of an old old argument over something insignificant. There are a lot of small things like that preventing real unity. I suppose this happens in most communities, but oh how it cripples us! Pray for humility, repentence and forgiveness… Unity. I really believe the little things are like pebbles stuck in the crack of a breaking damn. So much more power could be released if these small footholds were knocked out.

That’s about all for now… Oo, I am feeling a bit sick. Nothing bad… it just gets pretty cold at night these days and my body isn’t used to life without mechanical temperature regulation. Haha, wimpy American.

Haha… the title was just to catch your attention I guess.

Peace yall! I send my love. May God bless you with the sense of His presence in your prayer times.

Wendy Lu

An update on life

2008-10-26T11:06:00.004-05:00

Warning… much of this post may bore you unless you are my mother, or maybe Anna Connelly. It is just a report of happenings, and lots has happened since any sort of mass update…

About four weeks ago now I developed a nice case of ringworm. (No worries, it isn’t a parasite or anything… just a skin fungus of some sort.) So that has been fun. I’ve been at war with the stuff since then… maybe it is winning. Seems to spread faster than my over the counter Nepali drugs can kill it. Anyhow, at most it is a nuisance, and nothing to get too worried about.

Bhat sometimes has the same effect on me as fiberone. Uh oh. =)

School is back in session. Kids are getting used to the groove of things, so class is going easy. Last week one of the Hindu students decided to follow Christ! He is a nice young chap, bout 12 years old. His name is Milan, if you would pray for him… right now he is the only believer in his family, and his faith is very young.

On another note, last week I was the witness for a traffic accident between a moving pastry stand and a buffalo. (what’s better is that it was the buffalo that got rear-ended!)

For about a week most of what I did outside of teaching in the kids school was painting. A short-term team came to start the project of painting the base and other local outreaches, but the base is huge. Three weeks later we are still working on detailing and such. I really liked the simple labor though. It is a totally different feeling than what I have grown used to with school where weariness is from stress, business and mental exhaustion. Here’s another crazy one… I have not woken up to an alarm clock since I left the states! (Forgot to pack one, praise the Lord!) Can you even imagine that!? I can actually tell myself to wake up at 5, and I will hit the mark within five minutes… crazy stuff.

I am officially a Nepali dal bhat cook. If you remember when I get home, or back, ask me and I will make some for you. =)

I was given the opportunity to teach for the DTS last week… it was quite the privilege and learning experience. I can see a lot of progress in my own speaking/teaching skills as it becomes a regular activity in life. I was asked to teach on Biblical Worldview, which I wasn’t so excited about at first, because all of my mental association with those words meant old, angry guys talking about the literal, six-day creation, the lack of physical evidence for evolution, and why Clinton is the antichrist. However, none of those topics seemed very applicable in this culture, so Biblical worldview wound up being a fun topic for me as well. Mostly taught on how different people's understanding of reality differs, and how Christ introduced a completely new reality in His Kingdom, and how that Kingdom flips the systems of the world upside down, culminating in the idea that the most Biblical worldview is to have the very mind of Christ.

There’s no greater bummer than letting loose in a squatty only to find that the water source has run dry for the day!

Nepali learning has slowed a bit these weeks. I think it is my ambition that is the problem. Haven’t been studying as much for a while, but my focus has been elsewhere, especially with the DTS teaching. Still, people here are incredibly encouraging, always giving good feedback on my progress. I also have been really encouraged these last few weeks as church is less boring. I was able to understand just about the whole sermon last week! I think my hearing is much better than my speaking at this point, but they say that is normal.

Two weeks ago I met the wife of the pastor of the first indigenous Nepali church. She was 103 years old and could still walk. It was cool. What can I say…? She was 103, and what a story to go with all those years!

Last night the DTS students left for their outreach. I am excited for them… they are leaving with only about half of their finances in place, and praying for hospitality in the Nepali villages they are planning to work in. They have a lot of faith and prayer. (Seems too dang biblical to actually happen these days!) If you want to help support these young, Nepali missionaries, lemme know. The whole deficit of their 21 person, 2 month outreach amounts to about $400 USD. Along those same lines, I have just about got a support raising system nailed down. When it is actually in place I will post about how it will work! Get excited!

Three days ago I was the first girl ever to climb the new cell phone tower on the top of the Sarancoat hike. Cool view.

I met up with Scotty Brown about two weeks ago now when he came through Pokhara. Actually finding the guy wasn’t easy, which seems ridiculous the way he stands out in a crowd. Haha. At one point he told me to meet him outside of the grocery store. (There are about 10 grocery stores in lakeside, Pokhara). Still, it was cool to finally catch him, and hear about his passion for Nepal, which seems only to grow with the years. Not to mention that a little bit of familiarity in a foreign land is always a blessing. It’s been a while since I’ve talked about home with anyone who knows where that is.

Prayer points
*With the DTS students gone, there is a lot less activity at the base. I feel the need to shift my focus less from serving around the base, and more towards the edges of this community.
*Milan’s young faith, and his family’s response to it.
*Endurance in Nepali study.
*Ability to hear the voice of God.
* My first Nepal visa renewal trip is coming up the 15th of November. Pray for safety as I travel to the border, and for the visa to go through.

A pic or two

2008-10-13T22:07:00.004-05:00

Some of you have been asking for pics.... so, here you go!

At the school with some of the kids.

Bimala, a roomate, and I, (sporting a punjabi!)

The DTS school!

I'll update later. peace friends.

Dasain

2008-10-06T00:43:00.002-05:00

Well friends, the monsoon has ended on this side of the world. That means a few things. One, the mountains and stars are crystal clear. (If you are not jealous, I think a little bit of jealousy would be healthy for you). Two, dogs and cats everywhere are contributing to their lineage. And three, the Hindu Dasain festival is in full swing. Dasain is the biggest festival of the year. It is fifteen days long, and each day has specific rituals and traditions connected to it. I’ve seen huge, rickety looking swings erected all over, toddlers gambeling, and women walking around with enough red goo on their foreheads to make an American driver come to a full and complete stop before proceeding. I thought I had seen it all, but this morning it seems like everyone and his grandmother decided to slaughter a buffalo. Have you ever seen such a large animal beheaded with a swing of a sword? Holy COW! (Almost literally).

Of course we did not participate in the festival as a base, (though I have been told that we slaughter a buffalo for Christmas instead… how is that for contextualization!) However, when you live in a town where everyone slaughters something on the same day, and no one has a freezer, there is no shortage of meat to eat. I spent the afternoon with my pastor’s family going from house to house and eating different versions of buff meat. One lady served something that reminded me of jello jigglers… it was a bowl full of bite sized cubes of pure buffalo fat! God bless me. (The thing is, meat is such a special treat here, and no one can afford it other times of the year, so of course everyone wants to entertain guests when they can feed them meat. Just about every family in the church invited us to their house for dinner. And this was only out of gifts of meat from neighbors!). Another odd thing is everywhere I go, people throw babies at me. I am not sure why… maybe babies have better karma if a foreigner holds them. I dunno, but today I was handed the smallest child I have ever seen. The babe must’ve weighed four pounds, if that, and her face was still slightly yellowed with jaundice. Nonetheless, the fragility newness of a life like that was quite a treasure to behold.

I suppose it is all the blood, birds, bees and babies that has me thinking about life. Have you ever noticed that almost universally religion requires blood sacrifice? This day of buffalo blood spilling is the greatest festival day of the Hindu year, because of just that… the massive amounts of blood spilt. Humans seem to inherently know that the most valuable thing we can offer the God we love, or the gods are anxious to appease, is life itself. Blood. Yes, our bloodguilt has been paid by Jesus Christ. We need not kill the pets. But, although the calling of highest worship has been fulfilled, it was never abolished! God still requires life itself, spilled out and laid down in irreversible surrender. Our call, not far from that of the buffalo, is death. But, ours is also ressurection!

House church

2008-09-26T02:04:00.005-05:00

My apologies for not updating recently. I am still deeply blessed with health and joy. I think it gets harder to update these things when you get behind, cause by now there is way to much to throw down in one post. I think I’ll just try to describe a little chunk of life.

House church: this is one of my favorite parts of the week. The church here is small, and on Saturday we congregate in a little church building, but at least twice during the week there are informal meetings in peoples houses for Bible studying and prayer. I take off after class, usually down the mountainside towards the riverside community. Usually I walk past a few herds of buffalo, groups of old men drinking tea, women harvesting their rice patties, with huge baskets on their back. Sometimes the kids in the church wait till I walk past their house and join me the rest of the way.

The houses at riverside are little hovels made of sticks, woven straw mats, and corrugated steel roofs. The nice ones have an electric light bulb. Usually about 20 people show up, though most of them are kids. We all scrunch into the house, sitting lotus style with our knees rubbing together. There are usually a few babies crawling around in the middle too. We sing Nepali worship songs, kids sing so loud it echoes across the river. The only musical accompaniment is a small two-sided cylindrical drum, played by one of the older men.

We have been studying through Luke since I got here. We take it a section at a time, read the whole thing, and then everyone teaches… really neat. Each elder is assigned a few verses, and on the spot they teach on those verses. Someone else reviews the whole passage, and then the host of the fellowship gives the final application. The church is mostly made up of recent converts, which is sweet, because these passages are all new and fresh. Sometimes the teaching and application is a bit interesting.. hehe. The other week I was asked to explain what circumcision was! What to do! =)

We pray every time we meet… people are not shy to ask for prayer here. We go around the circle for prayer requests a few times over, and then let loose. Prayer is so important here… I believe because so many here really know its power. The main cause of conversion here in this church is miraculous healing, and freeing from evil spirits. There is little disparity between the physical world and spiritual world here. I think it is a more accurate view than the typical western one. Another reason I think prayer is so important here is simply the desperation of the church. Several of the women always ask for their husbands salvation, and explain how their hubbies are marrying other women, and not coming home anymore. (they often work far away). I am learning a lot about faith from this young church.

After prayer the host gives the meal… usually some sweet crackers. We hang out till it starts getting dark for walking, then head home. The kids and I sometimes ride on the back of the gravel trucks that drive regularly up the mountainside… not the cleanliest or fastest way to go, but very fun. We sing Nepali songs at the top of our lungs as we ride. I usually get a few hugs and kisses goodbye before I jump off the truck as it passes the YWAM base. Life is good.

Trail talk

2008-09-08T21:56:00.003-05:00

The days are beginning to feel more normal now. I really like it here. I think last time I wrote I was a bit overwhelmed with everything. I am still doing swell health and emotion wise. I sleep a lot more here than I did at home, and definitely more than I did at Moody… not sure why. I have been building some good friendships with people on the base, despite the language difficulties. I have one close friend who is Indian, thus speaks really good English. She is always looking out for me and translating things when she can. I think she is an angel. She told me she knows what it is like to be the only foreigner here. Aside from her, people don’t really care that my Nepali is terrible… they just talk slow and laugh with me at my replies. I said something at dinner the other night that had the whole place laughing… I still don’t really know what I said; it must’ve been pretty bad. My friends at the base say if I keep eating dal bhat (rice and lentils) my skin will get darker, and if I keep drinking black tea my hair will turn black and my Nepali will improve. …no harm in tryin eh? They also say I eat rice well, and one brother said I am a little fat. Both meant as compliments! Haha! I guess foreigners aren’t usually able to pack rice like Nepalis do. Hoo-ha!

Rewind the tape a bit: I think it was the second night of the hike… four travelers, dead tired, sitting round a table overlooking a perfect post-card, waiting for the a little Nepali woman with a couple of gas burners in a back room to bring us all our long awaited dinner. What is the true meaning of justice? We spent a lot of time talking about this idea… it looked different for each of us. I was amazed really at the diversity of our passion for the same thing!

Josiah was seeking justice from a political standpoint. He saw injustices from the large scale of governments and economies that were reinforcing evil cycles on the small scale. Poverty, for him, was a national, and international problem that could be worked out through systems and policies. His goals were impressive cause he was wired to see the big picture. Josiah for president? Maybe.

Adam has eyes for justice on a slightly smaller scale, though also politically minded, for him bringing justice means entering into an economy and looking at individual industries. He wants to see businesses that do not operate on slavery. He wants to create fair opportunities for the poor and oppressed, and use local government to take down oppressors. He will probably wind up throwing his life into advocacy for people for whom thus far only God has had ears.

Andrew is well down his own path in the spreading of God’s Kingdom. He confronts injustice in an up-close and personal fist-fight. For him, fighting hunger means feeding a brother on the street. Fighting prostitution means walking onto brothels and saving individual girls from the slavery they are forced into. Justice means caring for and loving, with Jesus’ love, old, dejected women who have been devalued by their culture and abandoned by their families.

In their desire for justice I am united with my brothers, but I am not directly working for social justice. I feel the same knot in my stomach when I see instances of sexist humiliation, dehumanization, poverty, oppression, and evil, which is why I am thrilled to see my brothers actively fighting these evils. But, I feel that same tension when I see friends whose marriages are falling apart, or peers who are trapped by substance addiction, or when I see myself devoting more and more of my life to frivolity. Again, the same pain haunts me as I walk through a temple and watch whole cultures of people handing down a tradition of devotion and worship of gods who will never love them back, nor free them from the slavery of sin. I think all of humanity feels this pain in some form or another, and with it, this longing for righteousness. So should we get involved in politics? Heck yes. Should we work to correct problems on a legal and local level… damn straight. Should we give ourselves over as servants for each of God’s image bearers as He brings them into our lives. I pray and hope so.

For me, and particularly for the time being, my calling and path is the church; specifically the little church in Pokhara, Nepal. My focus is discipleship. My hope is the spread of the Gospel, both the Story and the Reality. From this perspective, fighting prostitution means helping young girls to understand their value in the sight of God, or praying and watching the Spirit turn the hearts of men from lusts to the glory of God. I believe that justice in the truest sense can only happen when people are brought into union with their Creator. I suppose that makes me an evangelical huh… is that a dirty word these days? I do believe that the Spirit of God brings freedom, and justice and righteousness. I believe that the building of the Body means the building of an army of men and women who will both abstain from participation in the perpetuation of injustices, and live to make right what is wrong, driven by their love for God and His filling love for them. I think my fellow trekkers agree. We are all hiking in the same direction, with the same desire to see something beautiful at the top.

Peace and Fire trekkers.

Day 3 YWAM + Pokhara

2008-08-31T05:25:00.004-05:00

Well friends, I have reached another world. It has been a while since I have had internet access, so I am sorry if you were worried. All is well. We made it to Pokhara on the night of the 26^th. Before that we met up with Andrew U, and his friend and went on an incredible hike through the Himalayas. I saw more majestic beauty than I could possibly describe on that hike. The most incredible part was reaching the top of what is called Poon Hill. (haha “hill” …hills are very big here.) From Poon Hill you can supposedly see the whole Annapurna range. We hiked to the top at about 5 in the morning and waited for sunrise, praying all the while that the clouds and thick fog would clear for us. Sunrise came, and all was grey, but for just a second we saw a hint of an outline of the Fishtail, (a mountain). It was so big and close it seemed to fall out of the sky. The glimpse was enough to keep our eyes focused hard on the hazy fog between us and the Annapurna, and sure enough, out of that fog came a short window of clearer sky. The window passed from left to right across the whole mountain range, revealing its beauty frame by frame. The incredible but modest mountain wouldn’t reveal all her glory unless we waited, marveling at each sun kissed peak as each was revealed. The range appeared to be floating in the sky as there was always clouds filling in the valley below. Now I am still sore from the hike! Most people recommend doing the hike over a period of five days… we did it in three. Oofta, but definitely worth it.

Adam was faithful to accompany me all the way to the YWAM base itself, which turned out to be quite a ways outside of the downtown area of Pokhara. Now he is on his way back to Calcutta. It was weird to say goodbye to him, as he was my last western contact. Now I am starting to get adjusted to life Nepali-style. As I suspected, I am the only non-Nepali, besides one Indian-born woman. I am realizing more and more each day how important it is that I learn Nepali, and quite quickly, because very few people here speak English. I have 3 roomates. All of them have wonderful smiles, but none of them know a word of English. Haha! What am I doing here! I have found myself trying desperately to learn 40 some Nepali names in a few days, along with plenty of phrases, routines, customs… I praise and thank Jesus that I am not yet sick. There is no bottled water here! I have to thank Jesus either for the miracle of my health, or for a ridiculously good immune system. Ha, and I ate another fish head tonight! (fish was a special treat… every other meal has been rice, lentils, and curried potatoes; breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

I started getting to know the students this week. Most of them come from a Tibetan refugee camp near the river. Their parents are rock-quarriers, so their job is to pick large stones out of the river and break them into smaller stones to use for cement. It is hard work, and most of the families are very poor. The school I work for is free for the community. I teach 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grade English, which is sweet. I love Jr. highers… always have, always will. They are also helping me with my Nepali. They give me vocab homework every night, and help me with my writing. I think it is a good trade. Many of the kids are believers, though some are not. We spend time praying at the beginning and end of every class, though I have no idea what the kids are praying about. With the church we pray “Korean style” where everyone prays aloud at the same time, then someone wraps it up. It is comforting to me to pray this way, partly cause it reminds me of praying with friends at Moody, and partially because I don’t have to worry about language at all.

There is plenty more I could tell y’all, but internet is slow, and life is fast. One fun piece of news is that I do have a mailing address! Mail is not very dependable, and it takes a long time, but in case you want to give it a shot, my address is:

Wendy Cornelius

PO Box 177

Pokhara

Nepal

Prayer points:

For continued health, and a good attitude… and praises for health thus far.
For language learning, and adjusting to everything new and different.
For close friendships and community with my Nepali sisters here.
For the students, that they learn much and learn to love Jesus.
For discernment in which ministries to involve myself… there are many suggestions and options floating around at this point.

Fire Air

2008-08-20T19:51:00.004-05:00

I am quite happy to say that I am writing this from a little internet cafe in Kathmandu! Our travels were almost flawless, up until we crossed the border of Nepal. As soon as we had purchased our visas, we were informed that the 18 hr bus we were planning to take to Kathmandu was canceled, and would not be running again for at least 2 weeks. (we were bummed). We prayed a bit, and were soon informed that we had three options... 1) go back through India, hopefully making all the train/bus connections to get to the next legal border crossing. We estimated that would take more time than we had. 2) wait out the bus... also too much time. 3) take a hopper flight. The third option looking the brightest, we were soon swarmed with travel agents. They pretty much took care of us from there, booking a hotel and a flight for the next afternoon. That night we explored the small, border town of Kharkarbita, and eventually met some locals who invited us to their house for tea. It was a wonderful experience goofing around with them on their porch, answering/asking questions, learning much from eachother, and laughing late into the evening. We had actually met a Brahman, polygamous family... five sons, two mothers and a nice looking cow. We also met up with three of the sons the next day and they took us on a tour of their town, and of the pride of it; the tea garden. We also learned from them that the reason the bus was not running was that there was great flooding on a river about 100 km away. It is a devastating flood, still expanding, with 40-50,000 already displaced. Pray for Nepal.

Upon arrival at the airport, we learned that our airline, Agni Air, actually meant "fire air." We werent entirely nervous until we saw the booth, which was a small desk with "AGNI AIR" written in dry erase marker on a piece of white plastic. Haha, I think that is the only time I will ever experience a Nepali airline. The plane, which was three hours late, looked like a toy. I was geeked! I have always wanted to fly in a tiny plane, and regardless of the name, we did not go down in flame, but had a beautiful flight over the mountains and through a storm. We are here, and meeting up with Andrew soon, thanks to your prayers.

Momma T and Kolkata

2008-08-17T07:43:00.003-05:00

Before anything I have to say again that the Lord is really watching us, and putting together all the details of our trip so far. Praise Him for answering our prayers! Things have gone unreasonably smoothly for Adam and I. There is still much to come, but God is certainly making it easy for us to have great confidence in His provision.

Day 2 in Calcutta.
We woke up at about 4:30 and joined the M.C. brothers in morning prayer. It started with reading from the Book of Prayer and singing songs all in beautiful unison, and ended with a half hour of silence. Immediately after that we went to the church down a few streets to join the mass there. I was separated from the group cause the girls sat on the other side. It was neat, though I didn’t know a thing that was going on until the Eucharist, and I didn’t think it would be appropriate to participate in that. Immediately after that we all went back to the brothers house and celebrated the 15th of August, India’s Independence Day. The ceremony consisted of a brother calling out our stance military-style, and then relaying a brief history of the independence of India and the founding fathers. He really knew his stuff. We raised the flag and ate candy, and shouted cheers for each of the founding fathers, including the famous Mohandas Gandhi.
The afternoon afforded another unbelievable opportunity. Adam and I, along with a few of the brothers, hopped a public bus and took off for Caligat, the “mother house.” I have always been a huge fan of Mother Teresa, and it was in reading a biography of her life that I initially felt the call to missions as a youngster (maybe 11yrs old). Caligat was her house. It was the unfolding of her dream and her call, and I cannot explain how blessed I feel to have been given the opportunity to visit such a place. We were greeted by the new mother general as we walked in with the brothers. The sisters were all happy to see the brothers, and their deep friendship was evident. That was honestly the first thing that impressed me. It is neat to see such mutual, non-sexual, respect and love going across genders here in India. After we were greeted, we turned around and prayed a prayer together, and before I could turn back around, everyone was gone… off doing the work they knew to do. Adam and I stood around awkwardly for a while, taking things in a bit. The first room was filled with cots holding incredibly thin gentlemen, and a flurry of volunteers from all different homes and tongues. Shortly after a one-legged man in a loincloth scooted by us on the floor, we were asked to go upstairs, where we played with some kids for a while. Shortly after that we were again brought downstairs and were signed in by the lady who keeps the books. Adam was told to help in the men’s ward, and I was taken to the women’s ward. The women looked pretty similar to the men really, all completely fleshless with shaven heads. If it wasn’t for their even smaller size, it would be hard to tell the difference at all. I was told to just go help the women.
The reality of my own uselessness is something I face a lot, and this was another instance of that, but at the same time, I didn’t feel unwanted. My “job” was essentially to go from bed to bed and take a shot in the dark to try to figure out what the women wanted/needed and didn’t necessarily want I don’t know what much I can say about what I did in Caligat, as it really amounts to nothing, but I found myself praying a lot too. I have never seen suffering compared to what I saw at Caligat; I don’t want to discribe it; I know this city is filled with much more of the same. At the same time, I was terribly blessed to meet the sisters there, and to go to mass with them. They were beautiful, and filled with the Spirit of God. Their lives were built completely on the truth that Jesus thirsts to be loved by and to give love to the suffering poor of Calcutta. Suffering, for the sisters, (and they undergo their share too) is a union with the sufferings of Christ on the cross; a sharing in His sufferings. They desire that the poor can also share their sufferings with Christ. I felt quite unworthy to sing the same praises as the sisters, not that I idolized them, but that their life is more what mine ought to look like, and that fact presents itself with greater strength in the presence of God.

done flying for now

2008-08-14T03:49:00.002-05:00

This will be a quick update... Adam and I made it to Kolkata this morning after a few long days of travel. Thank you so much for your prayers for the trip out here. We are currently staying in the dorms of the Missionaries of Charity... Mother Teresa's order. The Brothers here are incredibly kind and hospitable. The weather is hot and sticky! People we have talked to thus far are very interested in spirituality; it is a city of spiritual seekers. I cant say too much more due to time, but keep us in your prayers as we continue on towards the border of Nepal, Lord willing, on Saturday. Also pray for the Spirit to guide us in how to interact with the Brothers in respectful and culturally appropriate ways... we are pretty clueless! Much love, -Wendy

ps. I ate a fish head today...eyeballs, skull and all!

Stuck-up

2008-07-30T16:08:00.002-05:00

So my quick stop at the travel clinic wound up being 3 shots, 2 prescriptions, and an over-the-counter to boot. I am invincible.

On a sweeter note, my nurse was incredible at giving shots, and pretty awesome in general. She asked if she could support my trip and pray for me! Praise the Lord!

Canadian Sasquatch

2008-07-29T23:11:00.003-05:00

Preparations are coming right along… Tomorrow my Typhoid shot gets renewed, and I bring home the Cipro! (A travelers best friend… antibiotics that kill everything that could do damage in the digestive track). I spent the last weekend up in Canada with dad and two other old guys picking blueberries. Canada is beautiful… though a bit buggy this time of year. I saw a mink chasing a cottontail rabbit down a long trail, dozens of whitetail deer, some eagles, some pelicans… One of the guys we were picking with was a true blue believer in Sasquatch, a.k.a. Big Foot. He had lots of stories of sightings of people he knew, and he told a good tail about the time one ran by his tent in the Boundary Waters. Goodness this guy had the stories though!… He seemed pretty legitimate as he was telling me his Vietnam stories, and his testimony. Anyhow I think I found another blessing in picking berries with the ol’ storyteller! If the Canadian bush was not enough to keep me entertained, this man certainly was… (He could also pack a whole pack of hot-dogs by himself! A 60-something year old man! Buns and all!) If there were ever a man who could successfully found a Sasquatch Mission Fellowship, it would be him!

Prayer requests:

1) For diligence in Nepali study, and the Lord’s help in language learning. (I am about far enough that I could say, write, and read “he’s quite fat” and other useful, but simple phrases. I don’t know how well I could listen to the same phrases though!)

2) For wisdom in what to pack and what to leave home

3) For support raising details like the 501c3 organization.

4) For wisdom in how to prepare for the work ahead.

5) For life walking in step with the Spirit now.

Thanks y’all!

"Preparation"

2008-07-16T16:44:00.006-05:00

I sat up front this Sunday where the youth group collects itself. A lot of life occupies those first few pews. Eager ears pay real attention, trusting with ease that the secrets of life revealed in Scripture are true. Cynicism and jaded thinking have not yet stained their ambitions and dreams. Growth is a present reality for them, and not a thing to be feared. They are learning new things about God. They want to do something real with thier lives, something meaningful, and they really believe they can! What does it mean to grow up?

It is easier to pay attention up front. David spoke from Matthew 13 about the hidden treasure and the pearl of great value. (Link to the right if you want to listen). What a passage!

"The Kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it." (Matthew 13:44-46)

I simply cannot make sense of it. I do not understand why so many of my generation sit around playing video games and chasing boys, chasing approval, chasing comfort, stability, pleasures... Why are we so disillusioned with life, evil, failure... ? Even without Scripture telling us it is so, we know in our gut that there is something to be sought after in this life that is real. ...we feel it in the emptiness of all else! Then, just in case we have numbed ourselves enough with our soma and our lesser-loves, there is the blatant message of Scripture that the Kingdom of God is real, costs everything, and is the only thing worth the pursuit! True beauty, delight, and good are found within the Kingdom!

So, I am going to Nepal. Good for me. Woot. I am truely blessed that Nepal is the location to which God is bringing me, but what does it really mean? To echo a friend, "My travels have mainly only served to make me more aware of our internal journeys, which are very important. I say this because I think I've seen enough places now to say that all places in this world are only that. One's true traveling happens in the mind and the heart." The seeking/building of the Kingdom isn't about location or vocation, but I do believe there is something to be said about motivation! If I cannot work joyfully here, serving and loving my family, looking for ways to disciple the youngins around me, finding intimacy with Jesus in Minnetonka, MN; or Chicago, IL... If I do not surrender to live solely for the King here, I should never expect things to be different in Pokhara, Nepal. Purpose isn't found in tasks or places, but in the certainty that these tasks and places are the pleasure of our great Lover. So pray for me. This is a time of "preparation" but in reality there is no such thing. Pray for energy and focus here, not only for preparing for Nepal, but for daily surrender now. I am weak, but my desire is deep. I am a child, but I believe I am still growing. Praise God!

News from Abe

2008-07-13T14:49:00.011-05:00

More details! Less worry for my mother! It sounds as though I will be busy enough in Pokhara.I knew there were lots of needs at the YWAM base, but I had no idea what my everyday tasks would look like. Abraham has given me a better idea of what they want me doing, and it is a bit intimidating! Perhaps this will give you all a better idea of how to pray for me. Also pray for wisdom and/or faith, as I am not sure how much of this I am qualified to/should do.

Here is the last email I received from Pokhara:

"Dear Wendy,

So glad to hear from you that you are coming to Nepal. Thanks to the Lord for His plan to bring you here. Wendy, we are talking about possibility you staying here in YWAM base with YWAM staff with single girls, some of them understand and speak english very well.

1) You will be working with Children Sponshorship Ministry,at YWAM base, where you will be giving after school English class for the children 5 days a week from monday through friday at the evening from 4.30-6.30. There is 4 more teachers who teaches children at this program.

2) You will teach from Bible to Our Jyoti church women, which takes place every saturday at church which is close to YWAM base.

3) You will be teaching or speaking at the church, church youth and children sunday school in saturday.

4) We also have house fellowship every sunday and wednesday, you may participate in it.

5) You will also serve pre-school children at YWAM base at the day time. School hour is from 10.00 to 2.0, probably once or twice a week.

6) You will also visit street children togather with street ministry ywam staff.

7) Probaly teach english for YWAM staff, if that will be possible.

8) You will also have a time to go and visit churches around pokhara and speak from Bible and also could be a time of evangelism around here.

You may open this websites to see some glimse of ministries. This website is still under construction. http://www.clarkfieldmissions.com/AO/

CSM is ministry which serves children from poor comunities to educate them providing educational material and also giving extra classes after school since their parents are not able to guide them for education. At the same time we build relationship with children, parents, their relatives and share about Jesus. Many families have come to know Jesus in the past and Jyoti church is started. Children's educational material needs are met and needed education help is met so they have improved grade in class. Children coming to the Lord and changing their lives in Jesus has been effective tools in the comunity to testify work of Jesus in children lives. You may use rest of the time for preparation for ministries and build relationship. We will provide you shedule for all of this. Bring your computer, so you can hook up your computer at the ywam base for emailing. Do not forget to bring Digital camera which helps you to communicate with your friends and supporter with pictures more effetively.

Just bring your simple cloths paint, T-shorts etc as you wish. You don't need to bring bedding. Bring small suitcase. Don't bring clothes like mini-scorts or others which exposes body. You have to buy Kurtha Suruwal (panjabi) here which is better to put on when you minister. COULD you tell us your height? Om Maya has Kurtha suruwarl (panjabi) she can give to you( OM maya is 5 Feet 3 Inch tall). If you are about same height her Panjabi does fit for you. That sounds great that you are learning Nepali. Some YWAM Staff speak and understand english very well and some a bit. But there are some new staffs they don't.

Always great to hear from you.

In Christ,

Abraham and Om Maya"

Prayer Letter!

2008-07-12T16:09:00.007-05:00

Brothers and Sisters,

I bet you can already tell that this is a support letter. I won't deny it. I am headed back to Nepal for the next school year. I’ve already bought the ticket, got the visa, started my Nepali study, and leave on August 12^th. I need about five thousand dollars and friends of God who will pray for me. (Quick blerp on Nepal: located between India and China, Nepal is about the size and shape of Tennessee. The population is 26 million. 7 million of them work in other countries (ipso facto the economy is terrible). Nepal is home to 8 of the world's 10 highest mountain peaks, including Mount Everest). Now that that is out of the way, if you are still interested I’d love to tell you where I am on this faith journey.

Most people can identify with a feeling of uncertainty about life and the future. At the ripe young age of 20 it is a feeling with which I have become well acquainted. I am completely certain of very few things these days. Those of you who know me well know I have a natural tendency to question most everything. I question myself, authority, the status quo, anything supposedly objective, my own faith… Through all of my questioning I have come to realize that I cannot turn from my belief in God no matter how much I don’t understand. I have tasted the goodness of Jesus, thus anything else I could choose to pursue with my life is completely tasteless apart from Him. I bet you know the feeling! I would a million times rather pursue Someone who is an intimate Mystery to me, than pursue anything else guaranteed to be empty. Aside from that, I think I am gonna have to learn to live with a lot of confusion and uncertainty. This was beginning to feel like a daunting task, but a good friend stopped me from my worrying, (this is how you know a good friend) and asked me, “Wendy, do you really believe that God speaks?” My initial reaction was, “Of course God speaks. Who would say they didn’t believe that? His sheep hear his voice, right?” Her reply was “Well then, believe with your life and quit worrying about it!” That was the day I knew I could and should seek Gods voice.

Prayer is a bit of a mystery to me, and I am still learning how to pray. It is no longer a mantra of good suggestions to God for family and friends, and petitions of need for myself, nor is it some therapy of soothing myself with my own voice. Prayer is becoming an actual attempt and way to know God, His voice, His will, and His gospel intimately, like one would get to know the thoughts, plans, desires, and personality of a close friend. I remember experimenting with this back in high school on missions trips and such, but it is more and more the whole purpose of my life as far as I can understand right now. I've not arrived. I confess I spend much time in prayer whining at God to show me Himself, which is still that petition of need, but the promise is that those who seek Him will find Him. So, I resolve to keep up the begging, and hold tight to the things He does show me!

In setting out to know the voice of God, I half hoped I would hop into the prayer closet and come out with a specific call for my whole life. It was a special treat when I learned that most of what God wanted to speak to me about was the sin in my life, and His Holiness. Ha, funny, it is the same thing the Bible tends to talk about too. A second thing I have learned in the prayer closet in the last few years is that I don’t think God finds me mature enough yet to show me His will too far in advance. I think He knows that if He gave me more than one step at a time, one day at a time, one season at a time, I could be tempted to quit seeking Him, and instead seek my own wisdom to try to accomplish something for Him, instead of through Him and with Him. Nope, I don’t know my life’s call other than following Jesus, but I know that He is leading me now to Nepal for this next season. (If you wanna know how, gimme a call- let's chat!)

I got in contact with the leader of the YWAM base in Pokhara. I met the Tamang family last fall in Chicago through a friend and a ministry in Little India. It was a neat connection, because they only come to the states once in a while to have children. They are a Nepali family of missionaries to their own country, and they invited me to come and work with the Nepali-run YWAM base and the church there. I will be honest and say I am not entirely sure yet what I will be doing there. Abraham sent me a whole list of ministry ideas and needs of everything from teaching Bible to women in the church, to planting sweet potatoes! Here is another area I get to seek the will of God in. I will know more specifics soon, and I will keep the blog updated. Aside from the actual tasks of ministry, I do know I am called to prayer. I am unqualified for many things, especially with language limitations (I started studying Nepali this summer… it is tough!), but God seems to draw glory from useless people who pray. I am also making it my goal to be a student of culture and faith, and learn as much as I can from the Nepalese and from the Church.

There are a lot of things about leaving right now that don’t make sense. It would be easier to stay and do four straight years of college, and it seems dumb to intentionally live so far away from my family, especially considering how soon everyone will be grown up and moved out. I am also not covered under my parents insurance as soon as I drop my student status, so that is a prayer request in itself. I may struggle with loneliness once I am there, as there will not be other westerners to fall back on... The truth of the matter is that if I ask God to lead me daily, and reveal His will to me, I need to be willing to obey when He does! I guess that is the risk of prayer! On the other hand, I wouldn’t want it any other way. Being drawn into the building of God’s Kingdom is no sacrifice! It is a privilege beyond measure. God is cutting out the fear in me, and teaching me how to trust. Even last night I found myself reading in Luke 9, where Jesus calls some would-be disciples to follow Him. There is nothing light about hearing Jesus ask us to follow. No excuse for delay or disobedience is sufficient once we have heard the call, and there is no room to look back and reconsider obedience. The plough is already dragging; the field must be tilled! No looking back, and no time for fear. My only expectation is to see Spirit at work. Pray for me, saints - co-workers in the Kingdom, pray hard!

So this is my story right now. This is my support letter. Much of this is your story too! I also plan to post a blog for updates and prayer requests, and send out a few update letters throughout the year if you want to keep up and pray for me. I know some of you pray for me already anyway. I hope I have already told you how thankful I am for your prayers and friendship. These are the deepest blessings I have known. If you have any questions, or advice, or encouragement, or what have you for me, I would love to hang out and/or talk... I suspect this letter is getting on the long side already!

Peace and Fire,

Wendy Cornelius

Minnetonka

2008-07-12T14:11:00.000-05:00

Might as well start writing on this thing... it is good practice before I tell anyone it exists.

I leave in a month. Yep. One month. Details are still flying around with nowhere to land, but what is up must come down, no? Right now I am trying to work out possible insurance and finances while I am there. Adam (travel buddy) called me this morning to warn me of all the uncertainty that meets us once we set foot in Calcutta. (Yeah, I get to see Calcutta!!!) The image of ministry in Pokhara is still quite fuzzy. All I know for sure is that there are needs at the YWAM base, and plenty to keep me busy. Abraham, (the leader of the base and my contact in Pokhara) has told me he would be working out my "workings, foodings and lodgings" so I am not too worried about it. =)

Why am I trying to tell you about details I don't know yet? I don't know. Life right now is not as interesting I suppose. There have been beautiful thunderstorms lately! I am working a lot. I got a day job, 8-4pm at a machine shop... ha! (That sounds hard-core, but I am just working in the office). After that I couldn't resist going back into the pizza delivery business, so that takes up nights and weekends, but there are breaks here and there for family, Nepali study, and other forms of preparation.

I've been reading "Mother Teresa - Come Be My Light" which is essentially a collection of private writings of Mother Teresa. I feel kind of bad about reading it, since it was obviously atainst the Mother's will that her letters be published, but at the same time she has so much to teach young punks like me. Already I am challenged by the radical degree to which she gave herself to the service of Jesus. She spoke of herself and many of her nuns as Victims of Christ’s love. It was because of His love that she had no choice but to surrender everything to Him. She had no choice but to take upon her self the yolk of Christ; a yolk of suffering, in order to love Him more. Her life was like that of a lovesick youth, whose fire never dimmed. The name Mother Teresa is a permanent witness to the gospel of love. I recall a conversation with a friend who was put off at the thought of Christianity because of all the “evil Christians.” I challenged her, “What about Mother Teresa?” Just the name was enough to change her mind to know that true love for Jesus is indeed a very good thing. The point is that the woman lived as a witness and servant of Jesus, and her life left a mark on the world. I think it was D.L. Moody himself who said: “The world has yet to see what God can do with one life fully consecrated to Him” Teresa of Calcutta answered that challenge, though she does not take credit for her own surrender. She was simply a victim of Love.

blog #1

2008-07-11T12:32:00.000-05:00

People say they want updates for the time I will be in Nepal. I know how it can get with dozens of updates coming from different people only somewhat known or remembered. So, for the sake of those people who may or may not have the desire or time to read big emails, I will keep a blog.

I turned off comments, but if you need to holler at me for something I write here, I like email. =) oozer28@yahoo.com

I will write a real update soon enough.

Peace and Fire