M.I.A. for a couple of weeks

Well, I'm blogging to you now at the risk of getting banned from the internet cafe since I had to snoop around and change some settings on this computer. For some reason blogger wouldn't let me sign in. It is obviously fixed now.

Butwal was a great trip. It was even greater when I got the medicine and my sickness began to dissipate, but even until that point it was good. We arrived at the church we were staying at and hit the sack early because we had been on a cramped Nepali bus for 8 or 9 hours. When we went to Pokhara we took a tourist bus. It was such a nice, comfortable ride. On the way to Butwal we had no such luxury. We found ourselves on a Nepali bus with minimal leg room. These buses typically stop to pick anyone up with an utter disregard as to how much room is on the bus. I found a few times some Nepali men almost sitting on my lap. It was a good experience.

The first full day we realized this place was no walk in the park. The heat was incredible and the amount of mosquitos far outweighed the heat. Malaria is not out of the question for anyone of us we are speculating. We began the first day walking around handing out tracts and speaking with Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, and even some Christians out in the open with no problem from anyone, and as my dad mentioned on his blog I ended up speaking at a drug rehab facility and 8 men embraced Christ. We carried on this open air evangelism for a few days, including speaking to crowds of people on the street and visiting villages that white men have never been to. It was incredible. After the first few days we led a seminar for the church we were staying and I ended up speaking for over an hour about sin and repentance, something I know quite a bit about, making it very easy. And Saturday as typical for Nepali churches we attended service, played in the children's ministry, and then had a free day. Sunday was a free day but instead of sitting at the church all day pulling the teeth out of our heads, a few of us chartered a van and went and visited Lumbini, a town on the border of India that is also the birthplace of Buddha. Nothing really spectacular there: a tree, some old ruins, and some temples. It was an experience, though, and I am glad I can say I have been there. The bus back to Kathmandu was worse than the first as 2 different ladies were a bit sick and vomiting in the middle of the isle right next to me off and on for the whole bus ride. I'm back nevertheless.

As my dad also mentioned on his blog, tomorrow begins the most difficult segment of my trip. We leave at 5am where we have an 11 hour bus ride ahead of us that our South African guide, Wilhelmine, described only with the word "horrific." We are not exactly looking forward to it. but we will be in a national park area known as Langtang trekking around. We originally thought that it was going to be mostly prayer, but we have learned that we will be trekking through the Himalayas to different villages and staying. We were told we would be able to take only a couple of showers for the whole 2 weeks, if we are even capable of those 2 in the first place. This will be the area where we encounter the leeches, lack of water, fatigue, and physically strenuous activity. I have never been more excited. We had to rush out yesterday and by warm clothes because we will be trekking through snow for many hours at a time in a very high altitude area. Pray for our bus ride, and our physical health. Also be prayerful of the people we will be coming in contact with. We will be in the stronghold of Buddhism where there is no distinguished race, only religion. There will be absolutely no communication with the outside world, so ths will have to serve as the last information from me until I get back. Thank you for your prayer and thanks for reading.

Also, to mom, dad, zac, and jadyn: I will try to call before we leave, but if I can't then I apologize. I love you all and will be blogging again in just a couple of weeks.