Thursday, December 26, 2013

Christmas Eve

You guys, Jesus came to earth! That's reason to celebrate!!


We invited Didi and her kids over for a Christmas party, but unfortunately she couldn't close up her shop. We were all really looking forward to celebrating together, so instead of canceling we brought the party to her!

It was a hit! The kids were ecstatic about each new cookie as they carefully decorated it, showed it off to everyone, and then quickly gobbled it up so that they could make another one (thank you, Noah and Lucas, for the sprinkles!).

It was actually better that we gathered in the tea shop because all of our friends ended up coming; the butcher from next door came in for a piece of Meaghan's special Christmas cake, the uncles from the street joined in on the festivities, and the little girls started feeding the leftover frosting to the littler kids with a spoon. Yes, frosting with a spoon, but I promise we didn't teach them that. 


 After everyone got hyped up on sugar, we settled down and watched a movie that explained what Christmas is about. Most of our friends know that Christmas is the day that we celebrate Jesus' birth, but they didn't know the background story. We have spent time with our friends during most of the Hindu holidays learning about their culture, so it was fun to finally share some of our traditions with them, and get to explain why we celebrate this important day.



The tea shop is small, and we didn't have a single Christmas decoration or white elephant gift, but that small room was overflowing with more Christmas love than I ever could have imagined. 



Sunday, December 22, 2013

border patrol.

(For security reasons, some details have been left out. Also, I have tried to make this post as objective as possible by simply stating my observations and leaving out my opinions and emotions- ya know, because it's the internet. ) 

Was it happening right in front of me?

Or had I read too many statistics and made myself too skeptical?

What was really going on?

We had traveled for more than thirteen hours in a crowded micro bus so that we could be there. The air was filled with dust and the streets were heavily littered. Everywhere I looked, men and women were traveling towards the border, and I couldn't help but wonder about the intentions of each passing man and about the future of each girl.

This was it. This is the point of no return for girls who are being trafficked.


We found a sign at the border crossing that warns girls about the dangers of false marriages. The most common tactic for traffickers is to "marry" a girl and then immediately whisk her away to India and sell her to a brothel. These girls are usually terrified to leave their homes, families, and everything that is familiar, but it is customary for a new Nepali bride to go live with her husband's family, so the girls go obediently, despite their fears.



Once we had seen the actual border crossing, we traveled up the road a few hundred meters to a border monitoring station. We have friends who work for this organization, so they hooked us up with a meeting with the monitoring station's staff. 

As we drank tea and asked a million questions, the staff would occasionally dismiss themselves and rush towards the road to stop pedestrians and rickshaws. 

The staff stopped a rickshaw, containing a young man and a young woman. The girl was ushered into the office with the female staff member where she was asked about her plans for going to India. She was then asked to call her mother to verify that the story was correct. Meanwhile, the male staff was asking the young man the same questions. If all of the stories matched and nothing seemed suspicious, they continued on their way. 

This happened twice, and each time the girls who were traveling were giggling and laughing because they had been suspected of being trafficked.  Their confidence was an indicator that they were safe.  

The staff let them go along on their journey to India. 



 It was good to observe these things and we felt like we were starting to understand the process of intercepting girls at the border.

Then, as we were beginning to ask some questions about preventing trafficking at its source, the female staff person got up and stopped two men who were walking towards the border with a younger girl.

They repeated the questioning process and as the girl answered the questions, her nervousness suggested that something was not right. The girl's answers and the man's answers did not match and when the girl's mother was phoned, she asked the staff to keep her daughter with them until she could come get her. The man said that he was taking the girl to her husband who lives in India, but the mother had no idea that her daughter was going to India!


When the staff warned the girl about the dangers of going into India with a man she does not trust and without proper paperwork, she was surprised at the danger that was involved and decided that she wanted to stay and wait for her family to come and bring her home.


Praise God that this girl's life was spared from immeasurable torment. 

But that is just one girl. 

Thousands of girls get sold every year. Please pray that we can help end this at its source- before it is too late. 


Wednesday, December 18, 2013

It's probably Tuesday somewhere...

It's Wednesday.

Here are your "Tuesday Photos." Better late than never?

I was out of town last week, so this is for the past two weeks. Enjoy!




A butterfly that we saw on the way to Girls Club. 


I saw Hunger Games with my roommates and some friends from church. 
Afterwards we got inspired and volunteered as tributes in God's Kingdom. 

 

Meaghan and I have been running in the mornings. Sadly however, now I have to run alone because Meaghan fell and had to get stitches (now we have matching scars). Sandesh took this photo of me after my run. His skills are improving... slowly improving.




Last week we took a tripy trip. We spent some time observing and asking questions at the Nepal-India border. This sign is warning girls about fake marriages. Unfortunately, fake marriages are really common and thousands of girls get tricked and then sold into brothels in India. 


Mero didiharu. :)


We heard that in India, it is completely normal to clothe your animals.
Rock on, BFF, rock on!


Sandesh turned six while we were away. 
When we got back, we baked him a cake and celebrated. It was so much fun!



I saw this at a school this weekend. 
I'm thankful it didn't say "Speak correct Nepali," or else I'd be in big trouble.  


Tuesday, December 3, 2013

It's Tuesday all day!


It's Tuesday and I'm overwhelmed with cynicism, so we'll see how this goes...


It's Tuesday, December 3.

Tonight I hung out with foreigners. I hardly ever hang out with foreigners. It was weird. I'm not sure how I feel about it. We wore sarees and hijacked someone's phone and set this picture as the background. We talked about how things are "back home" instead of how things are "in America." I hate talking about "home" because I don't know where that is. I think that I am going through an identity crisis.



  

Sometimes language learning is rough. Sometimes I cry in class because I am so disappointed in myself. Sometimes I smile because I try really hard on my homework and even though I miss a few, I know that I did my best. I just really want to be able to understand and be understood. You guys, I sound like an emo fifth-grader.


This is the only baby that I know who is not scared of me. For reals, she loves me. Ignore the look of fright on her facey face, she is just trying to say "Namaste."





















Himalayan Pink Salt.
Suggestions for how to fit this into a salt grinder?


Apparently people like to look at pictures of other people's coffee on the internet. Apparently little shapes formed out of milk and coffee is called "latte art." Apparently I had a coffee date with a friend last week and I got a latte art heart. 

Mothera. Too wide for the picture. 


Don't tell the goats, but I think that I may have a new love. 
Only time will tell. 




Christmas is just around the corner. 
I have been spotting little elves running around the neighborhood lately! 




Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Toooesday.

 Happy Tuesday!

Today was the big election and we survived! In honor of our survival... Tuesday photos!



On Saturday (our church day) five littles accompanied us to church.
We are so thankful that our lovely church welcomed these crazy heads with open arms. 


Today we were stuck at home all day because of the elections, so we made panipuri! 
I'll explain panipuri tomorrow. 


I have spent more hours on the roof this week than I did all summer.
Look at that moonrise! I literally said, "wow" out loud when I saw this.



This morning the neighbors came over for tea and the kids hung around for a while to draw pictures and do headstands in the living room. 




One of my favorite photos from trek. How amazing would it be to live here?
Photo credit: Cynthia and her huge camera



Sunday, November 17, 2013

Thankful

I just spent way too long looking at old pictures. But it made me think...

Lately I have really been missing the people back in America. My church family, my old co-workers, and especially my college roommates have been on my heart and in my mind. As I think back on all of those nights where we stayed up late working thorough our differences, confessing sin, and encouraging each other to just... keep.... going..., I seem to forget about how hard it was and I tend to dwell on the sweetness of our time together. Oh! What I would do for just one night for all of us to be together again.

So I guess this post is just a realization for myself. A realization that I have something good here. These two sisters of mine are really cool. They are beautiful, talented, smart, loving, and generous. They are passionate, extremely hard working, and a little bit stubborn. We don't always see eye to eye, but at the end of the day, that's ok. I'm finally learning that disagreement does not mean that we dislike each other. Disagreement means that we should talk about it and come to an agreement- and in the end we will have learned and grown from the experience.


This post does not come as the result of a giant disagreement or huge debate. It is the result of lots of little conversations, loads of grace extended, and daily breath prayers, "Jesus, we don't know what to do right now. Please help us."


I am very thankful for these ladies and so privileged to call them friends. Bless the Lord, Oh my Soul!


Who are you thankful for today? Don't forget to look past the hardness and enjoy being with those around you. These moments won't last forever. 

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Tuesday Photos

Hey guys. It's been a while, but since yesterday things are finally back to normal (almost). I am back into the swing of things- language classes, hanging out at the tea shop, and attempting to understand this wonderful, foreign world in which I live.

The only thing that is different from normal is that right now Nepal is seven days away from a major election, and things are somewhat chaotic. So please pray for that.

Otherwise, here is my past week in pictures.



Skyping Monique. Soul food. 
This flower. Just because. 
Pratibha and I may or may not have reeked havoc on the neighborhood on Sunday...

Our porter from our trek brought his sweet family over for lunch. 


Saron fractured his wrist. 
I got to go with him cause his mom had to work. He was completely brave. 


Traffic jam the night before the bandh started.
Notice the taxi going the wrong way in the middle of traffic. 

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

A time to reflect.

I just need a minute, guys.

Get it? A time to reflect? Hahaha!

I need a minute to reflect on this year.

God is beginning to show me how to love. He is teaching me that safety is imaginary. He is making me see that when the healing comes from within, it is less painful to let Him rip my insecurities off fast, like a band-aid, rather than dealing with the gradual gnawing pain of trying to slowly pry them out of myself.

He still has not told me how to deal with poverty. He has not given me any answers that bring peace every time for every person. He has not given me the ability (or the responsibility) to fix any person.


He has pushed me past my limits and erased my boundary lines.

He has shown me dreams and given me strength.

And through it all, He has been with me. Always with me. 

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Trek

Hey guys! I'm back! I don't have the mental energy to tell any stories yet, but for now here are a few pictures for those of you who are not on facebook (hey Bowers!). 

Larke Pass. Elevation 16,847'
Cute little girls

Mu Gompa. Tsum Valley.

Meaghan on the way to Manaslu Base Camp.

Tibetan children.

Tibetan women. 

Our family.