Tuesday Photos: Meaghan's birthday edition

Meaghan's birthday was recently, so she corralled all her buddies to go for a hike. It was five glorious hours uphill and two painful hours downhill. The first three photos are from our friend, Mary, and the last four were taken by me. Thanks, Mary for the photos!

Cynthia, Estar, and Me walking up up up.

I jumped too late. Whoops!

I have squinty Asian eyes.

Buddhist prayer flags.

We had a picnic at the top.

Tuesday Photos: Chitwan Edition

 Hey Y'all.

Note: I am not a computer person. I hate computers. Right now I can't get this silly blog to cooperate with me, so forgive the formatting, unedited photos, and blah blah blah and just enjoy the moment... or something like that. 

Today I'm hanging out in the Southern part of Nepal where I just attended a really cool meeting with a bunch of Nepali men (and three women!) who are doing some really cool stuff. I wish I could tell you everything, but, well, this is the internet. 

We left yesterday morning with this sunset behind us. 

On the way, we stopped for lunch along with some Monks who were busy utilizing their smart phones. Look at the guy on the right... Busted!! 

The roads in Nepal may be dangerous, but what they are lacking in safety and structure, they make up for in beauty. 

This morning, before the meetings, I went for a run down by the river. 

I was running along and did not even see this RHINOCEROS chillin' in the river until the little Nepali lady stopped me and pointed it out. (Look, Mom, it was really far away... I'm fiiiiine.)   

Did I mention that I hate computers and why is this blue and all over the place?

After about nine hours of listening to and speaking Nepali, our brains were toast, so Cynthia and I went on an English speaking walk. We met an elephant on the road! Woot! And then some kids came to our hotel and started twirling fire. 

Welp, I'm super frustrated at this thing right now.

Hey, what's black and blue and read all over?

This blog.


Bahahahaha.

With that being said, and given the fact that Cynthia is correct in saying that I look like a grandma right now, I'm just going to act upon my appearance and call it a night. 

Holla!

Thailand 2.1

Is January 19th too late to make a New Year's resolution?

I think not.

I resolve to blog more! Starting right now.

I was in Thailand last week for a conference (woe is me, right?) and let me tell you, it was nice to be warm. Real nice. We went two days early so that we could play before the serious stuff got started. 

How would any sensible women spend their free time in Thailand? Caving, of course! Here's proof.

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. 

Tuesday Photos

Happy Tuesday, Y'all!

My neighbors got a new puppy. His name is Balto. 

He is named after the first Balto. 

Shout out to my sister who is training for the Olympics!

They are building this magnificent structure right outside of my language teacher's house.

I must say, I am pretty impressed.

This. Lady. 

Like I mentioned yesterday, the clouds right now are spectacular. I went outside last night to sit on a little hill that overlooks the rice fields. When I got there, this grandma was sitting there softly repeating in Nepali, "Thank you God. Thank you God for this beautiful scenery. It is so beautiful. So beautiful."

But wouldn't you say the same thing if you were staring at this?

5 things i learned in june

In honor of July, let's talk about June.

Awhile ago, someone posted a link to this article on facebook. It totally sling-shotted my brain into thinking about perfectionism ever since I read it, so I sometimes check back in with that blog to see if there are any other pearls of wisdom to glean.

Recently, the author put out a challenge for anyone else who has a blog to write about the things they learned in June. I just happen to have a blog, and I just happened to have a June, so I accepted the challenge.

Lesson 1: I need mornings. 

Kathmandu is crazy. hectic. dirty. loud. scary. different.


The mornings are peaceful. quiet. sane.

Mornings = Jesus + Me + not the rest of the Nepali world in my face.

I need mornings.

I knew that before, but this month I actually started to like hearing my alarm clock go off, so I am claiming this as knowledge from June.

Lesson 2: Rah-hey-cha.

In Nepali, there is a completely separate verb tense that is used to say that "I discovered that ___________ is________." It is called the "discovery tense" and it ends in "rah-hey-cha." If something normally is a certain way, but you just discovered that that thing that is that way is always that way, you use this tense. 

It goes like this, "In June, I discovered that the discovery tense is difficult to use.... rah-hey-cha."

Got it? 

If it sounds confusing, that's because it is.

Lesson 3: Sundesh is the King of photo-bombers.

 Of all of the photo-bombers in the history of all of the world, Sundesh is King.


For instance... In this photo I was trying to take a picture of the kids behind him and he just completely walked in front of the camera, oblivious to what he was doing.

This month, however, he has become more crafty. Remember this one? When he purposefully photo-bombed this precious moment?

Here's a new one of him jumping in front of the puppy-picture. I have deleted numberss of photos of Sundesh jumping in on someone else's memory. 

If photo-bombing were a country, he'd be the King, I tell you. 

Lesson 4: June has the best skies. 

See for yourself. 

Obviously you are still reading, which means that you did not faint, which means that this picture does not do the sky justice. Usually the sky looks two dimensional, but with June came all of these monsoon clouds. When they blow through, the sky has layers upon layers of depth. It's breathtaking.

Lesson 5: It's not about me. 

I had been mopey all month until yesterday.

I had not been heeding the good advice that I had been given to "take every thought captive to obedience to Christ." I had been dwelling in negative thinking and it was getting the best of me. I was even starting to feel sorry for myself.

But then last night God showed me that my life is really actually pretty stinkin' cool.... but even when it does not feel cool, I should be ok with that because this life is not about me. 

And that is so what I needed to hear.

The Holy God of all creation chose me to be His child. That should be enough. But then he let me move to Nepal, have amazing (really really amazing!) people back in the States who support me, kids outside of my house who love me and give me giant hugs every single day, food to eat, clothes to wear, freedom to not be working in a brothel and on and on and on...

So dude, nothing else matters. I have a God who loves me and even though some days are really hard, it is so worth the trouble because even though my life does not always feel legit, it totally is legit because this life is not about me. Anything good that happens- all of those little hugs and beautiful cloudy skies- are just a bonus.

This new "not about me" thinking has come just at the right time. And it just squeaked in right before the end of June.

*******

What about you? What did you learn in June?

7 Steps to Sanctification (while traveling to the village)

Last time, I gave you 10 tips for visiting a village. This time I'm taking it a step further and giving you 7 Steps to Sanctification while traveling to the Village. My step by step guide will have you through the fire and shining like gold in just one week!* 

Each step becomes a little bit more detailed, so we suggest you start from the beginning in order to achieve the best results. 

*Individual results may vary. We cannot be held responsible for accidental death, injury, or temper-tantrums that may result in following this program. Please consult smart people before beginning this, or any other stupid adventure. If you choose to complete this program, you must proceed at your own risk. 

Step 1. It is better to give than to receive. 

Every great Nepali adventure begins and ends on the bus. Such is the case in this program.  

As you board the bus, make sure that you have a barf bag handy. You will probably not need to use the barf bag for yourself, but at any moment your neighbor will turn green. That is the exact moment when you will realize the joy of giving. You will realize that Jesus was absolutely right when He said that it is better to give than to receive. I promise, you are way more blessed by handing the barf bag over to the girl behind you. 

Did you give with selfless joy? Congratulations!

You have now completed Step 1. 

2. Live through an episode of "World's Most Dangerous Roads". 

source

Now that you have been on the bus for six hours and the unpaved road has become slippery, you are probably feeling pretty good about your prayer life. Yes, six hours of bouncing along the side of a canyon- two feet away from the 1,000 foot drop- certainly will enhance your prayer life. 

My friend, keep praying. You still have four more hours to go. You might as well sit back, relax, and enjoy the company of the goat and chickens that boarded the bus at the last stop. 

3. Patience takes time.

You are on the right track! Your prayers have been answered! 

source

In your time of prayer, you asked God to give you a few moments to catch your breath. You told Him that you didn't know how much longer you could survive on that bus, and asked Him to give you a little break. You must be on the path to sanctification because God answered your prayer!

There was a landslide just hours before you reached the low point of the road, so you get to rest while the bus waits for a new "road" to be created through a river. If patience is a virtue, then waiting for a bulldozer to create a new road is like twelve points on the sanctification scale. 

Step 4. Stay at the bumblebee house. 

There it is folks, the place where it happened. That house on the right is where I accidentally ate bumblebees when we missed the bus last time (They totally wouldn't let the bumblebee incident go. They hounded me about it all week.).

Anyhoo, you made it! You made it through the most challenging part of the program! The bus can go no further. You have reached the end of the road. The bus ride is over.

Your friend has made the trek down from her house so that she can lead you back up to her village. However, your friend really, really, really wants to take a jeep up the mountain rather than walking (she only has one foot, so let her win that argument), but the jeeps are all reserved for the next three days, so you will get a chance to perfect Step 3 (because you can't rush patience).

The doorless bedroom

In the meantime you get to stay in a room that doesn't have a door. What a remarkable opportunity! You are working on becoming sanctified and all of your privacy has been stripped away. Perfect. You will be sanctified in no time. Just wait for tonight- Grandma will come in with a flashlight and watch you sleep. And then she will call Uncle and Auntie. Then they will stand there. For ten minutes. With a flashlight. Shining in your eyes. Watching you sleep.

Step 5. Sit in Buffalo Dookie. 

You will be stuck in the town at the bottom of the mountain for three days because the jeep has been reserved, so take full advantage of the nearby river. Enjoy this beautiful Himalayan wonder and take a moment to quiet yourself beside the water and reflect upon your life. Remember, you don't have a bedroom door, so now is your chance to be alone and pray.

As you choose a sitting rock near the river bank, become distracted by the cute baby tadpoles. Distraction will ensure that you do not look down before you sit on the rock and will cause you to plop your rump right into buffalo poo.

an unfortunate reason to do laundry

You will be pret-ty ticked off at this point. Don't fret: you are experiencing the sanctification process at work. Just go change your outfit and come back to the river to wash the dookie out of your clothes. 

*Step 5 should be avoided at all costs. 

Step 6. Take a Jeep "Up the Mountain."

If you are not sanctified by now, this step will have you on the fast-track to holiness.

At 6:30 p.m. on the third day the jeep will become available. Quickly say goodbye to the bumble bee family and get into the jeep.

Goodbye Bumblebee Family!

The jeep will begin the ascension up the mountain (It is actually a jeep-truck thing and you will sit in the bed of the truck.). You will have to stop and let ten villagers into the jeep and they will all tie big boxes of supplies to the top of the jeep. Are you are afraid because the jeep is top heavy? You should be.

As the jeep climbs higher and higher into the night and as the tires become more and more caked with mud, you will find yourself wanting to jump out of the jeep. As you see the guy HOLDING THE JEEP UP SO IT DOES NOT TIP OVER AS YOU DRIVE ALONG THE EDGE OF THE CLIFF, you will again feel the urge to jump out of the jeep.

When you come out of your frightened shock, you will wonder why there are two Nepali men holding you back. It is not until you hear all of the other passengers yelling at you that you will realize that in your state of shock, you had subconsciously moved five feet towards the tailgate of the truck bed and were about to jump.

My friend, don't jump! You have too much to live for!

Wait until the jeep stops to realign itself and then jump out.

(Repeat as often as necessary. I jumped thrice.)

Step 7: Laugh at the days to come.

God must love you, dear child, because after two hours of this mess, the driver will refuse to continue. He will say that the roads are too bad up ahead and you must walk the remaining several kilometers to your friend's house. God has again answered your prayers for mercy.

Our view as we hiked up the mountain.

It is only a few hours walking and an 1,800 foot elevation gain. Besides, the rain is not that strong right now, so you are probably really thankful to be walking through the night and not riding in that jeep.

See? The 7 Steps to Sanctification is working! If, at the beginning of the program, I told you to walk up a mountain in the rain, in the dark, (in a skirt!) at 10:30pm, you would have been ticked. But after going through this program, you are elated to be walking! You are even laughing as you walk up the mountain thinking about how stinking crazy your life is.

Laughing at the days to come, are you? Why, you are practically a Proverbs 31 woman already! (Boys, you can be a Proverbs 31 man, like King Lemuel.)

Cheers to you! You have successfully completed the 7 Steps to Sanctification. How does it feel? Is your heart as pure as gold? Do you feel more alive? Would you do it again?

If you were satisfied with this program, recommend it to a friend to receive a free copy of our new program: How to have fun in the Village which will be available to the public next week!

Village photos

Hey guys,

I realize that I promised you a post about the previous visit to the village... but, um, well... I have a lot of homework, so it's going to be a few more days.     Here is a preview to whet your appetite!

Fishing

volleyball

suspension bridge

a little one staying dry

I've been hanging out up in the hills for the past week. Needless to say, I haven't had internet. I can't wait to share my blunders from the past week. One of these days I ought listen to my own advice.... but then again, blunders are the only way to learn- and some of the best things to write home about.

one more of these.

The past two and a half weeks back in Kathmandu have been really boring. We have been in over our heads in language study and I have not taken a single photo. 

So here ya go. One more post of Thailand photos.

a thinking monk.

hanging out at a waterfall with a friend from the states!

welcoming in 2013

a bicycle built for... errr