October 7, 2018. 7 years ago today I left India, so weak I struggled to even board a plane to Bangkok while keeping my possessions together. Passport, wallet, phone, backpack, carryon, passport, wallet, phone, backpack, carryon was my mantra until I was safely and all together in a hotel near the hospital. My body had given all it had to give and so it just quit giving. I would spend 2 months in Thailand on medical leave. I was told not to do ANYTHING for more than 10 minutes without taking a rest. During that time I saw doctors, got counseling, relearned how to open a door with a key and how to get toothpaste out of the tube and onto my toothbrush. I would have been scared but I sensed that my mental state was not permanent so I chuckled, and indeed that part passed quickly On December 8, Katie and Roy brought me home to the US. I was too weak to fly alone.
Pema, my precious golden doodle, was born just in time to greet me in Oklahoma. She was an angel sent by God to walk this long journey of recovery by my side. She has been my constant companion; I don’t know what I would have done without her. After 2 years in Oklahoma, Michael came and helped me get home to Alaska.
I thought my recovery might take a year. It has been 7. I am so so much stronger now than then but I am still not there. My progress has however been steady. Not long ago if I overextended it would take me a week, or 3, to recover. I can now be busy 2-3 hours in a day and if I overextend it only takes me a day or so to recuperate.
What God has done in me during these 7 years has been incredible and I am so grateful for this ‘sabbatical’ time, tough as it has been. Through resources such as School of Kingdom Living and many podcasts and books and sermons He has taught me about being spiritually formed into the Image of Christ. I am not there yet. Those who know me might not see much outward change yet but true change has to come from the inside and the Holy Spirit has done much work there. I have learned that being holy is not accomplished by gritting my teeth and trying harder to be and to do good. It is accomplished by resting in God and letting His Spirit do that work in me. I have learned that God is not impressed by all the things I accomplish by working my fingers to the bone for Him, as important as some of that may be. I have learned that He is filled with joy when I take time to sit quietly with Him, when I notice the wonder of His creation, when I am kind and loving to those He created to bear His Image, and in my being who He created me to be. I am still in the process of being formed into His Image and will always be as long as I am in this fleshly body, but I will steadily keep moving toward that goal. There are a couple of tough things He is working in me that I am conscious of at this time. Humility—I have always considered myself the helper and the giver; it is very hard to learn to receive and to be helped. Contentment—I have never been content with who I am and who I am not, with what I can and cannot do, where I am and where I cannot be, with what I have and do not have, what I do and do not accomplish, and on and on. But by God’s Spirit working in me progress is coming. Hopefully soon some of it will begin to manifest on the outside. 🙂
Lately I have been sensing a new restlessness. I am not sure yet if that is just part of the journey toward learning contentment or if it is a sign that God is going to “renew my strength like the eagle’s” so I will be able to fill my days in a different way than now. Either way, I will rest in the confidence that, as He always has been, God is good and His steadfast love for me will never fail. And so for now I rest in His love on this 7-year anniversary and I rejoice and give Him thanks for all that He has and still is doing in me. And I revel in the knowledge that all He really wants of me is to rejoice in the goodness of His presence with me and His great love for me. He is my good and faithful Father, Savior, Comforter who holds me steadfastly in the palm of His Great Hand.
“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
I was euphoric as two friends and I loaded our belongings onto the roof of a taxi that cool April morning. Dawn was breaking and it would be an incredibly gorgeous Himalayan day. I was embarking onto a new venture, one I had longed for and prayed about through the previous thirty years. At long last I climbed into the front passenger seat; my friends crawled into the back and we were off. No interstate highways criss-crossed those parts, and the snaky two-lane road would traverse some of the most beautiful terrain on earth with snowcapped mountains towering all around. Myriads of fascinating birds serenaded us, the gentle morning breeze stirred the wakening forest, and as the sun rose in colorfully iridescent grandeur the passing deodar forest mesmerized our eyes.
The driver tuned the radio to his regular morning Hindu bhajans (worship music). Having spent substantial time in South Asia I was accustomed to this ritual and prayed silently trying to block out the sounds of worship to his gods. My friends in the back were disturbed by the unfamiliar to them sounds, so pulled out their earbuds to pray with their own worship music. As we journeyed on and time passed one of the ladies with me began to hear a different song. She later told me that God had allowed her to hear the harmony of nature praising its Creator. When I, amazed, asked her to describe it she could not. She only said, “It was the most beautiful sound I have ever heard.” But then, when God explained why she was hearing creation’s chorus she said it became “the saddest sound I have ever heard.” God showed her that nature was praising because in that region of the world no humans worshiped Him. [(Jesus) answered, “I tell you, if these (people) were silent, the very stones would cry out.” Luke 19:40]* Oh how I long to hear the beauty of the song of all creation, not just the humans, praising the Creator! I believe that one day when all things are made new and evil is vanquished we will again hear and worship in unity with all of God’s creation just as it must have been in the beginning in Eden.
Some time later I was returning by bus to that same area. My previous time there had been filled with sickness and physical pain which I attribute to backlash for the inroads that were being made for the Kingdom, so, though thrilled to be returning I also felt some trepidation. On the hours-long journey I was pleading with God to let me hear what my friend had heard; perhaps I was seeking assurance of His presence with me. It was a night trip and as my destination grew close I was praying silently but with fervor. And then as the road passed through a gorge, steep mountain bluffs on the left and a river and more snowcapped peaks on the right, just like that, in the quiet darkness I heard the most beautiful sound. It lasted for the briefest moment but I knew. It was God’s holy angels, messengers sent to accompany me and assure me that He was with me, going before and behind, surrounding me. And I silently wept in rejoicing for my Savior’s love and care, thankful for His everlasting presence and strength.
I have not yet heard nature’s praises but I have heard its groaning. The year was 1975ish. My husband and I were living in Little Rock, Arkansas, and our firstborn had not yet made her appearance into the world. Life was good and I was happy. There was, however, always a heaviness, a sort of sadness, that I carried in my inner being. I was frustrated because I wanted to be joyful, bouncy happy, and exuberant. So I asked God to take away the heaviness. And He did. Instantly. For the next few days I was wonderfully buoyant. But there was something I had not expected; I felt incredibly lonely. So I asked God, “Now that I feel so happy why do I feel so lonely?” He answered immediately. “The heaviness you felt was the burden, the love, I gave you to carry for those who are far away from Me. You are missing the company of that burden.” I was shocked! “Oh, God, then please give it back!” I cried. And He did. Instantly. I carry that precious burden to this day. I treasure it as God’s gift to me. In his letter to the Romans Paul described something akin to what I feel. He wrote, “the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”** What I sense is that the Holy Spirit, Who dwells in me, groans within me and that my spirit is groaning in unity with God’s Spirit. (“Therefore my heart moans for Moab like a flute, and my heart moans like a flute for the men of Kir-hareseth…”Jeremiah 48:36 ESV, bible.com) It is a heavy but beautiful gift and I suspect that many others have been blessed with a similar experience. In the same passage, Romans 8:19-27, Paul discusses not nature’s praising but rather it’s groaning. He pens, “..that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.”** In a sense I feel that I also hear these groanings of nature, not with my ears but rather in my spirit and I pray daily for that time when evil and destruction are no more and all the earth resounds with the beauty of praise.
Now, for some thoughts that are purely speculative, but they are speculations that I have considered often throughout the years. I precede by clarifying that I do not practice or advocate animism nor Eastern religion nor it’s New Age outcroppings. I do not worship “Mother Earth” nor any of the things that the Creator God has, in His goodness, made for our pleasure. I worship and serve only the Almighty God who created all things.
Since I was a child the idea of the “rocks crying out”* has puzzled and intrigued me. As a young adult I remember seeing a TV documentary with a new and startling discovery. Rocks emit sound that is imperceptible to the human ear and some geologists had managed to record it. Something inside me was stirred and my mind screamed, “The rocks do cry out!” I have attached below a much more recent recording of this sound which has been amplified, the speed increased, and the frequency adjusted into the range of human hearing.*** The article attributes the vibration to natural phenomena such as shifting earth and also human activity, however I believe the explanation is quite simple. All things vibrate—everything in the universe oscillates at various frequencies. Vibration causes sound. So, I think it is safe to conclude that all of nature is emitting sound, though mostly outside of the range of human auditory capacity.
Humans as well as animals are sentient beings—we have the capacity to feel and we have cognitive abilities, we can evaluate actions, remember consequences, and assess risks and benefits. Humans, however, also have a spirit which gives us the ability to communicate with and be aware of God, Who is spirit. While sometimes I think they might, we don’t know that animals have that capacity. I’ve often heard it said that the birds are singing praise to God. But I’ve also been told that no, they are just marking their boundaries. Inanimate things are not alive and are non-conscious. As I understand then, a rock or water is therefore unaware of its surroundings and cannot made decisions. They have neither a mind nor a soul and certainly not a spirit. There seems to be some differences of opinion as to where plants fall into these categories but exploring that is not the purpose of this blog. And then, there is the formidable field of quantum mechanics. I cannot comprehend even the kindergarten level explanation nor the Youtube videos I have seen; they actually leave me feeling uneasy with their talk of waves and non-solidity. So I am skipping the science and just suggesting a very simplistic “what if”.
Below I have listed a few Biblical references to nature praising its Creator.**** A large portion of Scripture is poetry. One literary tool used in Biblical poetry is personification, attributing a human characteristic to something nonhuman (the stars winked, the sun smiled, the flowers danced). I am perfectly comfortable with describing all of the examples in these references as personification—the sun smiling does bring glory to God. Yet, could they mean more? Just the fact that all of the elements of creation exist, and their doing or being what God created them to do or be brings glory to His Name is a satisfactory explanation to me. Yet, could there be more?
And so in great trepidation I submit to you my “what if” speculation. What if when God created all that is—the cosmos, the oceans, the trees of the forests, the birds of the air, etc.—what if integrated into the recipe of each creation He mixed something that responds to His Presence (kind of like good vibrations to quote the Beach Boys) and that response could be considered praise or worship. What if that response is continuous because the Creator is omnipresent. What if the sound of that response is more starkly noticeable to Him in the absence of humans worshipping, which is actually the reciprocation back to Him of the love He constantly lavishes on the people He created in His image. And what if that response also can embody some sort of groaning or mourning of the fallenness and corruption that is present since the Fall, a longing for restoration and renewal when all things will once again be pure and wondrous and lovely as the Creator desires. Many will deny it but that ingredient is fully integrated into the human race; that is why a person feels so incomplete outside of a relationship with God’s Son. What if all creation truly does sing some sort of praise which is actually a response to or a reflecting of the love that such an incredible Being as our Holy God is continuously lavishing on all the cosmos.
And now for a closing thought. I have till now focused the idea of worship and praise as sound. That however is only a portion of how worship can be expressed and to explore that topic entirely would require a book if not a library. I would like to close by submitting a brief nod to a few of the other ways worship to the Father can be expressed.
An artist worships with a brush and paint, or a rock and a chisel, or colored glass and lead, or clay and a kiln, or some other physical tool. — van Gogh public domain, via Wikipedia.org
A writer or poet worships with words and a paper and pen, or typewriter, or digital device, or a papyrus or sheep skin.
What if, just what if nature also honors its Creator with beauty using such things as water and light and grains of sand and vibrations. These images are particularly inspirational to me because of my love for kaleidoscopes and geometric patterns. Imagine how God must rejoice in His creation’s artwork!
I have heard accounts of near death experiences that describe seeing colors not visible to the human eye. And there are reports of being surrounded by beautiful “music” lacking rhythm or beat. What if that is the sound of nature worshipping. I long for the day. I yearn for the day when all will be restored and the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea, for the day when all people, created in God’s image, join together in worship with the heavenly beings, with the animals, with nature, with all the cosmos filling everything everywhere with the glorious sound of the created returning love to the Creator, Who is always lavishing His love on the created, who will eternally pour out their adoration in a never-ending world resonating with magnificently sublime love and peace and joy. How I long for the day…
I would love to hear your thoughts! Feel free to comment below.
* As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, 38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Lk 19:37–40). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
** 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. 26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Ro 8:19–27). (2016). Crossway Bibles
**** 1 Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights! 2 Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts! 3 Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars! 4 Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! 5 Let them praise the name of the Lord! For he commanded and they were created. 6 And he established them forever and ever; he gave a decree, and it shall not pass away. 7 Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all deeps, 8 fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling his word! 9 Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars! 10 Beasts and all livestock, creeping things and flying birds! 11 Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth! 12 Young men and maidens together, old men and children! 13 Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is above earth and heaven. 14 He has raised up a horn for his people, praise for all his saints, for the people of Israel who are near to him. Praise the Lord! The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Ps 148:1–14). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; 12 let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy 13 before the Lord, The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Ps 96:11–13). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it; shout, O depths of the earth; break forth into singing, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and will be glorified in Israel. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Is 44:23). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
“For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Is 55:12). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
One response to “Let All Creation Praise”
Faith
So beautiful! Until forever we will not know how creation praises Him but it does! Thank you for sharing some of the ways that science has figured out! Even if the scientists don’t realize what it is…
That One Time We Had to Build a Bridge to Get Home
Lete was the last post in my journal. I am not sure why, likely because I was, after nearly two months, exhausted. Dates and such in this post will therefore be sketchy as I am relying on my memory and a handful of photos. If any of the team wants to correct or fill in my gaps in memory it would be greatly appreciated!
The final day of our trek, July 16, 2001, was eventful. We set out from Lete early morning on the downhill (thankfully!) walk to the highway. Passing through a village west of Ghorepani we were handing out pamphlets to the people we passed along the way when someone stopped us. Their friend had injured his foot working in the rice paddy and it was infected. Could we treat him they asked. As one of the girls cleaned the wound and applied antiseptic gel I was quite concerned because the foot was yellow and I told Deepak that he needed to get to a doctor. Deepak assured me that the color was from working barefoot in the rice paddy, not from the infection.
While we were watching the treatment, Daniel G spotted an elderly man worshipping two trees. He climbed up from the trail to where the man was and asked what he was doing. The man explained that the tree on the left represented a Hindu god and the tree on the right represented a goddess. The story was that while the goddess’s husband was away the god went to her abode and raped her. Daniel G asked, “Why would you worship gods that would do such things?!” He then proceeded to tell him about the God that is perfectly good and holy and loves all of His creation. The man showed great interest as you can see from his face in the photo above and Daniel G was able to pray with him.
A little way on down the trail we merged onto the path we had taken on my first trek in the winter of 2000. We stopped for lunch at the Christian owned tea house in Nangethanti where the European man had confronted me. While they were preparing our food I sat out front on a boulder to soak up some sun. While I was resting God spoke to me by simply giving me a verse from the Prophets. It was disturbing. I was shocked. That could not have been God, I thought, and I felt ashamed of even having such a thought. It troubled me the rest of the trip. Just a day after my arrival home my friend and intercessor for the trip, Nitza, called me and said that God had given her a verse for me. It was the same verse. It was God. And while the complete fulfillment took years it did eventually happen exactly as God foretold me.
A little farther down the trail, after fording the river again, we stopped at a village (Uleri or Hille?) where a shower was available in an outside “bathhouse” located next to the open air dining area. Several of the tea house workers had birth defects and I silently prayed for them. The sleeping area upstairs was quite small. A door that opened onto a balcony over the dining area was low and several of us received painful lumps on our heads for not stooping low enough to pass through.
A leisurely walk the next morning and finally at the foot of the trail we walked onto a huge open area used for parking. I immediately sat down and with great relief removed my boots and put on my much loved Teva sandals. My blistered, hurting feet were extremely grateful.
The bus was waiting so we immediately loaded up and headed off towards Pokhara. Exhausted, we all found a seat and settled in to rest. But before anyone could fall into a good sleep the bus stopped. I sat up and looked. Up ahead was a very long line of lories and busses parked on the highway. Robbie got down and walked to the head of the line to see what had happened. He returned to inform us that they were replacing a bridge up ahead and that we would have to wait approximately three days to cross. We were stunned. Our flight home would depart Kathmandu in three days. But what could be done?!
Robby got off the bus again to talk to the men and after a few minutes came back. He walked back to where Levi was sitting and asked, “Levi, what do you suggest we do?” Levi immediately responded, “Do you see how many large rocks there are on the ground? I think we could fill the gap in the road with those rocks and then drive across.” Robby looked thoughtful and again went to the construction site. He returned and said that after much convincing the workmen had agreed on one condition; after we cross we have to throw all of the rocks out of the river bed.
And so, the work began. We were many so while it was hard work it only took an hour or so. Then one by one all the vehicles began crossing the “rock bridge” and soon it was our turn. I vividly remember standing to the side watching the bus rock and sway as if it would tip over as it gradually crossed, and I am pretty sure I did not take a breath until it was completely on the other side. Once across the guys all jumped onto the “bridge” and began tossing rocks to the side. The workmen shouted, “What are you doing?” Robbie informed them that we were removing the rocks just as we had agreed. The men said, “No, please leave them. Perhaps someone else will need to cross before we are done.”
Finally we were back in Pokhara waiting to check in at our hotel. It was hot season and the day was horribly hot and I was severely dehydrated and check-in was for some reason taking forever. Finally someone brought water. I am a sipper, but I gulped an entire liter down in just a couple minutes. Finally settled in we went out for dinner; I downed another full liter of water with my meal.
The next morning we went by bus from Pokhara to Chitwan for our customary jungle safari and visit with our pastor friends there. We were blessed to be able to have a “sidewalk Sunday school” with the local kids.
Thanks to Nepalese and Indian wildlife authorities, in the past 20 years the Nepalese one-horned rhino, once close to extinction, has made a huge comeback with a current population of about 4000.
Our last full day in Nepal we returned to Kathmandu and the Student Guest House. There we did last minute shopping, repacked our bags, and in the evening, once again, hosted the Nepali team to an incredible dinner at a very nice hotel restaurant. On the morrow we would fly to Hua Hin, Thailand, for debriefing and rest before returning home to Alaska.
I trekked in Nepal a total of three times; Katie had led a team previous to my first trek and would lead a final team in 2002 which I was not able to join. I love that beautiful nation and her wonderful people with all my heart. My dream is that my ashes will someday be thrown from one of her peaks into the Winds of the Himalaya to wait there for the day when our Savior will return and resurrect them to eternal life with Him. Two of our team members have already gone to be with our Lord: a mighty prayer warrior, Emma McCune, and our leader from Nepal for all five treks, Robby Rai. Katie wrote this tribute to Robby:
“🇳🇵 Robby’s standard greeting was “The Jesus in me sees the Jesus in you”. What a legacy and eternal impact he made on Nepal, my 5 teams and myself. When someone would ask, “how far to the next village?” Robby would respond, “in a little while we’ll be closer.” He didn’t know his birthdate or exactly how old he was, so I decided we’d celebrate his birthday at Christmas. One year Leona and I had a cake made and sent it on a 24 hour bus ride to Damak in East Nepal. On one of the Anapurna treks Robby suffered from gout pain. Our Tibetan guide, Puchanga, ran down to Pokhara for medicine and back in 2 days: a trek that took my American team 5 days. Then it was onward and upward for Robby leading my team around the Himalayas with the Gospel. I could go on and on with stories and Robby-isms. Like always chewing on sticks in lieu of a toothbrush. He was one of the most creative problem solvers. When the nation wide strikes would shut the streets down Robby hired ambulances transport us to the orphanage and women’s rescue home. A giant in faith, he will be missed on this side of eternity. But the welcome he’s received by those who’ve gone before us is wide and warm. Robby is home. 🇳🇵”
Robby Rai December 25, 1953 – December 13, 2022 Emma McCune February 23, 1941 – October 9, 2016
Prayer for Nepal adapted from Isaiah 62 (NLT)
Because I love Nepal I will not keep still. Because my heart yearns for Kathmandu, I cannot remain silent, I will not stop praying for her until her righteousness shines like the dawn, and her salvation blazes like a burning torch. The nations will see your righteousness. World leaders will be blinded by your glory. And you will be given a new name by the LORD’s own mouth. The LORD will hold you in his hand for all to see— a splendid crown in the hand of God, Never again will you be called “The Forsaken City” or “The Desolate Land.” Your new name will be “The City of God’s Delight” and “The Bride of God,” for the LORD delights in you and will claim you as his bride. Your children will commit themselves to you, O Kathmandu, just as a young man commits himself to his bride. Then God will rejoice over you as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride.
Oh Kathmandu, I have posted watchmen on your walls; they will pray day and night, continually. Take no rest, all you who pray to the LORD. Give the LORD no rest until he completes his work, until he makes Kathmandu the pride of the earth. The LORD has sworn to Kathmandu by his own strength: “I will never again hand you over to your enemies. Never again will foreign warriors come and take away your grain and new wine. “You raised the grain, and you will eat it, praising the LORD. Within the courtyards of the Temple, you yourselves will drink the wine you have pressed.”
Go out through the gates! Prepare the highway for my people to return! Smooth out the road; pull out the boulders; raise a flag for all the nations to see. The LORD has sent this message to every land: “Tell the people of Nepal, ‘Look, your Savior is coming. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes.’” They will be called “The Holy People” and “The People Redeemed by the LORD.” And Kathmandu will be known as “The Desirable Place” and “The City No Longer Forsaken.”
Saturday, July 14, 2001, was a long, hard day but the view was incredible and the trek was full of joy and laughter. We set out from Jomsom at 9:00 am. The first leg of our trek was through the Kali Gandaki Gorge, the deepest gorge in the world as measured from the river to the top of the highest bordering peak.
Since we were losing altitude there were no horses; we carried our backpacks. In a few places we were acutely aware of the previous team’s horse that had fallen into this gorge. I recently searched YouTube but could not find a suitable video of that stretch of trail. As in the previous couple days, there are just not words to describe the beauty of what we saw and experienced. The closest I have seen to that trail is depicted in the movie Himalaya: L’Enfance d’un Chef (Caravan), which I had purchased in Kathmandu (WotH Part 25) but did not watch till we were back home in Alaska. One segment of that film is identical to the trail we walked. At times the trail was narrow with rocks tumbling into the Gorge. A couple of times we crossed gaps in the trail over bridges made of branches and rocks, likely built by trekkers to fill in spots where the path had eroded away. At one point we had to carefully find our way over debris from a recent slide. My toes were very sore and my feet hurt from previous days’ walking, so to compensate I used the wrong muscles and my legs tired quickly. With every step, however, I felt more and more buoyant as more and more oxygen became available to my lungs and muscles and, for me it was an incredibly joyful trek filled with the glory of God’s wondrous creation. It was beautiful and exhilarating and totally worth the effort and the pain.
Lunch at a tea house along the way, we were wet and cold so drank lots of steamy chai too. You might notice my NY cap which I nearly lost to the river first day of our trek.
It rained all afternoon and the landscapes we passed once again grew lush. At one point we had to cross the river on foot. It was fairly deep and, while not raging, swift enough that we had to cross by making a chain of human bodies for support and stability.
At 6:00 pm we arrived at the guest house in Lete, cold and exhausted. There was no sight of Robby, Leona, C & LB, nor of Daniel G and very quickly the darkness of night was upon us. We sat around large tables which had coal-burning fire pits built underneath them. They were wonderfully comforting to our cold, wet feet and bodies and we sipped glorious, wonderfully hot Nepali chai as we waited and prayed for their safety. Finally Daniel G burst through the door limping badly. They had gotten off trail and were lost on the mountain, he explained. The others arrived shortly after; Robby also was in much pain due to a flare of gout.
We awoke somewhat slowly the next morning but feeling much better. The Nepalis led worship for our morning devotions and it was wonderful, full of joy in God’s Presence and the company of good friends.
We divided into two groups, each visiting one of the two local schools to offer clinics and school programs. One of the Bible Institute students led two young men to salvation. After school some returned to play football (soccer) with the high school students while others handed out pamphlets, seeking conversations throughout the village.
Katie had felt impressed to do a prophetic act on this trip. In the afternoon we all found a stone and with marker each wrote some of the names of our Eternal God on their stone. We then stacked them into a pile, poured oil representing the Holy Spirit over the stones, and prayed that God would manifest Himself in all of His facets to the people of that beautiful land.
Sunday evening after dinner we had impromptu worship. Katie led a couple songs then passed off the guitar to the Nepali team. It was a glorious evening of laughter, song, and dancing before the Lord Nepali style!
After breakfast we headed north for the four-hour trek to Muktinath. That stretch is all uphill [Kagbeni – 9200 ft, (2804 m), Muktinath – 12,343 ft (3762 m)] but not so steep as I had expected. There, however, was not much air! I felt that I was supernaturally carried along because my legs remained strong and I had no high-altitude symptoms. I journaled, “I breathe harder walking at sea-level than I was today!” The last bit was another story. City gate in sight I had to develop a rhythm to make the last stretch: I would walk ten steps, stop, breathe deeply three times, and repeat. There was a true sense of victory that I savored upon arrival.
On the trek up we spotted the historical caves that were carved into the bluffs and mountains of the Kali Gandaki River valley. It is believed that 2000 to 3000 years ago the people of the ancient Kingdom of Lo dug out the network of some 10,000 caves using rudimentary tools. There are a number of theories on what the caves were used for throughout the centuries. Religious paintings cover the cave walls and manuscripts and other religious artifacts were found there. Researchers also found numerous utensils, bones, and partially mummified bodies. Currently Buddhist monks use the caves for meditation; it is a Buddhist practice to fast and meditate alone in the dark for many days. The site has been a tentative UNESCO site since 1996.
ancient prayer caves
After lunch we visited the local Muktinath school to do a program. The conditions were unbelievable. It was perhaps the toughest ministry experience I have ever had. The only light entered the tiny classroom from a single window. The room was so dark I had to use a flash for the photo. At first I thought some of the children were blind; they were not. Some of our team were too broken to help with the teaching; they instead sat outside weeping for the children. At the end we prayed for a girl and boy with albinism and then we left with with wounded hearts for those who suffer so unjustly under the hand of the enemy of our souls.
From the school we went to pray through the temple area. What would happen there was soul shaking as well. Because Muktinath is the place where it is believed that Vishnu received salvation from the curse of the demon Brinda, and also because of a misunderstood natural phenomenon, it is considered a most holy site so there is both a Hindu and a Buddhist temple in the complex.
temple complex entryVishnu temple
We first visited the Buddhist temple, which is built over an underground stream. Through a hole in the floor one can see the “eternal flame” burning on the water; the unlit room is filled with a smoky blur, giving it an eerie feel. Behind and to the left of the hole there are several idols carved of stone. The largest three represent Vishnu, Buddha, and Kali. After looking down through the hole at the flame for a minute I turned toward the idols but quickly turned away because of the evil I sensed. I walked to the back of the room and sat down beside Katie on a rough wooden bench that faced the idols. After a minute she said to me, “I just saw the strangest thing. I saw Buddha squint his eyes and glare at me. And Vishnu turned his head to look at me.” (I repeat, the idols are quite large and carved out of stone.) A minute later Kassie came over and sat down and said, “I just saw the strangest thing. Kali turned her head to look at me and I saw her eyes light up.” Then Mary came over and sat with us and, you guessed it, she also saw the strangest thing, Kali’s eyes light up. I am not sad to have looked away. We all huddled together as a group in the center of the room for a time of prayer and sang a number of worship songs exalting the Name of Jesus. Several spent some time talking with the beautiful nun who was on duty.
We then prayed through the Hindu temple and by the 108 fountains. Muktinath in Nepali means “lord of liberation” in reference to Vishnu. It is believed that by bathing in the 108 fountains a visitor can receive their own liberation. We prayed that those coming to look for salvation would somehow find the true Peace that Jesus made available to all who will receive.
On the walk back to the guest house several encountered a Hindu “holy man” and talked with him for a while. Both the school headmaster and the “holy man” came to the hotel that evening at dinnertime to talk more.
It was a somber evening. Levi had carried an enormous load of supplies on his back Nepali style for a man who earned his living carrying goods up and down the mountain. The scarcity of oxygen along with the extra weight had left him quite unwell. Jessica and several others were also feeling symptoms of mild altitude sickness. Melissa was still very emotional from the experience at the school.
Friday morning, July 13, we started out on the walk back down to Jomsom (8891 ft, 2710 m). At Jharkot we stopped for a bit to pray at a sizable Buddhist temple.
Walking downhill into ever increasing oxygen is far easier than ascending and we made good time. I arrived tired with sore feet and eyes red and swollen from the sun, wind, and sand. Leona was sick with vomiting and a headache. We found Emma and Bala, who had stayed behind, doing well. They were quite exhilarated, actually, from God’s Presence that they had experienced during powerful times of prayer for Nepal, the team, and for our time of ministry.
The remainder of our group arrived in Jomsom at 7:30 am. After steamy fresh bread, yak butter, wild honey, eggs, and the ever present and luscious milk tea we began the walk to Kagbeni. Since we would return through Jomsom, Emma felt that she would better serve by staying behind to pray. Bala stayed back with her. Because of the high elevation and its shortage of oxygen we would be using pack horses to carry our backpacks. Trekking on the lower side of the Annapurna Circuit I had seen numerous mule teams carrying cargo to supply the villages, but here horses were used. As we stepped outside to load up, the main street had the feel of the American wild west which again brought to me that surreal sense of amazement at being in that unique place. It was a fairly level walk along the Kali Gandaki River, whose valley acts as a wind tunnel that provided a strong tail wind which actually helped propel us up the hills. Almost immediately my much loved NY Yankees cap, which I had purchased on a trip to Brooklyn to visit Metro Ministries and brought along for protection from the sun, was blown off my head. I watched in horror shouting, “Let it go!” as a Nepali friend took off running down the bluff and along the river trying to catch up with the cap before it was gone forever. While the cap thankfully was retrieved, the sense of being much loved, which I still wear 23 years later, is a far more valuable treasure.
We used pack horses on the way up to carry our backpacks.Crossing the Kali Gandaki River
The Mustang area of Nepal lies in stark contrast to the lushly verdant parts I had visited to date. I am a person who thrives on shades of green, but even I had to admit that this desert was beautiful. Vegetation in that area is sparse, the predominant green was the abundant Texas tumbleweed reminiscent bushes which provided texture to the sand as well as ample privacy for the occasional squat that would be necessary along the way. The sand, a cool beige which I find more beautiful than the typical yellow beige of deserts I have seen elsewhere, clings to the sides of numerous rolling hills and its flow is only broken by impressive jutting rock formations of a more brownish hue. It was a lovely three-hour walk.
Welcome to Kagbeni!staircase to 2nd floorAncient Castle in KagbeniBecause of the arid climate firewood can be kept on the roof.
Arriving in Kagbeni we settled in and were refreshed with lunch and more Nepali milk tea. We visited the school where we offered a clinic and gifted the headmaster with supplies we had brought along for just that purpose. After giving our teaching presentation in the center of the school complex, we played with the children. Levi connected with a young teacher who was very open to our message and spent the afternoon talking with him. All in all it was a delightful visit.
Later in the afternoon we walked through the town and on up to a hilltop in Upper Mustang to look back and pray over Lower Mustang. Bordering with Tibet, Mustang is the primarily Tibetan sector of Nepal. It is divided into two sections: Lower Mustang is open to visitors, but Upper Mustang has restricted entry. Hence, our short trek up the hilltop was illegal. Later that evening Brad felt very convicted about crossing the line and felt it was important to not give the enemy a foothold, especially in light of the spiritual darkness we would face in the next few days of our trek. So after dinner he called a meeting of the American team (we were joined by some of the Nepali team) for a time of prayer and repentance. We retired early to be rested for the journey to Muktinath in the morning. In my mind was the ongoing surrealness of being in that ancient land and culture and gratefulness to God for allowing me to be there.
Monday, July 9, 2001, started early. The US team of sixteen representing five Alaskan churches, plus Robby and Leona and their Nepali team, and Pastor CB and his wife IB departed Kathmandu by bus at 7:00 am bound northwest for Pokhara. Daniel G and his Bible Institute students would join us along the way. Pastor CB who leads an amazingly prolific work in North India, was good friends with Robbie and had come to join us. Pastor CB has a great sense of humor and would keep us very entertained throughout the entire journey. Robby introduced him to us by telling the story that in the 70s he sported a beard with bells woven into it. I think the story is true but he was quite clean-cut at the time we met.
Alaska Team
After a good (uneventful) trip the bus arrived in Pokhara at 3:00 pm. Pokhara, at an elevation of 2700 ft. (822 m) was hot. VERY HOT! We checked into Shikar Hotel and then went to pray at the Bible Training Institute (first visited in WotH – Part 10) where we saw that their renovation work was going well. Next on our agenda was a beautiful and refreshing treat, a boat ride at Phewa Lake. Dinner was at Boomerang restaurant. And there I broke my 3-day fast at 48-hours because there was steak!, imported from India, on the menu. Back at Shikar Hotel we settled into our rooms for the night. According to my little keychain thermometer at 9:30 pm our room temperature was 95 F. Quite a jolt for those of us coming from Kathmandu (4600 ft, 1400 m) and Alaska!
My feet immediately hit the floor at the sound of my 4:30 am alarm. I reached up to pull my drying laundry from the curtain rod and passed out, hitting the concrete floor hard. My hip and thigh would be bruised for the rest of the trip. I recovered quickly but was mentally shaken, not knowing what was wrong. As soon as we were dressed we headed to the airport for the Jomsom flight. The flight, however, was delayed due to mechanical issues so only half of us were able to fly on Tuesday; because of the high winds through the Kali Gandaki Valley no flights are allowed to land after 10:00 am. I felt blessed and relieved to be on that first flight. In my journal I recorded, “Don’t think I could have faced being left (except with God’s help) after the morning (also heat, etc.).” As we waited to board I sat on my backpack mentally shaken (I kept remembering the horse that had fallen into the gorge with the last team.), confused because I didn’t know what was wrong with me, fuzzy-headed, and suffering terrible vertigo. I had taken a shower at bedtime and two after passing out. But nothing helped. As I sat on my pack, frightened with images of me dizzily stumbling into the gorge racing through my mind (How the enemy loves to taunt!) Bala prayed for me. While he prayed God showed Ms. Emma that the problem was the ginkgo biloba (an herb to stimulate blood circulation and thus oxygen delivery to cells) that I had taken last night to prepare for the high altitude trek ahead. After passing out I had taken two more tablets. So Emma prayed that God would flush the herb out of my system. And in about an hour my head began to clear.
taking off from Pokharalanded in JomsomJomson Runway
One of the men helping us board onto the plane was huge, very tall, far taller than any Nepalese person I had ever seen. When we commented he laughed and said that now we had see the famous yeti. The twenty minute flight was exciting and breathtakingly gorgeous as we flew between two of the highest peaks in the world. Landing was even more breathtaking. In a far different way. After passing the last mountain before the runway the plane turned onto its side, did a u-turn and then immediately touched down. It was like a nightmare carnival ride, centrifugal force and all! Some of the girls were crying. I was laughing hysterically..from fear. We would stay in Jomsom (8900 ft, 2700 m, and much cooler!) for the night to wait for the rest of the group to arrive in the morning. Three of our girls were experiencing mild effects from the altitude by our 2:30 lunch.
After lunch those who felt well enough visited a museum where there was a meditation room fashioned after the rooms in monasteries where monks sit and chant. We went in to “meditate” and sat on low benches before long tables which hold the monks’ mantra books (think hymn books). I don’t remember how long we were there but as we prayed and sang praises to The Most High God we felt a wonderfully heavy sense of His Presence there with us.
boy in Shang village
We then walked along a trickling stream and through an orange grove to Shang, a primitive village nearby. While praying through the village an elderly Buddhist monk invited us into his home which was decorated like a small monastery. He told us that he had much pain in his stomach and some problem with his eyes and then allowed us to pray for him. After we prayed Robbie told him where we were staying and invited him to join us for breakfast in the morning. All of this was spoken in Nepali and I was quite exhilarated to have understood the bulk of the conversation! After such a tough start, what a great day it was!
The hotel was gorgeous, trimmed with varnished wood and beautiful wood floors. In its restaurant we would feast on homemade bread, fresh yak butter, and the wild honey harvested from cliffs by Nepal’s famed Honey Hunters who risk their lives for the luscious nectar. (https://youtu.be/l7fTCZ_52iI?si=oa3j4zg5SnVkUBkf) To top it off, the hotel restaurant window revealed a tremendous view of the Nilgiri and Tilicho mountains. I remember wondering if I could live there. On the morrow we would walk.
Jomsom streethotel interiorview from hotel restaurantJomsom areaJomsom area
Sunday morning I awoke feeling better, just weak so I took the day to rest and recuperate. Dudley’s team arrived from California and I moved downstairs to a lovely guest room that Robby and Leona had built onto their house. Their youngest, Espes, decided she would be my new roommate. I loved it! I taught her songs, told stories, and she taught me to count to twenty in Nepali.
The next three weeks I spent in Kathmandu and followed a somewhat predictable schedule: Nepali language study, teaching at the Bible Institute, and prayer walking. So instead of recounting day by day I will share the highlights and most remarkable events.
On Tuesday I went to Thamel where I found the DVD Himalaya: L’Enfance d’un Chef, filmed by a French director, Eric Valli, about the Mustang area of Nepal where I would be trekking in three weeks with the team from Alaska. Filmed in 1999 the movie was the first Nepalese film to be nominated for Best Foreign Film. Years later I found the English version which is titled Caravan. The French version would provide much nostalgia as our team watched it at our debriefing and photo sharing party back home while snacking on milk tea and biscuits (cookies) we had brought back home from Nepal. It also provided a good bit of laughter as we imaginatively inserted our own translation from French to English! After shopping in Thamel I found fajitas for lunch at Northfield Cafe and was feeling thoroughly blessed!
In the afternoon I had a great visit alone with Leona and she shared some good-to-know cultural information with me: no teasing, no touching (not even patting on the back), and no contractions (the people won’t hear the ’t sound and will misunderstand). In the evening the California team returned from several events including medical clinics (one team member was a doctor). A couple team members who were not yet believers reported that it had been the “single most meaningful experience of my life!”
On Wednesday I prayer walked at Pashupatinath Shiva Temple. The taxi ride was quite interesting as the driver was determined to take me in the opposite direction. Finally, in my extremely limited and broken Nepali I was able to get him on course. At the temple a small boy followed me the whole time. At first I wanted him to go away, but then I was glad to have him with me because it felt weird alone as there were many groups of men in the complex. As I sat under the huge, green, “peaceful” trees of the area I sensed the deception and falseness—false hope, false security—of the false religion practiced there. As I watched a funeral pyre being prepared and lit I began thinking about the “holy” Bagmati River which would soon receive the ashes of the deceased and where many go and bathe to receive purification. Yet it is filthy, polluted with trash and disease with plastic bags and dead animals floating downstream in its waters. Yet, people are deceived into believing that they are purified by its waters when they are actually contaminated, polluted, and disease infected by it. That is just what Satan’s kingdom is all about, counterfeiting the real and deceiving the lost into believing that the false is real, that the lie is the truth.
Most every time I prayer walked on this trip I noticed double edge razor blades lying on the ground. Each time it struck me as odd. Finally I thought that perhaps they were symbolizing to me the two-edged sword mentioned in Scripture. So I prayed the words of a song taken from Psalm 149:6-9: “With the high praises of God in my mouth and a two-edged sword in my hand, I will march right up to victory, right into Canaan’s land.”
When walking around Singha Durbar another time, on the back side where all the stinky garbage was, I encountered a number of men working. They were not picking up the garbage but rather were digging up the ground. God showed me that He isn’t removing the corruption yet, but that He is digging and rooting it out as in verse 10 of my prayer template for Kathmandu and Nepal, Isaiah 62. And then on the east side men were repairing the wall! (Isaiah 58:11,12). Another day I went back wanting to walk the back side of the complex again. As I rounded the corner I saw shiny red stars and prayed against Communism and its hindrance to freedom, especially religious freedom. Then I prayed that if I was done a taxi would be waiting when I rounded the corner; there were two.
Leona had offered to help a friend open a momo restaurant. (Momo is the Tibetan/Nepali version of a steamed dumpling and they are absolutely, amazingly delicious.) I helped out with a number of chores from sweeping floors and cleaning the bathroom to arranging tables and chairs to hanging pictures on the walls, to peeling garlic, ginger, and onions. The grand opening of Melange MoMo was at 6:00 pm Sunday, June 23. Culturally the grand opening is a celebration for family and friends so it was actually a wonderfully huge party including us foreigners and, as well, church people who came early at 4:00 to pray for the business. I tasted all the varieties of momo along with a bountiful supply of freshly made sauces. They were all luscious. Then as the guests began arriving I moved to the kitchen where I rolled dough and washed dishes.
I visited Swayambhu, the Monkey Temple, a couple of times. On the first visit I spent an hour or more praying over the city and the Kathmandu Valley. I prayed that the Church would become like the foothills surrounding the valley on all sides — lush, green, productive, sheltering, containing, and guarding. And then the mountains standing tall, strong, and white behind the hills caused me to pray that the angelic hosts would be standing behind the Church garding and protecting her, strong and undefeatable and impenetrable by evil. A building containing many golden statues is on the edge of the hilltop near Swayambhu. The hillside behind and beside the building is covered with putrified garbage seeming to represent the demonic forces active behind the beautiful, golden facade of the bondage and deception of Buddhism. Unsure where to go next I walked the 365 steps down to the entrance and sat on a wall to wait on God. A lady selling bracelets started talking with me. Lila spoke good English. I thought that perhaps I should come back in a few days to try and cultivate a friendship. I returned with Bala and found Lila. On that day she was not as open and friendly with me. She told Bala that she did not know what I wanted with her. Finally, after some time, he got her to talk to him and we were able to share Truth. She said that she had heard our message before, but that she believed sawa dharma, all paths are the same. She knows people who became Believers to receive healing. We explained the difference in Christianity but she said that her family is large and there is too much social pressure. Perhaps a seed was planted.
Wednesday, June 27, I spent the day planning programs for children we would encounter on the trek ahead. Late afternoon the California team returned somewhat traumatized from their trek (my Alaska team and I would follow in their footsteps in just a few days). The flight into Jhomson is always difficult but due to weather their flight was especially frightening. And then one of the pack horses fell off a cliff on the trail and into the Kali Gandaki River below and died. It was the horse carrying the bag with all the passports. The upside of the story is that tree branches on the way down into arguably the deepest gorge in the world had caught the packs the horse was carrying so the passports and gear were safe.
On Tuesday, July 3, D, P, and Mr. G took me to Dakshinkali where along with offerings of fruit, flowers, rice, and coconut, every Tuesday and Saturday animal sacrifices are offered to what Robby called the blood-thirsty goddess. When we arrived there was a seemingly never ending queue which had not noticeably decreased when we left an hour or more later. The smell of blood hung heavy in the air. I watched as roosters and goats, one right after the other, were slaughtered. The animal was handed to one of several priests who cut its throat and then held it so that its blood emptied onto an idol. The priest then returned the animal to the worshipper and received some rupees for his service. The meat would be cooked and eaten at home. According to Alan Brill (kavvanah blog) “..there is no blessing from devi (Kali) if she does not receive blood…This sacrifice has the power to influence energies and provide blessing for your earthly life, they have the power of fulfilling the desires of the aspirants.” A young boy said the sacrifice was given so Kali would fulfill their wishes. Apparently Hindu sacrifice bears little resemblance to ancient Hebrew sacrifice and it evidently has nothing to do with forgiveness of sin.
A new Thai Buddhist monastery was being built on a hilltop at Kirtipur overlooking the valley and visible from Robby’s house. Bala took me on a hike up to see it. It was nearly complete. A couple of Thai monks were painting Buddhist images on the walls in the colors of blue, red, green, white, and yellow which represent the five elements of space, fire, water, air, and earth in that order.
On Friday I moved to Student Guest House in preparation for the arrival of the Alaska team. Saturday evening I tried to figure out how to lighten my backpack (the never ending goal!) and felt led to begin a three-day fast. Sunday, July 8, my team arrived from Alaska! We all had dinner at Leona and Robby’s and the evening was highlighted with a birthday cake celebrating Levi ‘s 21st year of life. I fell asleep excited, full of joyful anticipation; we would travel north to strange new lands in the morning.
Friday morning, June 15, Valerie, Dudley, two Nepali friends, and me, with Mr. G. in the driver’s seat headed northeast towards Kodari on the border with Tibet, the same area I had visited with an Alaskan team just six months before (see WotH Part 20). The Chinese highway was still rough and a bit more treacherous now that monsoon was beginning. The view from the car windows however was, as always, breathtaking.
Playing jacks with the students using stones instead of the jacks and ball.
We stopped along the way to visit a pastor, an Indian man who had tried unsuccessfully for ten years to enter Chinese controlled Tibet. So he began ministry and founded a school with 115 students in the area. Due to Maoist threats (letters sent to parents warning them to not send their children to the school) he had to relocate in a nearby village and enrollment had dropped to 50. After praying for and encouraging him we visited a new hydroelectric plant to meet with a Filipino electrical engineer who had been working at the plant for a year. The plant had been operational since December of 2000; it was my understanding that most if not all of the power generated was being directed to China. He had become a Christian while working on a job in Saudi Arabia! God never ceases to amaze me with the surprising things He arranges.
Buddhist cycle of existence. I have seen a Christian adaption of this; at the top is a cross making an exit from the cycle of reincarnation.
In Kodari we checked into Lhasa Guest House. Our assignment here was to prayer walk up the hill to the Tibetan Buddhist monastery I had visited in December. I was off the charts excited! Finally we were on our way trekking up the mountain. A little ways up while the others stopped to talk with some monks, I entered a building that contained a very large prayer wheel. The room was lit only by bits of sunlight that seeped in but I could see that the walls were painted with brightly colored Tibetan deities, bodhisattvas, etc. At the back of the room was a small table displaying a picture of the Dalai Lama. Two nuns were turning the huge, brass prayer wheel; at every full turn an attached metal piece rang a bell and the prayers written on papers inside the wheel were believed to be sent to the heavens thereby earning merit and creating a safe and peaceful area. I stood and prayed for a few minutes and then gave each nun a brochure written in the Tibetan language. Stepping outside I felt very heavy and was weeping. While I continued waiting on the others I prayed among a number of small buildings that served as meditation rooms for monks. We then walked a ways farther up and encountered a building containing a very large prayer wheel powered by the swiftly moving stream flowing under it. The sound of rushing water and the rhythmic dinging of the bell lent a deceptively seducing peace to the area.
A little farther up we arrived at the upper monastery. After much knocking at the rusty metal gate a lone monk let us in. He was in charge of taking care of the other monks who were meditating. I had hoped to see a monk we had connected with on the previous trip. He had been transferred to another monastery I was told. We went inside and sat on the floor and there I had an incredible experience which I recorded in a previous blog, Butter Tea with a Monk, and have attached here rather than repeating the story. It was one of the most meaningful experiences of my life. Please click to read about that encounter and see the photos. https://jackietallent.com/2021/06/01/butter-tea-with-a-monk/
Butter Tea with a Monk
Back down at the guest house we found Mr. G. very sick with stomach cramps and vomiting. That evening we ordered fried rice for dinner. The others ordered veg but I ordered the carnivore version. My first bite tasted off. But I was hungry and cleaned my plate. At about 1:00 am I awoke very sick. I will spare you the details but it was not pretty.
At 9:00 am we headed back down to the church we had visited on the way up. The others did outreach in the morning and a medical clinic in the afternoon. I on the other hand spent the day on a bed in the pastor’s one-room house still very sick, making a few visits to the outhouse down the path.
Thankfully Mr. G. was much better and got us home in a very speedy 2-1/2 hours. On the drive back to Kathmandu because I had chills I sat wrapped in my down sleeping bag. My outstanding memory of the ride home was passing by the ancient city of Bhaktapur, meaning place of devotees. Built in the 12th century it and Patan are the two oldest cities of Nepal. (We didn’t visit the city because Robby felt the price of admission was exorbitant. Bhaktapur’s many temples were greatly damaged, some completely destroyed, in the April 2015 earthquake.) Even sick, I clearly remember driving by and seeing the ancient architecture and once again sensing a great surrealness at being there in that place and at that time and gave God profuse thanks for treating me with such goodness.
Before breakfast on Friday, June 8, I headed to Himalayan Ezra Institute on foot since it is an easily walkable distance from Robby and Leona’s house. It was a lovely walk and I was accompanied by all the early morning sounds of a city waking up. I taught on prayer using Isaiah 62 as a template for interceding for Nepal and Kathmandu.
In the afternoon Mr. G drove us all to the Nagarkot area east of Kathmandu. Nagarkot is a 1-1/2 hour drive each way. It was an incredibly beautiful trip on a one-lane dirt trail with lush forests and verdant vegetation accompanied by bird songs and the beauty of God’s creation all around. At approximately 7000 feet (2000 meters) was a breathtaking panorama of the Kathmandu Valley, Mount Everest, as well as other peaks of the Himalayan range of eastern Nepal. Robby took us to a spiritual “high place” and asked us to pray over the local area, valley, and city below us. Driving back we stopped at a beautiful resort and relaxed with afternoon tea. Then we visited a Tamang village and prayed for the church, the people, and over land where they wanted to construct a building to meet in.
The evening news of the day revealed that after much delay the investigation of the royal massacre had begun. There was one eye-witness account, the King’s nephew, a doctor, who had escaped the shooting without injury. He testified that the guilty party was the Crown Prince; apparently many do not believe his testimony.
On Saturday, the day that Christians gather in Nepal, a pastor and church leader picked me up in taxi and took me to their church to speak. I spoke from Ephesians 1 and a teenaged girl translated for me. It was her first time to translate but we did okay (I think LOL). The nation was still in mourning so no music was permitted. However the pastor said that God’s people would still worship. So we sang in a whisper, a cappella, so to not be heard outside the room. They prayed for an hour or more. The gathering was wonderful and the people were very receptive, hospitable, friendly, and appreciative — full of love for their Savior! The pastor then took me back home and told Robby that he wanted me to come back and give another teaching.
Sunday I walked to the Jawalakhel traffic circle and caught a taxi to Thamel, the tourist sector of Kathmandu. I first stopped at Student Guest House’s internet cafe where I spent 2-1/2 hours catching up with things back in Alaska (very slow internet in those days). Then I did some shopping — Nepali wrap skirts, maps, postcards, and super glue for my shoe that broke on the day of my arrival in Nepal.
I wanted to prayer walk around the palace and Singha Durbar where the Prime Minister’s office is located but it started to rain so I stopped for tea and ice cream to wait out the shower. In my journal I wrote, “In my wildest dreams I never would have imagined I would be sitting here alone in a “deli” halfway around the world. There is just such a compulsion to be here doing this. The intense love I feel for this place and these people has to come from Him. It is an incredible privilege to be here. I feel He is going to turn the nation 180 degrees and I am so excited to get to see it.” The surrealness of this trip continued throughout my weeks there.
Narayanhiti Royal Palace
After the rain let up I walked two times around Narayanhiti Royal Palace grounds. An intense spirit of travail came over me, so much that it was hard to walk and look normal enough to not draw attention. About halfway around stomach pain began and my feet were raw (mental note — Don’t wear these shoes again! — I now in 2024 have no recollection of those shoes or the raw feet except for the post in my journal.). I discerned that the spirit of anarchy was strong and also a spirit of antiChrist. I wanted to to walk around Singha Durbar but made a wrong turn so decided Singha Durbar would wait until Monday. As soon as I ceased praying the stomach pain also ceased.
For days thousands came to mourn at Narayanhiti Royal Palace.
Monday morning per Daniel G’s request I started a series on the Baptism in the Holy Spirit at the Bible institute. Later Valerie, Dudley, and I prayer walked around Singha Durbar, the palace, and Parliament. We prayed Isaiah 9:6-7 and Dudley sensed that there are a few good men in the government and that we needed to pray protection for them. On the back side of the complex there were heaps of garbage, swarms of flies and a horrible stench; we felt that represented a foundation of corruption in the government and that “The Lord of the Flies” was in control. We then passed a large vacant area representing spiritual void and covered by a beautiful facade in front representing the deceptive ways of the adversary. We lifted up the name of the God of Truth, Righteousness, and Justice. When we passed guards in towers on the wall we prayed for more “watchmen” as in Isaiah 62. We prayed from Jeremiah that God would tear down and root out the corruption and build up and restore with a just and righteous government, and that He would either change the Prime Minister’s heart or remove him.
Kathmandu city, is to me, the most beautiful city in the world.
At the royal palace Dudley sensed a wall preventing penetration of good. Valerie sensed a need for humility, that the assassination was because of pride. In front of a bamboo grove on the grounds I prayed that the government that takes from the people and keeps them under oppression and bondage would be replaced by one that covers its people with protection, provision, and blessing — the shady bamboo covering on the government grounds seemed to represent protection. On the back side we passed an area of laundry hung out to dry. With a chill I remembered that on this very spot on the previous trip at Christmas we had prayed that God would “clean house and do laundry” in the palace.
From 4:00 to 7:00 pm we prayer walked at Boudhanath Stupa. “My poor feet are a mess!!” I journaled. On return to the house we learned that the announcement of the massacre investigation had been postponed until Thursday.
Boudhanath Stupa is a major pilgrimage site for followers of Buddhism. They come to do kora, clockwise circumambulation around the stupa, which is believed to earn merit for their future reincarnation.
On Tuesday after teaching my morning class we revisited the Scottish bridge, Bhag Bhairab Temple, and the Ganesh temple where a chicken had just been sacrificed. (Photos are posted in WoftH Part 22.) Then traveling by car we prayed over the Kathmandu Valley from Phulchowki, the highest of the hills surrounding the valley and a famous hiking destination known for its lovely jungle, wildflowers, and for its excellent birding.
On Wednesday I taught at Himalayan Ezra Institute and then went to pray again around Narayanhiti Royal Palace. There I declared that all glory and honor belong to our God and that “He will share His glory with no other.” I proclaimed Him as King of Kings, the Righteous, Just, Holy, Pure God.
After teaching my class on Thursday, June 14, I returned to the house for breakfast. The morning newspaper had arrived which said that the massacre report would not be released to the public until Monday because of the Thirteenth Day Hindu rites for the death of the King which would be followed by a holiday on Friday. The report, however, was read on TV that night in both Nepali and English. The conclusion was that the Crown Prince was the perpetrator which left a lot of unanswered questions in people’s minds, things that just didn’t “add up”. In the evening we enjoyed a big dinner at the house with Robby and Leona’s pastor and wife in attendance. I went to bed quite excited because a road trip was on the agenda for the next few days.
Coffee, Tea, and Reverie 
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