Jaya Masi!

Jaya Masi means 'Victory to the Messiah'. This is how Nepali Christians greet each other instead of 'namaste'. If there is a believer in a village, every villager knows who they are and will identify them if asked. 

The trek here was fairly intense with all our packs. We're all thankful that we were able to survive physically and mentally the four hour trek down the 'hill' and into the valley to our lodge. It was the first time with the full weight of our packs and we were all over it by the end of the trip. Colin got to miss out on this trek because he had to see a doctor, he is fine now.
 

Just some of our amazing view

The amenities here at the 'guest house' are actually better than they were in Matra Guan. Just over two weeks ago, Barney (a Nepali colleague who has been the main organiser of this trip - such a boss) visited this lodge and all the sleeping quarters were full of grain and the toilets and another bedroom had the water buffalo staying right next to the them. The lodge owners have redone the place in preparation for our arrival including building a new shower room and connecting a light bulb to it.

Roll over Tim...

Kimjeng and Kimghech slept on the bed on the left

There are three toilets, however the vents are unfortunately placed at an inappropriate height for privacy (including in the shower).

Eww

We continue to be amazed at how God has provided for us or how He has organised particular interactions with villagers on this trip. 

Our Nepali colleagues (left to right) Ramesh, Jonah, Dependra, Kumar and Suresh

One of our Nepali colleagues Jonah (a translator), was with a team in a village and felt that he was being encouraged by God to go up to the highest house in the village and share the Gospel. When the team were up there they met with an elderly man and his wife. After sharing the Gospel with them and having a discussion about God the elderly man decided that he wanted to follow Jesus. After he said that, his wife was very against it and pleaded that he not make that decision. He decided to believe anyway and prayed with the team. The team came back that night praising God, however they did not have a bible to give to him. Meanwhile, another team was coming back along the road to the lodge. On the way a Nepali villager stopped Graydon and gave him a Gideon bible in Nepali. Graydon was unable to understand what the villager was saying but he received the bible anyway. The next morning Dan (an American team member who was a missionary in Nepal 20 years ago) and Jonah were preparing to leave to visit him again. Over breakfast we were all talking about the situation and mentioned the need for a bible. Graydon spoke up and said that he was just given one last night. It was a great encouragement for the team to trust Him to always provide for our needs.

A few of the kids surrounding the 'foreigners' every night at the lodge

We had another opportunity to visit a Nepali church on Saturday. It was a long walk to get there (just under two hours) over creeks, hills, fields and rickety bridges. We had to walk at a really fast pace; it was fun but fraught with danger and made us appreciate our three minute drive to church every week. 
 

Too bad we can't walk on water...

Every day we've been splitting up into teams and walking up and along the valley for at least an hour to get into villages to tell them about Jesus. It's been a lot of walking which we have coped with well but it's definitely a change from what we're used to.


We're currently writing this from Trishuli which is a major town for a rest period. Today and tomorrow are free and we're all excited for a shower and a washing machine to wash clothes that we had not yet hand washed. From here we're unsure where we will be going - we may be going back to the valley near Thansing as there are still many villages to hear the Gospel or we may be going up to Archale and continuing on. 

Our major treks in the Langtang mountain area is still to come!

Tim playing the Nepali version of snooker with some of the villagers