My adventure in a land far far Away

Wow, these past two weeks were the hardest weeks of my life, but they were incredibly worth it. Two weeks ago my Thailand team left for our adventure to this little village named Away. Away was far up in the mountains and we could only get there by foot. It took four days to get there, the first day we took a bus, the second day we took a jeep (which broke down twice in the middle of the mountains) and then we hiked for two days. We stayed in two random huts on the side of the road which was quite the experience, and I wasn't able to shower for twelve days straight. One of the reasons this trip was so hard for me was because the day we left I was incredibly sick with diarrhea and vomiting. I was hiking up mountains on an empty stomach and I was also pretty dehydrated. I definitely learned to trust God in so many new ways during this trip and I was constantly surrendering my rights to him, such as my right to a comfy bed, or cleanliness, or any comforts that I'm used to, but I knew that the work that God had for me in Away was worth it. Even when I was feeling like I couldn't hike up anymore mountains and when I was so homesick that I was in tears, God reminded me from his word that his "power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9) and that "I can do all things through him who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13). That was really encouraging during that two day, uphill hike, because I knew that God was taking care of me.

In Away, we stayed with the pastor of the only church in the village. It's crazy how hospitable nepali people are, the pastor and his family gave up their house for us and cooked every meal for us and even did our dishes, they wouldn't allow us to do anything! While living in that house I truly realized how luxurious my house is at home, in fact while I was in Away I realized how good I had it here in Kathmandu. I thought that Kathmandu was hard living, but at least here I have a toilet and showers and a stove and a bed, while in Away I slept on the floor, went to the bathroom in the wilderness, I didn't shower once, and all of our food was cooked over an open fire. It was a good revelation though because it made me realize that I don't really need all the luxuries that I have, I can definitely survive on a lot less.

The food that the pastor cooked for us was usually pretty good! We got more protein in Away then we do here in Kathmandu, which was definitely a treat because my body really misses all the protein that I used to eat. We still had rice everyday, but they were almost always accompanied with dhal (sort of like a lentil soup) and egg. It really amazed me how everything was cooked over an open fire, but because of that, meals take forever to make. I feel like if I lived there and had a family there (which I'm not planning on doing), all I would do all day is cook and do laundry.

Ministry wise, God did some amazing things through us in Away. We saw fifteen people become Christians and we even saw an old man who was deaf in one ear regain his hearing! One day, after playing volleyball with some teenagers in the village, I shared the gospel with all of them and three of them decided to accept Jesus as their savior. Almost every morning there would be people at the pastors house asking for prayer from us which was really encouraging. The hardest part about evangelism in Away was that everyone had all these excuses. They would say that they wanted to become Christians, but because their parents and grandparents were Buddhist or Hindu they couldn't because then they would be shunned by their family. It was so frustrating. But God still used us and we planted a lot of seeds in that village. One day, when we were going to one of the surrounding villages, we stopped in front of a herd of about 65 goats. We just kind of stood there looking at each other and then the pastor told us that we were supposed to pray for the goats. We were a little confused as to what to pray for, but we did it anyway, that was probably the funniest day of ministry.

The view in away was incredible! We were right next to a snow capped mountain and at night the sky was full of stars, I had never seen anything like it in my life, it almost didn't even seem real. My friends and I would joke as we slept in little huts by the side of the road, we would say we were staying in an all star hotel because we could see ALL the stars. Sometimes our situations were so ridiculous that we just had to laugh, otherwise I think I would have cried. A lot. It rained one day in Away and on all the mountains around us it was snowing. It didn't snow in Away because we were only 7,000 feet above sea level and in order for it to snow it has to be around 8,000 I think. But the view was so awesome after the snow and the rain, all the dust was cleared away and the colors were so vivid! I couldn't believe I was seeing it in person because those types of views you only expect to see on the computer backgrounds or something, but I did see it and it was awesome.

Even though getting to Away and living there for a week was one of the hardest experiences of my life, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I learned so much on the journey about myself and about God, and I really grew as a person, especially in toughness I think. Four months ago I never pictured myself doing anything like this, and I didn't want to either, but I learned during lecture phase that it's usually not Barbour what I want, it's about what God wants and he is worth everything that I am.

Well we only have about two weeks left in Nepal and then my team is off to Thailand! I'm actually getting really excited for that part of my adventure, I'm ready for something different. Please be praying for my team! Especially for health, I have a cold at the moment but it's not that bad. We really need to stay healthy though so that we can keep doing evangelism and everything else! Also being sick away from home is not very fun, so keep us in your prayers! 

Here is one picture from the trip. I promise I will post more soon, but I'm trying to have my friend send them to me and it's taking a while. But I will post a blog that is all pictures soon!

This was the last day of our hike to Away, I think the village was just around that little mountain.