Off to SINGAPORE.

Hello from Stephen and Chris!

We are approaching our last few hours in Kathmandu as we are on our way to the airport. Yesterday was filled with goodbyes. After making relationships with some of the street children for the past couple weeks, it was quite hard to say bye. We also said goodbye to those we have been working with for the past six weeks over dinner and than an intense game of Mafia.

We are sad to say goodbye to this land but we know the missionary work isn't done. We have so much to reflect on in the next few days while we are in Singapore.

It's crazy to be walking away from this place. We are definitely very different than when we first stepped off that airplane at the Kathmandu airport.

Please be praying for our time as we begin the reflection process these next few days.

Love,

Stephen and Chris

PICTURES

We uploaded a few to Photobucket for those of you who simply can't wait :)

http://s878.photobucket.com/albums/ab343/Team_Nepal_2010/

Hope you enjoy them. More to come when we return to AMERICA

Joy and the Hardships

It's Monday and we leave on Friday. It's crazy that it in the beginning of the trip I had felt like I had been here for so long, and now I am wondering where the time has gone.

We have had quite a few adventures here and the past few weeks have been spent working with various projects that we have been given.

Everyday a group goes out to Ratna Park to hang out/play soccer with street children with a few translators. Tuesdays and Thursdays, there is also a group that goes out at night to spend time with street children as well with a group from an organization.
Our nights are also filled with visiting children's homes and our days are usually filled with miscellanous tasks. We also go to dance bars every week or so. We are plenty busy.

Something that has hit us hard as we have been involved in these ministries is how hard they are. The other night, a group of us went to a dance bar for the 3rd time. The first two times we really got to interact with the girls but this time around they seemed to be warned of us and they didn't talk to us. When we visited the last two times, we asked to meet with them the next day. They never showed. This time, the girls had lied to us and said they were there when they weren't. That stung.

There was also an instance with a street boy. When the boy was with Angela, he said that he was new on the street and that he wanted to leave. After, when we were getting a Tiny Hands person to go and talk to him, he seemed completely different and closed off. They asked to meet him the next day, he didn't show. Later we found out, he had been on the Thamel streets for a year or so.

There has been many heartaches over these people. It seems that work here in Nepal is slow, and we have been introduced to that in our short six week trip. The kind of work we are doing takes years. Someone we had talked to in the beginning of the trip said it had taken 5 years for her to see any change, and we are learning that lesson now.

Yet though we have seen these hardships there is still so much joy. We have found such joy in the relationships we have with the people we have met. Whether it be the people of the organizations we have worked with, a girl at a dance bar, or a few of the boys on the streets. These people have touched us and just by being with them, we find joy.

A great triumph that we got to experience of hope and joy was the soccer camp that we got to put on. Kyle and Callee orchestrated the whole event and each one of us got to be in charge of a different station. Kyle and Lizzee taught passing, Angela and Chris played steal the bacon, Justin and Callee taught shooting, Taylor and Eddy taught headers and Corinne and I taught dribbling. It was so much fun. All the kids that we have gotten to interact with the past five weeks were there and we got to spend hours with them playing and laughing. It takes these kinds of events to realize how much we will miss these children and how much they have impacted our hearts. It will be a time I will never forget.

Please pray, along with us, that in these last days God may prepare us to leave but that we would be fully present and fully listening to God.

Love,
Stephen

Hope in Nepal

You may have received an email about this already, but if not, please read!

Jaymasee! (Victory in Christ)

During our time in Nepal we have been working alongside a not-for-profit organization called Tiny Hands International. One of their main purposes is to rescue children from damaging situations and prevent them from becoming victims of the streets or sex-industry. Once the child is rescued they are placed into a children's home run by Christian parents that have been hand-selected by the staff of Tiny Hands. We have spent the majority of our time in Nepal working and interacting with the children and parents of these homes. Words cannot describe the love and joy that exudes from these homes! Nepali kids,from a multitude of various difficult situations, come together to form one of the best examples of a Christ-centered family that we have ever witnessed.

The President of Tiny Hands, Mr. John Molineux presented us with an incredibly opportunity to establish a new children’s home. We jumped at the proposition with smiles on our faces. Soon after this conversation we began interviewing prospective parents, visiting possible schools, naming the home, and actually visiting the future children of this home. Even though we are playing a small part in the formation of this home, we are ecstatic to play any part we can! Currently, Tiny Hands’ waiting list for this home numbers 20 children. The only piece missing in the completion of this home is sponsors. Our team is searching for 10 sponsors to start this home. This 50-dollar a month commitment provides the children with a Christ-centered home, meals, clothing, and a quality education. This commitment is more than a partnership with Tiny Hands; it is a relationship with the child. When visiting the various homes the children delight in showing us gifts and pictures of their sponsors.

These kids have seen and lived hellish circumstances, yet the joy of the Lord shines about them making it easy to forget that these are not their biological parents, brothers, and sisters. When comparing the children living on the street to the children in the homes, the contrast is extreme. For example, baby Jabez was found abandoned on the street in the rain. When he first entered the home, he rarely responded to interaction, but after a few months he is now thriving and you cannot wipe the smile off his face. This is just one of the amazing stories that comes from every home.

If you are interested in making an impact in the lives of these children, PLEASE let us know. We would love to talk with you more about it now or when we return home.
For further information about the various ministries of Tiny Hands please visit their website: www.tinyhandsinternational.org.

James 1:27 says, "Religion that God our father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Nearing the End

We are nearing the end of our wonderful adventure in Nepal. Only 8 more days until we board plane for our debrief in Singapore! The time has flown so fast, and many of us do not want to say goodbye. Hopefully some of us will see Nepal again next summer? :) So much of our hearts will be left with the children, both those in the streets and in the children's homes, as well as the many other relationships we have made while working with various organizations.

On Monday, a small group of Justin, Stephen, Lizzee, and I (Taylor) were given the opportunity to visit an organization called Peace Rehabilitation Center (PRC), which Justin had raised money for a few years ago by biking across America. Although difficult to find (our phone ran out of minutes right when we were about to get additional directions, not to mention there are no street names here.), it truly embodied the definition of peace. It was away from the hustle and bustle of Kathmandu city life, down a small side road. The place was green, clean, and cozy. It is a place for girls to come who are at risk for or rescued from sex trafficking. It a beautiful, holistic home, not only do the girls learn skills, but they are given the support and resources to pursue these skills into a life above the poverty level. The founder's testimony was powerful as she came from nothing and was able to build this place through her faith in God. She said she could never be bought by any form of money, for she has already been bought by the blood of Jesus. She told us we were family and we could call her Mom. We all felt so welcomed and taken care of as we learned about their mission and passion for these girls.

Other than that, this week has been filled with completeing the long list of tasks Tiny Hands has delegated to us. We will have a sports camp for all the children's homes on Saturday, as well as a girl's night for some of the girls rescued from dance bars. We are also working on a craft book and early child development workbook for the children's home. If anyone has any advice, be sure to let us know! There has been a lot of work with street children, both in the morning at a nearby park and at night in our hotel area giving them water. They are precious children of the Lord, but they are treated like trash. It broke our hearts to see the police beating them out of the way. Please keep them in your prayers. Being on the streets is like a drug and it is so hard to convince them to leave. Even though the Cyrean street children's home can be crazy, they are going to school and have a place to eat and sleep. The girls have been focusing on giving them kisses and adding a gentle touch to their lives, and we were so happy to see them giving kisses to each other instead of punches!

There is so much more for us to do before we leave and we can't wait to make the most of it! Sending our love and hugs to all our family and friends! We appreciate you so much!

UPDATE!

Hello friends and family!

A lot of our time has been explained to you in only words. Special treat! We have a few pictures to give you a little glimpse of our time here in Nepal.

FIRST, an update. Coming back from Pokhara to Kathmandu was a definite change. Even though we were gone for one week, getting reacquainted with the hustle and bustle of the city was quite a shock. We used the day of travel as a rest day to prepare for the remainder of our time in Kathmandu.

We decided to split up our team into different groups based on our passions. The groups are: street children, children's homes, sex trafficking, and sports. Each team member is part of a group and lets the team know what opportunities there are throughout the day. For example, Eddy and I (Chris) are heading up the street children group. On this past Thursday, we let the team know about a chance to hang out with the street kids with a group called Agape.

A man named Shuresh led our time with the street children. Shuresh is 23 years old and has a driving passion to minister to the street children. Why? Because Shuresh was a street child himself. At the age of seven, he ran away from home. He lived a life on the streets- sniffing glue, violence, hunger, etc. He became addicted to the streets. Because of the way the church fed him and showed him Jesus' love over the years, he realized that there was a better life for him at the age of eighteen. He now leads worship at a church and leads the ministry to the street children.

What does "ministry" with street children look like? We just hang out with them. We show them love. We laugh. We joke around. We pray with them. We do the simple things in life that most people won't do with them. It's amazing to see what happens when we do this. People gather around and stare. They watch us and wonder why we would care about the children that society has literally and figuratively thrown to the curb. All these kids want is for someone to notice them. They are searching for love. Angela has been amazing at relating with the kids and listening to the Spirit as she interacts with them!

I could go on and on about the experiences so far with the street children. I'm so excited to see what God is going to do with this ministry in the future, even if we do not initially see any fruit! Pray that we would be open to the Spirit and that we would be able to show them Christ's love in a way that we could never do on our own strength.

A great treat for our team was having director of the Office of World Missions, Chiraphone, here with us. Chiraphone was able to experience life in Kathmandu! We took her to a dance bar and continued our ministry there. She met with Bishnu, father of the Morning Star Children's Home. SIDE NOTE: Those of you APUer's, get excited because Bishnu is coming to speak at chapel in November for Global Vision Week! But really, having Chiraphone here reenergized us and we were truly thankful for her visit!

Today we went to the church where Shuresh leads worship. I couldn't help but think of Shuresh's past and where he is now! PRAISE GOD. It is that kind of transformation that I pray for every single street child we interact with. Something amazing at the church service was the elderly women dancing during worship. So much beauty and grace came from these women that I could only imagine God's smile at the sight of their worship. Stephen had the chance to find out the story of one of the dancing women. She became a Christian after she was beaten up by her husband and was left on the road, battered and broken. A pastor walked by and picked her up off the road. From then on, she began dancing for the Lord and continues to do so! How cool is that! The rest of our time today was spent at different children's homes. So much joy comes from these homes! We are always rejuvenated after playing and worshipping with the kids!

We are continuing with our time in Nepal. I cannot believe that we have less than two weeks left! Please be praying for our different areas of focus. Pray that we would love supernaturally. Pray that we would be open to the Spirit moving. Pray that we would stay focused on Jesus!

Thanks so much for checking up on us!

-Chris

Here are a few pictures from our trip!

1. Bonfire with two children's homes in Pokhara.

2.Our view of Kathmandu! These are the streets that we walk everyday.

3. Chris with two neighbors of the Cyrene Home.

4. Angela with her buddy at the Cyrene Home (Street Children home)

5. Stephen with his friend walking at the Morning Star home.

Pokhara

Beautiful is the best word that describes Pokhara and the people we encountered there. Our short time in Pokhara was filled with more smiles and laughs than the other weeks combined. Pokarha was a break from the hustle and bustle of kathmandu. We rode scooters around the lake which was a good team bonding time. We visited two childrens homes while we were there and we all connected with each kid. We were able to have a bonfire at the future place of a dream center. Which will be a place where both homes live as well as go to school. The bonfire was full of corn, games, stories (provided by justin) and laughs. This week, we were also able to join the kids in worship at their church. These kids were such a joy and each one touched our hearts. It was amazing to see that even though they have broken pasts they have soo much joy. The last night we were there it was sad because we had to say goodbye and it was tough to do. All of are thankful for the time we had with them. We also dug trenches for the dream center and we were able to find out about an amazing opportunity that we can participate in while we were there. The president of tiny hands told that if we can get one supporter each of $50, we can open a new home. This was a crucial part of the trip because we found out that there were prospected kids living in a prison in the city. Our hearts were broken from the reality of the kids lives. All in all the time was a blessing for us. *After reading this blog and you have decided to become a sponser of a kid and help us open this home. Please do not hesitate to contact us.* Thank you so much! Blessings!