My Take Home From Nepal Trip

It’s been three days  since we arrived from a two-week trip in Kathmandu Nepal.  It’s my second time to go for a week-long international trip but this is the first time that I’m quite having a hard time in getting over with the valuable experiences that God allowed me to experience there. Right now my thoughts still seem to be scattered and I’m quite loss of what to catch up with first. On my first day at work after the mission trip, my mind was still thinking of the streets and people of Nepal. I felt that the trip was too short because there were such a huge passion and purpose tightly compressed in two weeks. That’s why it’s really affecting me emotionally.

With our Nepali friends

We had a wonderful encounters meeting Nepalese who were so very affable and so open to share their life stories. Although we had a lot of cultural differences, language barriers and faith differences, I got to connect with them and felt the genuineness of how they openly make friends with us.

As I pondered and looked back to my experiences in Kathmandu, God revealed to me top four things to appreciate and apply in my own life:  Simplicity & contentment, frugality, peace, love and compassion for people.

Simplicity & Contentment

God made me a witness of  small things becoming big things for other people. It was priceless to see someone who got teary-eyed because of something that I gave which was actually not that valuable to me anymore. Most of  the Nepali students and professionals that I  mingled  with, whether well-off or not, did not show any signs of materialism. They are just contented of what they have and they don’t rush of getting things.  They have sense of  patience on the perfect timing of acquiring what they want.  And honestly, I really admire them for that. That’s one significant thing that I really need to practice more— waiting patiently with the perfect peace in my heart and not forgetting the fact that God is in control of everything.:)

Streets of kathmandu

Frugality

During our stay in Kathmandu, there had been  load shedding  or “the deliberate shutdown of power in a part or parts of a power distribution system generally to prevent the failure of the entire system when the demand strains the capacity of the system”- (Dictionary.com) And it’s a normal thing for them to experience that. That’s why they really put high value for energy that they use it just when necessary. Electricity is a need for everyone. And I realized that here in Manila we tend to neglect our responsibility of conserving energy maybe because of the thought that we have enough reserves of it.  But there, it’s precious and something that they highly conserve. And so with this, I suddenly appreciate more the sufficiency of  electric power that we have. Thanks to MERALCO! ” may “liwanag ang buhay!” lol 😀

Peace

You may find the streets of Kathmandu very busy because you will see people dealing with their own thing and they just seem to be very focused on what they are doing. Also, you will need extra mindfulness when crossing the streets because of the car-racer-like drivers! 🙂 but it’s amazing to see them that even when they almost bump each other’s car, you will rarely see any fight on the road, but only the non-stop blowing of horns which was as good as saying “excuse me” and that’s it.  It may seem contrast to peace, but I found a total peace when people are just good to one another no matter how uncomfortable the surroundings may bring them.

With Filipino & Nepali friends (it’s for you to figure out..) 😀

Love and Compassion for People

Love endures and never gives up. That’s what I saw in our Filipino friends in Kathmandu who do  life coaching to Nepalese. They devote their lives sharing the love of Jesus Christ and helping people to find their purpose in life. It is so noble that I suddenly found my job as something that is not worth comparing with what they are doing. and yes they are surely not! But of course whatever work I have right now, I considered as a gift from God. It’s just that there’s a lot more sense of fulfillment when you are used as an instrument to change the life of  other people  and help them find what God wants them to be and what God wants them to do. 🙂 Moreover,  I further realized the weight of importance of having a true compassion to successfully convey the love of Christ to people who don’t know Him yet.

It’s indeed a serious  transition for me to process everything that God has allowed me to experience and witness. But I just trust God that by His grace I’ll be soon get over of how it’s greatly affecting me emotionally. In reality, for most of us, our work may not be as intense as those of missionaries in the field but I believe that our roles are as important as theirs. We all have the roles and the capacity of sharing the Truth and the love of Christ to the people He has appointed us to lead and in the place where He appointed us to stay. 🙂

Also, thanks to God for sending me another fresh encouragement through a friend and let me share the last part of her message to you: ” Let your recent trip to Nepal influence the way you see other people back at home in the Philippines. Let the emotional/spiritual intensity that you feel translate into your everyday life. Remember Nepal and pray about it, but don’t become blind to the culture around you. Saying a prayer for you!!”– Lauren Calvin.

Last picture-taking before we leave Nepal

It was short but sweet! Surely, all the wonderful encounters that I had in Nepal will truly be forever incorporated to my increasing perspective about life and growing faith in Him. I realized that God never fails to make His presence so alive in every season of our lives. I’m not sure yet where God is sending me on the next trip. It could be in Nepal again or whatever part of the world. But even without the revelation yet, I’m just excited of how He  is going to level up things around me and of how He is going to  make me a witness of more of His  amazing works. 🙂 I believe that God has appointed all of us to be someone who should pray,  send or go to share His love and make his Name known. With this, I would  like to challenge some of  you who has been called to perform whichever among the three,  but have not responded to it yet.  I believe that all you need is a willing &  faithful YES and God will take care of the rest.:)