When you think of Nepal, your mind probably first goes to majestic Mount Everest towering above the land and the thousands of trekkers who decide to battle its heights. Perhaps you picture prayer wheels and colourful flags fluttering in the wind, or the breathtaking mountains stretching as far as you can see. We think of those things too, but when Peter and I think about Nepal, we also have a few other stories. Our memories include earthquakes, a rat eating an apple beside the bed, coasting down a mountain with the engine turned off, frozen buckets of water, no showers for five days, and some incredibly precious people who were welcoming, deeply spiritual and hungry for God.
Over the years, God has given us the privilege of travelling to some amazing places, and I’ve learned that some of the experiences you remember most aren’t necessarily the ones you planned for. Sometimes they’re the ones that make you laugh years later. And sometimes they’re the ones that teach you something about trusting God that you wouldn’t have learned any other way.
The Rat
Take the rat, for example. One night, Peter woke up to a strange crunching noise. Now, there are certain noises you really don’t want to hear in the middle of the night, especially when you’re staying somewhere unfamiliar. He sat up and, as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he spotted a rat beside the bed. And what was this rat doing? Eating an apple. Not just any apple. It was an apple the rat had retrieved from a bowl on the kitchen table. Apparently, Peter wasn’t the only one who thought it looked delicious. Why did the rat drag the apple from the kitchen table to the bedside? Only the rat knows. Peter slapped the bed and the rat scurried away through a tiny hole in the window screen. I’m sure Peter was relieved. I’m also fairly certain the rat was disappointed that dinner had been interrupted.
The Coasting
Then there was the mountain drive. Peter remembers one trip when they coasted down a mountain for about 45 minutes with the engine turned off. Before you become concerned about those driving decisions, there was actually a very good reason. They were so high up the mountain that they could put the car in neutral and coast downhill without using any gas, for 45 minutes! There’s something about sitting in a car travelling down a mountain with the engine off that makes you suddenly become very aware of your surroundings. But it was also a reminder of just how incredible Nepal is. The mountains aren’t simply something you see in a photograph. You feel their size, their height and their power.
The Earthquake
It was 2015 and Peter was on one of his many trips to Nepal. As a practice, he always texted me when he landed so I knew he arrived safely. On this particular trip, the text didn’t come. I wasn’t too alarmed at first because flights get delayed and things happen. I waited about twenty minutes and just happened to turn on the news. A flash report came across the screen: “Earthquake in Nepal, 7.8 on the Richter scale.”
My heart sank. The poor people of Nepal. Had Peter landed? Was he in the earthquake? Was the airport affected? Still no text.
I called Thai Airways and asked if they had a status update on the flight to Kathmandu, which was scheduled to arrive at 12:15 p.m. The earthquake had occurred about 77 kilometres from the airport at 11:56 a.m. I waited with my heart racing, and then the person on the phone said, “I’m sorry, we have no record of that plane.”
WHAT???
I inwardly freaked out while trying very hard to keep my voice steady. “Can you pass the phone to someone who does have a record of the flight?” Click. The phone went dead.
So I called again. And again. Finally, after many calls, and about 1 hour of slight panicking, someone who actually knew what was happening told me, “That flight was diverted to Kolkata.”
I cried. I knew he was okay.
Eventually, after he landed in Kolkata, I received the text I’d been waiting for: “I’m okay and I’m in India.” The plane had been making its approach to Kathmandu when they pulled up and began circling. The pilot announced that there had been an earthquake and they were trying to determine whether they could safely land. They circled for about an hour and a half before being diverted to Kolkata.
The earthquake of 2015 devastated Nepal. Almost 9,000 people were killed and hundreds of thousands were left homeless. When we returned about a year later, we could still see people living in tents. The devastation was a sobering reminder of how fragile life is.
Gratitude
Experiences like that change the way you think about gratitude. We can become so accustomed to ordinary things that we don’t even notice them anymore. A safe flight. A roof over our heads. Running water. A warm shower. A comfortable bed. Food on the table. The simple ability to go to sleep without wondering if the ground beneath you is going to move. So many don’t live with this kind of “ordinary”.
The Cold
Then, on another trip, Peter and I were both in Nepal. Peter was meeting with leaders and I was speaking at the Bible college. And let me tell you, it was cold. Not “grab a sweater” cold. I’m talking cold-to-your-bones cold. This was quite a contrast from Thailand, where we’d been living and ministering. Normally I welcomed a change in climate, but this was extreme AND when you live in the tropics long enough, you adjust to the heat so you really mind the cold.
There was no heat, so we put our clothes in the bed so they would be warm in the morning. We didn’t shower for five days because there was no running water and the water in the pail they provided had frozen. Yes, you read that correctly. Five days. I preached wearing a winter coat, hat, scarf and gloves, and the students were dressed pretty much the same way yet they sat on the floor and leaned in to listen to the Word of God.
On that same trip, we were told we might have to walk three hours to the airport because of protesting in the streets. Fortunately, we didn’t have to. Looking back, I’m thankful for that too!
When I think about Nepal now, I don’t simply remember the difficulties. I remember the people. I remember the leaders we met with, the students I had the privilege of teaching, and the hunger for God we encountered. I remember how welcoming the people were and how deeply spiritual so many were.
I also remember how God taught us to be flexible. Ministry rarely happens exactly the way you think it will. You can pray, prepare and then life happens. An earthquake happens. The water freezes. A rat decides your apple belongs to him. Suddenly, you’re wearing a winter coat, scarf and gloves while preaching.
And somewhere in the middle of all of it, God reminds you that He’s still God.
Perhaps that’s one of the greatest lessons we’ve learned through all our years of ministry. We don’t need perfect circumstances to experience God’s presence. We don’t need everything to go according to plan to know He’s faithful. Sometimes the very things that inconvenience us, frighten us or make us uncomfortable become the experiences God uses to shape us.
Looking back I’m grateful for the freezing water because it taught me not to take hot showers for granted. I’m grateful for the uncomfortable moments because they taught us flexibility. I’m even grateful for the rat, because years later it still makes us laugh. Truthfully I wasn’t SO grateful in the moment.
Most of all, I’m grateful that God allowed us to experience Nepal. The mountains were breathtaking, the circumstances weren’t always easy, and the stories are certainly memorable. But the people were the real treasure.
What amazing experiences we’ve had.
And through every one of them, we discovered again that God is faithful, God is present, and sometimes following Him gives you stories you could never have written yourself.
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