Muttered Truth

A job we do here in Kathmandu is teaching English every weekday in the morning. We’ve done it for a little over three weeks now and the students are amazing! Recently we broke our class into two levels and it has been great because we have been able to initiate deeper, meaningful, conversations.

We have been telling our students about the bakery that we get to help with and yesterday we took ChhiTo MiTho cookies to our classes. While I was handing out cookies to the lower level students, I had the idea that it could be a great opportunity to practice reading in English the scripture on the card. The verse is John 6:35:

“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.’”

Our class is an hour and a half long and the first thirty minutes is set aside for strictly practicing conversation. Reading and explaining the verse was going to be the conversation that day, I thought. As I got into explaining the scripture I had to write it on the board. And after I wrote it on the board I had to keep writing definitions of the words in the verse. And as I was explaining definitions I had to tell more words to explain one word. And as I was telling these words I had to tell bible stories to back up what the words meant. As I told bible stories I had to tell more bible stories to back up those other bible stories. Needless to say we never got to the book work! And that’s okay :).

Class flew by because I was sharing stories from the bible, in really simple form, for the entire hour and a half. I’m almost positive they thought I was a crazy person standing up there because I just kept getting excited and would share more and more the more we talked about it!

My favorite thing of yesterday’s experience was hearing the Tibetan students read off the verse from the board! It was beautiful!! They tend to be shy in their reading but knowing that they were muttering truth, whether they know it or not, under their breath was music to my ears!

Because of the new business cards ChhiTo MiTho has, I have actually gotten to experience non-believers read off the John 6:35 verse on multiple occasions! The verse on the card makes for great conversation and shows immediately that we are a Christian business. I love handing it to someone, seeing them examine it and read a direct quote from Jesus! It is the perfect discussion starter to The Word.

In class, as we talked about the meaning of the verse written on the board a monk copied it down into his notebook. Not something I asked him to do but because of his desire to know the vocabulary he marked it down. The neatest thing to see were the wheels turning in his head… as he wrote the verse, and as I told stories, he began to ask questions. My FAVORITE question he asked that proved to me his interest in this Jesus guy was, “where is Jesus now?”    

Here is where the “crazy person” in me came out… I got to explain Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection all while answering the monks question of “where is Jesus?” I was beside myself excited to explain how Jesus rose from the grave and is living!

It is because of His perfect life and obedience to death on the cross as well as His ability to rise from the dead that I have hope! Because of this truth I can rise from the dead I deserve, because of my sin, and live eternally with God in heaven.

I am so thankful that I got to spend my class time sharing the “where” abouts of Jesus! Not only that but I turned his question into a lesson for the day, we practiced question words. I got to answer all the who, what, when, where, how questions of the good news!

God is so good how He works all the time. I am humbled and thankful to be used by Him! Standing up, yesterday, and teaching these things gave me a renewed thankfulness that I serve a God who is living!     It was such a great reminder for myself that Jesus is alive, Acts 1:3:

“After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive…”

Unlike any other gods my God is a God that is active and booming. Praise be to Him!

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuiness of your faith- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire- may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls."

1 Peter 1:3-9

  

ChhiTo MiTho updated their labels for the cookies as well as just got business cards for the first time.

Our English class 

(We celebrated Father's Day with a little too much exctiment. :))

-LauraLBrown

Moments of Impact

“My theory is about moments, moments of impact.  My theory is that these… flashes of high impact actually end up defining who we are.” –The Vow.

I love how in the movie The Vow, “moments of impact” is a theme. The main character, Leo, sees a girl for the first time in a parking lot. When he sees her he has an inside conflict of whether or not to go up and make a move or stay back and just watch. He, in his mind, is saying the above quote, which basically means… why not- this could turn out to be something good.

The “moment of impact” quote has stirred in my brain since I’ve been in Kathmandu. Obviously not because it’s biblical or theologically deep but, to me, it is just reminder of… why not go for it? Why not walk up to that person and get their name? Why not sit down and the first thing in your conversation you have with someone be about something greater and more powerful than “how are you”? To me it is about doing something even if you make a fool of yourself.

What I’m referring to is the moments that you get to share the gospel!

Recently a friend of mine lost his grandmother. She passed away of a sudden heart attack early in the morning. A question that loomed in my friend's head was, “did she really know Jesus?” He had seen her earlier in the month and had a long gospel centered conversation with her. I think it’d be alright to speak for him and say that he is thankful for that conversation! He is thankful that she got to hear the truth of The Word not long before she died! I can also speak for him and say that his urgency to get The Word of God out has been amplified by the reminder that we don’t have long on this earth. There is absolutely no promise that we are going to be here tomorrow.

With his newly reminded urgency, my urgency to share was spiked!

For me, there has been a young monk who stands down near the stupa every day, in the exact same spot, in the exact same position holding a bowl. He is different than the other monks; I noticed that the first time I saw him. He wears clothes of a brighter red and orange than the others. His skin is darker and his eyes are deeper. His face tends to remain down cast as he stands, but most people still walk by and acknowledge him. Something inside of me was intrigued the first time I saw him. I remember feeling a strong heavy heart for that boy and thinking I want him so bad to know the Truth of the Lord.

As us girls began to get into a regular routine of walking around the stupa to go places, I began to figure out the monk’s patterns of standing there. He tended to be there early in the morning until early afternoon. Same spot. Some days he would not be there and inside I would be bummed because I longed for some kind of interaction with this young monk. Every time I saw him my heart cried out to the Father for him. I couldn’t help but hurt and lift him up.

I have never seen anyone talk to this monk, only put money in his bowl, bow a little bit and walk away. I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to say anything? I have talked to other monks, but like I said something with him was just different.

One day as I walked past I made eye contact with him and flashed a big smile. He returned one back showing his white teeth in contrast to his dark skin. I was excited! It may be cheesy to say, but I couldn’t wait to walk by and smile again.

The next time I saw him and made eye contact, he was out of his usual position standing on the steps of the monastery because of the rain. He waved at me, FIRST, and smiled like we were old friends. Though I was still trying to observe others and how they interacted with him, I began to get the feeling that one day my heart is going to be so heavy, that if I don’t share with him I would be disobedient. All I could think was… there will be a day when this monk is no longer living and I don’t have a clue when that will be. I must seize the opportunity when it arises. I will not let nerves of sharing with him get the best of me. With the same motivation Leo had in The Vow to do something huge in a quick moment’s notice, I knew would be my encounter with him. It would have to be complete faith pushing me to talk to him.  

With that, my mindset when walking by him changed from I’m going to smile and wave to I have to talk to him. I began to pray that the Lord would press that hard on my heart when I saw him. It’s so ironic though how I prayed for that pressure to come and I stopped seeing him around. For a week and a half or so there was no sight of him anywhere and I began to worry! Have I lost my chance? Have I wasted the time I felt for him and didn’t share?

Saturday morning I woke up and went running. I told God that if I saw him I would share. I made that commitment and asked for him to be there. I just knew it had to be done. As I ran by the stupa I searched for him and saw him nowhere. I made a full circle and ran back by just to make sure I didn’t miss him earlier. Still, no sign of him.

Sunday I woke up way earlier than I was supposed to and decided to run again. As I made my way down to the usual path, I was headed towards the stupa and chickened out. I was running to see if he was there and completely stopped in my tracks and turned around in the other direction. In my mind I thought, “I can’t do it, I don’t want to share today, I just want to run and get home.” When I made my way back towards our apartment I couldn’t help but be curious and see if he was down there. I haven’t seen him in weeks, so he probably wouldn’t be anyway.

When I turned the corner to where I could see his spot near the monastery, I immediately looked in that direction. I did not see him but he saw me coming. He was conveniently not in his usual place but instead he was standing on the steps where he first waved.

I walked up to him and fumbled through words asking his name and telling him mine. I immediately told him how I am a believer in The Most High God and have been praying for him. His face lit up and he wanted to hear more. Because his English wasn’t great he called his friend to come translate. Two minutes later a man walked up, and to my surprise he said, “Let’s go get tea!”

I found myself in an outer body experience walking into a small tea shop near the monastery with this monk and his English speaking friend. They were so kind. They treated me to tea and we sat down and had great conversation. They were genuinely interested in my life as I was theirs. I got to share with them the Truth of the Word from the beginning of time to Christ’s death and resurrection. They both sat intrigued with the stories and miracles Jesus preformed in his time here on Earth. It was the young monk’s first time ever to hear any story from The Word of God.

What happens next is what drives me to write and tell you about this experience! I asked the monk what he was doing the rest of the day and he said he was planning to visit friends because the next day he is traveling back home to India!!! He was only here for a short time to raise money to build a stupa in India.

The whole time I have been in Nepal, which is one month, he has been there. I had a heavy heart for him and had a wide open opportunity to share with him the day before he left Kathmandu! I can’t believe that I crossed paths with him, that day, at that time! I can’t believe he called his friend, who had flawless English, to come and translate the gospel into his own language! I can’t believe I got to share with him the name of Jesus Christ for the first time!   

I cannot convey to you the excitement that I have for how God works!! Never would I have thought that the day I got to share would be the last day I would ever get to see him. I am so thankful that I was able to be obedient and he got to hear about the Savior the day before he left for his country.

     

Through this experience I have been humbled. I have been reminded that there is absolutely no guarantee of tomorrow. I can’t take for granted the time I have with someone. And I can’t keep waiting for “tomorrow” to be the day I finally decide to do something big that will make an eternal impact. If I didn’t go running and make myself available to crossing paths with him, he never would have heard from me that day. My heart would still be heavy and I always would wonder what happened to that monk I so strongly desired to share with.

A piece of scripture that has spoken greatly to me this week is Jeremiah 20:9

But if I say, ‘I will not mention his word

or speak anymore in his name,’

 his word is in my heart like a fire,

a fire shut up in my bones.

I am weary of holding it in;

Indeed I cannot.

May The Word of God not be like a fire shut up in our bones. Instead may we be bold and ready to burst out its truths on everyone we meet. A good reminder is that we serve “the righteous God who probes minds and hearts” (Ps. 7:9). It is not our job to save people. It is God’s. He amazingly chooses to use us sinners who believe in Him to be His vessels for teaching the truth. So my job is simply to tell. He will take care of the rest.

For that I am thankful and I desire to be used.

“A moment of impact whose potential for change is far beyond what we could have predicted brings some together, and others spinning off into untold adventures… You can’t control how they’re going to affect you… you have to wait for the next collision.” –The Vow

-LauraLBrown

Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains.

Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

Ephesians 6:19-20

Promises

A few days ago there was a Hindu festival taking place at the Buddhist stupa. The stupa is- well I don't know much how to explain it- It is a massive structure where people go to worship. Not only do they worship it but the idols and gods that surround the structure. Many karmic practices take place there. 

Leah and I took our cameras to the stupa, which is in close walking distance from our apartment, to capture photos of the people at the festival! Boy were there people. We'd heard there would be many; I don't think I'd be taking it lightly to say a couple thousand. People PACKED everywhere! Shoulder to shoulder we made our way around taking in the sights, sounds and smells (usual for Kathmandu).

The crowded stupa

Beautiful Nepali Hindu woman

Tibetan Buddhist women

Nepali children

As we walked around we were not really sure at all how to pray or what to even say. The weight of darkness was felt overwhelmingly. The battle of how exactly do we go about prayer to what exactly is our role here? 

We made our way back to our apartment not long after being there... Our hearts were SO heavy. We sat on the balcony of the 4th floor overlooking some of the city and the stupa. To our eyes- we could see God's glory radiating from every aspect of the view. We asked ourselves how anyone could miss the beauty of His creation? How could people give praise to anything other than God when the most beautiful mountain ranges in the world surround them, in a valley, with a big sky painted blue and puffs of clouds blowing above? Truth is, their eyes are numb to it. I see God's glory because I know God.

One of my favorite stories I've got to hear Bekah tell a few times is about an encounter with God she had over a span of time in her life. This story fits so well into what happened next in our day....

Bekah's told how as a child she felt like God was her Daddy. How sometimes she'd lay in bed and feel as if God was wrapping her up in His big strong arms. She said as she got older she realized God is not only her Daddy but her Friend. When she needed comfort most, during trying times, He was there to put His hand on her back and show her peace. But my favorite of all of Bekah's meetings with God was when she realized He is not only Daddy and Friend, but He is Lover! She said there was an evening she was outside, alone, looking into the dark night sky talking to God. It was just Him and her chatting. When a lightning show took place in front of her eyes, just for her- no one else around! She felt as if God was showing off only for her to see- just like a lover shows off for the one he loves. He is our Lover- God shows off for those He loves!

That day as us three girls sat on the balcony of the fourth floor lifting up the people of Nepal, God proved to us that He is our Lover! He showed out in a big way by showing us one of His greatest promises He gave to the earth- Genesis 9:12-13:

And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come. I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth."

The neatest thing about the story is that no rain had fallen at all that day! It was as if God was not only wrapping us up in His arms and putting His hand on our back, but he was showing out for us... Promising us that He will not destroy all of life on earth again. Instead He has bigger plans. Plans for all the nations to proclaim His name in one voice! Plans to get glory from every nation, tribe, people and language. Revelation 7:9-17:

...Salvation belongs to our God,

who sits on the throne,

and to the Lamb...

Amen!

Praise and glory

and wisdom and thanks and honor

and power and strength

be to our God for ever and ever.

Amen!

...they are before the throne of God

and serve him day and night in his temple;

and he who sits on the throne

will shelter them with his presence.

Never again will they hunger;

never again will they thirst.

The sun will not beat down on them,

nor any scorching heat.

For the Lamb at the center of the throne

will be their Shepherd;

he will lead them to springs of living water.

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.



 Beautifully said.

-LauraLBrown