Monday in Prithvibasti

"Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, dong wonders?...You in your mercy have led forth the people whom You have redeemed." (Ex. 15:11, 13)


In the damp coolness this morning, our team stood outside the Kawasoti church and prayed with our brothers and sisters there once more. Our hearts are full of gratefulness for the three days of fellowship, worship, teaching, singing and learning that God gave us. Many of the people went home last night when the conference ended, but some lived farther away and spent the night in the church. I was awed and humbled to hear that some had a ten-hour walk home today.

We were excited to be going to the church in Prithvibasti--to meet new people, to see more villages, to experience a community that lies on the border of India.

The narrow highway winding through the mountains does not usually have a center line. Most of the traffic this morning were trucks and buses. Truck decor is like a circus! They are painted orange, pink, yellow, green, blue--and then covered with ornamental scrolls, decorations and pictures. Occasionally English phrases are included..."Honk Horn" "Speed Control." These informative phrases have also taught our team that "Love is Life" and "Love is Drama." :)

Despite the narrow road, it is not unusual to see a bus or truck broken down in the middle of the road--tire off or an axle on the ground (surrounded by several symbolic rocks to warn traffic). Our van driver (and the rest of traffic) is unphased, swerving around it and avoiding oncoming traffic in the thick fog. We've seen several wrecks (meeting traffic in your own lane isn't surprising at all), and this morning we saw several buses and trucks that didn't quite make it around a curve. Their front or back tire was slipped off the road into the 2 ft. wide gutter/"ditch" (along the mountain drop-off).

We pulled over to read a monument in a clearing that marked Nepal's east-to-west midpoint. It is 512 km to either border.

Prithvibasti lies at the bottom of the mountains--in the plains that carry into India. A canal runs out of the river to irrigate the crops in this area. Driving off the main highway, we were stopped to pay a road tax. Bumping along the gravel road, winding around pot holes, we had an idea why they would think it was time to collect a repair tax. :) These rural homes are made of mud and covered with thatch roofs. Many front yards' landscapes include water buffalo, goats and chickens.


We arrived at the church and learned that "youth" conference meant the entire family! Over two hundred people joined the conference; some of them live very close to the India border.

The pastor's wife here is the daughter and sister of the Lama family pastors with whom we have been working in Kathmandu and Kawasoti. We experienced the most loving and gracious hospitality in their mud home. They gave up their dining room so we could eat around the table. They gave up their two bedrooms for us. We felt very honored to be allowed into the kitchen to watch dinner being prepared in the dim light. Finally we could see how the delicious food we've been eating is prepared! When they serve chicken ... they cook the whole chicken!! They asked if we liked milk ... and we enjoyed delicious, warm buffalo milk. :)


Hearing the pastors's family's vision for ministry was very inspiring and humbling to us. We learned that the two daughters were skipping several days of school because of a Hindu festival which involved praying to gods. Their grades would suffer, but they accepted the inevitable loss without question. Although they dream of going to America, they have decided instead to go to Bible college and return to minister in their village--and more rural areas in Nepal.