Dog treats or deserved gifts?

You all know that as I came back to the states, I has a "shopping list" of sorts to acquire quickly and to enable me to get my life started... SHOPPING LIST: 1) House (someplace to live) 2) Job (a way to make money) 3) Car (a way to get around)

I hit the ground running. I started talking with my old boss two months before I left Asia, to reconnect and find out about plugging back into a company that I worked at before and wanted to work for again.

Many of you remember that I totaled my car just before leaving for Nepal, so I had the money from insurance for it. I began looking for a car within that price range. I started putting feelers out for possible room mates and places to stay.

First, the lesson, then the car

In talking with a friend about wanting a car, I asked her to pray. I also said that I knew that God would bless me, since I had just spent a year overseas, working for him.

She corrected me slightly and said something to the affect of "No I think God will give you a great car because HE loves you and wants to give you good things." I didn't have time then to think on it or talk to her further about it, but I did remember.

The next morning as I kaud ub bed, I began to rumenate on what my friend had said. Does God see me like a dog that gets treats when she has performed well? Does he withold good gifts until I do good things, THEN release His blessing? If God loves me (which I beleive) and I am His child, then won't He give me good things because He loves me, and wants to give me things I will love? Or will He withhold that until I do something deserving of the gifts He can give?

Obviously, I decided that God DOES love me, and will give good things to me because He loves me, not because I have done something deserving of gifts.

SO... right after this time of reflection, I checked the internet to see if there were any cars that I might like. There were several things about a car that I really wanted and wasn't willing to budge on. As I turned on the computer, and looked for cars in my make, moedl and budget, a car populated that looked perfect. I was the first person to contact Sebastian about his car, and therefore had first dibbs to check it out. Good thing too, since the car was priced so cheap, there were 2 other offers to buy the car at the asking price without even seeing the car. I was able to do a lot of investigative work to find out from the mechanic whether or not it was treated well.

Sebastian gave me 15 minutes to see the car and test drive it before the next appointment.

I knew it was my car when I saw it, and gave him money for it, then and there! After taking it to my mechanic, he aggreed that this is a good car, that has been taken care of! whew!

hi-ho hi-ho it is off to work I go

I signed up with a couple of temp jobs to try and get by while looking for jobs. I had hoped to work at Avnet on my old team, but knew that things have not been so easy and there was a hiring freeze. My old manager tried and tried to get me into a position there, but to no avail. My resume however was sent to a couple other people within the company, and I was asked to go to a couple interviews. They went well, and at the second, was asked approached by my old boss. She said that they would soon have some openings and that my name was on the top of the list of people they wanted to interview.

It took a couple weeks, but finally, I have ended up with the job that I wanted all along. Again God has given me what pleases Him, but has made me VERY happy in the process! I start work on the 22nd of September, and am able to look more seriously into apartments and room mates!

God has so blessed me and rocked me by giving me what I had desired, that I am starting to dream real big regarding housing. The Father hasn't forgotten one small detail about the job and car that I was hoping for, so I have LOTS of faith for what He will give me as far as housing.

Be praying with me about this, mostly because I am kinda homeless until I find a place. Obviously I would like to find something soon and FINALLY feel settled in, but realise that I am not working on MY schedule, but HIS!

Thank you all SO SO much for your support and love and encouragement while I was gone. I am so blessed to have you all lifting me up. As you can see, I have changed the look and feel of this blog. I hope to continue to update this and send out prayer requests for my life and ministry that will continue to happen!

Those of you that have supported me financially over the past year, PLEASE consider supporting one (or some) of the REALLY great Nepalis that are working with Y- Nepal. I have been with them over the last year and can vouch for their hearts and ministry and responsibility.

If you would like to support them, it is SUPER EASY, all you have to do is use the SAME envelopes that you already receive, but put their name on a stickey note to mail your check.

It is VERY difficult for Nepalis to raise support, as they come from large families and small churches. The only way that most survive is the generosity of foreigners who want to see the nation of Nepal changed. The four people I would really like to commend to you, and some photos are on the side of the post, with info about their ministry.

If you do decide to support them, let me know, so I can tell them how generous MY supporters are!

Five weeks and counting...

I have been back in the states now for five weeks. It has been good to be back, see friends and eat great food! I have been lonely, missing the life and energy of life in Nepal. Upon returning, I set upon the task of securing transportation, housing and employment. So far I have only knocked one of the three out, but the easiest one! I purchased a 98 Honda Accord a couple weeks ago. This makes getting around MUCH MUCH easier! The car has been great, and should last me quite a while. I was really hoping to jump right into work as well. Avnet, the company that I worked at before is a great place and I was hoping to work with them again. Thus far I haven't been hired, but had an interview on Tuesday. Many of you have asked me about my plans and time in the US. I AM planning on staying in the states for a while, a year or two. I will be working a full-time job, and also furthering relationships with Nepalis in the area. I have also been introduced to the Bhutanese Refugee community in Colorado. Many Bhutanese refugees are being resettled in CO from refugee camps in Nepal. This is a great opportunity to meet them and help them and care for these people who have just come to the states from very depressed living situations in Nepal. So, ministry continues, even here! I have had opportunity to speak Nepali and that has been so great. I don't want to lose any of the language that I worked so hard to get! Your prayers for my job and finances are greatly appreciated. Also for good housing. I would like to room with some other people, but can't commit now without money, and don't know many people looking for room mates. Thanks all for your support, it truly is a blessing to me! Feel free to call or email me!

Catchin' up

My flight from Kathmandu to Karachi, Pakistan was great. As we were landing, I was looking out my window. I thought how dry and hard this land looks. I thought about how hard it would be to eek a life out of the dry dust. Islamabad was much like Nepal at the airport. Hundreds of people milling about, some waiting for passengers, some waiting for work, others just watching it all. I got to the guest house just before the power came back on. Brownouts are so common in Asia. I went to bed, knowing my breakfast would be served at 5:00am. At 4:00 there was a knock on my door. "Breakfast, ma'am." I told the man that it was 4:00 and I was not going to eat until 5:00. He kept knocking. Finally, there was a call on the room phone. It was the night manager, who spoke decent English. He told me that today Pakistan was going to change to daylight savings time, so it was in fact after 5:00. I got to the airport and boarded my flight to Gilgit. The flight was amazing! The plane flies low, in between huge mountains, I spent the whole time taking pictures! Gilgit was very warm. An oasis. The hills surrounding the city are brown and dry. Gilgit is very green and many trees can be seen. I spent the majority of my time in Gilgit sick. I think I brought something with me from Nepal, but also picked something up there in Pak. An Asian cocktail! I was able to go see Hunza, the valley that first fell on the hearts of my friends and our base. A friend and I went to a fort and got to see so many beautiful old women from Upper Hunza. They were so sweet and funny. They were showing us traditional dances and made us wear their hats. Pakistan is so very different from Nepal. There aren't many restaurants in Pakistan where a woman can go, let alone go alone. I spent 3 weeks in Gilgit, but never went to the market. It was great to SEE Pakistan, put my feet into that land and pray for it. It will be great to better understand what is happening and how to pray. NEXT STEPS I am back in Colorado looking for a job, a car and an apartment. I would greatly appreciate your prayers for this. I want to get settled and feel like I am "home" thus far, I am still feeling like I am traveling. I will keep you updated on that. Check my new photos, I uploaded a pile of them so you can see what I saw.

Another Article on Nepal's Sex Tourism

From treks to sex

Jan 24th 2008 | KATHMANDU From The Economist print edition

Is a new sort of thrill-seeker heading for Nepal?

“I CAN only dance when I'm drunk,” confides Srijana, a 20-year-old employee of the Pussy Cat Bar and Shower, a tavern in Thamel, Kathmandu's main tourist hangout. A few slurps from a customer's glass later and she mounts a small stage. There, to whoops from a few tipsy locals, she sheds most of her clothes and gyrates to a Hindi pop tune. Dangling above her is the Damoclean sword included in the bar's name: a silver shower nozzle, positioned to spray flesh-revealing water on a dancer below.

Such gimmicks are common in Thamel's bars, where competition for lascivious males is fierce. Until a few years ago Nepal had no obvious sex industry. There are now an estimated 200 massage parlours and 35 “dance bars”, such as the Pussy Cat, in Thamel alone—with over 1,000 girls and women working in them. Many sell sex. In the Pussy Cat, another dancer admits to turning tricks, for 1,800 rupees ($28).

That is a tidy sum in Nepal, South Asia's poorest country. It is much more than Nepali women are paid in India's flesh-pots—to which over 5,000 are trafficked each year, according to the UN. But the dancers in Thamel are chasing a richer sort of Indian: tourists. And their government seems to be encouraging them. In an advertisement for “Wild Stag Weekends”, the Nepal Tourism Board offers this advice: “Don't forget to have a drink at one of the local dance bars, where beautiful Nepali belles will dance circles around your pals.”

In a country with a rich tradition of dance, where paying for sex is illegal, this might be harmless innuendo. But not everybody thinks so. During the recently-ended civil war, Nepal's Himalayan tourism industry collapsed. Some activists think that sex tourism is replacing it. According to John Frederick, an expert on South Asia's sex trade, “Ten years ago the sex industry was underground in Nepal. Now it's like Bangkok, it's like Phnom Penh.”

The war, which put much of rural Nepal under the control of Maoist insurgents, has increased the supply of sex workers. Srijana is from the poor and still violent district of Siraha in southern Nepal. She was widowed there two years ago, and left an infant son to come to the capital. Yet she is remarkably cheerful—perhaps because she is drunk, and the shower is not working.

Interesting Article on Cabin Restaurants!

NEPAL: Cabin waitresses subjected to sexual exploitation KATHMANDU, 20 June (IRIN) - "I constantly wish I could be run over by a car and killed," said Rekha Biswakarma, a traumatised waitress, who works at a cabin bar in the capital, Kathmandu. She was raped by a client and threatened by her employer to keep quiet or lose her job. Her colleagues told the 20-year-old to forget the incident, warning that she would never be able to afford the court costs and had no evidence to prove the crime. But forgetting such an ordeal has proven impossible. Biswakarma has tried to commit suicide several times but stopped herself for the sake of her five-year-old daughter. Two years ago, she and her husband arrived in the capital to escape their impoverished lives in Makwanpur District where they constantly suffered food shortages for lack of income. They depended on her husband's work for a local farm and barely made US$1 a day. Her situation deteriorated in Kathmandu after her husband left her and disappeared. She had some friends working in the cabin restaurants and they offered to find her a job as a waitress but did not tell her what the job really entailed; she only found out when she was sexually abused and raped in her first week. Dangerous jobs Cabin bars, established during the mid-1990s in the capital as part of the entertainment sector, have since become venues for forced prostitution, according to local NGOs. Each bar has separate and private cabins where the waitress has to "entertain" the clients to encourage them to spend lavishly on alcohol and food. The waitresses, aged between 15 and 25, are mostly migrant workers from the villages in nearby poor districts such as Lalitpur, Dhading, Nuwakot, Sindupalchowk, Kavre and Dolakha. Most of them are barely literate, divorced, internally displaced persons and/or victims of domestic violence, according to a local NGO, Saathi, which runs a project creating a safe environment for the cabin-bar waitresses. "They should shut down all these bars or all the girls will keep on getting sexually exploited openly and without any control," said Biswakarma. She is one of thousands of waitresses in the capital who suffer severe forms of sexual exploitation, including molestation, rape and violence, at the hands of both clients and bar owners. According to the Nepal Restaurant Entrepreneurs Association, there are more than 20,000 waitresses working in 800 cabin restaurants and bars in Kathmandu. "Their stories have always remained under-reported in the media and their situation remains grossly neglected by the government," said Uma Lama, an activist from Saathi. One of the reasons why the waitresses do not get enough police and legal protection is because they are often portrayed as commercial sex workers in the local tabloids, she explained. Lama, who has worked on protecting the cabin waitresses for eight years, says she has met scores of women like Biswakarma who have been raped or sexually abused. Most continue with their jobs because they have no alternative. Re-training programmes "A lot of my friends became sex workers after they were raped, abused and forced to have sex with clients because they felt there was nobody to protect them and it was better to agree and make a better income," said Sabita Chettri, a former cabin waitress. Chettri was rescued by Saathi and provided with temporary shelter and training as a masseuse; she now works at Himalayan Healers [see: http://www.himalayanhealers.org/], an eminent spa centre, which is also helping to provide jobs to sexually exploited waitresses. Saathi has been helping 200 waitresses through its Gainful Employment Programme, which started in 2007, and trains them in security work, clinical care assistance, care-giving, massage, painting, driving, tailoring and as beauticians. Private companies have also joined up with Saathi to provide them with jobs after their training. Recently, the NGO helped to rescue 55 waitresses, 32 of whom were younger than 16. "The crimes against these women are so horrendous inside the cabins that we are often in tears when these victims tell us their stories," said Sulaksana Rana, an activist from Saathi, who also works as a counsellor. "Most are extremely vulnerable as they lack protection and are very poor and have to survive on the sympathy of the clients, who are ruthless and dangerous," Rana explained.

Last week in Kathmandu. It is coming to an end, and I am sad. It is hard knowing that some of the people I have met I won't be able to see again. I feel the weight of responsibility, to connect with these people, and continue to love and support them from the other side of the planet. Some friends are illiterate, and unable to email, and can't afford to call. Most of my good byes have been said. Most of the tears wiped and gifts exchanged. This year has gone so fast. but it is over and time to move on. Tapai ko nam ke ho = Aap ke naam kya hai Unable to get into China has changed my plans for the next three weeks. I will head to Pakistan, where some friends are working. I am excited to go and see them, and to see a new place. I am REALLY bummed that I can't go to China. I wanted to badly to go and see some friends there. There were some Nepalis in particular that I wanted to connect with. The Chinese Embassy has changed their rules for applying for visa, so I am unable to go this time. Pakistan will be an adventure! I know it will be so different and difficult for me. I am used to Nepali culture and can, for the most part, switch back and forth from American culture to Nepali. I am comfortable with my role as a single, white woman here. This will all change in Pak. I will be able to understand many things since Urdu and Nepali are similar, but won't be able to respond. Maybe that is for the best, since I probably shouldn't be talking anyway. I will have a pretty steep learning curve I am sure. Please keep me in prayer. I leave Nepal on 31 May and leave Pakistan on 22 June. thanks all!

The End Is Near...

So hard to believe that my "ministry" time in Nepal is drawing to a close. This is my last week of official ministry. The following weeks will be spent with friends and surrogate families. It will be a nice time to say good-bye to so many who have been such a blessing! My time in the village has been so great. I am sad to be leaving, and I know this weekend at church will be filled with lots and lots of tears. Knowing that leaving a place means maybe never seeing people again is hard. I don't know when I will see them again. So many foreigners come to Nepal, make great relationships and then forget about the people. I am committed to not be one of those people. I want to stay in contact with them as much as I can. I want to help them, encourage them and see them released into what God is doing in their country and their lives. NEXT steps... From here I head to Xining China, to visit friends and hang out. I am excited to see a new place, to reunite with old friends and meet some new ones. I have my tickets arranged to a near by city, but haven't gotten the ones to Xining yet. A friend there in China is arranging them for me. I also still need to apply for a visa. Keeping that in your prayers will be such an encouragement to me. Many of you know that the current situation in Tibet is tense. I am hoping that Tibet will reopen to foreigners and I can go to Lhasa while in China. I hope so. From China I will head to Pakistan. I am going to go up north to where some friends have been working for about 7 years. I have arranged my Pak visa, and tickets home from Pakistan. The edges of the puzzle are put together, but I have a few pieces in the middle that need placed. I am praying that either a team currently in country or some friends who are headed to Colorado will take one of my bags back with them. This would surely lighten my load, and allow me to bring a few more gifts for friends to China and Pak. Also, I need to arrange transportation to Pak from China. This is the last flight that needs arranging. Please be keeping these things lifted up in prayer. THANKS SO MUCHIE

Six weeks and counting....

It is so hard to believe that my time here is drawing to an end. Six weeks is all that remains of this Nepali adventure. I am blessed to yet again have been in Nepal during such an important and significant time in its history. Being here during the Constituent Assembly elections has been exciting. Watching Nepalese take their future into their own hands; seeing believer’s take responsibility for voting; demonstrations, demonstrations, demonstrations. Loud speakers shouting catchy slogans and bashing their opponents. These have all been very visible aspects of the elections. And they happened, PEACEFULLY! It was so surprising. While I have been in Nepal, the elections were postponed twice, and many thought it might also get postponed a third time. Many were worried about violence and retaliation, but the elections were peaceful. The people of Nepal have decided to let the Maoist Party write their constitution. They have decided that communistic ideology is the best ideology. I can’t say I am happy about it, or that I am not afraid of the future of mission and Christianity in Nepal, but I am happy that the people have voted. From the frying pan into the fire: I am hoping to head to Lhasa, Tibet in June, to see the Potala Palace and then go to Xining, where I have some friends studying. I will spend about a week and a half there, seeing friends from my school in 1999 and also some Nepalese and Pakistanis that are training and staffing there. I am excited to go to a new place, and to see friends. Please be praying for my time. The news is rife with stories of Tibetan refugees and Chinese oppression. I want to see this land, but need to be careful as well. I want to go to Tibet directly, but the area is currently closed to foreigners. After China, I will go to Pakistan to see other friends. I am so excited to go and see them in their home and ministry. I will be applying for a Pakistani Visa this week, as well as filing for an extension to my Nepali visa for the last month I am here. Please continue to pray for me and my upcoming travels. THANKS!

After a long time....

Hello all. Sorry for the delay in updating you all. Things have been good, but busy, and I haven’t wanted to sit through painfully slow internet connections to upload a blog. The past two months have gone by in a blur. I can’t believe that three months are almost past already! Though the past months have been really great. 20 students came for a two month outreach from Australia. It was quite a shock at first to have so many young people running around. A group of about 8 joined me and the two Canadians for about five weeks. It was a good five weeks. We spent time in a local village, praying and also organizing a clean up event, where we cleaned the village and also were able to share through skits, songs and speaking that we need cleansed on the inside as well. We also spent a week working in the cabin restaurants. This was a great time for some of the students to connect to the cabin girls and also to the neighbors and shop keepers in the area. I was sick that week, and it was quite a struggle to have the energy to translate and go out all the time, but God was good and I was able to help the students connect to the people around us. We met many people who are interested in learning more about Jesus and we still continue to build those relationships. Now I am back to working in the local church plant. It has been good for my Nepali skills, but a challenge for me personally. I enjoy the people so much, but our time can sometimes feel stale and dead. Please pray that the Holy Spirit would fill our meetings, and that we would know God’s will for our time and how to spend it. I wrote before about our land purchase. Praise God that the money all came in! It is so good to know that God also wants to provide and give us good things! He has confirmed that by giving us the land monies. Thanks for your prayer and support for this as well! The countdown is on. I will be back in the US in about 3 months! It is so hard to think about my time here coming to an end. I have enjoyed my time here so much, and feel a little like a deserter that I am leaving Nepal during such an important time. In about two weeks, Nepal will hold elections, voting for a government who will rewrite the constitution and all its laws. Nepal has been in a state of limbo for a while now. The temporary government has postponed elections several times over the past year and a half, and now it seems like the election might actually take place. Be praying for Nepal. More than anything, pray that good, caring and responsible Nepalis will vote in the elections. Many are not interested and have planned to take vacations instead. Nepal is a young democracy, and many have felt like their voice has never been heard. This election will put into place the constitution that will govern this land. From this election, the future of mission and organizations and workers like me may change forever. If good people (especially Christians) choose not to vote, then people in this land don’t want a democracy. It is so easy for our people here at the base to pray fervently for Nepal, but are still unwilling to seek God about voting. Pray for them. Many of you have read, seen and heard much about the unrest in Tibet. I have heard of some clashes here in Kathmandu as well. Don’t worry, I am far removed from that side of town, and here in the village, we haven’t seen or heard anything about the situation in Tibet. Pray for this land as well. We know that God has created Tibetans, and He loves them. Pray for peace to be restored to this land.

GREETINGS FROM NEPAL

Hello all. As I sit typing this email, I can see some people farming their terraced plots of land and can hear someone filling a bucket from a water pump. Behind me in one of our classrooms 13 students are studying the Bible in Nepali. They are part of a several month course where they will read through the Bible three to five times. They are learning the Inductive approach, which will teach about the times and authors and situations in which the Bible was written. This is quite a challenge for many of them, who are taking this course in their second language. Sabina, our hospitality director is running around preparing rooms for the 23 Australians who are coming for outreach today. The sun is finally breaking through the fog and things are warming up. The birds are chirping, the flies are buzzing, people are taking layers of clothing off. It is a good day. After returning to Nepal I made a room change. My room now is much smaller, but that makes it easier for me to heat. I also have a new roommate; a team of three came from Canada after I got here. The room is great, except that it is much louder than the last room I had. It gets morning light, so I can thaw out pretty easily! Also, making big base news is the process of buying a new plot of land! Our base is situated right next to a Madrassa. This is a Muslim boarding school for boys. Most of these boys are from the southern part of Nepal or India. For the most part, we live pretty peacefully. They are very nice when we need help or space, or when our volleyball goes over the fence. They have begun to buy up plots of land surrounding our base. It is frustrating to see that the plots of land we have been praying for are being bought up by people who don’t like what we are doing. They recently began negotiations for a plot of land right next to us. They were planning to buy it for some housing. Miraculously we were able to arrange to buy the land before they put any money down. We paid two Lakh Rupees (200,000 or $3,100) for a down payment and need to pay the remaining 14 Lakh (1,400,000 or $22,275) within three months. PLEASE pray for this provision. God has done one miracle in letting us begin the process of buying the land, but we need to see another to actually buy the land. If you feel led to give, let me know! I will keep you posted on the happenings here!

last few minutes in America

My bags are packed, I'm ready to go... I'm leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again. So my last few hours have been filled with packing, weighing repacking, reweighing and getting everything cleaned up. Hard to believe that I am leaving the US again. For some reason this time is a bit harder. I think it is because I was only back in Denver for two weeks. I am excited to go back to Nepal and finish what I started, complete this trip and be with friends there. This time is a little different though. I leave Denver at about 5.30pm today (Monday), and I arrive in Nepal on Wednesday at about 1pm. I am SO NOT excited to be in transit, trapped in the small seat with 500 new best friends. I can only hope for well bathed small people to sit next to me, and for good movies on my little screen. I arrive in Nepal on Wednesday which is typically the day we have our base staff prayer meeting. It will be fun to see everyone at once, and have see people I otherwise wouldn't. Not sure what my ministry plans are, I think I will be working on the same team as before, only this time a team of three is coming from Canada. I think I am going to lead the team (or I guess guide the team is a better term), helping them adjust to Nepali life and culture. We'll see. Thanks so much for praying for me! I have been so blessed by you all! Your calls, emails, comments, hugs and coffee have been an encouragement! I feel like you go with me when I travel, that I am not alone. I received word that the insurance policy I took out will reimburse me for my flight to the states in November. This is a great help, keeping me debt free and lifting that burden from my shoulders. Blessings to you all! Come visit!