The next day was Friday, 1/4. We finished up the youth camp in the morning. I led worship again, and Melissa gave the message. After wrapping up camp, we had lunch and then walked to a nearby village. It was a long walk down the side of a mountain, taking over an hour to get down. One of the pastors from Tansen (I think it was Vicram) walked down with us, along with a few other church members and three kids who were probably 10 or 11. Once there, we met with a group that ran a church in a little village just outside Tansen. The Tansen church supported them, so they wanted to send us down to minister to their kids.
We went into a super-tiny room that turned out to be their entire church space, maybe 8' x 15' (James' head would hit the ceiling if he stood up straight.) We packed a surprising number of people in - our entire group, plus a few people from the Tansen church and about 20 or 25 children from the village. We told Bible stories and sang songs - as before, it was cool to see the kids singing their versions of classic songs I had heard in Sunday school growing up. Before we left, we gave out little bracelets to each of the kids. They served us tea and cookies (I had like 10 or 15 cookies and several cups of tea) and then we began the long walk up.
The return journey was tough; who knew that going downhill the whole way meant that the way back would be uphill? Crazy Nepal physics...anyway, the younger crew decided to go at a little faster pace than Vicram, Robert, Debbie, Melissa and the rest. Shailesh and Aimee hadn't joined us when we went down, opting to rest after the morning's activities. As we went up, we were led by the three kids who had come down with us, scurrying in front as we tried to power through the seemingly endless climb. It was surprisingly warm in the open, rocky terrain; we ended up carrying our jackets the entire way. At a couple points, the kids led us across the rocks and dirt, requiring more climbing as we bypassed the snaking road. When we finally made it back it was just getting dark, and we were all relieved to collapse at our respective homes/rooms.
We went into a super-tiny room that turned out to be their entire church space, maybe 8' x 15' (James' head would hit the ceiling if he stood up straight.) We packed a surprising number of people in - our entire group, plus a few people from the Tansen church and about 20 or 25 children from the village. We told Bible stories and sang songs - as before, it was cool to see the kids singing their versions of classic songs I had heard in Sunday school growing up. Before we left, we gave out little bracelets to each of the kids. They served us tea and cookies (I had like 10 or 15 cookies and several cups of tea) and then we began the long walk up.
The return journey was tough; who knew that going downhill the whole way meant that the way back would be uphill? Crazy Nepal physics...anyway, the younger crew decided to go at a little faster pace than Vicram, Robert, Debbie, Melissa and the rest. Shailesh and Aimee hadn't joined us when we went down, opting to rest after the morning's activities. As we went up, we were led by the three kids who had come down with us, scurrying in front as we tried to power through the seemingly endless climb. It was surprisingly warm in the open, rocky terrain; we ended up carrying our jackets the entire way. At a couple points, the kids led us across the rocks and dirt, requiring more climbing as we bypassed the snaking road. When we finally made it back it was just getting dark, and we were all relieved to collapse at our respective homes/rooms.
No comments:
Post a Comment