Making home in Kathmandu
Dear friends,
Thank you so much for praying for me and carrying me through my journey to Nepal. It went extremely smoothly - I had a layover in Istanbul where I met one of the girls I am living with and we managed to get seats together on the plane. She's called Nohemi, from Latin America, and spending time with her is so good for my soul as she's so fun and we can natter away in Spanish! Isn't it interesting that God closes the door (for now!) for me to go to Latin America and sends me to Nepal yet provides Nohemi as the first person I meet! He cares about the details - this is what I am seeing again and again.
On Friday we went into the city to get SIM cards, money, lunch and have a look around. There's a ring road around Kathmandu and we live in a guest house (owned by the school) which is right by the school to the south of the city. It's about 10-15 minutes drive from the ring road in a district called Lalitpur, the town is Thecho.
Over the weekend I have spent a lot of time sleeping and organising my things. My room looks wonderfully tidy right now! I tried to take a panorama of it.. see below.
We made it to an international church on Sunday which was fun. Met lots of new people from all around the world and had some good conversations. We went out for lunch with a couple of families, one of whom is very connected with the school. They were definitely "my tribe" kinds of people and I am super excited to spend more time with them and get to know them over the coming weeks and months.
Today we went to a major Buddhist temple, known as the "monkey temple" - you can see why! Stunning views over the city from there.
More and more people have been gradually joining us. Three of us arrived on the flight from Istanbul (UK, Venezuela, Canada), another new guy arrived yesterday (Finland), someone new has arrived today but I haven't met her yet and I'm not sure where she's from! And a Nepali guy has returned to the guesthouse today. We're definitely a global household. The combined number of languages spoken is unbelievable too - most are fluent in 2 languages, if not 3 or 4!
A lot of Nepali people in Kathmandu, particularly the younger generation, do speak English to some degree - most of the signs around are in Nepali and English, so it is easy to communicate. The local people are SO friendly - as we walk around, we wave to everyone and smile and say "Namaste" which is so good. I don't think I've ever been in so friendly a culture.
The power comes on and off a fair amount, and the water too! Yesterday I was in the shower and had just soaped and shampooed up when the water cut out. I then tried another 2 different showers in the house without any luck. So one of my housemates went outside to turn the water on for me!!
Please continue to pray for me on this new adventure:
- Protection over my mind, heart, emotions and physical body. The water is not safe to drink so I need to be vigilant about lots of things including toothbrushing, salad, ice, lots of the fresh fruit and veg..
- Good relationships with my housemates.
- Orientation and staff training, which starts tomorrow.
- That I would know Holy Spirit presence and closeness. I feel Him here - I see God's fingerprints everywhere I look. But I want all of what I do to be worship to Him, without trying to figure things out on my own first!!
Thank you friends! I value you an incredible amount!
With so much love
Hannah
