In the Mountains
Our first week in Nepal we lived in the midst of the jungle in a river valley. Most of us slept in tents on terraced grounds used for goat grazing. We ate local whole foods, including fish and crabs I helped catch, and a chicken I held upsidedown while Jacob removed its head.
Our daily ministry involved hiking up mountains to make house visits, encouraging local Christians or sharing the Good News with people who were not members of the local church. We even visited a witch doctor and rebuked the spirits to stop assisting him with healings. (You can see him in my Instagram highlights @shuawilmot.) One man with a vision issue received clarity of sight after we prayed with him for healing!
More Miracles 
Our second week in Nepal we assisted in local church services and visited Nepali Christians, listening to their testimonies and giving them encouragement according to their needs. As with the first week, there are too many great stories to share here, but I can outline two important testimonies. First, there was a woman who had a brain tumor when she started attending a Christian church—a last resort for healing for many Nepali. In church one Sunday, she blacked out and woke up 7 hours later with the fellowship praying over her. She could see clearly for the first time in months, and she immediately sensed her brain tumor was gone. She went to the hospital ASAP to confirm the miracle with a CT scan, and her doctor was in such disbelief that he scanned twice. She went to Kathmandu and the top neurologist also scanned her two more times, not believing his eyes that the tumor was gone! Second, we went to a neighborhood where a fellowship of Christian neighbors from 4 separate churches regularly met to encourage one another to stand against the false teachings disrupting their local church body. Their community and their faith inspired us, and we shared verses to equip them.
The Trek
Over multiple days, our squad backpacked through a leech-infested jungle to spend time in an “unreached” village. Yes, there were actually leeches on the jungle path attaching themselves to our feet, and climbing into our shoes. We also had some amoeba-infected squadmates who were unable to finish the trek, and others whose cargo Jacob and I helped carry for them. All this led up to a house visit for which the hope was to share the gospel with someone who had never heard it. A stranger, Yuvraj, welcomed us with tea that was like liquid honey (with cinnamon). He wasn’t too open to conversation, so we kept it simple, humanized him and his family, and walked back to our homestay for dinner without having proclaimed the Good News. It felt anticlimactic. Then, at dinner, I started a conversation with the two French and Danish travelers who were also spending the night in town. The Dane was interested to hear from us an explanation of the Holy Trinity, which opened up a very life-giving conversation that ended up being one of my favorite parts of ministry in Nepal.
What’s Next?
Today we head out on the next leg of our journey in Nepal. I’m honestly not sure what we’ll be doing for the next 5 days, but our squad mentor has a plan. On May 22 we fly to another South Asian country and will have a week of debrief to reflect on our time in Turkey and in Nepal, then a week serving alongside many of our parents, then about 5 or 6 weeks of ministry before flying back to the USA for our final debrief.
Questions and comments are always appreciated, and they help me know you have read this or are praying for me. If there is anything you want to know, please ask so I have the opportunity to share more!
The entirety of this blog and its contents were written and published without any AI assistance.
