Hello everyone!
I still can’t believe that we are in Nepal! Everything in the culture here is so different. Our ministry host is so incredible and so generous to have us here. Brian has been so welcoming and hospitable to us.
As far as ministry goes, we have spent some time in the slums as well as teaching English to women at risk in the women’s center. Both of these have been amazing experiences that I have learned so much from, but so far my favorite ministry opportunity that I’ve had was actually before we even got here.
I was sitting next to a Nepali man named Bhishma on the plane from Doha, Qatar to Kathmandu. He was very kind and was asking me a ton of questions about what I’m doing in Nepal and what we were planning on doing there. We ended up having a whole conversation about it, and he told me that he was a quantum physicist and that he was actually coming home from Germany, where he was doing his research. When he told me that he was a physicist, I asked him whether he believed in the big bang theory out of curiosity since he relied so heavily on science. He said yes and reciprocated my question.
This was the moment where I could either tell him what I believed and why I was actually here or just avoid the opportunity that I had to share the gospel with this man. It was a real fight or flight moment. It was so crazy as I was sharing the gospel with him because from the beginning he continually kept telling me that I was wrong. He kept using science to try to tell me that my relationship with God was all in my head. He wasn’t receptive at all to it at first, but the longer I spoke with this man, and the longer I withstood his arguments, the more his heart began to soften up to what I was saying to him. His questions went from being very abrasive and questioning me to asking more open-ended questions like, “Why do you pray to God?” and “How does the God speak to you through the Holy Spirit?” and more.
I think this creates a beautiful representation of what it looks like when God isn’t afraid of our questions or concerns about Him. He wants us to throw all of our cares and worries at His feet. He is so much bigger than we could EVER imagine. He welcomes our doubts and questions and answers them in perfect time. This is such a beautiful picture to me!
By the end of my conversation with Bhishma, he definitely still had many questions but made a promise to me that he would open up his heart to a relationship with the Lord. He pinky promised me that he would pray for the first time that night and that if anything came of his prayers, he would go to a church to learn more about what it looks like to have a relationship with God.
After this, my heart felt like it was on top of the world. I prayed for him for almost the entire rest of the flight, until I fell asleep from having my eyes closed for so long. I just kept asking the Lord to continue to make little dents in all the walls Bhishma had up surrounding faith and God, and that He would show him whatever He wanted Bhishma to see, he would open up his eyes to the gospel and see the true love that Jesus has for him.
I have been praying that prayer every single night since. I thank the Lord that He provides ministry opportunities in places we don’t expect and that His heart is for us and not against us. His love is so much bigger than we think. That he can work in people who do not believe and change their minds, and that He is open to every question or concern they may have. I am so in awe of His plans that are greater than mine, and so thankful for this incredible opportunity to bring Bhishma a little bit closer to going from death to life.
Hannah
