Hi there,
So yeah..soz finally got round to sharing the rest.I could pretend that I was too busy but frankly I was tired and the longer I left it the more I forgot about it .I'm trying to delve deep into my memory to pick out good bits of the last month in Asia before I headed back to Oz.
I don't think I said but I left Nepal to fly on to another wonderful Asian country but returning to Australia (yup ages ago but I'll not let get too boring).
Naming no names, this new country was the polar opposite to Nepal (I guess still is, 2 months on). There were MacD's everywhere, a fancy tube system that would put London to shame, streets were really clean and even had Starbucks for goodness sake! It certainly was a culture shock.
I was surprised that despite it being a huge, well developed city few people spoke English. It seemed generally only University students knew english. Just serves me right for having selfish expectations. I mean why should they speak English? This city could fit the population of Northern Ireland in around 10 times. It goes without saying there were many blank faces when I told people where I am from:-)
I do enjoy a good ould city so I had a great time...beautiful skylines, busyness, crazy but delicious food, culture and lovely people.
We made friends with University students, they took us out for lunch and we took them out...it was great. They ordered thankfully. I have to say after three months in Asia I am ruined for 'asian' food back at home, its a sad tale. We cheered on as they won badminton matches and helped them practice English. We got to know a lot about the country and culture. Through some of these connections we were able to see salvation and give out bibles, praise God!!
Unlike Nepal this place is a lot more closed to Christianity, many people didn't even really want to talk about the gospel, they just weren't interested. Maybe their cautiousness was partly due fear of this perceived western religion. Yet there were some western things that many people strive to achieve like women wanting to look more like 'white' women. Stuff like skin bleaching products and blue and green eye contact lens' were sold everywhere. It felt very strange to experience this issue of East versus West. How could I (and all of us on my team) get such positive attention because I have blue eyes and skin that freckles instead of tans?
We went to the same church each week which was for international folk. We made great friends, they were a real blessing to us. They were able to share more about the culture from a different perspective so we got to know things that maybe locals would be too proud to tell. Some values were shocking because its so different to what I've grown up with. We all have our own issues, UK and Ireland is no exception of course. My eyes have been opened to so much through this adventure. It really is incredible. I cant believe I never had much interest in visiting Asia before.
We did a lot of praying for God to intervene and ideas of how to help. We were able to work with foreign Christians who go out in the community. Some of us got connected with homeless and marginalized people. We taught and played with kids who having learning disabilities. We visited a children's hospital; played, sang and prayed (its a good job only 7% of communication is verbal). We talked to patients and gave pressies out in other hospitals too, we had translators sometimes. We always offered prayer. Some accepted, some not and sometimes we prayed anyway. No harm in not consented prayers when we were asking God for blessings. It was similar to Nepal in that we often just rocked up to these places, had fun and got invited back.
We worked in an orphanage, probably my favourite part of the whole outreach. The kids, the adults and elderly residents are amazing. We visited them regularly and so they began to trust us and we were able to have 'what I call, such fun'. Sadly there weren't many staff members to give them lots of one on one attention. So we had the privilege of loving on them and doing fun stuff. Hopefully in the future there will be more opportunities for teams like mine to help with practical things too. We would have been very glad to do so but its up to the orphanage, trust takes time. I have to say I found the language barrier a struggle. We had a translator but I often couldn't have a one on one conversations. This was especially hard with the elderly, they love a good story and natter don't they?!.
I know God did use us though and He gave us amazing favour with this orphanage as we were able to do more than we anticipated. We were afraid we might not be allowed to spend time with the babies but at the last minute the management changed their minds. Totally brill!! I really loved it. Unfortunately child protection stuff means I cant show any photos on here:-(
So cometh the end of my Asian adventure..onward bound for Oz. I realised how long this post was getting so Ill leave it there. Thankyou all for supporting me in prayer and everything.
Stayed tuned for more - my adventures do not end here :-)
So yeah..soz finally got round to sharing the rest.I could pretend that I was too busy but frankly I was tired and the longer I left it the more I forgot about it .I'm trying to delve deep into my memory to pick out good bits of the last month in Asia before I headed back to Oz.
I don't think I said but I left Nepal to fly on to another wonderful Asian country but returning to Australia (yup ages ago but I'll not let get too boring).
Naming no names, this new country was the polar opposite to Nepal (I guess still is, 2 months on). There were MacD's everywhere, a fancy tube system that would put London to shame, streets were really clean and even had Starbucks for goodness sake! It certainly was a culture shock.
I was surprised that despite it being a huge, well developed city few people spoke English. It seemed generally only University students knew english. Just serves me right for having selfish expectations. I mean why should they speak English? This city could fit the population of Northern Ireland in around 10 times. It goes without saying there were many blank faces when I told people where I am from:-)
I do enjoy a good ould city so I had a great time...beautiful skylines, busyness, crazy but delicious food, culture and lovely people.
We made friends with University students, they took us out for lunch and we took them out...it was great. They ordered thankfully. I have to say after three months in Asia I am ruined for 'asian' food back at home, its a sad tale. We cheered on as they won badminton matches and helped them practice English. We got to know a lot about the country and culture. Through some of these connections we were able to see salvation and give out bibles, praise God!!
Unlike Nepal this place is a lot more closed to Christianity, many people didn't even really want to talk about the gospel, they just weren't interested. Maybe their cautiousness was partly due fear of this perceived western religion. Yet there were some western things that many people strive to achieve like women wanting to look more like 'white' women. Stuff like skin bleaching products and blue and green eye contact lens' were sold everywhere. It felt very strange to experience this issue of East versus West. How could I (and all of us on my team) get such positive attention because I have blue eyes and skin that freckles instead of tans?
We went to the same church each week which was for international folk. We made great friends, they were a real blessing to us. They were able to share more about the culture from a different perspective so we got to know things that maybe locals would be too proud to tell. Some values were shocking because its so different to what I've grown up with. We all have our own issues, UK and Ireland is no exception of course. My eyes have been opened to so much through this adventure. It really is incredible. I cant believe I never had much interest in visiting Asia before.
We did a lot of praying for God to intervene and ideas of how to help. We were able to work with foreign Christians who go out in the community. Some of us got connected with homeless and marginalized people. We taught and played with kids who having learning disabilities. We visited a children's hospital; played, sang and prayed (its a good job only 7% of communication is verbal). We talked to patients and gave pressies out in other hospitals too, we had translators sometimes. We always offered prayer. Some accepted, some not and sometimes we prayed anyway. No harm in not consented prayers when we were asking God for blessings. It was similar to Nepal in that we often just rocked up to these places, had fun and got invited back.
We worked in an orphanage, probably my favourite part of the whole outreach. The kids, the adults and elderly residents are amazing. We visited them regularly and so they began to trust us and we were able to have 'what I call, such fun'. Sadly there weren't many staff members to give them lots of one on one attention. So we had the privilege of loving on them and doing fun stuff. Hopefully in the future there will be more opportunities for teams like mine to help with practical things too. We would have been very glad to do so but its up to the orphanage, trust takes time. I have to say I found the language barrier a struggle. We had a translator but I often couldn't have a one on one conversations. This was especially hard with the elderly, they love a good story and natter don't they?!.
I know God did use us though and He gave us amazing favour with this orphanage as we were able to do more than we anticipated. We were afraid we might not be allowed to spend time with the babies but at the last minute the management changed their minds. Totally brill!! I really loved it. Unfortunately child protection stuff means I cant show any photos on here:-(
So cometh the end of my Asian adventure..onward bound for Oz. I realised how long this post was getting so Ill leave it there. Thankyou all for supporting me in prayer and everything.
Stayed tuned for more - my adventures do not end here :-)
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