Hiking and Teaching in Darang and Dhanbang

June 30^th – The Hike and Teaching in Darang

The day had come for our teams to do some hiking. We broke into two groups, and our group was supposed to do around 6 hours of hiking in one day. 3 hours to Darang, and 3 hours back. We woke up and Raju picked us up around 5:30am to head to the village that we would be staying at in Dhanbang. On the way, our car got stuck multiple times, due to the roads being so muddy, and had to get out of the car to help push, and also had to cross a small river. Once we got to the hostel we were staying at, they gave us some hot tea. It was sweet, and very good. Then it was time to start our 3 hr hike to Darang. We all had our backpacks with just the necessities and two, one liters of water. We estimated our backpacks weighed around 15 pounds each. Pastor Manooj and his son, Sujan, around 10 years old, joined us. It didn't take us long to realize that this was going to be a difficult hike, much harder than expected. We had to stop every 15-20 minutes to take a break. Pastor Manooj cut us bamboo hiking sticks to help us out. Thank goodness as there was no way we could've done it without one. At certain points during our hike a couple from our team weren't feeling well, and decided it would be best to turn back.

I, Isabelle, was one of those that headed back 3 hours in. Sujan lead me half way back and pointed out where I needed to go. Thankfully, the majority of the way back looked familiar, and I managed to get back to the hostel safely, while walking in the rain for part of it.

Larry and I, Carrie, decided we would go ahead and keep trekking on. Sujan was Larry and my guide for a while as well. He spoke very little English, but was very patient as we still needed to rest quite often as we headed up the mountain. There were multiple times he took us through a "shortcut" which caused us to literally have to use our hands and feet to get up parts of the mountain. We then got to a point where Sujan stopped. I saw a little building, and asked Sujan if that was the school. He said "school", and smiled, so I was thinking that's where we were going (Oh how wrong I was). It looked like it was just over a small hill, and I motioned if we should go. He said "Raju" so I figured he wanted to wait until Raju met up with us. So, we sat there a good 30 or more minutes waiting for Raju and Manooj to catch back up to us. Once they got there I asked if that school was where we were going, and he said "No"....so we headed on. Raju informed us that we were taking much longer than planned. At this point, it had been around 3 hours, and we were only about ½ way to the church. We asked Raju to give us an understanding on how hard the rest of the hike was going to be, and he pointed into the distance to another mountain. He explained that we would have to hike down the current mountain we were on, down to the river, then hike up that other mountain, and that the church would be right over the other mountain. As we headed down the mountain it started to rain. We stopped at a nice villager's house for about 10-15 min to try to get a little reprieve from the rain. It started to clear up, but the rain was on and off the rest of the trip. Going down, we didn't have to stop too much, but then the climb up the 2^nd mountain started. I felt like we had to stop at least every 15 min for a short break. I was so tired, but the breaks really helped. Every so often I would look up and see the views of the Himalayan foothills, and it was just breathtaking. Psalm 19:1 – The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. During the hike up, we took many shortcuts, which each one seemed to get harder and harder. They even took us through a couple of cornfields, where I would lose sight of Raju and Manooj, but they were always waiting for us at the top of each obstacle. Once we got to the top of the mountain, I was sure we were almost there.....but thus, we were not. We then hiked around the mountain to the other side, with Raju pointing out where we were having lunch, telling me, "only 15 more minutes." At least 30 min later, we got to that building which turned out to be the pastor's house. They served us Dal Bhat, which consists of rice, chicken, and lentils. They were going to bring us spoons, but I was hungry, so decided to do what the Nepali's do and just ate it with my hands. I was so thankful to finally be there. At this point, our 3 hour hike had taken us 6 hours. I was so tired, but Raju had told us around 100 kids were waiting for us, so we got ready and headed to the school. Acts 1:8 – "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." We went into the school, which was packed with kids and adults. There were also many people looking in through the windows and doorways. Everyone looked so excited to see us. Raju had told us that they had been waiting for us since 11am! (It was now 3:30pm) We went to the front of the church where they presented us with beautiful flower wreath necklaces. We did our lessons pretty quickly, and ended around 4:30. We then handed out gifts to all the kids, and to see the joy and excitement each kid had made this journey more than worth it. 1 Thessalonians 2:8 – So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own dear lives, because you had become dear to us. After we were done, Larry and I were doing the math and were worried that it would get dark for at least the last hour. At this point, I was exhausted. I had no idea how I was going to be able to make it back. But I knew I did not want to hike in the dark, so we started off on our hike back. The first hour or so we were going pretty fast, but had to take a few stops. Even though we were going downhill at this point, each step was so painful, and I did not want to slip and fall, so we were going slower than expected. Then around an hour or so of our trip back, Raju asked if I wanted Sajan to take my backpack. I said I would really appreciate it, and he took it happily for me....this kid just amazed me. I told Raju he was my personal Sherpa! Without my backpack, I was walking much faster (with my walking stick of course), and I felt like we made good time getting down the mountain. The sun was starting to set, and once again Larry and I were worried about hiking in the dark. Raju must have heard us, as he then gave us the suggestion of getting a delivery truck to take us back down at that first little shop, even though he did not recommend it. He wasn't 100% sure they would be able to get one, but we said yes. Not only was I afraid of walking in the dark, I just didn't know if I had it in me to walk that last ½ of the trip. As we were making our ascent up the mountain, I was really struggling. Each hill I saw, I would just pray to God to give me the strength and energy, which I know He was doing. Larry was also my little pep talker, reminding me to just focus on each step and keep going. Once we got to the top, I saw the truck waiting for us. I cried tears of joy seeing it, knowing the pain would be almost over. At this time it was getting dark, and I was so thankful that we had made it this far without having to walk in the dark. It had taken us around 2 ½ hours to walk back from the school to this ½ way point. The villagers helped Larry and I onto the bed truck and had me sit on a spare tire they had, and Larry sat on the side of the bed of the truck. We were sitting/waiting a good 30 min before we left. And then, I had one of the scariest rides of my life. At this point, the sun was completely down, and it was dark. They had a tarp covering the back part of the truck, so we could not see anything. This was probably a good thing, as it was terrifying going down this mountain. They would go fast down the mountain to make it up hills, do hairpin turns, with having to stop half way to turn the truck (with a guy banging on the back of the truck to let them know when to stop). Once again I was praying the whole way back for the Lord to keep us safe, as I heard Larry whistling a hymn. About 30-45 min later, we finally got to the hostel, a feeling of relief knowing that the Lord had been with us throughout the day and protected us through every obstacle.

July 1^st – Teaching in Dhanbang

We woke and quickly got as ready as we could to head over to the church in Dhanbang. They fed us a millet pancake and eggs, which were very good. We had a group of around 120 kids in attendance. This church also presented us with lovely flower wreath necklaces. When we were done, we started to hand out gifts, but unfortunately we ran out before everyone got one. After the lessons, they wanted to feed us again – literally about 1 ½ hours of them feeding us breakfast! We told them we were not hungry, but they asked us to eat "Just a little." I just ate the rice and lentils and it was good. We then headed back to Chitwan, with Pastor Manooj and another member following us to the river to make sure we got there ok. We did get stuck once, but after around 15 min, Raju was able to get up the hill, and we walked up to meet him. When we got to the river, thankfully it was low, but we still got out and walked through as Raju drove. The rest of the trip back was pretty uneventful, with a lot of scraping of the bottom of the car (poor little city car). We got back to our wonderful A/C room at the Rainforest Resort and were able to rest for the remainder of the day.

So far, our trip has gone very well, and we thank God that he has kept us all safe, especially in the last couple days of strenuous hiking for both teams. Psalm 91:11-12 – For He shall give His Angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.

Carrie and Isabelle