Monday, May 25, 2015

A heart for Nepal

Back in mid March I started receiving phone calls from a number in Nepal. At first I thought it was a telemarketer or scammer so I didn't answer. The calls always came during the morning or evening, but never at night while I was sleeping which would be daytime in Nepal. I googled the number but didn't come up with anything other than the number orginated in Nepal. After 2-3 calls, the caller started leaving voicemails. Nothing was said but I could hear background noise in a cracking, hollow sort of way that made me believe the person on the other line was across the world, possibly in Nepal. I became intrigued after the calls continued and returned a call one afternoon. We both said hello to each other but we couldn't understand much else so I hung up. I couldn't figure out why someone from halfway around the world would want to call me and how this person even got my phone number. Not long after that I signed up to join a mission trip India with a possible side trip to Kathmandu, Nepal. The calls continued over the next few weeks, usually going straight to my voicemail. On April 25, Nepal was rocked by an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8. Since then there have been over 100 aftershocks and larger earthquakes. The phone calls stopped for about a week, then on April 30 I received another voicemail from this same number. I was relieved that the person on the other line was ok even if I didn't know him personally. I was trying to piece together what God wanted me to do with this information about Nepal, and  I pulled up at church to the VBS sign that read the VBS theme was Mount Everest which happens to be in Nepal. I told God, Ok, I'm listening... but still confused about Your will here.....

Not long after that I connected with a Christian woman who lives in India who was asking people to support an orphanage in Nepal that had been damaged by the earthquake. We follow each other on Instagram. :) I later found out that this orphanage, Langtang Children's Home, is a home for disabled children in Kathmandu. Their home was damaged and the children were and still are sleeping/living in tents in an open field. They've had to move their tents to the streets and other "safe" areas after multiple aftershocks. To add insult to injury, this children's home lost their monthly sponsor just a month before the earthquake which is when I started receiving the calls from Nepal. Currently they need immediate relief and another sweet soul I met has set up a Go Fund Me page to help with current needs:

http://www.gofundme.com/langtang



I have yet to receive another call from my "friend" in Nepal since I became connected with Langtang children's home. I know God used this person to open my heart to God's hurting people in Nepal because I know so very little about the country itself other than it's a neighboring country to India and home of Mount Everest. These people have endured so much over the past month - earthquakes, aftershocks, storms, flooding, landslides. Everything they've known has been ripped away from them and it breaks my heart that vulnerable children have to experience tremendous heartache. I'm praying about a permanent way to help Langtang children's home find a new sponsors. I'm open to ideas and suggestions so if you have any, please use the email tab and send me a message (yellow triangle on the banner to the right).  I'm also looking at a possible mission trip to Nepal as well so if you'd like to be a part of that, please let me know. 

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