nepal?

so sometimes people ask us why we are going to go to nepal or what we are planning to do there. it is a fairly random place to head to for the summer time.

in 2002 after i graduated from college, i (tim) and 4 friends headed over to nepal to serve there as christians. we spent most of our time building relationships with kids whose lives revolved around the streets of kathmandu. we were there for six months and kristi came over and spent the last two months there with us as well. in fact, while over there kristi and i got engaged.

since then all the friends i went over with originally have got back over at different times. one friend was part of starting an orphanage in kathmandu and getting his home church in nebraska to sponsor the children there. (mike ohara) another friend started an organization called tiny hands international devoted to helping girls targeted by the sex trafficking industry, kids stuck on the streets, and women with no job training to name just a few of the groups it serves. check them out at www.tinyhandsinternational.org (john molineux)

also a good friend we made in colorado (calvin smothers) went over last year to serve there for 3 months and now has decided to commit to spending the next few years over there and landed there just this month.

all that to say, we haven't gotten to go back and miss our friends there both nepalese and american and have been very jealous of those who got to go and revisit. when we decided to come to israel we figured we were half way to nepal with a free summer before i start school in vancouver. when better to go?

so we will head to nepal for just under 2 months. we will see friends, encourage people, do some volunteering, and do a lot of resting and reflecting. we both brought our journals from the past 5 years and plan to reflect on, learn from, heal from, recover from, the last five years. sometimes life is such a treadmill we just need to step off for a minute to look back on the past.

we also hope to revisit the place where we got engaged. perhaps we will also get to go to the spot where i originally planned on proposing but was stopped because of massive avalanche activity. (perhaps that should of been a hint to kristi about what she was getting herself into).

it should be a great time for kristi and i both personally and as a couple, we can't wait!