It is hard to put into words exactly how the mission trip to Nepal has impacted me. It changed me as a human being. I now feel ashamed to walk into a grocery store and have all the options of every kind of foodimaginable. I have the option of cooking whatever I want or go to a gazillion restaurants during a course of a year. In Nepal - eating rice is a luxury, but it is also a staple food for them and is a preferred meal rather than a hamburger.

It took time to get used to the hectic all-over-road-traffic and pollution. I would flinch every time I had to cross a busy intersection because I felt like a walking target for some little Tuk Tuk to run over me. There are no stop signs at all so you can only imagine the chaos. Even in America, it’s sometimes scary to cross a road with a stop sign because you never know who’s flying through the streets only to get to a bathroom or running from the police. However, the chaos and flinching stopped once our group left the city of Kathmandu and made it across the magnificent, indescribable Himalaya Mountains to a quiet village near Hetauda. It was peaceful there.

We stayed at a church hosted by the most humble and happiest people ever. They made us feel like we belonged in the village, which helped us to prepare ourselves for the task at hand; walking to different homes hidden in cornfields and hills to pray and be the light for the sick people, broken and poor people, and rebuilt houses for those affected by the earthquake. Sometimes my eyes saw nothing in those dirt-floor buildings called homes, but yet those living in them thought they have everything… meaning they have all they need and are grateful.

Sometimes we need to see nothing in order to realize we have everything we could ever possibly need. God provides always. I went to Nepal – not to shove religion down people’s throats, but to be the light. To be love!! That is what Christians are called to do, wherever, whenever, and everywhere, no matter what religion or culture. This story could go on….forever. With Love.

Written by AIM Participant & Author: Emma Gingerich