In a few short days, churches around the world, including Highrock Brookline, will be gathering in celebration of the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.  Many of these churches, including Highrock, will be encouraging regular attenders and newcomers to greet each other with the words:

“Christ is risen!”

“He is risen indeed!”

Usually, it is spoken with great excitement and energy. Speakers, presiders, lead worshipers sometimes use it to stir up the congregation, to muster up “joy.” 

Sometimes it works. People want to celebrate; be loud; be excited.  Other moments, and I’ve faced this before; I don’t feel “joyful”, but I put on a happy face and act appreciative of the day.

There must be more to these words, or is this just a Christian mantra that we recite once a year?

These words come from an early Church practice called the “Paschal greeting.”  It is an emulation of the words spoken by two disciples who encountered the resurrected Christ on the road to Emmaus.  When they realized that they had traveled, spoken, and almost had dinner with the resurrected Jesus, the scripture says this:

“And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” ~ Luke 24:33-34

When we speak these words to one another, we are proclaiming a truth about our Savior.  He died a horrendous death and He rose from the Grave…and He is still alive today!  These two events are the keystones of our faith.

Our faith in His death and His resurrection is the fountain from where our joy is fueled by (Phil 1:25).  Without these two events, our faith is misplaced and “our preaching is useless.”

Thus, the Paschal greeting we say to one another is meant to be a reminder, an encouragement to turn our eyes back to the foundation of our faith. It is an opportunity to say to others and to our own souls this life giving truth.  As we allow it to soak into our thoughts, we will find the joy that our brothers and sisters from the early Church days experienced.

Our Christ is risen…our Savior is risen indeed!

July 25, 2009
6:45AM Hong Kong time

We arrived at HK airport about an hour ago and are now sitting at our gate, waiting for them to let us onboard.  Some of the team members are currently hungry, probably a result of our heavy carb diet over the last 2-3 weeks.  It'll be interesting to readjust to eating non-starchy foods again.

Our last day in Kathmandu was relatively calm and enjoyable.  We went out to the Hyatt hotel in Kathmandu to meet up with Sofia's father's friend's sister who has been living and working in Nepal over the last 30 years.  Her 2nd cousin joined us for breakfast and it was really cool to just eat some good food while she told us stories about her insights into Nepal, the work she's been involved in, and overall just getting to know this lovely lady.

Later, we headed home and began the slow progress of packing and getting ready for the flight home.  It was an emotional goodbye as the host family gave us a blessing and wished us a safe journey.  After going through the Nepali traffic; being searched at MULTIPLE security checkpoints; witnessing security guards trying to scam some Korean tourists;  it's good to be heading home.

I know there are many questions that Sofia & I will need to chew on and think through once we get back, but it'll be good to return to the rythmn of life back in the States.

July 23, 2009

7:50AM Kathmandu time

It is another cool and sunny morning here in
Kathmandu.  The majority of the team,
including Sofia, are still fast asleep after a fun night of partying and celebrating
the orphans' collective birthday yesterday night.  For 4 of them, this has been a tradition for
3 years now, something that they use to mark their ages and also their new
lives here with the Sapkota family; something that the newer orphans will appreciate
increasingly as they grow older and stronger under the caring eyes of this
organization and family.

Yesterday was an interesting day for me
emotionally.  There is much I still need
to sit and percolate on before I should say what they are, but the process did
bring me back to a fundamental truth that I hold for my own life.  It's all about who you know.

Ever since I became involved with the HOPE project, I've
kept this reality in the back of my mind. 
My relationship to the Sapkota family is in direct relationship with
Mike Chen.  I was introduced to them
through him and their tender treatment of me as a friend is because of their
trusting relationship with Mike.  If it
wasn't for Mike, I would have never met them, nor would I have any sort of
relationship with them.  Even if I gave
money to their cause; sent clothes, toys, school supplies for the orphans;
became a fan of their cause on Facebook; it doesn't mean I have a relationship
with them, a real interpersonal relationship with them.  The reason why I am connected to them and
their organization is because of Mike Chen. 
My relationship with him thus is the conduit that connected me to this
family and what will always link me to them and be told in our history
together.

So it is with my relationship to the Father.  It was only through my Lord & Savior that
I could ever approach the Father.  It was
only because of what Jesus had done that made the relationship with the Father,
the adoption and taking me in as a real son of His, a reality.  It is only because of the grace that the Son
has extended to me, the invitation from Jesus, that made the connection to the
Father possible.  As Jesus put it
Himself, I can only come to the Father through Him, because He is MY WAY.

My connection with the Father will forever be linked to
my relationship through His Son.  The
most amazing thing about this, is after all these years, the Son still accepts
me despite my many character flaws, failures, hurts that I've inflicted on those
that He loved and accepted.  In the face
of the many slaps, spits, pushes that I've given Him through my years as a
screaming follower, He still forgives. 
He still welcomes;  He's still
here, within me.  How can one not love
Him?  How can one not be in awe of such
grace?

Relationship and trust; things that the human soul
needs; things that the Son gives to all who accepts;  things He longs for us to emulate with others
too;

July 22, 2009
9:00AM Kathmandu time

Woke up extra early today to catch the tota solar eclipse that was suppose to start from 540AM to 7:20AM here in Kathmandu.  Unfortunately, the clouds covered most of the view and Sofia & I only saw the corona of the sun briefly before the light started shining again.  It was cool, though, to see the entire sky grow darker as the moon and sun crossed paths.

Today is a pretty exciting day.  Our 6 orphans in the HOPE house will be having a birthday party tonight.  In Nepal, people generally don't know when they were exactly born.  Usually what you will hear is the month and maybe year if their parents took note of that.  As for the orphans, none of them know when they were born completely, so 2 years ago we instituted that July 24 would be their collective birthday.  However, three of our temmates will be leaving for the States tomorrow night, so we had to push the birthday party up two days.  Doesn't matter much, it's more important that we're all here to celebrate their new lives here in the HOPE house.

Since there was a solar eclipse, all the schools, private and government, are closed for the day.  That means we will need to keep the kids occupied and distracted while other members of the team get the cake and other party foods for tonight.  It's gonna be a fun time for every one.  :>)

July 21, 2009
9:34AM Kathmandu time

*This is a spur of the moment weblog, so please excuse the randomness if it comes off that way.

We came back from Pokhara yesterday night after a very long and exhausting micro-bus ride back to the capital.  Mike, and most of the students went water rafting yesterday and though it looked fun, I can't say I was completely jealous.  Glad that they had a great time and that we all could head back home together.

This year's trip has felt very rushed for me personally.  Today will be my first full day in Kathmandu where I can go ahead with a slower pace.  It was also the first day I got to take the orphans to their private school, something I had been waiting to do for 2 years.  Plus, today is probably the sunniest day we've had here during the last 1.5 weeks I've been here, so it's nice to be back, despite the noise and air pollution.

Today, Sofia & I probably will be visiting one of the local city hospitals and hopefully will gleam off some information about how the city level hopsitals conduct their affairs verses what we saw in Besishahar.  Besides that, today will be a slower day and more prep for tomorrow when we celebrate the orphans' collective birthdays.  Some of the female students will be flying back to Boston starting on Thursday and the rest of us will be flying out Friday night and be back in Boston by Sat. afternoon.

Though there's only a few days left, I know that there will be much to percolate and chew on the coming weeks after we get back.  Personally, the questions of how to allow Christ, who lives in me and I in Him, be incarnationally present amongst the people I interact with.  It's not about pure preaching or evangelism in what most people think of, but what does it mean to allow the living Savior be who is seen through me?  How do I become more of a mask for Jesus, a cover for Him, decrease myself as much as possible that it is He who is seen and heard than just the idiotic geeky guy that people typically see?

2 years ago, our team said that Christ is the hope for Nepal.  That is still true, but how do we carry that ideal into our own lives in the USA when we return?  How do we merge what we long for Nepal into wherever we are and not lose sight of those goals?  *sigh* Like I said, random thoughts and many more to ponder when we return.

July 19, 2009
11:21AM Pokhara time

Sofia is feeling better after a long night's rest.  She was able to get up and eat some food again, but she's taking a nap now to save her strength.  The TD definitely took a toll on her system and will need to take it easy for today.

Mike went back out to Arba to pick up the students after they spent the better half of yesterday and last night with host families.  The families all have children who are attending the computer education training classes offered by HOPE and were willing to house the students in order to let them experience what it is like to live in a genuine Nepali home.

The rest of the day is planned to be a day of rest and relaxation for the team as tomorrow we will be heading back to Kathmandu.  The plan is that Mike & the students will be doing some rafting on one of the major rivers in the country, while Dan stays in Pokhara for an extra day before heading out to meet with another contact.  Sofia & I will take it easy and wait for the rafting group to finish their little adventure before we head back to the capital city.

With the time left, Sofia & I will probably do one more visit to a hospital within Kathmandu to conduct additional interviews and evaluations of the health care system in Nepal.  This will hopefully give us some different aspects of the level of care that is offered in the capital verses what we saw in Lamjung.  Though, we were initially given the impression that the hospitals in Kathmandu were not very good, considering that hospitals here are divided into different tiers, we might see a higher level of quality verses what we saw in Lamjung.

For smaller villages, like Arba, one can imagine obtaining health care is difficult.  They would have to make due with what they can receive.  Yesterday, when Sofia was beginning to come down with TD, we were taken to a local home where it turned out the father was a retired doctor.  He practiced medicine in Nepal for 27 years, but retired 16 years ago.  He provided Sofia some medicine in an attempt to help her.  While we rested and waited for our team to finish up the soccer tourament that we were hosting for the village, several visitors came to the family's home.  People came in to get injections, be re-badaged, and get medications.  It appears that though the father is officially retired, he is still offering his medical skills to his home village however he can.

Hopefully, later today, Sofia will feel strong enough to tour around Pokhara a bit before we leave.  After that, less than a week before we head back home.  Still crazy to just feel how fast each day is flying here.

July 18, 2009
9:04PM Pokhara time

Sitting in our room in the Pokhara home we're staying in as Sofia sleeps.  It seems to strike every one who comes to Nepal during their first time, so unfortunately she has what is probably best described as TD.  I had it after my 3rd day in Nepal two years ago and it's been affecting other team members who are also new to the country.

Nepal, in my personal opinion, is a difficult place to adjust and adapt to at first.  Though there are familiar elements of western culture here, it is still one of the most foreign(non-western) cultures to those of us who live State-side.  The foods, sights, sounds, smells are all foreign to us, and can be overwhelming for a person who didn't know how to prepare oneself for this.

While the potential of contracting TD or any other type of infection is high, I have seen and experienced first hand the hospitality and care that Nepalese people will go through to take care of those they love.  The moment it was clear that Sofia was not feeling well, Prakash was willing to immediately take her home on his motorcycle ASAP so she can get to her medicines.  Afterwards, the family here have been concerned for her, trying to provide whatever she needs to get better, and were willing to cancel their plans in order to accomodate and take care of her.  It was the brightest spot through all this as I was worried about wife, but knew she was in very caring hands.

It does bring up some questions in regards to future trips to Nepal.  Maybe we will need to build into the agenda an acclimation period to allow newcomers time to adjust to the new encironment.  It doesn't mean the new people don't do anything, but what it does mean we set a schedule that allows the newcomers to not be overwhelmed with their experience of Nepal once they step off the plane.

Another idea is better planning on our side prior to traveling to Nepal.  Maybe all of us who've been part of this project for a much longer time will need to sit down and write up a list of things that we think will help newcomers to Nepal and implement them for the next trip back to Nepal.

This trip has helped me see how easy it is for those of us who are veterans to this country can easily forget how difficult it was for us when we came during our first time.  Compassion and empathy must definitely be part of our training for each other; when one of us fall, we all fall together.  Loving one another as He has loved us, no clearer picture of His words really being our lives' foundation.

July 18, 2009
6:40AM Pokhara time

Humidity!  So much humidity!  Sofia, Dan, and I arrived into Pokhara yesterday afternoon after a long and mostly uneventful bus trip from Besishahar to Pokhara.  The one event that definitely frigthened me for a moment was after 45 minutes into setting out for Pokhara, the bus abruptly stops in front of a bridge.  People all around us begin to raise their voices; women started shrieking; people pounding the windows.  Next thing I know, Sofia says she thinks there's a fire on the bus as there was now smoke coming out from the front of the bus.  Next thing I know, there is literally a human stampede to get out of the bus.  Sofia was able to jump into the stream, but I couldn't as it would have met stepping on the little kids that were passing me.  I then looked at Dan who looked completely calm, still listening to music on his iPod!  The moment of fear went away for me and confusion set in...should we stay on the bus or get out?

Turned out the engine simply overheated on the bus and that rush to get out of the bus was A VERY BAD IDEA.  Thankfully, no one was hurt and crushed in the stampede, but it was very sombering to see how all those stories I've heard of people dying b/c of a rush to get away from an unconfirmed danger turn out to be real.  Whereas for Dan, who's had experience with these types of situations, knew not to panic, and in turn enabled me to not panic either.

Either case, it felt good to be back in Pokhara again.  It's a good time to begin reflecting on the information we've gathered over the past week.  One of the things that is on my mind was with the last bit of information we all learned right before we left for the bus stop to head out of Besishahar.  We learned from one of the hospital nurses that in Nepal, the problem with HIV is rapidly increasing, to a point that the hospital workers are becoming more and more concerned about unknowingly infecting themselves or other patients.

The reason for this rapid increase, esp. around the Lamjung district can be explained by the fact that the majority of the men who live in that area work outside of the nation.  They either fly out to Bahrain, or Saudi Arabia, or India to find work and wire transfer  money back home to take care of their families.  Usually these men get one month of vacation time every couple of months to return home, which leads to many having possible affairs while they are away.  The majority of the men who are becoming infected with HIV are coming back from Mumbai, India, and are unknowingly infecting their wives when they return.

The problem then boils down to two things that need to be done.  1) People need to be tested and screened for HIV.  2) People need to be educated on how the disease is spread and how it damages their immune systems.  The sad reality, espeically around Lamjung district, is that many people don't want to get tested because the test is expensive for them.  The benefits of knowing whether or not they are infected do not outweigh the financial hit they would take on for just being tested.  The main arguement is if they are not infected with HIV, then they've wasted that money on no problem at all; even if the test costs no more than $5 USA per person!

Our team will need to discuss about this more, but there are some thoughts that maybe we can look into setting up some sort of fundraising drive to raise money for Lamjung hospital so that they can provide free HIV tests for the entire community.  This way, the doctors will then know who has the disease or not, thus allowing them to provide the best care they can for each patient.

As one can see, our time in Lamjung district was very productive.  It's been personally enjoyable to watch as Sofia processes and percolates on all that she's observed and learned from the hospital staff at Lamjung.  Seeing her jolt down her thoughts and questions has been encouraging and a small confirmation that we are meant to be here for this time and place.

July 16, 2009
6:40PM Kathmandu time

Our second full day in Lamjung district is coming to an end.  It was another full day of hospital work for Sofia while Dan & I decided to explore the local mountain side and see how far we could go.  Originally, we had planned on finding the local government school and do an assessment on it, but we realized that today was our last chance to try to go trekking in Lamjung, so we opted to try and see how far we could go.

Our first mistake was when we got to the border of the town, we were confused if we needed to register with the Nepali goverment that we were going to go walking outside of Besishahar.  The language barrier unfortunately also confused the Nepalese lady who was trying to fill out our registration cards.  Ultimately, we left the village without obtaining legal registration cards to indicate that we left the village and were heading out to the mountain range.

Our second mistake was the fact that it was such an impromptu decision to go see if we can get a view of the Himilayan mountains that we didn't adequately packed.  Even two years ago when we did a similiar type of trek in Pokhara, we at least had packed food, water, and left at an early hour.  We did none of that on this trek and found ourselves with little water, no food, and at mid-morning.  Plus, we had NO IDEA where we were going.

Thankfully, there were little merchant stores spread throughout the path from Besishahar to Bhulb Bhul Le and that allowed us to get needed water and food.  Plus, after about 3 hours of trekking and coming no where near Bhulb Bhul Le, we caught a micro-bus that was heading to the base camp.

We took a look around and unfortunately discovered that since we didn't have a registration card, we were not allowed to go walk on the path that would head towards the Himilayan mountains.  In addition, we actually were breaking the law by being at the base camp without a registration card.  Luckily, I mentioned that my wife was working in Lamjung hospital and made it pretty obvious to the two security guardsmen that Dan & I were simple idiotic tourists who made a mistake on coming up the mountain range.  :>P

They told us we could stay a little while and catch the next micro-bus back into Besishahar and let us go our way.  Though we didn't get the chance to see the mountains, we did see lots of sights along the way.  Plus, it was more exposure to the landscape and people surrounding Besishahar.  A sombering reminder that after you get pass the tourist signs and the attractions of mountain trekking, people actually live here and their existences are rarely acknowledged.

It took us about 40 minutes to get back from Bhulb Bhul Le into the town center of Besishahar.  It was surreal as we realized how much distance we covered in our 3 hours of trekking, and if we had decided to do the entire trek purely by walking, we still wouldn't be back to the village by now.