Nepal - Tukche
Arriving in Nepal after a couple days of travel, we were immediately thrown into even more traveling. A 6 hour bumpy ride in the back of a friend's SUV through the pitch-black, curvy roads, led us to the city of Pokhara, where we spent less than 12 hours in order to quickly sleep and eat. The next morning, we immediately took a 12 hour bus ride on the edge of a mountain to the village of Tukche. The mountain roads were barely big enough for our bus, sometimes just wide enough for the four wheels to fit before the road fell off into a cliff of rocks and trees. At times, I would look out the window and not be able to see any road underneath us at all. The fear factor didn't bother me, but after about the ninth hour of being jostled around, I was definitely done with the bus. I left with my ribs still rattling and bruises on my hips, sides, thighs, and even my head from being thrown against the sides of the bus while going over bumps. For the next week, a group of friends and I hiked into surrounding villages about 1-2 hours away. We returned every evening to the same guest house in Tukche. I was able to explore a little bit and found Tukche to be a quiet, slow town with very friendly people and no other foreigners in sight. The sun rose early. We'd wake up at 5am to find that the sun had already been up and shining for who knows how long. By the time we came back from the surrounding villages around 5pm, the sky was already dimming drastically. The nights were cold. I had forgotten to pack my hat, which I had planned to use while sleeping, so I had to sleep cocooned under the blankets with not even a hair sticking out, leading to many restless nights. The days were hot. I sat out on the roof to read for a few minutes before breakfast and came inside with a fresh sunburn. Out of all the places we visited, I still think that Tukche was the most beautiful. Surrounded completely by mountains. Everywhere you turned, there were beautiful views of river beds, farms, valleys, snowcapped mountains. It's a humbling and beautiful thing to wake up to the Himalayan mountains outside of your bedroom window. It is even more humbling and more beautiful to walk through the dusty mountain paths, touching the trees, hearing the exotic birds, and watching the locals go about their day. Definitely the most beautiful place I've ever been. *To see her original post with pictures, CLICK HERE.
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The Himalayan Internship Program was an awesome and challenging experience for me. I can now say that I’ve shared the love of Christ with people who are considered “unreached,” made village children feel appreciated and loved, saw (what I consider) tarantulas, rode on bumpy mountain roads, learned some Nepali, trekked the Himalayas, saw Mt. Everest, learned more about Buddhism and Hinduism than I ever thought there was to know, made life long friends, lived the village life, became an expert at the squatty potty, learned the difference between a cow and a water buffalo, went rafting, and wore the same 4 shirts, 3 pants, and 1 salwar kami for almost a month (and that was more than enough clothes!). Now of course this all didn’t happen with ease. There are major differences between life in America and life in Nepal. There were unexpected trips to the bathroom, the lack of running/clean water and electricity, altitude sickness, poopy hands, dirty clothes, dirt in general, and only the good Lord knew what was on the bottom of my shoes. But all this was for the glory of God and His kingdom!
My entire experience in Nepal was because Jesus said in Matthew 28:19-20 to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything Jesus commanded. Jesus said to go to ALL nations even those like Nepal where most natives have never heard the true gospel. That was more than enough for me to go. The Bible also says in Romans 10:14-15, “14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” How can the Nepali people know Christ if His followers don’t go and tell them? The Bible made it clear that we are sent to bring the good news to all people and that He will be with us along the way. The Himalayan Internship Program made it easy for me to go to Nepal and help do what the Lord told me to do. In my time there, I shared in the joy of getting to know the children in many villages and was able to share how God made the world. I’m now part of the redemptive story of those villages. Praise be to God! God truly does have a plan for each of our lives and His thoughts/ways are indeed much higher than ours. I never would have planned such an adventure for my life, but God always has more for me than I expect. He also has an exciting plan for your life and I hope you never settle for anything less! -Erin (2014 Hippie) Come check out our resources page and get a head start on filling out an application. Spots are limited so the sooner the better. The application deadline is February 15th. We're excited!
We are excited to finally have a place where people can come and see what we are all about. This being our first entry ever, i'll keep it short and to the point. Come and experience a taste of what the Himalayan Internship Program (HIP) is all about. The gallery will give you a glimpse of the highlights and the about page will give you all the info you need on us. Look around and feel free to contact us for more info. Thank you for visiting our site!
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