We run this: Pokhara.

Apologies to all… we owe you an update.

So here is what has been happening in Nepal.

On Saturday we left for Pokhara. After a hot six-hour bus ride through the mountains, we arrived in a beautiful town hidden in the hills. Before leaving, we had planned to meet up with a man named Hom who worked with young life. For those of you who don’t know, young life is a Christian ministry that reaches out to high school students who are not typically reached and seeks to show Christ through loving relationships. We didn’t know exactly what we would be doing, all we knew was that we were helping out with a camp and maybe teaching an English class. Embracing the unknown, we followed Hom to a hotel where he said the camp would be taking place. The kids weren’t coming till the morning so the night was ours. We met some of the other staff members and they starting asking us questions about what we had programmed… Programmed!?!? We had nothing programmed at all. We felt mountain of expectations. Luckily God’s hand directed every moment of the camp and we soon learned we had nothing to fear. Hom asked us the share something in the morning meetings so Sarah and I (Kevin) shared our testimonies while Hom translated. After singing some songs it was time to go outside for some field games. Soccer is not our sport… so needless to say, Chris and I spent an hour and a half each day getting schooled by Nepali students. While embarrassing, it was so fun! I think the boys felt sorry for us and would give us sympathy passes when no one was around us to ensure we felt included but wouldn’t mess up the game.

Then came the moment we were all not looking forward to. ENGLISH CLASS. It is safe to say that Sarah Chris and I have never taught anything… ever! So it was a bit unsettling when we were expected to teach a group of 35 Nepalis some English. But yet again God took control. The kids were very involved and seemed to enjoy it. Chris said it was hard and that we didn’t know what to do but it went well for our lack of experience. Sarah agreed and thought that it went better than expected. She thought they were gracious students and we ended up having fun. We aren’t sure if we taught anything new, but at least we could help with some simple grammar. In the end the camp was a success. We were able to see young life in Nepal and made some good friends.

Yesterday we met up with a woman named Anna who shares our love for the street children. Anna is one of the most passionate people I have ever met. To see her talk about the boys was incredible. She has devoted the past year of her life to working with one particular boy name Prakash. Anna shared some great insight with us. Her spitfire southern attitude was addicting and got us all excited to go back home to Kathmandu to see the boys. Please pray for Anna and her life. She shared with us that things are getting a little difficult. It has been such a blessing that God has provided some of the most incredible people for us to run into and learn from. To learn more about Prakash and Anna please visit the website below.

http://artbeatnepal.wordpress.com/team-prakash/

Today we rested and Raju (one of the leaders from the camp) wanted to take us around town a bit. As it comes time to go back to Kathmandu please continue praying for wisdom and discernment with our difficult street children ministry. Also please pray that God blesses Hom and the work he is doing here with the youth and young life. He is an incredible man and we are fortunate to have had the chance to get to know him.

We love and appreciate all your prayers.

Sarah, Chris, and Kevin

The street kids of Thamel

Potato sack races at the young life camp. (Check out the girl in the back about to eat it!)

Beautiful Pokhara.

Teacher Kevin!

Sarah, teach me how to dougie!

Young Life Nepal.

Kevin grew some more hair.

Chris has become the Justin Bieber of Nepal.

Lake swim with Raju!

Sarah and Chris at Devi's Falls

Two Weeks In!

Hello Friends!

We recognize that it has been a long time since our last entry. Therefore, we will try to update you on our past week and what we are currently experiencing.

Our days here in Kathmandu are simple, yet exciting. We wake up around 8:30 AM and eat breakfast, typically with a game of Bohnanza on the side. At 10:30 AM, we meet our friends Dilip and Rina at a large field in the middle of the city called Ratna Park. Dilip and Rina run a ministry among the street children that live on the premises of Ratna Park. Dilip and Rina clean their wounds (usually self-inflicted or from a street fight), spend time with them and give them clean water. Yesterday we mixed things up and played soccer/volleyball with a few of the children. 

Our afternoons are open and free. We have made friends with the street children of Thamel (where we are staying) and so if we run into them, we hang out with them. We also travelled to Pashupati where we familiarized ourselves with one of the Mother Theresa homes—a place we will be serving throughout our time in Kathmandu. 

We are currently in a rough patch. Two nights ago, one of the street children saw us eating on the second floor of a restaurant. He came upstairs and we offered him some of our food. Once he got a bite of our food, he leaned over the balcony to show the rest of the street children that he was eating with us. Immediately all the rest of the children asked for food and we couldn’t give any more out. It was an awful feeling, and to be honest, the feeling hasn’t left.

After eating that night, we went down to the street to say hello to the children and say sorry that we couldn’t give everyone food. We were met with cold shoulders and sad faces. They wouldn’t look at us or speak to us. So far, this has lasted two days.

The problem we are facing is systemic. Street children live in hierarchical groups. There are two leaders in the Thamel group: Assish and Anil.  They make the cute younger kids take advantage of the heavily populated tourist area. The money made is pooled together to buy glue to sniff or food to eat. In the realm of street children, the Thamel boys are spoiled. They get the freedom of the streets and gifts from the tourists.

Because we won’t give them food, they won’t speak to us. We are discouraged, to say the least, but we are not giving up hope. Tonight we walked and prayed through the streets to show that even thought we can’t give the boys food and everything they desire, we are still there. We will not stop being a presence. Why? Because we love these boys so much that it doesn’t matter if they are mad at us. We will continue to pray for them when we see their faces.

We ask for your prayers. We have fallen in love with these street children. We are discouraged yet hopeful. We hold strong to the fact that God has something planned for us with these street boys, but at the moment, it’s hard to know that our friends don’t want anything to do with us.

Thank you all for your support and continued prayers. They mean so much to us and they are not unnoticed.

On a lighter note, we want to say HAPPY FATHER’S DAY to Eric Sanders, Dan Jessup, and Ron Chandler. We love you and appreciate you so much!!

-Sarah, Chris and Kevin

Meet Binot

This is Binot. He is our street kid friend. We wish you all could meet and get to know these amazing street children.
More pictures and updates will be coming soon!
-Sarah, Kevin, & Chris

The Perfect Day

Hi y'all, Sarah here!

Today was... how do I describe it?... PERFECT.

We've been in Kathmandu for 3 days and so far we have just been familiarizing ourselves with our surroundings. Exploring Thamel, the tourist-y type area near our hotel, meeting with friends and connections in the area, and yesterday we visited Swayambhunath, the Monkey Temple, which is a 15 minute walk from where we are staying (Favorite memory from Swayambhunath: Kevin made best friends with a little boy, maybe a year old, who loooooved him!!). Kathmandu is incredible, filled with so many sights and sounds and people. Everyone we've met is so friendly and hospitable, including the lovely people working at the hotel.

So far our time has been chocked full of divine appointments, and today topped it! A couple days ago we ran into Emily, who has worked with APU students at Tiny Hands in previous years, and she treated us to some iced tea at a nearby cafe. Turned out her and a friend also working with Tiny Hands were staying at our hotel, so we spent some time with them and met the head of Tiny Hands International, John, and had dinner at his place last night followed by a few rounds of Mafia (in which Chris died almost every single round and Kevin falsely accused me of being Mafia twice!). Emily, Courtney, John, and John's girlfriend Aksha are some of the nicest people! We look forward to many more games of Mafia with them. :)

This morning started with a random phone call to Kevin and Chris' room. On the line was Hom, a man Kevin has been in contact with who works with Young Life in Pokhara. Turns out he was down in the lobby of the hotel! Oh hey, Hom. So Kevin jumped out of bed and went downstairs to meet with him and talk about possibly heading to Pokhara for a week or so to help out with Young Life. He was only able to stay for a little while but it was long enough to know that we like him a whole lot!

After breakfast we decided to head to Rhatna Park, a place that Chris' team spent time at last year with a man named Dilip, hanging out with the street kids that gathered there. The walk was incredible because we got to get out of the more tourist-y part of Kathmandu and into the real nitty gritty! We almost made it to Rhatna Park, but God had better plans for us, because we ran into Dilip on the way!! Turns out he was headed toward our hotel to drop in on us-- how awesome is that?

So we went to lunch with Dilip, but not just any lunch. First of all, on the way there an old man reached for my hand and for some reason I gave it to him, and he tried to kiss me. So, that was a great memory. Thank God for my bodyguards, Kevin and Chris, who helped pry him off of me. Secondly, we had been asking around about a restaurant called New Dish on New Road, which is owned by mine and Kevin's host from last year in Darjeeling, SuLee, and his wife Usha. We found it! SuLee is in Darjeeling right now, but we asked for Usha, because we had heard LOADS of great things about her but we didn't get to meet her last year. Well, guess what? All those great things we heard were true! She was awesome and she told us to come back anytime, even if we had no money, and eat. Sooooo nice!

Over lunch Dilip filled us in on his street kids ministry (he is so great, I love him!) and then we headed home. Since we'd had such full day already, we decided to go chill out at a coffee shop in Thamel and do some reading/blogging. Well, God was not done with us yet. While at Himalayan Java, Chris was taking some pictures off the balcony and spotted Krishna, a boy he'd become close with last year while doing the street kids ministry. Chris and Krishna's hearts were knitted together by the Lord last year, a true miracle, and today was the first time Chris had seen him since last summer. Kevin and I watched as Chris darted down the stairs and across the street to embrace Krishna: a beautiful end to a perfect day!

I'm sure that today was a preview of what the next two months hold: precious moments, amazing sights, important relationships, and divine appointments straight from the Lord! I think I speak for the three of us when I say that today brought us so much joy! Not only did we get a better idea of what these two months will look like by talking to Hom and Dilip, but we renewed several connections that are precious to each of us. God definitely treated us today, and we are thankful.

We love you all! We'll be posting some pictures on here soon.

-Sarah, Chris, and Kevin

We made it

Well friends and families... WE MADE IT!

After raising money, spending countless hours on planes and in airports, and having to endure the pre-trip scares we have arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal.  I cannot put into words the way I am reacting to this new reality.  Much of the time I am jumping with joy because my new home is so beautiful in so many different ways.  Another side of me continues with an unrealistic case of the "what-if's."  Nevertheless, the fact of the matter is that we have arrived safety to Nepal and would like to thank all of you for the prayers of safety and smooth traveling.  Getting from LA to Nepal is typically no easy task, but this time I believe it was as pain free as possible.

We spent the day trying to familiarize (or re-familiarize) ourselves with the streets of Kathmandu. Remembering specific landmark in which we can navigate from in the future, and also scoping out the spots that look safe to eat!  The streets are more beautiful than anything I have ever seen.  To the senses they may appear disgusting but if you are able to look past that and combine the multitude of aspects that flood the street, you can seen such a spectacular hidden beauty.  As I walk down the street I try, and fail, to take everything in.  I try to understand how many different lives are taking place right in front me.  How each person I see is coming from somewhere and going to somewhere else with a purpose in mind. To think how walking down one little street, I may have walked past someone who is having the best day of their life, and maybe, in some cases, the worst.  I think I love most the limitlessness provided for the imagination by the streets of Kathmandu.  I cannot comprehend, to the full extent, the mysterious joy that that can come from embracing all of your sense.  Its an incredible feeling that makes me even more thankful for this opportunity.

Thank you all for your continued prayers.  please continue to pray for safety.  Also please pray for divine wisdom and discernment and we attempt to walk in the direction the spirit leads us!

With much Love,
Kevin

We're in Hong Kong!

Hello Everyone!

Chris here. After a 14 hour flight from LAX, Sarah, Kevin, and I have safely arrived in Hong Kong for our layover! Although the flight was pretty lengthy, we filled our time with movies, Friends episodes, Who Wants to Be A Millionaire trivia, and thankfully a decent amount of sleep.

We are presently almost halfway done with our 13 hour layover in Hong Kong. Time is the only thing stopping us from arriving at our final destination-Kathmandu, Nepal. To pass the time, Kevin, Sarah, and I tried to go into downtown Hong Kong. However, when we saw how expensive it was to travel outside of the airport, we decided it would be better to stay on the same island as the airport. So, to save some cash, we took the train to the AsiaWorld Expo Center to find exactly what one would expect to find in a convention center. Nevertheless, Hong Kong has some beautiful scenery so we stepped outside and walked to a local hotel.

Something that has filled our lives as of lately is the card game Bohnanza. Of course, we brought it with us, and of course, we played it at the hotel. Not surprisingly, Kevin ended up winning.

As for now, we are anxiously waiting for our flight to Kathmandu back at the Hong Kong International Airport. We are safe (That was for you, Mom) and we appreciate your thoughts and prayers as we await this amazing adventure! Please keep praying for us.

-Christopher Jacob Chandler