I now have a much greater understanding of where that phrase comes from. Apparently if you kill a cow in Nepal you are slapped with a life-long prison sentence…….no cow-tipping for me!

Being here has given me a much greater understnading of Hinduism and Bhuddism, although there is still so much about them I cannot fathom. It is sometimes hard to see the meaning people’s lives here. A quote from a book I recently finished called “tribe” came to mind…” where all peers think alike and live in a close-knit community, and feel the same as each other, it is almost impossible to escape your cultural beliefs and practices.” This thought made me challenge my own beliefs . I realised it is necessary to define your own beliefs and to try to recognise those which merely come from the culture and community you live in. How much of what we believe comes from personal experience and understanding, and how much comes from an unquestioning acceptance of things we have been taught?

I went to my first Mass on Sunday.  The priest was visiting from America and could have popped straight out of a mafia movie. I felt like he was telling me his plans to rob a bank throughout the sermon. One aspect of the service really stuck out for me. In my understanding, when Hindu’s make an offering to a god  (usually done most mornings)  they ring a small bell to let the god know that the ofering has been made. During mass, before communion when they were reading the liturgy about Jesus ‘ body being broken for us and his blood being shed for us, a nun rang a small bell after each sentence. It sharply reminded me of the offering Jesus made for us. How what we believe is not based on what we can offer up to God but what He has offered to us - himself.

I have had quite a few new experiences in the last few days.

• We saw the snowcapped himalaya mountains which surround kathmandu for the first time. Usually all we can see are the smaller mountains which form the valley. It was quite a shock to realise what we were missing all along. I had no idea they were even there! It  makes it hard to believe they are still there. It’s easy to forget they are there when you can’t see them. It reminded me of a line in the Pocahontas movie ”you learn things you never knew you never knew.” 
• We went canyoning yesterday. That involved abseiling down 5 waterfalls, with water crashing on your head, crawling through caves and sliding down rocks while standing in the most beautiful forest with spectacular views. And the largest butterflies i have ever seen. the only worrying bit was the lack of a safety rope! but we are all still alive so thats all that counts! It was one of the many times since i have been here that i have thought “hmmmm..no one else in the world actually knows where i am right now”
• Today i saw a man get his front tooth pulled out with large pliers at the health clinic- with no analgesia to relieve the pain! i’m not sure how he put up with it! O also got to do an antenatal exam, and hear a baby’s heartbeat at 21 weeks. That filled me with awe. We also took what i’m sure must be a record amount of blood pressures. No matter what the person comes in with, they get their blood pressure checked.
• We hung out with a group of northern irish people from belfast at a centre for disables kids and a hospital. It was so nice to have some irish banter once again.
• I saw lots of brand new little babies…extremely cute and beautiful. We also got to pray for an extremely distressed boy with a brain infection. He had been in hospital for 25days and was sick of being there. His dad saw that we were white and asked if we were christians and could we pray for him. It was so humbling when his dad explained to him that we were praying for him. He said “look at them and the love they are showing you. they have come just to pray for you.” It was amazing to see the peace that settled over him as we prayed. Please pray if you are reading this.
• Also saw the new batman movie…much better than i expected..go and see it if you can.

Some pictures.

A fabric shop in Kathmandu Durbar square.

A rice paddy ourside Kathmandu

Sunset over the mountains in Nagarkot. Just at sunset the sky cleared and we could see the snow-capped peaks of the himalayas, and possibly even everest!!…if you use your imagination well. It was an awe-inspiring time. There are no words.

oh..and i also got my first leech bite! it was quite exciting!!

Some highlights from the last few days:

• Riding on top of a packed bus on our way to an orphanage, through the beautiful countryside…terrifying but exhilarating.
• Meeting some sisters of mercy at a house for the destitute and dying, the place stank of urine and other rotten smells, but their grace and compassion was the most overwhelming presence. Everyday the 2 of them clean out 2 large rooms filled with old people, they clean the people and feed them too. it was such hard work even with 5 of us there to help. They really were an inspiration to me. They had given up their whole lives to live amoung the hurting dirty and dying. We cleaned some wounds there, which were unbelievably infected , some needing surgical care. It was disheartening to know what needed done but to have no power to actually do anything.
• Seeing an australian family revolutionising a very poorly run orphanage. It is one of the worst orphanages i have come into contact with. The workers there are corrupt and so little is done for the children. We cleaned out their showers and toilets which were full od urine and faeces. It was so rewarding to see how much better the conditions there were once we left. It is great that they are passionate about improving it and maintaining the changes longterm.

Something that has really struck me in the last few days is that in every place i have ever visited around the world, the workers and children and missionaries are still there. For me it seems to be a case of “out of sight, out of mind”. It is hard, and takes effort, to remember that their lives go on, with little change. It is easy to detach myself. Although seeing the mans festering wounds really was shocking to me, he has to live with that every day. But to me it is just a memory.

Today I have been thinking about giving, about charity, and about what Jesus commands us to do. Do you obey you heart or your head? Some parents here in Nepal maim their children so they are more profitable when they beg. I can’t support that, so how do i follow Jesus?

A woman came up to me in the street holding a young child.

I turned away and ignored her today. I didn’t even look her in the eye, touch her, or even pray for her. I should have done that. It would have beed the least (or most) i could have done.

I should have shown her more love. What does she need?

I turned away as she touched me. What kind of heart is that? A heart stranged and trampled on by good sense, “the right thing”, selfishness, awkwardness and the world.

I know it is wiser to give to an organisation and your money can do more good. But when she confronts you on the street what are you supposed to do?

I am starting to get more used to the curry and rice for breakfast….although my host mum is becoming more and more stealth-like at putting extra rice on my plate, as well as some milk which has been fermented with corn…its an interesting flavour but my insides seem to be coping ok.

i have had so many things to think about since I have been here. The first is how amazing it is staying with a local family. When I have done this sort of trip I have always been part of a christian team, and stayed with local christians or in a house with just the team i was with. But living with a family  gives you so much more insight into the culture . For me it especially gave me insight into hinduism and the rationale of it in their eyes. We have been having some great chats with our host mum about religion and politics. It really gives you much more of a heart for the country and its people. So much more of a desire to pray. I think staying with a local family is something many more mission teams should consider, even if the family are of a different religion.

Apologies for the extreme lack of posts. I got a bit distracted at home…going on too many walks and sitting by the sea! and then came my brothers wedding in switzerland, which i will blog about soon, and as of the last two days, I am living in nepal.

I came here with a friend from home, we are living with a local family, and will be starting work in a health clinic next week. For this week we are having language classes, which I love, so hopefully we shall soon be fluent in Nepali!

Some highlights so far = having curry and rice for breakfast every morning!…bring on thew carbs! getting a bus int otown with the door open beside me  at about 50mph…..and there are many others.

This is a very different experience for me as I have only ever come on these sorts of trips with a christian team, with a christian focus. I am finding here that God is really drawing me to himself in a way that I have not experienced before. I am completely dependent on him, without him i would feel so out of my deapth.

I shall write more aboutother experiences soon. If you are praying…please pray for good relationships, spiritual strength, and knowledge about how to bring God’s kingdom to this place, how to show his light in this place.

As I mentioned in my previous post Home, it is great to be back home by the sea again. One of the reasons I love it, is that it gives me the chance to surf, something I don’t get to do in Edinburgh, but that I absolutely love.

And I recently had a very special experience whilst surfing. It has only occurred once before while I have been surfing, and it is one of the most amazing feelings. I was sitting on my board waiting for another set to come in when my friend told me to look to my left, when I turned around there was a porpoise sitting about 5 metres away from me, just bobbing about, appearing to enjoy being in among these other strange creatures. The other time it happened was when there were pretty big waves and the porpoises were actually surfing the waves and you could see their silhouettes on the face of the wave. It gives you a sense of the beauty and power and closeness of God. It really is astounding when you feel that close to nature.

And that is what I love about being home, the proximity and accessibility of nature, of God’s creation. I miss the sea and beaches when I am in Edinburgh. Through watching the sea I can see God and his awesomeness, the works of His hands, which to me are infinitely more beautiful than anything a human can create. It’s so easy to get stuck in life in a city and forget to look for nature. Isn’t that where God’s invisible qualities- his eternal power and divine nature—are clearly seen?

If you want to check out some nice pictures of the surf - click here.

I recently watched the movie “Millions” by Danny Boyle, and despite my initial reservations (James Nesbitt with a very dodgy northern accent being one of them), it drew me in and really made me think.

This is an outline of the plot: A few days before Britain is due to switch to the euro, a 7 year-old finds a bag of pounds and only has a few days to spend it or decide what to do with it. The film is really about the various characters’ attitudes to the money, and it explores different ethical dilemmas brought about by money- charity, faith, consumerism, prosperity gospel and friendship. IMDB describes its tagline as “can anyone be truly good?”

The boy can also see and talk to saints and one of the most prominent is St Peter. The part of the movie I found most fascinating was the exchange between them after the boy discovers the money had been robbed and discarded. It’s an interesting interpretation of the miracle of feeding the 5000.

I thought it was a miracle, but it is just robbed.

Damian. Listen.
One day I was with you know who, Jesus.
And he went up into the mountains
and thousands of people followed him.
The police said five thousand, five thousand.

Everybody knows this story.
Loaves and fishes.

See, I knew you'd say that.
That's what everybody says.

Anyway, this kid comes up to us, about your size,
His name was...
no I have forgotten. I still see him sometimes.
Anyway he comes up with these loaves and fishes. Sardines.
And Jesus blesses them and passes the plate round.
Now the first person he passes it to, passes it on.
He doesn't take anything.
He just passes it on.
Do you know why?
Because he had a piece of lamb hidden in his pocket.
And as he is passing the fish, he sneaks a bit of meat out
and pretends he's taken it off the plate.
Do you see what I'm saying?
And the next person- exactly the same story.
Every single bastard one of them has their own food.
And every one of them is keeping it quiet.
Looking after number one.
But as that plate went round with the sardines on
They all got their own food out and started to share.
And then that plate went all the way round and back to Jesus
and it'd still got the fish and the loaves on it.
I think Jesus was a bit taken aback.
He says, 'what happened? '
And I just said 'miracle'.
And at first I thought I'd fooled him.
But now I see it was a miracle, one of his best.

But this little kid
had stood up and...

Everybody there just got bigger.
Do you understand
what I'm talking about?

Not really.

I'm talking about you.

Now I'm really lost.

You're trying too hard.
That kid he wasn't planning on doing a miracle.
He wasn't planning anything, except lunch.
Something that looks like a miracle turns out to be dead simple.

After 2 weeks of exams, and many others of seemingly endless studying….I have finally arrived home. It is good to be by the sea again.

I have noticed though, how hard it is to be still and rest, after spending the last while constantly engaged in studying, or feeling guilty that I wasn’t studying. I am now relearning the importance of being still and resting. This brought me to the verse in Psalm 23, “He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,” - and how important it is that He brings us there to lie down and be quiet, not to chatter away at Him incessantly.

Meditation and quietness are key.

It is good to be home.