Prayers needed

Hi everyone,

I'm still here in Kathmandu and it looks like I will be here for some time. My partner for BFA, Ellen, left for the states yesterday. And I recently found out that our other partner will be leaving for a few months also. So its just me running things for BFA. I need your prayers! :)

We hired another girl last week. She will be working with one of our sewing machines that has been sitting in an empty room for the last 6 months. I'm excited to design some fun things to accompany our jewelry.

I do really need your prayers, it seems like all of my friends and main support are leaving. my room mate will be leaving Dec 20 for five months. And since I didn't go fishing this summer, my finances are at an all time low. Please pray for God's provision both in friends and finances :)

I know God is faithful. I have a place to go for Christmas, so thats great. I will be joining my friend's Joel and Tammy and their family for Christmas. They are here working with the poor and crippled with Iris ministries. Last Thursday I accompanied them to one of the places where all the beggars go. We gathered up about 20 beggars and took them to a small room where we prepared a meal for them. After the meal we prayed for several people.

It was quite the experience and I look forward to accompanying them on several more occasions. Its exciting for me to place myself in a position to see God move. The other day I was accompanying a new friend, showing her around and a blind man came up to me asking for money. I was filled with boldness and asked him if I could pray for him. I didn't see a miracle of sight right then, but God touched him through me that day.

Thank you for all your prayers and your encouragement! You really don't know what it means to me.

oh yeah on another note, I'm trying to make some money through my art. I've posted some of my paintings and photographs on www.fineartamerica.com look me up under artists. And if you like any of the paintings you can buy a print. Here is a sample of one of my pieces:

catalog

Heres the recent catalog, we are still making adjustments and we may not have some items in stock, but let us know if you want to buy anything or if you want to sell some of our products for us.

Link for BFA Bracelets

http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B_8rq619V47EN2Y5NTY4OWEtNTA1My00MzgxLTk4YmMtMTFjMDVkMmY0YTk1&hl=en

Link for BFA earrings

http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B_8rq619V47EYWQ5MmVmZGMtZTA1Mi00MmJjLWE2ODktZDYwNzkzMjZiN2Vj&hl=en

Link for necklaces

http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B_8rq619V47EYzE4OWFjMmQtY2VjZC00MGI0LWI3ZTMtM2Q1NDcwZWNkM2Nl&hl=en

Link for silver line

http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B_8rq619V47EZDBhYmM2YWUtMGNmMC00YTVlLWE2NjctNTNjYjRkMDYxNmVh&hl=en

Parent's visit

My dad and I rented bikes and went for a little ride.

Spelunking

Mom and dad playing with the elephant

At the pastor's seminar. Mom and her prayer team!

Me and Dr Jerry sightseeing

nothing like morning chai!

Elephant safari with the folks

The Pastor's and their spouses seminar

overdue update

I just can't seem to keep up with this updating thing. My cousin Katie has come and gone. It was so great to have her here. She came to help us with BFA by teaching two of our women how to crochet. It was so cute watching her learn nepali crocheting terms and our women loved her. One day I walked into the office to find our women making animal noises and singing a song that they had just made up about elephant friends. Yep we will definately miss having Katie around :).

Before she left we went to Thailand for two weeks in order to get some materials for BFA and to have a place where we could get away and focus on what God has for us and if we are still on the right track. It was a great trip but not as restful as anticipated. We got all our shopping for BFA done and had two great days of seeking the Lord. On our last day Ellen and I went to a park in Bangkok and brainstormed on what needs to happen next with BFA. As we were brainstorming we kept getting interrupted by large lizard/dragons that were swimming around the lake. They were amazing! After that we bought roasted squid on a stick off of a street vendor. We had a great time!

Back in Kathmandu we found that our women in BFA managed without us for two weeks, which was great news because eventually we want them to be totally self sustaining.

If your wondering why I never post any pictures of our women and what we do, its because BFA has a policy to not show any photos of the faces of our women in order to maintain their anonymity and dignity. So I hardly ever bring a camera to work with me so you only get to see pictures of when I'm out playing! :) Anyway Enjoy!

The cool dragon lizards we say at the park

Squid on a stick! yum yum :)

When I first spotted this guy I thought he was a huge snake rising out of the water.

Katie and Elen and me with our normal facial expressions

It was so nice to see the ocean and play on the beach. That one of the main things I miss living here in Nepal

And fresh seafood!!!! yummy!

We took a ferry to Phi Phi Island from Phuket and stayed on the Island for a few days. It was relaxing.

Katie's first time having dhal bhaat and eating with her hand. It tastes better when you eat with your hand ;)

Back in Kathmandu getting caught in the rain. Benita (our awesome office manager) and I had to share a two headed poncho (made for motorcycles) Katie called us a pushmepullme :)

That almost brings us up to date. Last week my cousin Kaite arrived to help with Beauty for Ashes and teaching our women to crochet. The day after she arrived, we joined David and his family again for a rafting adventure. We certainly had an adventure, I managed to fall out of the raft twice in the rapids and the second time everyone joined me as we capsized. I am so thankful for your prayers because there were moments when we were all terrified as we got tossed around by the river. I was the only one who managed to not hit any rocks, although I got trapped under the raft for a few seconds and swallowed a bit of water so couldn’t breathe very well as I floated down the rapids. We all made it through with only a few scratches and bruises and missing items of clothing and what not… I told Kaite that she had experience more culture and adventure in that one day than I ussually do in a month. I’m so thankful that everyone was all right, God was definitely with us that day.

This picture was taken right after falling into the rapids and getting safely aboard the bus, notice all of our utter relief to be alive…

After the rapids adventure I took Katie back to Pokhara to relax and enjoy the lake. Susie and her mom met us there. We had a relaxing time exploring caves and swimming in the lake. Although, the lake turned out not to be a good idea because both Susie and Katie got sick the night after.

Himalayan

At the beginning of this month my friend David invited my room mate, Susie, and me to go on a four day trek in the himmalayas with his parents and little brother and our Phillopino friend, Ting. Susie is a teacher at an international school in Kathmandu and had the time off so we agreed to go. It turned out to be an adventure involving yaks, a crazy guide named Bhimson, and great comraderie. We finished off the trek on Easter Sunday where we caught a bus back to our hotel in Pokhara. However, halfway there the bus got stopped by protestors and so we had to get off and walk while the hotel van came and picked us up two hours away. As we were walking we stopped along the side of the road, I pulled out my portable speakers, we put on some worship tunes, and had an impromptu praise service. It was a perfect way to celebrate Easter!

Heres me going in for a kiss with a yak. Yep I really need to meet some available men, right? :)

Here's all of us as we were walking back to Pokhara. shortly after we stoppe along the side of the road to do our Easter worship service.

Me and my room mate Susie standing by the lake at sunset...

Chitwan adventure

In February I went down to Chitwan(on the Indian border of Nepal) with my friend Lisa to accompany her because she needed to meet with some people there. While we were there I had asked God to bring me sick people so I could pray for them. The second day we were there we met a father and his little boy at the pharmacy and the boy had a fever. I went over and in my broken Nepali asked if I could pray for him. The father said yes so I did. I didn’t stick around long enough to see the results but felt like I had stepped out in boldness and done what I was supposed to do.
On the day we left we were running a little late, and Lisa was a little anxious to get going because there was talk of a possibility of the roads being closed. Having had an amazing one on one with the Lord I felt sure that we should not feel anxious because God would get us home and on the right van. When we got to the micro van, we were the first ones there so got to choose the best seats. As we were about to sit down, this old man accompanied by his wife appeared having been carried on a rickshaw. The old man was obviously sick, so we graciously gave up our seats. When I first saw him, I was like “yes! Another person I get to pray for!” So I sat next to them and again in my broken Nepali asked if I could pray for him. They accepted and again I prayed and then sat down with Lisa in the back of the van.
sitting next to us was a man named Niel who we had met the night before when we had gone into his shop to buy some souvenirs. We asked him why he was going to Kathmandu and he said he needed to go to the hospital because his left hand and arm had been hurting him for a few months. Lisa turned to me and jokingly said, “we should take a toll and see how many people are going to the hospital on this micro van”…. We didn’t feel led to pray for the man until we got to Kathmandu. So the whole ride there I was asking the Lord how to go about praying for him and the Lord said that we should pray for his shoulder and then invite him to dinner at our friend’s house because, he is ready to hear the gospel. So when we got to Kathmandu we asked if we could pray for him and he accepted, when we asked how his arm was, he said that half of his arm had no pain. We were like, “cool”. So we called our friend and invited him over for dinner.
Our friend, Brian talked with Niel for about and hour and shared the gospel in Nepali, when we were done, we asked if we could pray for him again, so we did and he said his whole arm and hand, felt completely healed. I dropped Neil off at the taxi stand and before he left, he asked me if he should still go to the doctor tomorrow because his arm felt fine. I told him that if his arm felt fine and he wanted to go to the doctor and the doctor confirmed that he was healed that would be better. I said goodbye and promised to stay in touch. I talked to him on the phone a couple of weeks ago and he is doing good, but I have no report on how he is doing spiritually. So pray for Neil and his family if you think about him. God is faithful to complete the work that He has started.

this is me at the pharmacy praying for the little boy

Outside our hotel the elephants came to the river to take their baths