Dear Friends and Family,
As I am writing this I am sitting in a café in Kathmandu, Nepal. I’ve been here in Nepal about five days now visiting with the Word Made Flesh community. Meeting everyone and seeing what the different ministries here are has been so eye opening for me. I don’t think I could ever fully understand what life is like here but at least now I have a context for Nepal and the ministries here.
Two of the main ministries here are Karuna Ghar and Prem Ghar. Karuna Ghar can be translated as Compassion Home, and it is a home for girls that have been abandoned by their families. At Karuna Ghar they are welcomed as members of the family there and told that they are beloved by their family and most importantly beloved by God. Prem Ghar can be translated as Love Home and it is home to elderly women who have also been abandoned by their families for different reasons.
I have been coming to find out and maybe you could have guessed by who inhabits the two homes, but Nepal can be a very difficult place for women to live. Every family desires a boy and sees girls as burdens to quickly rid themselves of. These homes are in their own way contributing to helping people see women as God sees them, as his beloved daughters.
Another ministry that I have seen here that many WMF staff have been a part of is ministering to street boys and drug addicts. There are many young men here that are addicted to hard drugs and they walk the streets selling drugs to tourists many days. Many of them are also HIV positive. Walking through the streets the past few days I have heard numerous heartbreaking stories from our WMF staff about working with these guys, but also many really heartwarming stories of reconciliation and redemption for a lot of these guys. God truly is present in the work being done here in Nepal and in all the staff and volunteers here with WMF.
It has been encouraging for me to be here and to be reaffirmed in my vocational calling to serving with WMF in this time. I hope you can feel equally encouraged by the work being done here. By supporting me you are a part of this community in a profound way as well.
Tomorrow I will be traveling to Kolkata, India for about 5 days and then on to Bangkok, Thailand. I can’t wait to share with you what my time will be like in those communities as well!
As always, I thank you for praying for me and for supporting me and Word Made Flesh.
Many blessings,
Sharon