U ek keti ho

You guessed it, I am attempting to learn the language. Since English speaking is hard to come by here, it seems wise. The above means, she is a girl. I don’t know why I would ever need to say this however, but it is a phrase that I have mastered, which I hope makes you smile. Then there is “ma ek mahila hun” which means, I am a woman. “Ma angrezi bolchhu” means that I speak English. And for our last language lesson for today, “tapaailai kasto chha,” then “ma sanchai chhu” meaning “how are you, I am fine.”

I tried out some of these phrases with the children and was met with stares and wonder so the learning curve continues. However, one girl seemed to take particular interest in trying to communicate with me. Her name is Shikaina Moktan, and she has my heart. When I first saw her I immediately sensed her strength and confidence and when I caught her eye, I knew we would be fast friends.

My sense turned out to be spot on, because recently she and I played on the swing-set and the monkey bars together and laughed at each other as we made silly faces. As we were swinging together I sang for her, and tried to get her to sing for me, but she only laughed. I suppose it is a big thing to sing a song for someone you hardly know but I’m hoping to wear her down soon enough.

The play ground equipment is new and the children have loved it well. Their home is small and neat and their routine impeccable. It is amazing what one can do with so little. That said, on this day, Shikaina decided to try out her English on me with the words, “my dog.” As she said this with such seriousness, she pointed to the house dog named Chili, and beckoned me there to meet him. Fairly soon into this moment, she had unhooked his leash and handed to me, commanding me then to “walk.”

I then understood that she meant for me to take this guard dog for a walk with her, and I had no idea how that would turn out ha! At first, I thought I had two choices, either up the side of the mountain, or down, but Chili made the decision for me as he took off full speed, UP. Shikaina thought this was hilarious, and as he dragged me along, I could only hope to live through it. We made it back, and she tied him up and then sweetly filled up his water bowl. Pretty soon I realised that this was her dog, because he had become her friend, and one she had been given charge over.

She and I spent forever with this dog and also the group cat that showed up for some pets. The animals bridged the gap between us as we played and laughed and loved them together. I love God’s creative ways and I look forward to what else He has up his sleeve. Speaking of sleeve, Chili was wearing a child’s sweatshirt with the sleeves rolled up, and I thought that was a peek into the kindness of this culture. In fact, they have a festival here that honors the dogs of Nepal for being so good to guard and love humans.

Shikaina is full of grace and beauty of the queenly kind. I told her how much Jesus loves her, and hope that she could feel that as well. As we walked around together, of course my heart poured out prayers on her behalf, to grow into the full awareness of who God says she is and of the incredibleness of belonging to the family of God.

In fact, my days are filled with such prayers for the whole nation. There is no end to the love that He has for us all… or anything that can stop His magnificent pursuit of each and every heart. “I am contending for you, (and all), that your hearts will be wrapped in the comfort of heaven, and woven together in love’s fabric. This will give you access to all the riches of God as you experience the revelation of God’s great mystery Christ.” Col. 2