Blog 9 -- Saturday in Pokhara (the rest of the day)

After our morning of worship and fellowship at the church planted by the Tamangs, Abraham's sister and brother-in-law had two taxis come pick us up.  Their son Rabin was our tour-guide for the afternoon.  What a fantastic job he did of showing us around!  He took us down to the beautiful lake in Pokhara, which is in the tourist section of the city, and we got to see the main temple on the island there.

Barahi Temple is located on a small island in the middle of beautiful Phewa Lake.  We had no idea going down there what we were about to enjoy--a canoe ride across the lake to the island!  The view is absolutely gorgeous there because the lake is nestled amidst the surrounding hills and mountains of Pokhara.  This was a far cry from the sights of Kathmandu.  Now this is a place worth going on vacation!

The canoe ride was an experience in itself.  They fit 10-20 people on some of these canoes, and it looked as if the boat were near sinking.  Some of the people rowing these boats were just boys.  There must have been nearly half-a-dozen canoes going back and forth to the temple, full of people.  October and November are the prime months of the year for traveling to and in Nepal, so some may have been tourists while others were obviously Hindus coming to worship their gods.

What a stark contrast to our morning of worshipping the one True God with our brothers and sisters in Nepal.  Now we were getting off onto an island full of Hindus, foreheads fresh with tilak (men) or bindi (women)--the red markings of their religion.  When they go in to the temple, they pay the priest to put this mark on their heads.

The island was so beautiful because of its location and the beauty of creation around it, yet what was taking place on that island destroyed its beauty and made us sad, sick to our stomachs at the reality of what we were seeing.  This was our first visit to a Hindu temple, and it just kind of makes you nauseous and sad all at once.

From what I understand, the goddess worshipped at this particular temple is Shakti--"the female divine force manifesting to destroy demonic forces and restore balance" (sanatansociety.org).  She is also called by the names Devi, Parvati, Durga, Kali and others.  "Shakti is the concept, or personification, of divine feminine creative power, sometimes referred to as 'The Great Divine Mother' in Hinduism. On the earthly plane, Shakti most actively manifests through female embodiment and fertility, though it is also present in males in its potential, unmanifest form.  Not only is the Shakti responsible for creation, it is also the agent of all change." (Wikipedia) 

the temple



Hindu priest inside





We watched as women and men would walk up and ring the bells surrounding the temple, trying to get the attention of this goddess.  This is their way of sending up prayers.  Oh how it reminded me of Elijah's words to the prophets of Baal!

²⁵ Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.” ²⁶ So they took the bull given them and prepared it.   Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.

 ²⁷ At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” ²⁸ So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. ²⁹ Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.  (1 Kings 18:25-29; emphasis mine)


Does this turn your stomach as it does mine?  Do you realize how many people in Nepal, India and other countries worship these gods and goddesses, doing all manner of rituals (some more dangerous than others), hoping to get their gods' attention, or following the advice of a witch doctor?  Hinduism is the third largest religion in the world, right behind Christianity and Islam.  The Joshua Project estimates over 1 billion followers of Hinduism in 2,683 different people groups.  That's a lot of people worshipping false gods, dying without knowing their Creator or Savior.  That should cause us to shudder.


While wandering around the island, observing all the ritualism and worship, Sasha and I noticed a place where it looked as though items were being sold.  Sure enough, a person could purchase items to give as an offering to the gods and goddesses, bindi dots for their foreheads, and souvenirs, of course.  What really got us over in the souvenir section, however, was the variety offered.  



Up on the hill above the island, you can see a Buddhist temple (Nepal is 75% Hindu and 15% Buddhist, and Buddhism was founded in Nepal), so naturally they were selling little Buddhas alongside the pictures of the Hindu gods and goddesses.  You could get your god or goddess on a necklace, a keychain, a photo...just about any form you wanted.  But what REALLY got us was all the crucifixes right there with the Hindu gods and Buddhas.  We could hardly believe our eyes.  Talk about catering to the crowds!  It was as though they were shouting, "Gods!  Pick your gods!  Gods for sale!" like a man selling concessions at a baseball game.  Sickening!


After getting a good look around and watching the people put red marks on images, ring the bells, go in to worship the goddess and be marked by the priest, we got into another canoe and were rowed back to town.  It started to rain, so we thought our time might come quickly to an end.  But then it stopped and we wandered down the main road of the lakeside area.  This is a quaint little tourist spot, and we enjoyed going into the stores and watching the people on the streets.


We were all getting a little hungry for some dinner, and every meal we had eaten since arriving in Nepal five days ago was Dahl Bhat (lentil soup over rice)--except the samosas after church that day.  Needless to say, we were very much craving American food.  Sasha especially did, since she had been so sick the previous night.  Her tummy needed something it recognized.  So we were excited when we saw a pizza place!  Now, we had our doubts as to how authentic this pizza would be, but when we walked upstairs to this nice, open-air restaurant that over-looked the lakeside town, we saw that it was wood-fired pizza and looked about as close as you could get to home.  We even ordered homemade french fries to go with our pizza!  What a treat!

While waiting for our food, we noticed some men pushing a cart on the street below from which they were selling roasted peanuts.  They literally had a fire going on the cart and were roasting the peanuts, still in the shell, over it!  It was fun to sit up there and people-watch.  Such a unique experience!



 We did some shopping for souvenirs for family, then got back in our taxis and headed home.  When we arrived, we found that Arjun and Pratisia were waiting to take us down to the riverside to pray with families from their church.  This experience was incredible and was almost more of a highlight than worship that morning.  Truly one of the most incredible things about this mission trip was the variety of experiences we had. 


Once again, what a contrast this was to visiting the temple.  After watching all those people worship false gods, now we had the amazing privilege of going down to one of the poorest areas in Pokhara to pray with people who break rocks for a living to earn about $1 a day.


It was a little bit of a challenge walking down the hill on the bumpy dirt roads in the dark, but our Nepali friends helped us to navigate it and waited patiently for us.  Sunil, a precious 12 year old boy who couldn't talk very well because he had pneumonia as a baby, went with us, along with his dad who is an elder in the church.  Sunil has a great sense of humor.  He would laugh like crazy every time one of us started to slip on the rocky road.  These white foreigners were quite the entertainment for him, and we loved every minute of his laughter.


We learned that many of these families came to faith in Jesus because Abraham and Om Maya had brought their children into the after-school program, and now Arjun and Pratisia do the same.  When the church was first planted, all these families were Hindu.  But now, by the grace of God and the work of these missionaries, all but one family down there are believers in Jesus Christ!


When we arrived at the first home, a crowd of children soon appeared.  A few belonged to that family, but the others were neighbors excited to see the foreigners that had been at their church that morning.  It is difficult to accurately describe these homes.  They were mostly made from sheet metal, with huge rocks set on the edges of the roof to hold it in place.  Some parts were like wicker on the inside.  They usually just had one main area, sometimes a separate cooking area.  The "restrooms" were outside, and sometimes the cooking area was as well.  The furniture consisted of a bed or two that doubled as a sitting area.  These beds are a long piece of wood on some sort of "legs", with a thin cushion for a matress and a sheet to cover.  They have very heavy comforter-type blankets in Nepal, which are a must to keep warm there since the electricity is unreliable.




she is climbing onto the bed to get
cups for our tea


So in each home we would sit on one of these beds and visit with the family.  They were all such amazing hosts!  We had hot tea in every home (this is a standard in Nepal, served numerous times a day).  The most common is lemon tea--very delicious.  The first family also served us "biscuits" (what we would call cookies--similar to a cream-filled cookie).  The precious children brought them to us with huge smiles on their faces, trying to get us to eat every last one (which would have been way too many). 


What amazed us at each home is how they would serve us, but they would not eat or drink themselves.  I was especially blown away that the children weren't eager for their own cookies--just happy to serve them all to us.  Nepali people are amazing hosts, for sure, very eager to serve. 


The other thing that really impressed us in each home was, after some time visiting and drinking hot tea, Arjun or Pratisia would ask them for prayer requests.  In each home the answer was the same--spiritual growth for their family.  They always started with this request, and how humbling it was to us!  They would sometimes ask for healing for someone who was sick, or for God to bring their neighbor to faith and heal the marriage of their non-Christian neighbor.





Sasha and Arjun making silly faces with the kids




What they never asked, even though they are among the poorest in the world--breaking rocks every day to earn $1 a day, was for God to bring them a better job or more money to get out of their situation.  Not a single time did we get that request.  How humbling
 

one of the precious families down by the river







Michael and Sunil making silly faces

 This time with the riverside believers was among the most beautiful experiences we had.  We prayed for them in each of their homes, then headed back up the hill to climb the rocky road to home.  But after the time spent praying with those families, the climb seemed much easier than going down.  It had truly lifted us.  Sunil's laughter helped, too.  :)


 ³⁶ At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. ³⁷ Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”
 ³⁸ Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
 ³⁹ When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The LORD—he is God! The LORD—he is God!”  (1 Kings 18:30-39; emphasis mine)

May many more Hindus come to faith in the one true God as the people did in the day of Elijah.



  .