We had a long bus ride yesterday, about 13 hours. We dropped one group off about 2 hours before we reached our hotel so they could teach at one of the schools in that area. We are meeting back with them this morning (July 5). We were planning on having our two groups that were still together go to both churches to teach, but because of the weather and the conditions of the roads, Raju thought they might not get back in time for the second lesson. So Josh, Lauren, Elinor, and Dwight went for the long ride in the morning to a village about 2 hours away. That drive turned into about 4 hours and from what I heard it was quite a ride. Thankfully they made it to the village safely and were able to teach about 65 children. My group of Sam, Beth, Riley, and I then taught in Tulsipur, where we were staying, at about 4 PM. As Raju guessed in the morning their group was not going to make it back in time for our lesson. So that meant the pastor in Tulsipur was going to translate for us. Thankfully he knew English well and did a great job translating our lesson to the children. A lot of the children in Tulsipur also already knew some English which helped as well. We taught about 150 children, which was great because it was more than we had expected. After my lesson I needed to run back to the hotel to get more of the bracelets we are handing out to the children. I got to ride on the back of a motorcycle through Tulsipur including a super secret, not so secret, shortcut across a walking bridge. I made it back just in time with the extra bracelets to finish passing them out to the children. We got a lot of time to play and take pictures with the kids after our lesson, and the other group got back in time to eat with us and the congregation at the church. We got back to the hotel and got ready to leave early in the morning to rejoin the other group where they were staying. As I'm writing this we have met up with the other group and are thankful to be back together for breakfast before we settle in for our long bus ride to Pokhara. Please remember to keep our group in your prayers as we travel across Nepal to continue to proclaim the Good News to our brothers and sisters here.
Romans 8:31-32 "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?"
TLBWYA,
Ethan Sydow