This post is about Jyoti.
My curious, kind, and oh so innocent 4-year-old daughter. Her heart and intentions are pure, yet within that sweet innocence, the hard questions are being asked and thus opening the door for the gospel to be shared.
Within the last 5 weeks, since our arrival back to Nepal, there have been two major Hindu holidays. The first one was Dashain (a celebration of good winning over evil) during which we were stuck inside our place for quarantining.
The other major Hindu festival is called the Tihar festival. This one is just now ending and Jyoti has been so intrigued by the newness of all of it. On one of the days of this festival, "Laxmi puja," Hindus make a way for their god Laxmi to bless their wealth. It starts with this beautiful art on the ground by their front gate, then they make a path to a place inside their homes (usually where they keep their money) for Laxmi to bless.
Jyoti was in awe. At first she was convinced everyone was doing "arts and crafts" but knew there had to be more to it. She had to know more and so she started asking the hard questions to our landlord's daughter. Here is a snapshot of her conversation:
J: Why are you doing that?
girl: I don't know
J: But... I'm only 4... so I don't know. But if you are doing it and you are bigger than me, shouldn't you know?
Initially I had a pretty big "face palm" moment right about now. But after watching the girl, her brother, and their mom smile at her cuteness but also feel a little awkward that they don't really have all the answers, I began praising God for the path my little one is paving.
As many religious people in the world, Hindus in Nepal do most of their religious customs just because that is what their parents did and their parents before them. Most of them really cannot answer the cute child's question of..."but why?"
And sometimes is is the difficult questions that force us to rethink all of the things we do.
Jyoti. My sweet Jyoti.
She asks a lot of questions and each one is intended only from the curiosity of a child. But each time the recipient of these questions digs deep inside to search for an answer.
This is the same girl that has been asking questions about Jesus and is wondering more about Christianity.
Please continue to pray for this lovely family we are staying with, please pray that we will be light and that God will open their hearts and minds to receive the love of Jesus. We have already grown very fond of this wonderful family!
And they have really grown fond of our sweet little innocent Jyoti too.
Every morning our landlady does her morning chores with Jyoti clinging to her back. Jyoti (light) has really been true to her name here in Nepal.
To practice love
is to disrupt the status quo which is masquerading
as peace. ~Austin Channing Brown
Other updates:
-Karina has been enjoying teaching, but still online due to strict government restrictions. This has been a blessing as it is so nice to get to know this sweet Nepali family we now live with as well as being home with Jyoti and Prasansa at the same time. (To help them adjust to life in Nepal.) She is currently searching for a Nepali teacher, as the self learning program is not working as well as hoped.
-Simon is still on the lookout for a moped to use to get to the children's homes. Please pray for us as we search for a good priced second hand one. He is also enjoying his online class but has a paper and exam coming and would appreciate prayers for this. A huge praise is that LJI was able to rescue 5 young women being trafficked to India as well as find their traffickers who were arrested and sentenced to ten years in prison!
-Prasansa loves her Nepali family here but is pretty shy with everyone else. She is growing big and has been really enjoying eating Nepali food! It is a bit hard with her food allergies though. We can't ever take her out to eat and most items don't even have all the ingredients listed. Please pray for us as we navigate this and as it is His will, please pray for her body to heal and be able to eat dairy and gluten.
$40.30 a month,
in conjunction with the
40.3 million slaves
in the world today?
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| For your viewing pleasure: The girls playing hide and seek! |
