CoffeePods
A series exploring Christian healing in a handy coffee-break sized podcast. Plug yourself in, pick up your mug of coffee, and let's go.
CoffeePods
When He Got Up and Walked: Witnessing Divine Healing in Remote Nepal
A journey through Nepal reveals the power of faith, as a mission team witnesses miraculous healing and experiences worship across language barriers in remote villages. The three-month trip with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) transformed their understanding of God's presence in unfamiliar and challenging environments.
• YWAM mission trip to Nepal included Kathmandu, Tikapur, and Pokhara
• Living conditions required adaptation, with a diet primarily of rice and lentils
• Language barriers necessitated translators, with humorous cultural differences like "no passing gas" signs in tuk-tuks
• House church worship created powerful spiritual moments despite language differences
• Elderly man with back injury who couldn't walk received prayer and was immediately healed
• Children's enthusiasm and the Christian greeting "JMSC" renewed their sense of purpose
• Team faced struggles with illness, finances, and homesickness but persevered
• Experience demonstrated how God works powerfully when we step outside comfort zones
Don't forget to like, follow and subscribe to Coffee Pods! This podcast is made possible thanks in part to the generosity of people like you.
It's time for another episode of Coffee Pods with Acorn Christian Healing Foundation and your host, lisa Way and the Reverend Chris Kramer.
Speaker 2:Grab a brew and make yourself comfortable as we explore what's happening in the world from the perspective of Christian healing.
Speaker 1:So I'm curious about something you told me that you traveled somewhere in Southeast Asia. Did you go to like Nepal, or Japan, or China?
Speaker 2:I went to Nepal so I did some training with Youth With A Mission, so a lot of people know who they are. But if you don't, ywam, ywam, yeah. They train people to do missions work abroad essentially and so I did my training in Nashville, Tennessee, and then was assigned our mission location and I got assigned to Nepal. Yeah, so I was with a team of about six, six or seven people and we went to Kathmandu. That's where we started, and I mean, that was just another world.
Speaker 1:Just entering the airport was completely different. You didn't decide to go climb Everest while you were there. No, I think I would die before I got to the first bridge. I don't think I'm getting for the base camp. My brother went up there Really, but he went up to the base camp, my brother went, my brother went up there he didn't, but he went up to the base camp.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was pretty cool, I really I lived vicariously because it's there's nothing in me that can cope with a high altitude, but Kathmandu is pretty high yeah, kathmandu is high, it is, and it it was a remarkable place.
Speaker 2:It was just, you know, when you think of particularly India and Nepal, you think busy vehicles everywhere, and it certainly was that. I mean, I remember when we came out of the airport and we were looking for taxis, and the taxis there were loads of them.
Speaker 1:They were just tiny little like Renaultult yeah, three wheelers or four wheelers there were three, three so that little indian tuck tucks uh, so they had them.
Speaker 2:But then they also had little three-wheel cars. Okay, and obviously, if you think trying to put all your, I mean we really only had hiking backpacks that's a bit. But if you think trying to put all your, I mean we really only had hiking backpacks, that's what we did. But if you think you're trying to get people into them with all your luggage, it was quite a scene.
Speaker 1:What was your favorite food while you were there?
Speaker 2:Oh, that's a good question.
Speaker 1:And they had tea probably everywhere, yeah.
Speaker 2:The tea was amazing. The tea was really nice, but we mainly ate rice and dal pretty much.
Speaker 1:The vegetarian diet there in Nepal. Not much meat.
Speaker 2:Not a lot of meat, but that was really because where we were so in Kathmandu could have got meat, you could kind of get anything you wanted. In Kathmandu could have got meat, you could kind of get anything you wanted. But we then spent about a month and a half in a village to the west of Nepal called Tikapur. And that I mean. That was a 24-hour bus ride from Kathmandu to Tikapur, so it's way out.
Speaker 1:There's a real winding road, I guess, yeah, and a foot hill port, so it's way out um the real winding road?
Speaker 2:I guess yeah, and the foot hill oh, it's terrifying, but out there it was just because we were really staying where. It was just a few farms, the the food was really vegetarian, um, so then at one point I remember they they cooked a goat curry for us. Okay, but do you know? This is so bad. The best thing I had was we managed to buy a chicken and we hadn't had chicken the entire time we'd been there. And we managed to buy potatoes. The best thing was chicken and potatoes.
Speaker 1:Chicken and potatoes. Yeah, oh dear.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there would have been so many other great things, but I think it's just where we were staying.
Speaker 1:What was the church experience like? Did they worship in a house church, or what was that like?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was house church. So in Tikapur we were essentially following or going with a house church which was a family, just a family, so they kind of hosted us and then they would take us to different houses, uh in the village and we would, then we would sort of do the church service for them. So we had to have a translator, uh. But in Kathmandu, uh, there were yeah, yeah, kathmandu, and then there's a place called Nepal Ganj, which is on the border of India and Nepal, and a few more. They were actual church buildings but they were kind of like felt like a community.
Speaker 1:Tell me how do you cope with the language stuff, because their characters are different. Right, so language is totally different.
Speaker 2:There's not even like anything that you can possibly no, it was, it was, it was a challenge, so we we had to have a translator with us the whole time, and without the translator, I don't know how we would have survived.
Speaker 1:I'm sure we would one of the street to shop or something. It's just numbers. I guess you didn't have any way of we just had to guess how much is that scar?
Speaker 2:yeah, we were guessing what we were buying um, and you know, like I remember we did once go to a restaurant and we had no idea what it was that we were ordering um, and so in the villages like Tikapur they wouldn't necessarily speak English either, so you couldn't even kind of have that right, you know rice, right, you know what?
Speaker 2:Right, you couldn't even have that sort of conversation with them. One one thing that was really funny actually was we got into a little tuk-tuk and obviously trying to say where you're going to go. I can't even remember how we got around that, but in the tuk-tuk there was little signs, and I think it was because they knew that not everyone was speaking the language, and so it would be like the no smoking sign, yeah, but it was no shouting like, for example, but it was an image. So what, what I thought that image was representing might not be true. So it was no shouting Um, not, you can't. Um, it was something to do with a pregnant lady, like, basically like respecting their space. The funniest one was no passing gas.
Speaker 1:Every airline needs to have that next to. They don't need a no smoking sign anymore, they need a no tooting sign. Yeah, that is hilarious, oh my God.
Speaker 2:I've got a photo of it somewhere. I'll find it.
Speaker 1:Someone sent me a meme yesterday and the meme had this Victorian lady and she said I was crying and no one noticed. And I was hungry and no one noticed. And I was hungry and no one noticed. And it said pass gas. And everybody left. Very good, oh goodness, even in a tuck in in one of these. Yeah, abs, no, what so the? Do you have a memorable experience in worship with them or any kind of encounter that happened where you really felt god moving in in nepal?
Speaker 2:yeah, there were many, I think two that come to mind. Um, it's the house church and we would worship and we would bring some of our songs that we knew. But then also they were teaching us Christian songs in Nepalese, which sadly I can't remember how they went, but that was us worshipping in their language in their house. Just the. The lord was just with us in such an amazing way, um, and one of those moments where you're like I just don't want to leave, I don't want this to end. I could sit and do this forever for hours. But another moment that really stuck out was when I I really started to understand the faith that some of the locals had, who were in these remote villages where they didn't have any health care, they didn't have necessarily the food they needed and, and you know, they just didn't have what we have here.
Speaker 2:And there was someone who, um, was unable to walk. He had a back injury and it had been, he'd had it for years, and so he would sort of slide, you know, slide around on the floor or people would pick him up and move him, and he was elderly and he was desperate for us to go and pray with him, and he'd heard that. We just heard that there were this bunch of christians who would come in and he was like I, I want you to pray. And so we went in and, through the translator, we were able to understand what the problem was, but ultimately I felt I didn't even need to know.
Speaker 2:Um, it was just in that moment, just being with him, in the presence of God. I didn't really need to know the ins and outs. And that hit me, because I've always, you know, always thought oh, I need to know what it is and what we're asking for for healing and that sort of thing. And we just, we just invited the, the holy spirit, we asked for healing, and he got up and he walked out of his house.
Speaker 2:For real, he got up and he walked out, and it's awesome is that I know I was just like this is amazing, but it I know no god as a as heal. But also what was remarkable was the faith of the man. The heart he had to be healed was just incredible.
Speaker 1:And it wasn't a magic trick because you happened to be so, so smart, because you happen to be so, so smart. It was all to do with faith and God's response to his openness to that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it reminded me of when the woman touches Jesus' clothing. It reminded me of that like the desperation for being in his presence but then also receiving healing. In that moment it felt like that.
Speaker 1:It's so powerful. Maybe as part of these podcasts or maybe as a standalone project, we should actually do some recordings of people sharing testimonies of God at work, because we've all got so many stories where we can share God doing something, and I think, for the people who struggle with doubt, I think it would be a real gift to especially the people who say, oh, this is, this is all hokey, this isn't real, there's just make, it's just make believe. You know, I don't believe in any of that work in different ways. It might just be that thing that can help a person who struggles to to say gosh, I, I want to know a little bit more about this, this kind of god who's really present and doing things that don't make sense but certainly are are true. Yeah, where? Where else in southeast asia did you go other than nepal? Did y'all go anywhere?
Speaker 2:else. No, we only, we only went to nepal, um, so we did three months there, so we didn't. Yeah, we traveled around different places. So we went to um I don't know how you pronounce pakora which is really the place we see in the in the photos of, you know, the Everest and the lakes that's there, and that it was weird because we'd been in Tikapur and Nepal Gange, and that was hard because we were just like sleeping on, just a we're in an empty shell of a building, sleeping on the floor. And we went to, uh, pecora and we were in what was probably a hostel. So it felt like, oh, this is, you know, this is a bit nicer, but you go out and it's just so similar, you know.
Speaker 2:But what was very sad, uh, were the amount of street children, uh, in that area, and I think also because it's touristy there, they, they operate there and there's people. It was sad. There are people who are obviously using the children to get money and then the children don't get anything. And there were also a lot of families who were taking refuge from and I've completely forgotten the name between China and Nepal, I'm trying to think begins with S, I'll find it, but because of conflict in that region, having to come down into Nepal and just down into Nepal and just still not having a good quality of life and working with them. We would just spend time sitting with them and talking with them and then praying. It was very relational, which I personally enjoyed.
Speaker 1:Right, are you thinking of like Bhutan, oh Bhutan.
Speaker 2:That's it, Bhutan.
Speaker 1:yes, Bhutan or some. I mean, I don't know my geography. You're making me real interested in learning being in China and Tibet and Nepal and-.
Speaker 1:That's it, yeah to Jaipur, to India, that whole area. I've never been anywhere around there and it's fascinating to me. I know a little bit about Myanmar and Burma and Bangladesh, but fascinating that you got to spend that much time in such a tough place. It must have really impacted your faith Massively and your health too. I hope you stayed healthy during all that time. I'm guessing you're around lots of new bugs and weird water.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we all had our moments where we were very unwell, but in general we were good and I mean, for me it was a massive step because I did it when I was about 21, I think, and it was a massive step because I I did it when I was about 21, I think, and it was a big step um of confidence for me going somewhere like that a long way to go, you know, and and so that I I obviously sort of developed in my relationship with God during that time.
Speaker 2:But there was also just being removed from what you know and all your comforts and your familiarities. Being removed from that was a huge experience as well, because you're just nestling into God. And I mean there was times where we all just wanted to come home, uh, and we'd been in Tikapur for a month and we were all set and we'd eaten nothing but rice and lentils twice a day for a month and and one poor girl, she couldn't physically keep it down anymore. It was that it was that hard and we all just said we want to go home. And we had this honest conversation with everyone where we said, like you know, our money is tight. That was the other thing, because we were funding fundraising to be there. Money's tight, what you know, it could have been so easy to say because money's tight, we're actually going to fly back to america, we're going to go home and we're not going to finish it. God just sustained us through all of them and, um, I'm so glad we didn't go home the fellow that got up and walked.
Speaker 1:When did that happen in relation to your talking turkey with your teammates? Was it before or after? Talking, talking what so it's an american expression, turkey, um, that when you got, you had the heart-to-heart talk with each other about whether to go home did. I was after so, so you were still struggling after witnessing what happened to him, or?
Speaker 2:oh sorry, no, so we were, we were struggling and then we went to this other village in tikapur.
Speaker 1:That happened, um yeah and that must have renewed you. But to see that must have changed the temperature of the water for you absolutely because, yeah, just, you're aware of what is possible.
Speaker 2:You know, not that it was us that did the healing, but, you know, by being available to God and to other people. And the other thing that I think did that for me personally anyway, was the children. They were just, they were so wonderful and fun and we, and we would, you know, they'd see us walking down a path and they would say, uh, jamesy, jamesy, which is basically uh, namaste, but it's the christian greeting. Oh yeah, if you say jamesy, it's, you know, you're a Christian, they're a Christian. It's like God bless, oh, wow. So they would go JMSC, jmsc, and we spent a lot of time with them, and that was another thing as well, where you just kind of you're brought back to why you're there.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, I think that's really awesome. Where, if you could go anywhere next, what? What adventure would you and dan the man have in your life that you can't take boise with you? But where would you go? If you're flying somewhere for a a kind of experience of god it doesn't have to be a mission trip, but I'm thinking experience of god where would you go? It wasn't just like a holiday, but you wanted to go somewhere and really encounter, um, something that's going to broaden your faith I would you go?
Speaker 2:I think I know for me, I I would like to go to india. Um, yeah, I've just based on um friends who have been and you know, and done mission work, that sort of thing over there. I would like to go to India, but then also I think Dan would be interested, as would I, in somewhere like Brazil. Yeah, it's an I've never done south america and I think south america somewhere I would love to be exposed to the world is big, isn't it?
Speaker 1:yeah, amazing when you really stop and say where? Yeah, it's clear. Just, I get inundated with all these um possibilities. You know we're always go to. You can always go to my mother's house in north carolina and go to the blue ridge mountains. That would be nice. Let my mom feed you, yeah, and then, when you've had enough biscuits and grady forever, then you can go over the mountain to dollywood and experience. Yeah, I've been to the center of the world, you've been to dollywood, so you have been to Mecca.
Speaker 2:I have, I have.
Speaker 1:It was amazing, I'm a big amusement park fan, but particularly Dollywood. I have a thing for Dolly. I mean I remember it was Silver Dollar City a long time ago and Evolve and the coasters being built and everything, so you've been there I was fortunate enough.
Speaker 2:So my friends in Nashville evolve and the coasters being built and everything. So so you've been there, I've been there. I was fortunate enough, uh, so my friends in nashville, that her mom is from a southern gospel singing background and um, her so, and her dad, so my friend's grandfather, is in the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in Dollywood.
Speaker 2:Oh really yeah, rusty Goodman, I think Rusty Goodman. So I was over there and they said look, we'll get tickets, we'll go, you're going to have a great time. They knew I loved Dolly, so it was amazing.
Speaker 1:You went to the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Yeah, we saw his plaque. Yeah, did you get to listen to the Kingdom Heirs sing? No, there's a little gospel group. They're there most of the year. They travel.
Speaker 1:But my father used to go over to Dollywood just to listen to the Kingdom Heirs. And we used to joke and say that for my dad, hearing the Kingdom Heirs was like going to church, yeah, and he'd go to all their shows. They'd do like three shows a day and my dad would go to all three shows. Thank you, yeah. And he was in like a motorized wheelchair toward the end of his life, and so he would come zooming out of there and he'd go to Granny's to get some food and then he'd go back to the show and then he'd go over to the. They had a 50s show over, do you remember? There's like a drive-in 50s diner oh, what's that? And there's a show over there too. And so dad navigated the whole of the park by the music and then dolly's brother plays uh, randy parton plays in one of the the outdoor shows.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, we that's. Uh, that's cool that you know, that you know about it. So we'll have to dream a little. A little farther afield than that, maybe nagashima spa land in japan, another place on my coaster bucket list?
Speaker 1:oh no, you'll visit some giant roller coasters in japan yeah, yeah, that would be impressive, yeah we're talking secular things, but I think the cool thing is that wherever we go and whatever we do, god goes with us and then we find God when we get there we really do. That's the cool part about all of this is that that old man that was dragging himself around on the ground, every place we go, there are those children and those people and those needs. If you just come in with love and light, it can literally be transformative and that is a cool thing. I want to thank you for sharing that, because I didn't know that about Nepal and about your, I mean, that's a that's a long time to to commit yourself to a pretty rough experience and it's very, it's really wonderful and I appreciate you sharing all that thank you, thank you thanks for listening to coffee pods today don't forget to like, follow and subscribe.
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