The River Bed

The pastors here take the month of January off as far as ministry goes. They still do the basics like Sunday morning but they don’t go and visit, evangelise or minister to the poor. The goal is to regenerate and spend more time with their families. It is a type of Sabbatical. Usually, every Friday, they go to the river bed and minister to people. Because I wanted to experience what they do, they took me out to the river bed. There is a major river running though Nepal and there is a bridge going over that river.Here in the picture you can see the two public toilets.

By that bridge, many squatters have built lean-tos, and make shift living quarters. The place is evolving and there are now even brick houses and a really nice brand new church there. Ironically, there is even a disparity between the rich and poor in one of the poorest sections of town.

Sarita,Urmila and Nobin took Aaron and I to the river bed. Our plan was to take the bus when it came by but it was more than full. We ended up taking a taxi which took about 15 minutes. At our destination, we saw two wild monkeys; one on a building and one walking along the electrical wires. There is a small shop at the river bed and we purchased enough rice, onions, potatoes, and sundry items to make three care packages. Here in this picture they wanted me to sit down so that there was not such a disparity in height.

The girls have a heart for 3 specific families and those were the ones we specifically went to visit. The first family, the father and mother are blind and they have at least one child. She looked very pregnant but I have learned throughout the years not to ask. The father was not present so we prayed for the mother, for her sight and overall well being.

Next we prayed for an old woman who has no family. The third targeted person was out protesting. From my understanding, the government is planning to bulldoze down the riverbed and displace all the people and this is what she was protesting against. If I understood correctly, this is supposed to happen as early as tomorrow.

The river bed has its own temple which I think it is a Hindu.

I can see that the Kathmandu Vineyard has a real heart for the poor and is worthy of our support.