Unpredictable

Current location: Siliguri | India

So once again Team India Nepal is on a crazy journey. The Lord has rerouted us and spoke crazy things and opened many doors. We left Nepal and got to India on the 30th of July after a week long trek in the Himalayas. We went into India knowing that Darjeeling was on a 2 day strike. Darjeeling is where we were supposed to go to do ministry for our stay in India but with the strike the leader of the YWAM base told us to wait until the strike was over. Darjeeling....you may know the name, the tea is wonderful and in high demand all over the world. Anyway, instead we met up with some YWAMer's in Siliguri, India to stay for the 2 days but were so ready to get up to Darjeeling. Some people that were on staff with me in Awaken put me in contact with some friends that live in Siliguri so we met up with them and had dinner and heard about their ministry. We made plans to hang out with them again after that but we got a call from the Darjeeling YWAM base leader that we were able to come up and we needed to act fast because Darjeeling was going to protest again. So we packed our bags and headed up the mountain. We got up to Darjeeling and it was very different than Siliguri. Darjeeling is in the Himalayas it borders Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan; it is a town that is very much like Nepal. The culture, the pace, the atmosphere, and everyone speaks Nepali. Myself and my co-leader Danny went to a cafe to see when our friend Dan was coming in for a visit and the email said he was getting in the 3rd which was 4 days before he was supposed to get here and also all the days he was here Darjeeling was supposed to be on strike. So we tell the team and pray about who is to go down with us and get him. We got myself, Danny and one of our students Ellie. So we all packed small bags (thinking that we would only be gone for a day or 2) and headed back down the mountain, after just spending the night there. We get back down to Siliguri pick up Dan and start talking to all the taxi drivers to see if we can get someone to take us to Darjeeling. Every person we talked to said it was IMPOSSIBLE. But we knew God was bigger so we kept trying. We met one man named Razu and he told us he could get us there but we would have to go back into Nepal and then head up through another border more north and then take horses into Darjeeling. So we decided to try. We got into Nepali Immigration and they said our plan would not work because there is no Nepali and Indian Immigration at the place we need to cross at. So we were back at square one. Dan looked at me and said let's go to Bhutan for a few days and see what happens with Darjeeling when we get back. Bhutan....was a dream that I had at the beginning in creating this outreach and it was originally supposed to be India/Bhutan and then turned into India/Nepal. Huge dream for me. The Lord is so faithful to give the desires of our heart. We talked to Razu and he said he could take us to the border the next day. We had $0 for Bhutan and is $240 a person per day this time a year. We also have a contact there that is in charge of a church movement so we wanted to get into communication with him as well but had no contact info. Within a couple of hours we have raised enough money for myself, Danny, Dan and Ellie to go in for 2 days and we got our friends contact info and set everything up with him. So the Lord. We woke up early the next morning and headed to Bhutan. Crazy time and a beautiful country it was a wonderful experience. While in Bhutan though we get the news that the peaceful protest has turned into a violent strike and that our team will be stuck and we have absolutely no way to get up there. It is not safe for any cars to go up because they are burning them. Police could not help because they were being violent to police and burning down government officials offices. We called the base leader to make sure that our team would be safe and she said that they are not leaving the house but there is absolutely no threat. Bummer for our team and super hard because we all want to be together and they had to miss all of Dan's visit. But we could not do anything and we tried everything to get them down. Myself, Danny and Ellie took Dan to the airport and called the family we became friends with in Siliguri. They set us up in guest house and started taking us in by feeding us, letting us hang out with their kids and setting up ministry for us. They are absolutely wonderful and such a blessing. They have become great friends. While in Siliguri Danny and I were praying and seeking the Lord about what to do and going to Thailand early came up. We were supposed to be going to Thailand on September 3rd to debrief with the Awaken Cambodia Team. But what if we went early. The next day we get a call from one our girls that is stuck in Darjeeling and said randomly she got the idea to go to Thailand early instead of staying in India. To me that was conformation. We move towards doing that as we were planning what it could look like we heard that Darjeeling is for sure opening up their roads on August 15th to let cars in and out. OUR TEAM IS FINALLY COMING DOWN. We bought the plane tickets and everything is all locked away to head to Thailand early. So next stop Bangkok, Thailand. Please please please pray that everything goes smoothly. We know this is the Lord and he is doing it. He is so faithful and taking on this wonderful journey.

This is darjeeling...They are striking to become their own state
Gorkahland