M4M Day 3–Kathmandu

Kathmandu (4,953ft)

#Miles4Missions Itinerary

Day1 (May 12th)–Bixby to Kansas City to Newark
Day2 (May 13th)–Newark to Dubai to Kathmandu 
Day3 (May 14th)–Kathmandu
Day4 (May 15th)—Kathmandu to Lukla to Phakding
Day5 (May 16th)–Phakding to Namche Bazaar
Day6 (May 17th)–Namche Bazaar
Day7 (May 18th)–Namche Bazaar to Dole
Day8 (May 19th)–Dole to Machermo
Day9 (May 20th)–Machermo to Gokyo Ri to Gokyo
Day10 (May 21st)–Gokyo to Namche Bazaar
Day11 (May 22nd)—Namche Bazaar
Day12 (May 23rd)—Namche Bazaar
Day13 (May 24th)—Namche Bazaar to Tengboche
Day14 (May 25th)—Tengboche to Thukla
Day15 (May 26th)—Thukla to Gorekshep
Day16 (May 27th)—Gorekshep to Kala Patthar to Everest Base Camp
Day17 (May 28th)—Everest Base Camp
Day18 (May 29th)—***RACE DAY***Everest Base Camp to Namche Bazaar
Day19 (May 30th)—Namche Bazaar
Day20 (May 31st)—Namche Bazaar to Lukla
Day21 (June 1st)—Lukla to Kathmandu
Day22 (June 2nd)—Kathmandu to Dubai to Newark
Day23 (June 3rd)—Newark to Kansas City to Bixby

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“Though the mountains may shake and the hills be removed;
yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken.”
-Isaiah 54:10

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In a world of counterfeits, Kathmandu is fully unique. The city was definitely not centrally planned; rather it seems to have more of less came to be as wild rivers of motorcycles and trucks and busses flowed through every unoccupied inch of the city until someone named each worn path a road. Traversing the city’s “roads” is a window into a bygone world. Like the buzz of crickets in an Oklahoma summer, car horns are the background music of Kathmandu. You could probably drive here without your car’s brakes—you shouldn’t dare try it without your car’s horn. I am a person who needs and occasionally even demands order in my life; and yet strangely, I have grown to be at peace amidst the beautiful chaos of this place.

I remember the first time I set foot in Kathmandu. It was 9 years ago almost to the day and Nepal had only days before suffered a devastating earthquake that killed nearly 9,000 people. The city had been reduced to rubble and a strange mix of pulverized buildings, debris, and worse hung everywhere in the dry valley air. We opted to stay on the top floor of our hotel so when we were visited by the daily aftershocks, we could quickly scurry out onto the roof—better to fall on the hotel than have the hotel fall on us we figured. During one particularly violent aftershock in the middle of the night, I woke to my bed scooting across the tile floor. We dashed out the door onto the roof, as had become our custom. When we returned our beds were about 5 feet from where they started.

It took a very long time for many Nepalis to trust being indoors. Like first time flyers hearing the flight attendant’s preflight speech that many of us can recite in our sleep—“locate your nearest exit…bearing in mind that the nearest exit might be behind you.” The people of the Kathmandu valley never did not know where the nearest exit to a building was. If they went inside at all, they most certainly knew at all times the fastest way to get outside should the world begin to shake again.

It is quite unsettling to live in a world prone to shaking. We humans are not creatures designed to flourish without stability. A lot of money changes hands each day in attempt to diagnose the brokenness of our world, but those with eyes to see know it’s quite often a foundation problem. Once you see it, it is impossible not to recognize the symptoms of lives and families and even whole civilizations built on uncertain foundations.

To be sure, a great many believers have built shaky lives atop the firm foundation of the Gospel, but at least their endeavors were not pre-doomed like those who have chosen to build their world on some temporal and fleeting thing. Happiness, equality, and even freedom are all fine in their place, but none replicates the solid foundation of the Gospel.

In the days before we made that first trip to Kathmandu, we were having a prayer meeting at church and God gave one of our visiting Romanian missionaries the scripture above from Isaiah 54. As I walked amidst the rubble a week later in the shadow of the world’s highest peaks, I continued to marvel at the powerful declaration that God’s love is more permanent than even the mighty Himalayas. That truth marked me in 2015. I hope it does the same for you today.

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I can’t tell you how good it felt to finally be off the planes. 43 hours of travel definitely takes it out of you. I was met at the airport by our Nepali pastor Bhim and his daughter Nissi, who is finishing up a holiday with her family. We went to the tourist district in Thamel to try to find a replacement for my garmin satellite device that suddenly stopped receiving a charge during my travel. No luck, so I will be limited to WiFi and cell service on this adventure. Not my plan, but I will roll with it. The trip to Thamel was not a total loss though, since it gave me an opportunity for a nice pizza at Fire and Ice, a local favorite for tourists such as myself. They didn’t even blink when I ordered a pizza at 9AM local time.

After Thamel, we made our way to the offices for the Everest Marathon to pick up my race kit. This is definitely the first time I have picked up my kit 15 days in advance of the race, but then again, this is no ordinary marathon. The kit included a new duffel bag and quite a lot of swag. They pegged me as probably a XXL guy, but turns out even that wasn’t big enough. I swapped out a few items, and most everything I ended up with is size XXXL and some of it is still a bit snug—Nepalis are tiny people. I am not. I am sure I will not be the only one with this problem. There are 167 foreigners from 33 countries running the marathon alongside approximately 30 Nepalis.

I made it back to my hotel in the heart of Kathmandu, ordered some fish and chips, and headed to bed. I have big day waiting tomorrow, including the world famous flight to the tiny landing strip in Lukla. More soon.