Greg and I continually awoke throughout the night, switching off turns in the bathroom. Add to this the fact that I had a chronic cough that seemed to manifest itseld as soon as I lay down in my bed each night, and continued all night. Needless to say, it was a lovely scene.
NEPALI HOUSEWARMING
In the morning, we felt like doing just about nothing. So that's pretty much what we did. I began to get restless in the afternoon, so thankfully Robby had planned for us to go visit a church member's housewarming party. Robby, Ganga, Greg and I took a taxi out to the very well-constructed 4-level home that was being "blessed" by a ceremony. This meant that we sang a few songs of worship, and then 3 different men gave sermons in Nepali. I'm still not sure what they said, but 90 minutes later, we prayed and then ate some food. It was different than anything I had experienced, but God was glorified by it.
Greg didn't eat, as his stomach was still not to be trusted. I tried a bit of rice. We were a fairly sad scene. After meeting a different missionaries and locals in the area, our stomachs were telling us it was time to leave. So we headed back to Robby's house.
IMPROV PREACHIN'
I believe it was this night that we all sat around Robby's kitchen table, discussing spiritual matters, and then, around 9:00pm the conversation began to wane. After a few moments of silence, Robby asked, "Well pastors, what should we do now?" I was thinking, "Go upstairs, read, attempt to go to bed, and regain my health." What came out of both Greg's and my mouth was: "I don't know. What do you think, Robby?" "Pastor Greg, you can preach for us on the topic of faith", was his response. Greg, obviously taken aback, said "Uhm, ok." Noting his hesitation, Robby offered direction: "Use Matthew 7:24-27." Greg inquired, "Ok. So can I prepare at all?" "Oh yes, you can have ten minutes to prepare. Maybe twelve" Robby informed him, without hesitation.
Witnessing the exchange was, for me, brilliant. Ten to twelve minutes later, Greg was speaking to us on Matthew 7. It was well done. After Greg finished his 15 minute talk, Robby commended him on a job well done. He then proceeded into over an hour of monologue about the text. And it was really good. When it comes to the Bible, Robby Rai knows his stuff, that's for sure. At the end, he informed me, "Pastor Matt, you are next. Tomorrow you will preach on the Kingdom of God." Lucky for me, I had some real prep time.
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