Daily Devotionals, a time to ask and receive!

November 6, 2009
I’m not going to lie, when I first found out that we do devotionals every night, and I was going to lead twice a week, I was a little more than unsure. After all, when I get going, I use words all wrong and sometimes I might even make up words! And, then I expect a bunch of Nepali ESL kids to understand my ranting and raving?! Crazy, right?!

Well, it turns out we’re going straight through Luke, so at least we’re guided. And the older kids have a great grasp of the English language and have quickly picked up on my quirky statements that may or may not make any sense! So, we usually sing a few songs to open, and there’s nothing like 15 Nepali kids singing acapella in a cement box of a room that resounds with beautiful harmonies! I’m learning the songs slowly, and have been writing them down as we go in my own sort of little Black song book. The kids love it and laugh with me at my singing, which is a step below pathetic in Nepali, but I’m trying! Raju’s the one who gets most excited with this huge eye to eye grin when I sing in Nepali. I think it’s because he doesn’t speak very much English, so that’s pretty much the only time he understands me!

Then we charge around the room, each kid reading a verse, and then we take turns breaking it down. To be honest, the days when I don’t lead are like a second quiet time for me, with this Nepali background murmuring. On the days I do lead, I feel bad for the little ones who don’t really understand, but the older kids are pretty good about translating for them. Then after, they can ask the leader questions, which is typically a “No one has questions now let’s eat!” time.

However, for some reason, when I lead, I get the most unusual and interesting questions. One night this week I finished dissecting the passage, and as is tradition, I asked if there were any questions. There was some hesitation, and then one of the kids asked me where Jesus was coming back. “Is he just going to come over Jerusalem and we’ll all meet him there, or will he be everywhere?!” Ummm... let me just say, I had no idea! That led into the question as to why God didn’t tell us when Jesus will come get us, which Laxuman answered beautifully with “because then everyone would wait until then to become Christians and they wouldn’t live for Jesus now!” Which he concluded with asking me how the earth got people on it if Adam and Eve were the only first people. A great question. One to which either leads to “I don’t know exactly” which is where I went or the defining of the word inbreeding, which I really didn’t feel like getting into! Then some asked where we got languages and if we could really reach heaven if we built a tall enough tower. And we finished with how did other religions come to be.

There’s NO Bible study prep course that could prepare you for the questions these kids ask! But, it’s often one of the most entertaining and bonding times we have as a group, because the kids are so real and honest about things they want to understand! One time, one of the older girls asked if it was a sin for a young boy and girl to love each other. Not exactly sure what she meant by love, I asked her to explain, and she said “You know, love each other!” I’m pretty sure she meant “I love you” love, but I sure wasn’t going into any other love with 7 and 8 year olds in the room who don’t always totally get what I’m saying anyway! Well, the older kids figured out why I was flustered, and burst out laughing, assuring me that wasn’t what she meant. I felt bad for the younger kids because they were so confused as to what was going on... My best advice if you come to Nepal and do nightly devotionals with these kids: read the whole Bible before you come :).