10 Jan HEARTS & HANDS
After 35 hours of traveling home, my body is exhausted but my heart is {so} full. This trip to Nepal was beyond what my mind’s capacity could have dreamt up prior to the trip. Being in Nepal for 9 days literally broke my heart in half AND healed my heart in {so} many ways…all at the same time.
The people.
Having traveled around the world I have got to experience many different cultures, and boy, are there some differences. Oohhh but the Nepali people… If I could sum them up it would be a humbled, open heart with a tirelessly working, passionate soul. They are beautiful.
The {sacred} land.
The second we landed I FELT the pulse of the land. It was like it infused my feet with peace (like an oil?) and it traveled up my body. The beauty of Nepal is something you can’t describe in words. The trash and the smog try to cover it up, but I saw right thru it. People come from around the world to go “trekking” in Nepal and now I know why.
The welcome.
Every time we went somewhere new, we received the most beautiful and love filled welcome. Usually with flowers or a bow and Namaste. There is so much honor and so much respect inside each and every person. I noticed they take TIME to show others how they feel and welcome them into their hearts with no reservation. No holding back. When we arrived in a village called Lamjung (we were there to help finish some new schools) we had a parade of people and their children there to give us flowers, put Tika on our foreheads for good luck, play music and dance. It was one of the top 10 moments of my life. Can you imagine walking down an endless line of people there to give YOU all this love? Looking into the eyes of one person at a time as they gave me flowers, put more Tika on my forehead and bowed in respect and gratitude. It was unbelievably humbling, to say the least. These people have so little yet they offer so much. I will have footage of this experienced coming soon. I can’t wait to share it! What would it be like if we put this much energy into each person that came to visit us? I will never forget the welcome, my heart would not allow it.
The Wintergreen.
doTERRA sources their oils from all around the world. They have two missions in mind. One, where can they source the highest quality for purity and potency possible. And two, where can they make a powerful impact in providing jobs and security and a future for the communities involved. The Nepal Wintergreen is the perfect example of both. This Wintergreen is a favorite oil of mine, we use it often in this home and to see the direct impact it was making in a country in {major} need, literally took my breath away. So much sacrifice and love fill up every single bottle. After seeing this first hand, I KNOW what it means and what it offers me. I will never waste a drop.
The food.
A few days before we headed out, my dear friend Shawna warned me we better stop eating so much so we could shrink our stomachs and get them used to being hungry. ?Hahaha, We even went to the extreme of bringing freeze dried food with us! Obviously, we had no idea that the most delicious food EVER was waiting for us to devour. The rice, veggies, chicken, banana lassi, pasta, curry, I mean the list goes on and on. The food was TO DIE FOR! #lessonlearned
The team.
Best. Group. Ever. The 44 people in this humanitarian group were not only my friends but each one of them held a space for me to guide me and show me what one human being can do. What one person offers to make a difference in this world. The sacrifice and love is real and I experienced it first hand with these incredible light workers. Oh, and there was an insane amount of fun and laughter going on too. ??
The need.
Not only did Nepal have a catastrophic earthquake killing 8,000 people and leaving 3.5 million homeless. They are also suffering from India’s tight chains around their neck for fuel. They have one of the biggest trafficking problems for women and children worldwide. When the earthquake happened the buses came right in trafficking young girls by the hundreds as their families were just trying to find those lost from the earthquake. Can you imagine? We experienced trafficking first hand by women asking for us to buy overpriced milk and it could only be in one special store. The kids had makeup on them to make them look sick. It was horrible. Heart. Breaking. The amount of orphans is outrageous and the need is huge. By us helping build schools in one small mountain town we are making a difference. These people value education so much so if they can’t offer it to their children they will trust the A-holes who come to offer their children a better life and education for money. They take the kids to Kathmandu and leave them homeless or they traffic them to other counties. So with us building these schools in these two mountain towns, it protects the children because parents won’t feel that they need to trust these (again) A-holes to give their kids education. Changing Nepal…one school at a time.
The children.
They stole my heart. They have this ability to look deep, deep into your soul and simply offer love. Pure, no attachments or obligations…just love. I got to spend some time at an orphanage that had 32 bright-eyed, spunky and joyful kids. We played, danced, laughed and talked. One of the boys that I will never forget started asking me about my life, my kids, my parents. I told him both my parents were sick and passed away. He looked me straight in the eye with so much compassion and said in his sweet sweet accent, ‘And that broke your heart’. Like it was a statement. Like he knew. Like he truly cared.
This trip has ignited a place in me that has be WAITING to be lit. It was the match to light the fire in my soul, my desire to contribute on a much greater level. This is not the end for me, only the beginning. After a day full of shoveling concrete and teaching young girls about hygiene and protecting themselves against trafficking, I realized there are two necessities in truly serving others. One with your hands and the other with your heart.
I left a piece of my heart in Nepal this trip and I did on purpose. I promised the children in the orphanage I would be back and I plan to keep that promise.
Thank you Nepal for the many many memories I will hold close {forever}.
To capture a bit of the emotion I felt I attached a few of my photos and others along with this awesome video one of our teenagers from the group shared… Thank you, Whitney!
To realize what we have and what we can give, {together}.
Namaste,
Bri
PS. I rode on an elephant.
PPS. I was within inches of multiple crocodiles.
PPPS. I heart Nepal forever.