“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning how to dance in the rain!” *

In Nepal, during the months of June to September, the weather pattern of the northwesterly moving monsoon winds, blowing up off the Bay of Bengal rich in moisture, bring rain across the country of Nepal. Of course, this weather pattern brings the needed rain for rice fields. But, sadly, landslides across roads and down mountainsides and gushing rivers overflowing their banks up into low-lying villages cause the havoc of personal loss of homes and lives – often making transportation impossible.  Therefore, things often happen very slowly during the monsoon season.

With the monsoon weather patterns bringing the rains every year, learning how to dance in the rain is a necessity, not necessarily a luxury, for the Nepali people.

Learning how to dance in the rain, members of the Elijah Counseling and Training Center in Nepal were able to hold three 2-day Disaster Trauma Counseling and Training programs for leaders, including women and active members from the central, western and far western regions of the Nepal Baptist Church Council.

From the beginning of the training, participants were very open to share their stories, their experiences of the 2015 earthquakes, and the trauma they faced – with some still going through their own trauma and grief. Not only was this training helpful for them as they learned counseling skills, but also as they experienced their own healing process.

Many of the shared comments of the appreciation and effectiveness included: “I learned the importance of listening –  if I had known this years ago, it would have saved a now broken relationship with my son.”

Another said, “in my church and community there are often people who just want to talk but are easily ignored and misunderstood. Now I have the skills of being ready and confident to listen.”

Another participant shared that “for a long time we have been doing counseling in our church and community with very little knowledge. Now we realize that we were giving advice, judging people, making a decision for them, and avoiding to show our grief as a Christian. But today we understand through this training that there is a better way of counseling. Now after this I'll to able to change my way of helping those in need.”

And yet another shared that she was “directly benefited by the grief session acknowledging the grief journey she was going through personally.”

Learning to dance in the rain in Nepal is a must for Nepalis during the months of the monsoon winds bringing rain. International Ministries’ Nepali partners seem to have learned how.

Your contributions to IM’s World Mission Offering, and your prayer and financial support to me are allowing Nepalis to dance in the storm of the post-trauma of the earthquakes in Nepal.

Whatever storm clouds you may be under, may you also learn to dance in the rain.

Thanking you,

Carole

* anonymous, but attributed to Vivian Greene