Matt Short

   
     My team and I are doing well and still excited to be pursuing this ministry. Thank you all for your prayers… I doubt you know how greatly I appreciate them. We have seen some fruit of our efforts yet much of what we have done we have not seen what God is really doing. The sad thing is we’ve only gotten to spend short periods of time with the backpackers we’ve been met, but God has begun something new. Its been on all of our hearts lately to meet someone who could travel with us and who we could really disciple. Only recently has this been made possible. We met a really cool young woman in Darjeeling that we then got to ride on the same bus with to Kathmandu… well sort of. She went to Kathmandu while we jumped off half way there and now we’ve caught up. Incredibly, and I believe by the Lords guidance, we ran into her in this huge city before we had even scheduled our hotel! Now we’re continuing this friendship and speaking into her life. Be in prayer for this ministry opportunity, PLEASE! We all agree that if this were the only soul the Lord sent us here to invest in all our money, time, and efforts would be well spent… even if we don’t see the results. Her name’s Melody and she’s from France. She’s doing a 10 day Buddhist meditation course starting on the first of February, as well as she would like to join us for our prayer, worship, and bible study times. Pray that she would see the truth and life in our faith and the emptiness that is in the pursuit of all other “truths”. She has also admitted that she knows she doesn’t “know” who she really is and is searching, so pray that she would discover her true identity that can only come from our heavenly Father.
 
     Thank you all for interceding on her behalf! Just imagine, when the day comes, as you stand before the Father in His heavenly courts, beside you stands this young woman who you mourned for, standing in the gap, till she accepted the faith. Every Backpacker we come in contact with I want to think of in this way. Again, thank you.
 
     Sorry for being brief but how and where we’ve traveled I feel is far less important than the previous, however it is worth mentioning. I decided last week to split the team into two groups  for a few days so that we could travel more easily and have more ministry opportunities. We left Darjeeling one day after the other bound for the Royal Chitwan National Park. I left with the first three and Melody which was an adventure but we made it. The other three caught up with us a day later taking the same rought but with different challenges. It was a wonderful 3 days of rest at the National Park which I feel was needed before heading to Kathmandu. We arrived here yesterday which is where I began.

Thank you all again

God Bless

 Dear Friends and Family
I am alive and, concerning my last post, feeling like we really are playing in traffic from time to time. It has been one CRAZY adventure that’s for sure! It all began when three of my team members and I were held up at the airport in Christchurch where we “weren’t allowed to fly” till the airlines discovered their fault. We had been withheld from our flight wrongly so they set us up at a 5 star hotel and fed us better than I’d ever pay for in my entire life. Haha, God is good right!? Excellent beginning to a Backpacker’s Outreach.
     Much of our story I will make short because much has happened in the past 2 weeks but we all got to India. Our other four team members flew on ahead of us to Shanghai where we met up with them. It was from there that we flew to New Delhi together to meet up with our contacts. Our friends in New Delhi were incredible and helped us SO much. However, we did much traditional ministry with them. We went around to poor villages to pray for pastors and play with children.
     Our leaders, Benny and Lindsay met up with us before we left for Darjeeling. The 30 hour train ride here was grueling and I kinda hard on the team. Lucie got sick from something on the train and was not well for several days. She’s doing excellent now, sitting across the coffee shop from me chatting away with three backpackers.
     We’ve all discovered a love for the mountain culture here as well as Backpacker ministry. Everyone is super open and looking for friends. Its great to love on these people who are all searching and hungry for something new. We’ve made many friends here and been able to bless SO many already. The people of Darjeeling are incredibly friendly and much more enjoyable to be around than people of the plains… at least that’s been my experience. They smile when you smile at them and they don’t badger you as you walk past their stores.
     The team could use prayer for health always but as well a few other things. Pray for unity and motivation. These are absolutely necessary for us to accomplish what God has for us here. The coffee shop is filling up around me with westerners so I’m going to get off and join my friend Lucie.
God Bless and take it easy
Thank you all for your prayers
-Matt