Nepal? Okay

My dear daughter, Allison, met a young man this summer while she was working at a summer camp in the mountains of Colorado. She and a few other counselors had the day off, so they went into town (Durango) and decided to have a bite to eat in a restaurant which specializes in food from Nepal and neighboring areas.

The young man worked there, and he was such a shining example of spirit and determination--he was in America to work and raise money to help his family and others in his village, a small very isolated one in the mountains of Nepal--that Allison and her friends took to him and wanted to help in a heartbeat.

That was a few months ago.

Tomorrow, Allison is holding a fundraising event to help her and her four cohorts pay for their expenses on their trip to Nepal. They are devoting their break
from college in December and early January to travel there and do whatever they can to help and to capture video and photos to assist in publicizing the need of the people, particularly in the small village where their friend is from.

Last week, I sent a message to as many people as I could think of, asking that they help with the financing of this mission, or, if financing was not a possibility, to share in the good wishes and prayers for Allison and her travelmates.

I'll admit I was a bit more assertive in my request for help than is my normal nature, as I was inspired by my daughter to ask for help from those I would never have asked in the past.

Here's the thing: she never thought this was a big deal or hard-to-manifest thing at all. It was simply something she felt a strong motivation to do, and she has always pulled off such things in the past. A great example is her trip with her church two years ago to Thailand to assist folks who were still dealing with the aftereffects of the massive tsunami which devastated a huge part of southern Asia. She needed to raise the money to go on the trip, and she did so. No muss, no fuss, just get it done.

Last year, she decided to help raise money for the treatment of kids who have cancer. So, she shaved her head after first raising donations in support of her shaving her head. No, this did not make a whole bunch of sense to me, but I contributed anyway.

I have talked to her about the ease with which she seems to make things happen like this, and she denies that it feels as easy inside her as it seems to those of us who witness what she has accomplished. Still, she is not hesitant to follow her own path--whether it be a path already cleared or one which requires hacking her way through thick brush--nor is she a drama queen about it. She is the most matter-of-fact person I know, all her denials aside.

This trip is different in that it is five young adults acting independently, not on any sort of church-sponsored trip, who were motivated by one individual and who, after careful consideration apart from the group, each decided this trip was one they were called to participate in. They are from all across the country, their common tie being the summer camp where they all worked this past summer.

While we are not done raising money for the trip, I am writing today to express my heartfelt amazement and gratitude for the people who responded to my request for help. People from one end of the country to the other, often people I have never met in person but know thanks to our shared passion for writing and connecting via the internet.

If you are reading this and were not given the chance to help, you are even luckier than I am! Why? Because you can become a sponsor of this amazing journey which Allison will take after finals are over in December today, right this minute. I have already had that joy and jolt of excitement, but you haven't!

Any amount works toward making this mission trip successful, and all you need to do if you want to help is to email me (my address is plainly visible on the right side, not far under my photo). I'll help you help Allison. Just as important are your good wishes and your prayers: please send those along whether you can help with the financing of the trip or not! Miracles are wrought with the energy and passion of friends, and I'm asking you for yours.