https://mailchi.mp/49b003b9e1eb/tornadoes-rebuilds-and-nepal-april-update?e=51364add0f
September Update
3 Years
| Three years ago yesterday, we moved to Tennessee. We chased a dream and said “yes” to God’s leading. It is hard to believe it’s been three years already, and it seems like that hot day was a decade ago. These three years have been filled with highs, lows, joys, disappointments, fear, and hope. We have pursued God and ran from God, traveled, and stayed home. We miss family and have found some great friends; we left a church that we love and miss and found a new one we love. Most of all, we are grateful for what we get to do! Just this morning, I read these words penned by the late Eugene Peterson (A paraphrase of the beginning of Galatians chapter 6.) “Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.” Just a couple weeks ago, Hope Force celebrated its 20th anniversary! We had an incredible time being together as a staff and board. We celebrated all God has done and sought his direction for the future! We are so grateful that we, as a family, get to serve as our calling. Reflecting on these last couple of days, I am humbled and thankful. For those of you who have been praying for us, for those of you who encourage us, and for those of you who support us financially. Thank you, thank you, thank you! |
Haze
Kathmandu is kind of like a bowl. As you are flying in from the west you are flying with an incredible view of the front range of the Himalayan mountains. As you get closer you see this city begin to pop up, but it’s actually kind of set down in. The air around the mountains looks like it must be the cleanest purest air in the world tucked in against the snowy peaks. As you descend from 30,000 feet down into the city you begin to notice a smog hovering over the top of the city. When you get off the plane and outside into the air, you can smell it a bit and it burns your eyes. Hundreds of thousands of vehicles driving and people and animals and smoke and noise. If you have never been to a third world country the above sentence is the best way I can describe it, it’s just one of those things: you know it when you see it. If you have been to a third world country you know exactly what I’m talking about. Once you’ve been there for the better part of a day or at the most a few days, you don’t even really notice the haze and smog anymore. It’s almost as you become acclimated.
I have had some irritations lately, to be honest, getting here to Nepal was ripe with irritations. From the moment we got to the Nashville airport and even checking in our bags there was an issue and we sat at the counter for an hour and a half. Then of course we had a mechanical issue and had to sit on the tarmac for a couple hours. Then how could I forget 6 hours at JFK airport…if you’ve been, you know $25 hamburgers, temps in the terminal that are too hot or two cold and simply the friendliest people on the planet. From there it was just a quick 13 hour flight to Doha Qatar where my cell phone issues began and another 8 hour layover. Then 4 hours to Kathmandu and this grumpy old man with 2 bricked cell phones needed a nap the way a 2 year old does when they are overstimulated and over-tired.
Irritation is a funny thing. Those times where things just don’t go right, but more when things seem to stack up, where none of them are going right. I don’t know where you go in those places but if I am honest, I just get grumpy and bitter. Those of you who know me are snickering right now. You are thinking to yourself “he is always grumpy and bitter, what does irritation have to do with it.” I have one thing to say to you… Touché.
Irritation does two things to me, sometimes it drives me further into the smog, and then sometimes, often when the irritation seems to build up over time, it wakes me up. It makes me aware of my surroundings, and the attitude of my heart and to the reality that I have been living in smog and have become so acclimated to it that I no longer even notice.
This morning, I had one of those times, where I got a peek above the haze, saw a glimpse of the mountain air, took a breath in and said “Wow!” The glimpse came through a passage of scripture that I have read numerous times but never really stuck out to me before.
“In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him;he guarded him as the apple of his eye,” Deuteronomy 32:10
No matter how acclimated you and I become to the haze. No matter if we find ourself as the writer of Deuteronomy says “in a barren and howling waste” God is a shield and a guide. Sometimes you and I need the irritations to get our attention. It’s interesting, when you consider Kathmandu and where it is. This bowl is nestled into the most beautiful mountains on the planet, in a wild, unadulterated wilderness, a place that I have to imagine has to have some of the cleanest, purest air there is. It is so close, you just have to go a little way up in elevation to get above and out of the haze. Wherever you have found yourself today, may you get a a glimpse above the Haze.
Nepal Bound
Today begins a multi-day journey to a place that I dearly love! I have had an obsession with the mountains since I was a kid and I first started hiking in the white mountains of New Hampshire. This trip will be my third time in Nepal. The above picture is what I get to look at when I wake in the morning and while I am working throughout the day. The view is great, but the people are even greater, at Hope Force we partner with an amazing organization in Nepal which works on the rehabilitation side of trafficking. People who have been through the worst are resurrected into new life. We serve them, we work alongside of them and they have become our dear friends. A few days ago as several of us were gathered packing, those of us who have been multiple times spent time reminiscing about our friends we have made, their happenings since last year and how excited we are to see them again.
I am deeply excited to go work, to see my Nepali friends and to go with my team from Hope Force and simply to see what God does in me. I used to tell my students all the time that when we get away from our regular routine with a focus on God, he always seems to do something in us.
I ask for your prayers as we travel, our group this year is 13 people, we have a medical team and a construction team going. The medical team will be doing clinics in the towns and villages associated with the organization we serve with. The construction team will be working on building a few buildings and a bunch of electrical work. This is such an incredible opportunity not only to see a place that I love dearly, but to serve others with our gifts and talents!
The Manger Feels a Little Heavier
This morning, in Nashville, the manger just feels a little heavier. Today is the day that most of the Christian community celebrates the arrival of Jesus, what we believe to be God in human form. It is a joyous celebration. The word often used is Emmanuel, which means God with us. Not distant, not unapproachable, but humble, lowly, a baby born in a barn. He came to meet us on our turf. But this year, the celebration seems a little dampened, a little subdued, even a little bit heavy.
Last night, Christmas Eve looked very different for many people across the globe. Church services were either non-existent, online, or at least very different from our dearly loved norms. Christmas day was different too. For many of us, we either could not or chose not to spend time with family in the way we always have.
This morning, here in Nashville, precisely at 6:30 AM, an RV was exploded intentionally right in the heart of the city. We woke up and were getting ready to open presents, and an alert came through on my phone. “Intentional explosion in downtown Nashville, on Broadway.” It was right outside of the AT&T building, and so for us, cell phone reception has been down all day. I have no idea if I’ve had any calls or texts that didn’t come through over wifi. Our local news has not yet given any motive or explanation of this event; they are simply referring to it as an intentional explosion. Nashville has already suffered quite a bit this year, and today seems to be a cloud over the Christmas day celebration.
Last night, during our Christmas Eve services, our pastor reminded us that the arrival of Jesus probably wasn’t a picture-perfect moment either. Jesus was born into physical circumstances that were humble, to a situation that no one would have believed. To parents who had to travel many miles at a very slow pace during the late stage of Mary’s pregnancy. Jesus’ parents found no place to stay but a barn and nowhere for their new baby to sleep but a feeding trough.
I think the first Christmas was also heavy. But I believe, in the middle of heaviness is right where God wants to meet us. Somewhere in American Christianity, a lie has crept in that God is for people who have their lives put together. That people have to believe the right things, or say the right things or be a part of the right things. But when you examine the word of Jesus, who he is, what he said, how he lived, and how he treated people, something very different emerges. Jesus himself said, “It’s not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.”
So maybe you too feel heavy today. Maybe your Christmas spirit doesn’t quite have the same pep that it has in the past. I believe that is ok. I believe that could actually be a good thing. I believe it is those moments that God uses to get our attention. Perhaps he’s beckoning you through the heaviness. Jesus said it far better than I ever could: “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
I don’t know where you are at with the heaviness tonight, but I want to challenge you to go to the one who knows it. The one who knows where you are, who you really are, and wants to walk with you through it all.
It actually happened…
Somewhere over the last week, it really hit me. We are here. In Tennessee. With Hope Force.
I fell in love with the ministry of Hope Force many years ago. For a very long time I had, what in my mind was a very unrealistic, pipe dream to join the Hope Force Staff. I explored it, but, there were in my mind, just too many obstacles. Too many reasons why it just wouldn’t work. In 2017, a little while after I deployed to Houston, Elizabeth and I almost took the leap of faith, but there ended up being a few things which made us to pause.
Over time, it kept coming back up, back into my mind. This past January, we were at a friend’s house and they mentioned that they thought if I had a dream job, it would be with Hope Force. They were EXACTLY right.
Then, finally, we made the decision, after much prayer, tons of wise council and serving at a Tornado that hit Nashville. One night Elizabeth and I said, ok let’s do this. From the best we could tell it was the direction God seemed to be leading us. But then logistics hit us again, how are we going to sell a house during COVID, how are we going to buy a house when we don’t have any history of raising support? How in the world are we going to raise financial support in a season where so many people are losing their jobs?
March, April, May and June were months filled with overwhelming logistical challenges.
Ending our time at the church, shutting down my electrical business, finishing projects on the house, packing up the house, trying to buy another house 1000 miles away, reaching out to people trying to connect to raise support. How the heck is this all going to work i kept thinking?
As I sit typing this, and reflecting on these last several months I am hit with the fact that God has led us to this place, not me. (I tried to avoid it many times). Our house in Windham sells today (please pray that the final details will get taken care of between now and 1PM (EST). God has provided a way to get a house in TN and not have to rent. The obstacles, every last one have been overcome. Is that a lot of coincidences maybe, but I choose to believe there is much more at work in this than coincidence. Even the support raising is going well, after just a few months we have about 50% per month of what we’ll need. The New Englander in me cringes typing that, because it makes me fear again that people won’t give. But I know this is where God has led us, and I am confident that he will provide.
I am blown away by the fact that God has done this. After years of dreaming, years of doubting, years of hoping and even some years of running, I am sitting at my new desk in the Hope Force office. To me, that is a huge deal. Every once in a while, God reminds me in a very real way, that when I step out in faith, He is there.
Big News
I’ve heard it said, its not official til its facebook official, or instagram official or whatever… well here goes (and this will probably be long, so brace yourself).
In the summer of 2012, I had the privilege to lead a team of students on a mission trip to West Virginia through Hope Force. During our time there we served an acute need, and the need was so strong and time sensitive that we actually ended up returning 3 weeks later with another team. On the first trip, with our team of students from WPC, at one point, I was behind the house doing some electrical work and I was just overwhelmed by the need of the family we were serving. I was overwhelmed that we were able to come and do our part and distinctly, in that moment I felt: “this is what I am created to do”.
Since that time in 2012 I have had the time to work with Hope Force a lot, including many more trips to West Virginia, a trip to Atlantic City, Houston, Nashville and Nepal. Each of the trips has been in the realm of serving people/groups who have suffered from the effects of a natural disaster. Each disaster has been very different, and the type of work I’ve been able to do has been very different on each trip. The common thread through each has been Hope Force and how much I feel alive and almost that I am serving God himself directly when I am serving people who have lost so much.
For about 3 years, Elizabeth and I have been considering, praying, talking about and asking advice about joining Hope Force Staff. Through many discussions, meetings, council from others and prayer Elizabeth and I have come to the decision to join Hope Force Staff where I will serve as the Disaster Response Coordinator. This decision has taken quite a while to come to as we have to factor in moving as a family to Tennessee, raising all our own financial support, leaving behind a church we love and have served at for 10 years and leaving family and friends behind. This has not been an easy decision to come to, but we are confident this is the direction God is leading us.
So, next steps… we are prepping our house (as fast as we can) to go not he market in the next week or 2. We are beginning the process of raising our financial support (Hope Force is a 501(c)(3) organization and all your contributions are tax deductible). We just spent several days in the Nashville area looking at homes and we hope to be putting in an offer on one very soon. We are going to be sorting through all our stuff, packing up and heading south if all goes well, at the beginning of July.
I have created a separate facebook page called: Stetson Disasters, this will be a place where we will share consistently and more in depth about the work we will be doing with Hope Force. It will be, in a sense, a home base for all donors, prayer partners and people who are interested in what we’ll be doing. I intend to utilize this blog more often than I have been for longer posts like this and I will also be creating some sort of newsletter. If you would like to be a part of any of those things, please just let me know, comment on this post, shoot me a message, drop me an email, text or phone call.
Thank you all for your prayers, partnership and friendship throughout the years.
Stetson Family
Perhaps the World doesn’t Revolve Around ME.
I’m sitting at my dining room table, contents of my bags still rather strewn about, 2 weeks of laundry mostly done and in a bit of a fog. Last night around 11PM, I arrived back at 8 Range Rd to conclude 40 hours of travel to get home. It’s so great to be home and it’s so weird to be home, it feels like I have been gone forever and as if I never left. I have been lying around all day, spending time with my family, trying to recover and not really sure what to do with myself.
Many things struck me about this trip, I was very moved each day when we would pray and read scripture as a team. I was very moved by the dedication to Christ of all the people I served alongside. I was very moved by the lives of the girls who are a part the anti-trafficking organization in Nepal. I was deeply impacted by the amazing Nepali guys I get to serve alongside on the construction site, and the pastors serving in a country hostile to them being there. Each of those things impacted me deeply and I could write significantly more about each one of them than you would ever want to read.
There was this one other thing, this sort of nagging thing which my whole journey home and all day today which just won’t leave me alone. My own insignificance. And to be clear, I don’t mean that in a have pity on me, I need some attention type of way.
This is not a realization because I already, or should already know it. I, like many people, am a rather self-absorbed person. My self-absorption would exist whether or not I lived in my culture which tells me every day that my own thoughts, feelings, experiences, and desires are the most important thing in the world.
I flew halfway around the world, then rode in a bus that felt like I was on a mechanical bull for 8 hours. After that bus ride, I hiked downhill for a mile and a half to a little village with the most beautiful mountain view I have ever seen. In that village, I found something very profound. People. Normal, everyday people, people who are hardworking, people who live off the land. People who are concerned about their lives, the lives of their kids and their homes. People whose lives go on whether or not I ever showed up. People who live and die, love, laugh and cry 100% independent of my existence. Isn’t that weird to think of? Some of you reading this are probably thinking… well it’s about stinking time you realized this.
Let’s be honest though, this is our human nature. You and I are so wrapped up in the minutest detail of our everyday lives. I’ve got to do this so I can accomplish that, if I don’t get this next promotion then I won’t be able to accomplish my goals. We are so focused on putting our best foot forward because we are so worried about what others think of us. I tend to get very wrapped up in how many likes I get and how I am perceived. By the way, this is not at all just an American problem. One afternoon, I had some spare time and I hiked up the side of a mountain to check out a Buddhist temple/monument that we could see from our team house. I got up there and was walking around and it was all open to the public. I went inside to see what it was like, there was a lot of artwork on the wall, a couple altars, some incense and a giant statue of Buddha. Those things were all interesting, but what was most stuck out to me was two girls posing for pictures and taking selfies with the statue.
As I flew over all of Europe, a lot of the middle east and into Asia, I could not get over how many cultures and millions of people were 40,000 feet below me. People whom I will never meet, my life will never impact either for good or for bad. People who wake up, struggle, laugh, cry, work, fall in love, be a part of a family and eventually die. I don’t know why that is so profound to me. I also don’t know why it’s not a lot more profound than it is. Maybe what I am beginning to understand is how much others matter. My country is fighting and its getting worse, people are disagreeing on so many things and neither side can seem to extend the simple kindness that is expected of kindergarteners. Haiti, another country I love is fighting again because of things far beyond my understanding. I heard several Nepali’s talk a lot about trying to get out of the country because it seems as if there is no future there.
I believe wherever you go on the planet, people are people. They are good, they are bad, they are just like you and they are completely different from you. They have fears, joys, worries, and dreams. They are created in the image of God but have lost that image and they long to be re-connected to Him. I am not the center of the universe and neither are you. People matter, important people and forgotten people. People matter whether or not I think they matter. People mattered before I ever realized it and will matter long after I am gone. People don’t matter because of their personality, heritage or what they accomplish. People matter because they are loved, even the people who are and feel unloved. People matter because they are created in the image of the creator and because of Christ’s love for them. That includes you, whether you believe in that sort of thing or not.
May you find peace and truth in that, may you realize others matter and you are not the center of the universe a lot easier than I am learning it. May your eyes be opened to what God is doing in others as well as how he is patiently waiting for you.
And hey, if you made it this far without dying of boredom, check out this amazing video put together for the Hope Force team by the leaders from our on the ground partners in Nepal.
-Stets
The first round of goodbyes
Man what a whirlwind this trip has been, It came on my radar in late summer and I was so excited. Nepal, I couldn’t believe it. The thought of seeing the Himalayas has been a dream since I could remember. Serving in Nepal has gripped my heart ever since the earthquake happened in 2015. Now as I write this we are sitting in the Kathmandu airport waiting for our first flight on our journey home.
The word that is coming to mind, to sum up, these past two weeks is: humbling. The Nepali people who we worked alongside both the girls from the anti-trafficking organization in Nepal, the guys who drove us around, the guys who worked alongside us on the job site, and pretty much everyone we came in contact with were all amazing.
Yesterday the medical team did their last clinic at the school associated with the anti-trafficking organization in Nepal and the construction team finished up the church we were working for Pastor Saran.
This morning we woke up at 4:30AM to head for the airport for an incredible opportunity at a flight around Mt Everest. We all headed in, got through security at the domestic side of Kathmandu airport and took a bus to the plane.
Once on the plane, there was plenty of room for everyone to get a window seat to be able to see the tallest peak on earth. The flight attendants gave instructions for takeoff, the engines started on the 30 seat propeller plane and we were getting ready for takeoff. Moments later, the engines slowed and an announcement was made that the flight was canceled due to no visibility around the mountains. We were all pretty bummed out to not be able to take the flight. As we got off the plane, I realized I had lost my prized water bottle which just added salt to the wound. Fortunately, all did not end in sadness because I went up to the ticket counter and they were actually able to track it down for me.
After we got back from our non-Everest flight we got some breakfast, then headed out to do some shopping at the street stores in downtown Kathmandu. From there we went back to the team house to begin packing and then a farewell ceremony from everyone at the anti-trafficking organization in Nepal. This was an incredibly humbling ceremony with gifts and words from several people and some beautiful music. We were thanked and loved on over and over while each of us on the team felt that we learned and got far more than we gave.
I can’t speak enough about humbling it is to serve this incredible ministry and what they do. The girls who are a part of it, some who have experienced so much trauma are living lives of such joy! The leaders of our on the ground partners in Nepal are living out the gospel in some of the most incredible ways I have ever experienced.
We are now sitting in the Kathmandu airport, our flight leaves at 8:40 local time. It’s about a 4-hour flight back to Doha, Qatar, where we have an 8-hour overnight layover. From there, if they won’t switch me to the Boston flight we head to Philly getting in somewhere around noon I believe. Then I have my route back through Detroit and finally home to Manchester just before 11PM Saturday night.
Thank you all for your continued prayers and thoughts on this incredible trip. I am sure I will have at least one more update on this trip.
A-Aron
aaronstetson 