HYC Kathmandu: The Journey Onward

HOPE "Youth" Corps is not just for the young in body, but also for the young at heart. Several of our trips are open to all ages, especially our more challenging international ones. Read Suzanne Uhl's account of her recent adventures on the Nepal HYC:

“I’m not dead yet.” As bizarre as that sounds, that sentence sums up my decision to sign up for a HYC trip. Not the most inspiring motivation, I know, but that’s where I was at. I’m a 53-year-old college professor, a married mom of two HYC veterans (Jud is 16 & Shane is 20). I don’t exactly fit the HYC mold, but I traveled to Kathmandu, Nepal in December 2016 and that trip forever changed me.

Initially, the plan was to simply be the chaperone for my son during a summer international HYC. My job allows me the freedom of summers off so it seemed perfect. Long story made short, he was accepted in the Scotland HYC with another chaperone and I wasn’t technically needed. So, there I was: hopes up, hopes dashed. That’s when it occurred to me: “I’m not dead yet.” Being a chaperone wasn’t my only HYC option. So, I signed up for the December, Nepal trip. My boys were excited see mom go on an adventure and my husband was happy to let me chase a dream, even though it meant I’d be gone over Christmas.
Kathmandu is an amazing place of simplicity, profound poverty, enormous smiles, crazy drivers, unending kindness, lousy water, and staggering beauty. It is a paradox in so many ways and it just might be the most captivating place on the planet.

Beyond serving at the school, we did a little sightseeing, joined a church retreat and, most epically, hiked 26.5 miles through the lower mountains of the Himalayas. The lessons learned on that journey are hard to learn any other way. Here’s a few of my trek take-aways: “When you think you can’t, you must”; “The most important part of the journey is the step right in front of you”; “Sometimes you journey up, sometimes down, sometimes you walk alone, sometimes you walk in a crowd, sometimes you are thrilled by an indescribable view, sometimes you are brought down by personal aches and pains, but no matter what, you journey onward”, and, lastly, “you are far more capable than you think you are.” The trek taught me deep, personal lessons about my walk with my God; things I couldn’t have learned any other way.

I learned so much from those who journeyed with me and those relationships are God’s precious gifts to me. The laughter, tears, talks, prayers and hugs bind you together in special ways.

I went to Nepal, not really knowing if God could use me, doubting that I would be of value, and fearful of not fitting in. But I was determined to “step out of the boat”, to make decisions based on faith, not on fear. And He blessed that choice. I still don’t know what God has in store for me but I am renewed, revived and refreshed for whatever it is. He knows I ain’t dead yet and He’s got a purpose for me. I am forever grateful for HYC Kathmandu 2016.