Plains graduate goes on a trip for God

Danielle Switalski

While most of us were laying around poolside this summer soaking up some rays, Plains local Joscelyn Cook, 18, was on a mission trip in Nepal minus the luxuries and comforts of home, helping out those in need and spreading her faith in Jesus Christ. 

The mission trip was a learning experience, which opened up Cook’s eyes, which had never seen anything other than the West coast or the inside of an airplane, to an entirely different worldview.  

“There was not just one person that struck me, but everywhere I went I think people really affected my worldview,” said Cook.

The mission trip was through Royal Services, a group that specializes in mission trips for youth around the world.  Cook had to go to a 15 day training camp in the beginning of summer to learn how to go out as a team and prepare for what was in store for the trip to Nepal, including team building practices and how to instruct public performances such as dramas, dances or puppets to draw a crowd once they were in Nepal.  Cook was gone for a month and a half, leaving June 15 and returning August 1.

Once she arrived in Nepal, the group, which consisted of around 500 people, only two of whom were from Montana, stayed in a training camp and lived in tents.  Cook said it was like camping for a month and a half.  When asked what she ate during her time in Nepal, she said “peanut butter and jelly, lots and lots of peanut butter and jelly.”

The mission trip was a way for Cook to spread her faith.  The trip began with a visit to the famous Buddhist temple, called the Monkey Temple. 

“What really struck me when we went there was how they had to pay for their religion, how they had to pay to get in,” said Cook who added there were even shops inside the temple where visitors would have to pay for everything from candles to prayer flags. 

The missionaries did something different every single day of the trip.  Certain things that stuck out in Cook’s mind were her visits to the Peace Rehabilitation Center where a woman rescues young girls from the sex trade and to a leper colony. 

Last time Royal Servants was in Nepal, Cook said, the people in the leper colony could not afford gas for their generator in order to cook their rice so they were stuck eating everything raw.  This time around Royal Servants brought food and the participants in the mission trip visited with the people and simply talked to them.

“Actually they didn’t speak English so we just kind of sat with them and entertained them and just showed them that we cared,” said Cook.

It was a learning experience for Cook as she spoke to many of the people in Nepal about her faith and said everyone was really open to hearing about it.  She also said it was interesting going to Nepal with the knowledge that America is going into a recession, yet in Nepal gas is approximately $10 a gallon and people lived off of around $40 every two months.

While visiting a Buddhist monetary in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, Cook was particularly struck by the female monks who dedicate their lives to the monastery.

“The youngest (female monk) was four and they don’t have a choice to go there,” said Cook, who added that everyone was very open to new ideas and new things. “They were really heartwarming people, all of them.”

Despite witnessing the struggles of a different culture and seeing the world in a new light because of the mission trip, Cook also views her hometown community of Plains in a new way.  

The entire mission trip to Nepal cost around $5,000 and Cook raised all of the money in only two months time with the support of the Woman’s Club, the Veteran’s club and the entire community who helped her when she hosted bake sales and garage sales to raise the funds to go to Nepal.

“The community really came out and supported me, people even came into McGowan’s just to encourage me,” said Cook who is an employee of McGowan’s grocery store.  “It really opened my eyes, wow, Plains is such a sweet, little community.  I’m more proud of my community because I knew I could do it, but just how they all wanted to help.”