Friends in High Places

Another entry for the “Connections with People in High Places” file:

This was a meeting arranged by Sugam and Sunila (leftmost in the photo) that we had early Monday the 31^st with the Minister, and after he had to leave, with his wife. Sadly, his need for a sudden departure left no time for a picture with him. But we were pleased to take this one with his wife, after spending a delightful few minutes talking with her.

Ministers are at the level in the government of Nepal that would be the equivalent in the United States of Cabinet Secretaries. You never know when we might need some help from friends in high places, so being able to make these connections is quite a blessing!

Later Monday morning we said goodbye to the Wolfgramms, who have finished their mission course. They will be missed! From the “Forgot to Include Last Week” file:

We love this amazing couple! They have done so much for us. We so appreciate all the love, kindness, friendship, and mentorship they gave to us, and the inspiring example they have shown us of wholehearted love of people.

This next video clip was taken at the Community Vocational Training Opening Ceremony. It will give you more of an idea of their personality and magnetism.

Right after their departure we moved (shifted, in Nepal-English-speak) apartments, carrying all our stuff down the 66 steps from the fifth floor. After several days of decluttering, cleaning, organizing, personalizing, etc., we can call this very nice space our own for the next few months!

The commitment we made to SWC to provide them with an action plan for implementation of their recommendations, including reasonable deadlines, was fulfilled in just under the 15 days they gave us. We hand-delivered the document to the SWC employee who requested it, but we could have just as easily just emailed it. Except they require wet-ink signatures and stamps on each page! But per Kiran’s advice, we remain unbound by any deadlines in the document — there aren’t any! Why? Because Kiran wrote in generalities, not specifics, when addressing the recommendations that involve CHOICE Humanitarian. As for SWC’s recommendation that LDS Charities set up a “proper office”, this is what I wrote in response:

LDS Charities has already set up a proper office and put in place reporting and documentation best practices.

This is a true statement — so we have fulfilled our post-project-evaluation commitments!

But are we done now? No! Per the following picture there is yet still another thing to do.

I say unnecessary because they already have both of these documents. It just looked like make-work, and I almost broke down and resigned myself to taking the difficult-to-remove binding off the hardcopy report so I could run all 67 pages through our scanner, to give them the scan copy they want. Fortunately, I remembered that this operation had already been done by the print shop Manoj took the report to so they could make 7 copies of it. He called the shop and YES! — they still had the electronic scan copy and were able and willing to quickly send it to us.

The visa application saga continues in high gear. The latest struggle took Manoj several hours and frustrating phone calls back and forth to the Ministry of Women, Children, and Senior Citizens (MoWCSC) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA). MoHA said we need this document, MoWCSC said no, you don’t. MoHA said we do, and it must be sent to us from the applicant. MoWCSC said go pound sand (or words to that effect)! Finally, Manoj got the two employees from each Ministry to talk to each other, and the more forceful personality prevailed. They finally agreed that MoHA has everything they need from us and from MoWCSC to proceed, and so the wheels are turning again and the process is progressing to its final stages. Whew!

From the “It’s a Small World” file:

The one on Taunya’s left has finished his degree in Computer Information Technology, and his wife is a current Computer Science student! We met them last Friday at lunch with a BYUI professor and his wife who came to Nepal to help NGOs here give aid to survivors of human trafficking. We learned that the professor and his wife are our neighbors, but we didn’t know it, since they live in another universe on Star View Drive in the Hidden Valley Ward!

Friends, neighbors, acquaintances. Good people everywhere, people who want to help those in need. What a Friend we all have in Jesus, who sits in the Highest of High Places, and gives us the succor we need to “ride upon the high places” of connection with Him and His Father!