Author: Rick Neff

Yes, this is our last week in Nepal. Winding down our mission. Passing the baton. Handing over the reins. It is indeed bittersweet as we disengage from the work that has been our life for the past several months. And while we may physically leave this beautiful country and its beautiful people, our hearts are inextricably intertwined with both.

Our trip to the Kevin Rohan Memorial Eco Foundation on Monday was a wonderful way to capstone our efforts to supply their newly-erected health clinic with state-of-the-art medical equipment. We officially did the “handover” of the equipment at a short but sweet ceremony.

 

Our humanitarian missionary service officially ended on Tuesday the 26th, and then we flew to Pohkara the same day. We had booked this trip earlier so we could trek to Poon Hill and see the majestic Himalayan mountains one last time. It was magnificent!

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Specific instances of general situations like the ones below arose this week, and the gentle, pervasive persuasion of my sweet wife matched the Spirit-whispered response: Let it go!

In a sleep-deprivation-induced fit of pique, you said something you shouldn’t have.

Let it go.

In a fog of mind, you neglected to say something you should have.

Let it go.

People you were counting on to come through by fulfilling an important request let you down.

Let it go.

You are leaving too many issues unresolved, loose ends not tied up, unknowns still unknown.

Let it go.

The Lord is able to do His own work — and He will hasten His work in its time.

Ever since I learned about it in the early 80s, Hofstadter’s Law has stayed with me:

Hofstadter’s Law (somewhat recursively) says:

It always takes longer than you think it will, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law.

So long to waiting longer. So long to wondering when things will happen. Not that patience will no longer be applicable to our future adventures. Just our humanitarian adventures in Nepal!

I am speaking as Country Director of Latter-Day Saint Charities Nepal. It feels weird wearing that title. I much prefer to refer to Taunya and me together as Country Directors since we do our work in tandem, each contributing, one complementing the other, dividing and conquering our responsibilities.

But officially, I am The Country Director. And it will fall to another Richard to take over in just a few days, which suits me just fine. The scripture that captures the moment for me is

John 3:30 — He must increase, but I must decrease.

These words were spoken by John the Baptist (“I”), and he was referring to Jesus (“He”). As Jesus was increasing in popularity, so John was decreasing. He had fulfilled his role as forerunner, now it was time to exit stage left. (This is quite presumptuous of me, of course, likening this verse to such pale shadows of an Elias and the Lord Himself!)

Our next two weeks are shaping up to be very busy as we have many appointments to show the new couple the ropes. But since they’re not here yet (tomorrow!), I will mention another increasing and decreasing we did this week that doesn’t involve them.

On Friday we increased and then decreased our elevation as we hiked another (smaller) mountain at the edge of the valley. The gain was about half that of the big hike we did last month, but over a shorter distance, so it felt comparable.

We certainly increased our heart rates climbing those steep stairs! And the soreness of our muscles!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Luke 17:5 — […] Lord, increase our faith.

Overall, I think the steady increasing of my faith and the decreasing of my doubts has been happening. I feel closer to my Savior now than ever before. I know He lives. I know He knows me, feels my pain, succors me in my weakness, and draws me ever closer to Him as I let Him. Next Saturday the branch choir will have one final rehearsal of our Easter special musical number, Beautiful Savior, which we will perform in sacrament meeting the following Saturday, the 30th. I am counting on it being attended by angels to help us sing praises and give glory to our Resurrected Lord!

Doctrine and Covenants 6:36 — Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.

Such is our daily challenge — and delight!

Stay tuned…

For a title I was vacillating between “High On The Mountain Top” and “I’m Sitting on Top of The World” — the former won out when I noticed it was the opening song in the Mill Hollow First Ward Sacrament Meeting today! (We love being on the list to get the program via email every week — it helps keep us connected to our home — thanks, Kerensa!) And in light of the Come Follow Me lesson on Isaiah with its mountain-as-temple metaphor, it’s a perfect match!

Mostly because of the fame of Mount Everest, Nepal’s position within the high mountainous region of the Himalayas justifies its “top of the world” moniker. No, we didn’t go to Everest, not on foot, not even in a plane (although we would still like to do that).

Instead, we went with Manoj on an outing to the south rim of the Kathmandu valley, where we undertook a hike that I can only compare to the hike I did as a teenager up the back side of Mount Olympus in Salt Lake City. Approximately the same elevation gain — 4000 feet — over about 6 miles. More like 7 miles for Mount Olympus, which also requires a bit of scrambling near the top, whereas you can drive to the (almost) top of Puhlchowki Mountain — the highest mountain in the Kathmandu region — 2,791 meters (9,156 feet)!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Come Thursday morning we were hurting big time. Due to the heaped-on abuse of the day before, every muscle in our bodies — not just legs, since of necessity we used trekking poles, so arms, shoulders and back too — was complaining — Loudly! But we’re so very glad we persevered and accomplished the journey “there and back again” — even if it took all day! Another entry for our We-Can-Do-Hard-Things file.

 

On Friday we were invited to help CHOICE Humanitarian employees assemble hygiene kits for local schoolkids. Still feeling the aftermath of our big hike, we were surprised that our old bodies were up to doing much repetitive motion that turned out to be a ton of fun! Some Young Single Adults from the Branch (and two older sisters) joined the activity. Four hours later we had completed 750 kits!

 

We all enjoyed mo-mos for a lunch break.

 

In humanitarian project work this week …

Yesterday morning we got word that our latest proposal was approved! This was one we had serious doubts that it would fly, so we and our NGO-collaborator were stoked! Now 16 schools in a poorer area of eastern Nepal will be getting new toilets, hand-washing stations, and other necessities and educational materials.

At Church yesterday it really hit us as we both shared our testimonies that this was our last Fast and Testimony meeting in the Kathmandu Branch. Oh, how we will miss these amazing people — so many of whom we have grown to know and love, because we have been blessed to be able to serve them in some small ways. Only 23 days left in our missionary service! Tomorrow our replacements enter the Provo Missionary Training Center, spend two weeks there and then fly to Kathmandu to arrive on Monday the 18th. So much to do to get ready for the passing of the baton!

Other sights that caught our attention this week:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The most unusual one, anyway. Unique. What made it so? That’s the goal of this week’s post — to tell this tale.

As far as celebrations go, my 69^th will probably be the acme of unusual birthdays, as I don’t see it being surpassed next year for my 70^th birthday, or beyond. (Although having more of my family around would make it so!)

Having another lull in the work, coinciding with the Chinese New Year celebration closing down the Hong Kong office for a couple of days, we decided to go on another excursion to see more of what Nepal has to offer.

We searched online and settled on Sapana Village Lodge, a very serene, peaceful (Sapana means Dream in Nepali) oasis as the place we would stay Monday and Tuesday night and experience the delights of a two-day tour package.

 

 

 

 

 

Sapana Village Lodge is right next to Chitwan National Park, which is located in the Terai, the subtropical southern part of Nepal. The first national park in Nepal, Chitwan National Park has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site “in recognition of its unique biological resources of outstanding universal value.” No kidding!

The best thing happened shortly after we arrived. We got to feed an afternoon snack to the “retired” (from tourist-riding service) elephants (all of whom were female). Given a basket of fruit (apples, unpeeled bananas, watermelon chunks) and vegetables (potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower) — with a little trepidation at first (which soon vanished) — we gingerly held out the snacks and were enthralled as a powerful trunk reached out and waited for us to put it in the tip (nostrils?!). Thus firmly clutched (maybe even with a little suction!) she curled her trunk around to deposit the goodies in her mouth. Then stretched it back for more! I had a powerful feeling flow through me while touching the trunk, the ear, and looking up into the gentle, intelligent eyes of this magnificent creature. It was unforgettable!

 

 

The early-next-morning canoe trip took us down the river at the edge of the jungle. What a glorious ride! Taunya took some amazing photos. So many birds to see! And more than one crocodile (snout — actually head) and lair. (We saw many more of them and more than their snouts later that day.)

 

Leaving the canoe, we walked through the jungle to where we would have breakfast and saw a rhino from across a clearing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The afternoon jeep safari took us deep into the jungle to look for more wildlife. We missed seeing any wild elephants or tigers, but our guide pointed out footprints of both. We also saw deer and peacocks and more crocodiles on the opposite bank of the river and in the breeding center. And another rhinocerous up close as it came near and sauntered across the road right in front of us!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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We met as part of our group some delightful people, who we got to know a little. Dennis and Laura, a young vacationing couple from Frankfurt, Germany. She is an HR professional for air traffic controllers, and he works for a banking startup. Isabel, a professor of biology at the University of Porto, Portugal, was there with a group of colleagues, mainly to attend a conference. She accompanied us to the Tharu Cultural Dance celebration Monday night, where, at a general invitation from the performers, Taunya strutted her stuff!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shaking dirt off her food

 

Other animal sightings

 

All in all, a most memorable excursion, and a reminder of the beauties of creation and the marvelous workings of the natural world. But while there are so many more of these types of experiences that could fill to overflowing anyone’s bucket list, I think the best-yet-to-come will completely overshadow anything this world has to offer.

As recorded in Scripture — Isaiah 64:4 —

For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.

— and echoed by Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:9 —

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

Loving God and waiting for Him. It will be worth the wait!

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Another entry for the “Whose Language Is This, Anyway?” file:

And one for the “Who Would’ve Thought We Would See This in a Nepali Airport?” file:

Or “Ke garne?” (kay gar-nay) as they say in Nepali.

This is a common Nepalese exclamation (with equivalents in every tongue and people), kind of like a sigh of resignation (“What can you do?”). It’s an expression to use when you face a dilemma, or a challenge where you don’t see a way around or through it. Like when a project you’ve worked for months developing gets stuck in a holding pattern, waiting for the higher-up decision makers to work through issues of funding levels and budget allocations.

That’s where we find ourselves this week. Hurry up and wait. And wait. And wait! Ke garne?!

The question of what to do always has an answer, generic though it may be:

Do good.

Orson Scott Card’s “Ender in Exile” has Ender, the main character, saying:

“In philosophy class I think we finally decided that ‘good’ is an infinitely recursive term — it can’t be defined except in terms of itself. Good is good because it’s better than bad, though why it’s better to be good than bad depends on how you define good, and on and on.”

So much for the philosophies of men!

Paraphrasing another character plus Ender’s unspoken thoughts — and substitute ‘Nepal’ — or your own country — for ‘China’):

“China’s a beautiful country. More variety inside China than in the rest of the world. [But he knew] that China was full of human beings, and that the mix of good and bad, strong and weak, courageous and fearful was bound to be about the same as in any other country or culture or civilization… or village, or house, or heart.”

So we continue to work through the dilemmas and challenges of “doing good to all men” (13th Article of Faith).

Here are some more of my favorite “do good” scriptures:

Acts 10:38

Jesus […] went about doing good.

We’re trying to be like Jesus; we’re following in His way, and we have His words:

2 Nephi 33:10

[The words of Christ] teach all men that they should do good.

Doctrine and Covenants 6:33

Fear not to do good, my sons, for whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap; therefore, if ye sow good ye shall also reap good for your reward.

Doctrine and Covenants 11:12

[…] put your trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good—yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously; and this is my Spirit.

Doctrine and Covenants 58:28

For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.

Jacob 2:19

And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good—to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted.

This last one really speaks to what we are about here in Nepal. Administering relief in various forms to the poorest of the poor and the neediest of the needy. Nepal surely has its share of those. But it certainly does not have a monopoly on suffering. So of course there must be hard decisions made at every level as to who to help and how much.

Though we didn’t go ourselves as observers this time, pictures were sent to us showing some beneficiaries of our earthquake-victim food and blankets relief package.

Does the share Nepal gets of a limited pool of funding depend on recognition? Much discussion and speculation on this question has been happening lately. In the midst of all this I can’t help but remember the counsel given to Elder and Sister Jones (who trained us in New Delhi) that they passed on to us:

It’s okay to be seen doing good. It’s not okay to do good to be seen.

PR-type recognition or not, what long-term positive impact all the humanitarian work we do will have is something we can only guess at.

What we KNOW is that Nepal has many, many good people. Parents who love their children, and children who love their parents. We love serving them. And not all work we do has been seen but not recognized, at least at the local level. Here’s a letter of appreciation we received (we meaning the royal Latter-day Saint Charities we) when we went to the inauguration ceremony Taunya described in her New Year’s Eve post:

 

We know others who are extremely appreciative, even profoundly grateful, for our help. Two in particular. We love Krishna and Santosh at the Kevin Rohan Memorial Eco Foundation, whose health clinic is nearing completion, and who we visited this week. We love them for the tremendous good they do serving their community.

Hopefully very soon they will receive the approved funding (currently stuck in our finance department’s gears) to outfit this clinic with its needed equipment.

 

 

From the Now-how-often-do-you-see-that? department:

Also known as “The Goldilocks Zone” is that place between too little and too much that feels just right — sweet! But another meaning is just being in a place and time where sweet experiences abound. Like this week. Yes, there were the usual frustrations and disappointments, but we see those through and then taste the sweet.

We have started a countdown — 65 days and counting as I write this. We’re not getting trunky, just starting to panic a little wondering how we are going to get everything done we need to and want to before we leave!

On the humanitarian projects front, a major logjam broke this week: we finally got our second earthquake relief package approved and ready to roll. More blankets and some food can now be sent to more of the people suffering from the loss of their homes in Jajarkot District.

Many other developing projects are beginning to come together, and new project opportunities are starting to appear. We sincerely hope that we won’t leave too many loose ends for our replacements, the Nuffers!

Another routine but fun exercise. We have found a badminton court that lately has been open and inviting, so we can enjoy getting back into that routine.

Friday morning, Taunya went to Bhaktapur (site of our first tourist experience in Nepal back in May) with two friends from the embassy. It was a girls’ outing where they did a little sightseeing and observing of the craftspeople at work, and a bit of souvenir shopping!

 

 

Meanwhile, Rick rode Ring Road with Manoj. This major road goes all the way around the Kathmandu Metropolitan area. This is something I have wanted to do for some time. I took no pictures, but just marveled at how much one part of Kathmandu looks so much like any other part!

There’s more to say about yesterday, but speaking of what Kathmandu has to offer, today we took the opportunity to see the “Bhoudhanath Stupa” (another World Heritage Site) and afterwards eat at a restaurant Manoj had recommended. Sweet — beef burgers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Church yesterday was sweet. Two young men received the Aaronic Priesthood and were ordained Deacons last week (Taunya mentioned and included a photo of one of them in her last post), and this week they got to pass the sacrament for the first time. It has been quite a while since there have been any new Priesthood holders in the branch, and it was a delight to see them in action. Then a recently-returned (this week!) missionary spoke — and what a wonderful example he set for these young men — and all of us.

Yesterday after church we held our first piano recital, with 8 participants: two adults, one young adult, two young women, one girl, and two young men (technically, one of them is still in primary — so not quite yet a young man!) As Taunya said while introducing the program, some of them have been working hard, while others have been hardly working! (She then quickly said “just kidding” about hardly working!) They did well, although the reality of performing in front of people (all supportive) meant nervousness was evident, and nobody played his or her piece with absolute perfection. But we were proud of them!

The refreshments afterwards were a big hit — homemade apple-carrot spice bread, chocolate chip cookies and “no-bake” cookies — so sweet!

Yesterday afternoon we also had the very sweet experience of talking again with Bishnu Adhikari (Meet the Mormons — The Humanitarian) who was in town visiting this week. Our visit lasted just over an hour, but what a treat it was to discuss with him our humanitarian work, the branch, the members, the Nepal government and other topics. He shared many valuable insights and gave us good advice, for which we are very grateful. Such a humble and goodhearted man.

 

Bishnu exemplifies and inspires us to take to heart Psalms 37:

3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.

4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

5 Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.

24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.

As we just finished studying Lehi’s dream of the Tree of Life, whose fruit is most desirable, sweet above all that is sweet, delicious and joyous, it seems fitting to end with a song that expresses some of our feelings about this wonderful work of love in which we’re engaged.

Speaking of Psalms, the actual title of the familiar Isaac Watts hymn is “A Psalm for the Lord’s Day”:

Sweet is the work, my God, my King,
to praise thy name, give thanks and sing,
to show thy love by morning light,
and talk of all thy truth at night.

Sweet is the day of sacred rest,
no mortal cares disturb my breast;
O may my heart in tune be found,
like David’s harp of solemn sound!

My heart shall triumph in the Lord,
and bless his works, and bless his word;
thy works of grace, how bright they shine,
how deep thy counsels, how divine!

And I shall share a glorious part,
when grace has well refined my heart,
and fresh supplies of joy are shed,
like holy oil, to cheer my head.

Then shall I see and hear and know
all I desired or wished below;
and every power find sweet employ
in that eternal world of joy.

Clap Your Hands!

A familiar song surely inspiring the Pharrell Williams hit song with its catchy chorus.

Happy New Year!

A fresh start, a new beginning. There’s something so comforting and refreshing about that. When life gets hard, and we start to complain about how hard we have it, it’s good to pause and refocus on the big picture. Reset our expectations. “Think celestial” and then move forward again.

We didn’t take many pictures this week for some reason. We didn’t go anywhere exotic, just had a lot of office work and back and forth communications with our Area Welfare Specialists, the Thurstons. Lots of disappointment and frustration about how slowly project and other issues get worked out.

But two experiences stand out.

We ended the old year last Sunday with a delightful evening at our branch president’s home. He invited us to have dinner and enjoy the gathering with his and his brother’s family, all wonderful people whom we love. The food was tasty and filling (they also want us to eat more than we can) and they just treat us so respectfully. We played games with the kids, which was a ton of fun, even though in the few pictures we have from that evening we look pretty serious. It was serious fun!

 

The other experience was being complimented by the salesclerk at a store we shop at often.

We just were there to buy some chips. While checking out, we both got out cash to pay 320 Rupees. I didn’t have enough, but Taunya did. The clerk, a cute Nepalese young woman with a shy smile normally, had a big one for us as she said, “You’re a nice couple!” We think she was watching us interact, with gentle cooperation and no harshness or demeaning manner, the way that (usually) feels natural and right. We think this is unusual behavior that she saw, that couples normally don’t interact in this manner. It’s sad that some women at church complain that their husbands don’t treat them respectfully. It made us realize even more that people watch us and judge all us foreigners by our words and actions! Talk about motivation to try to be Christlike in everything we say and do!

Family is key to our pursuit of happiness. Evidenced by our immediate family (the two of us) and the demandingly close relationship we have and the work we collaborate on that so stretches us in all kinds of ways.

I never knew my paternal grandfather. He died when I was two and I have no memories of him. Fortunately, I am blessed to have many fond memories of my maternal grandfather — Gramps, as we his grandchildren affectionately called him. Gramps was a loving, positive, happy man, and a pleasure to be around. We had many, many family reunions where his signature saying when everyone was listening was “Is everybody happy?” to which we all, with great enthusiasm, chimed in unison, “I should say!”.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, an Apostle of the Lord, in his talk given at BYU-Idaho on 23 September 2014, quoted many people on the subject of happiness. He titled his talk from Nephi’s “Living After the Manner of Happiness” (2 Nephi 5:27).

I was privileged to be there, and I heard him with ears and heart attuned. I’ll end this post with his powerful conclusion, his testimony and his Apostolic blessing:

My testimony to you is that God, your Eternal Father in heaven, is always encouraging and applauding your pursuit even more lovingly than I. I testify that He wants you to be happy, to have true joy. I testify of the Atonement of His Only Begotten Son which provides the right path and, if necessary, a new start on it, a second chance, a change in our nature if necessary. In the power and authority of my office I leave an apostolic blessing on each of you that you will know that Christ is “the way, the truth, and the life”—that no one comes to true happiness except by Him. I bless you to know that someday, sometime, somewhere you will have every righteous desire of your heart as you live the gospel of Jesus Christ, thus living “after the manner” that leads to those blessings. I testify and I bless you in the name of Him who is the Good Shepherd, the Chief Cornerstone of this Church, the High Priest of good things to come in your life, even the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.

Jajarkot (jaw-jar-coat) in western Nepal’s Karnali Province is the district where the November 3rd earthquake epicentered.

We were so relieved to learn on Tuesday evening that (finally!) we were given (local and central) governmental permission to go to Jajarkot to distribute blankets to the people who need them to survive the cold nights in their tents and tarp-covered temporary shelters. Eager to go give this relief, with Kiran and Prateek from CHOICE, we started our journey Wednesday morning, but immediately encountered a delay taking off from Kathmandu. We waited for about an hour before boarding, then another half-hour on the plane, then another half-hour back at the gate before getting back on the plane. The cause of the delay? Our destination airport at Surkhet was fogged in, and we had to wait for the fog to lift.

Our ultimate destination was Khalanga, headquarters of the Jajarkot District.

Mention-worthy on this trip were food, roads, and the blankets. And in Khalanga, beauty and devastation all around.

Food.

Dal bhat is the traditional Nepali food of locals and trekkers in the Himalayas. It typically consists of lentil soup (the dal), and boiled rice (the bhat), with varied side dishes that may include steamed or sauteed vegetables, vegetable curry, popadoms (thin wafers), and other delicacies.

Hardy food for the arduous trip from Surkhet to Khalanga by 5-seater 4WD vehicle, and for replenishment after returning to Surkhet on Friday.

Roads.

We endured the 4-hour drive, our maniacal driver successfully navigating often smooth blacktop roads, but punctuated with frequent potholes, or washed-out or landslide or otherwise earthquake-damaged stretches. Why did we think our driver was a maniac? Well, he was passing everything ahead of him, especially on the way back, in his apparent haste to set a new land-speed record!

Blankets.

We enjoyed being treated like VIPs again while helping distribute blankets Wednesday evening and again Thursday morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The beauty of this hilly region was breathtaking.

 

 

 

The devastation, though not total, was heart-wrenching.

The powerful 6.4 magnitude November 3rd quake caused more than 150 deaths, leaving several hundred injured, children accounting for nearly half of the dead or injured. 35,000 houses were destroyed entirely or damaged enough to make them unsafe to live in. Hundreds of school buildings were also destroyed or severely damaged.

Most of the damaged houses and schools were poorly built masonry structures (mostly rubble stone in mud mortar).

 

One woman we saw was in her house with two other women when the earthquake turned it to rubble.

They all had to be dug out and she was the only survivor, the other two (the deputy mayor and another woman) died of their injuries on the way to the hospital, because the roads were blocked and the ambulance couldn’t get to them soon enough. When we saw her, the pain in her face was etched deep. She has lingering physical pain in her head, neck and back. The emotional or psychic pain was evident too in her voice, which even though we didn’t understand her Nepali, we got the translation from Kiran.

On Thursday afternoon we traveled up the hillside to another village, about 45 minutes’ distance from Khalanga.

There we visited a health clinic that serves mainly as a birthing center. Even though the World Health Organization had already supplied them with a fairly large tent, they still use the clinic, which though unsafe with cracks in the walls and ceilings, they feel constrained to keep using until they have a new place.

 

The local health officials told us they need 14 semi-permanent structures to get by until permanent replacements can be built. We are currently investigating the feasibility of LDS Charities supplying at least some of these pre-fabricated health clinics.

Other mentionables:

The hotel room we stayed in was — interesting. It felt like camping indoors, because there was no heat, no hot water, and the toilet only sort of flushed. At least it was clean. And the bathroom walls were interesting to look at!

It had some nice touches though!

We saw and stopped at this cool suspension bridge on the way back.

We also visited an 800-year-old Buddhist temple in Surkhet in a big hurry so we wouldn’t miss our plane (which was only one hour late leaving).

To sum up, our journey to Jajarkot was (and words fail to adequately describe) a sobering, emotional experience, and one that gives us new resolve to do all we can to help the very neediest of the Nepali people.

Tomorrow is Christmas. We pray for the Love and Peace of Christ and the Joy of Christmas to be with you always.

We have come full circle since our arrival in Nepal in May!

Yes, this week was the “Fall Training” Taunya mentioned in her post then.

In case you forgot (!) HBB/HMS is short for Helping Babies Breathe/Helping Mothers Survive, and TOT stands for Training Of Trainers, the extremely successful program that has the full support of the Nepal government agency called the National Health Training Center.

Last time there were 50 participants, 8 trainers from Nepal, 2 doctors and a nurse from the US. This time there was no team from the US, and just 6 trainers from Nepal, and 33 trainee-to-become-trainer participants.

Taunya said about the May group that “everyone was engaged and happy to learn” — and the same was true of this group.

Fully certified as trainers after two intense days of HBB training followed by two more days of HMS training, they can return to their own facilities and teach others these vital skills.

Taunya said last time:

“I’m so very glad we were able to be here for this and see how everything works so that in the Fall we will know what we are doing for the next training.”

Not so sure we knew exactly what we were doing, but this time we got to be full-blown “organizers” in addition to being dignitaries and celebrities (with opportunities to have our picture taken with everyone who wanted a picture with us — which was a lot of larger and smaller groups)!

On Monday afternoon when we arrived at the hotel in Biratnagar, among the fun tasks we were able to help with was filling the NeoNatalie (“newborn”) mannequins with water. Another not-as-fun task was setting up the registration table and getting the spreadsheet ready to track registrants and their progress in the training. Taunya took on the job of helping to grade tests and entering scores in the spreadsheet. She was assisted by Abhishu, Kiran’s daughter, who was also there helping in May.

At the opening ceremony on Tuesday morning, I was asked to give a little speech, representing LDS Charities, which I did. Taunya got out of it, because I said I was representing both of us. On Friday at the closing ceremony, when they asked me to speak again, I thought I was getting out of it by gesturing that she would represent us this time. She was expecting this and so gave her well-prepared speech in which she incorporated the powers of two to powerfully illustrate the cascade effect of trainers training other trainers who then train still others, and so on. Then they surprised me by also asking me to speak again — so my extemporaneous remarks were short, like Taunya’s. The other speakers were much more long-winded than either of us, at both the opening and closing ceremonies!

The week was full of tender mercies. One was being protected while walking the streets of Biratnagar in three of our evenings. We were with Prateek, Kiran and Abhishu the first time, and the latter two the next two times. All three of them are such good people! We are blessed to be able to be friends and collaborators with them.

Prateek in particular was instrumental in getting government permission for us to provide some relief to the earthquake victims. This was much harder than it should have to be, but a tender mercy nonetheless. We just need to get the project approved and then we can send some blankets to people who are suffering from exposure, and learn more about how else we can help.

Marring this week where health professionals were in abundance were a couple of health challenges. Our landlord, Krishna, is from Biratnagar and warned us to use mosquito repellent while there. Despite precautions, Taunya was bit on the feet and suffered from the itching at the very least. When we told Krishna, he had some treatment recommendations, but Taunya had already consulted a doctor and gotten some medicine to help. Krishna agreed when we mentioned how advantageous it is when you need some medical advice to be around doctors and nurses!

Taunya had another more serious bout with disease Thursday night. Probably from a little food poisoning she had several, shall we say, “regurgitative episodes” throughout the night. That wiped her out. Leaving her to rest I took on her Friday computer responsibilities. Through faith, prayers, a priesthood blessing and rest she felt better Friday afternoon, another great tender mercy.

Another tender mercy was, while just sitting at our registration table, because he came up and introduced himself, we met the president and founder of another NGO that we might possibly be able to collaborate with. He took us to the airport so we could drop by his office on the way and meet a couple of his staff, and talk a little about what they do.

The tenderest mercies of the week happened after that. Because we got to the airport a little earlier than required, they put us on an earlier flight. Had we not done that, we would not have gotten back to Kathmandu Friday night. Our traveling companions on our original flight who left later than we did had to stay in Biratnagar another night, because the flight was canceled due to the plane not being able to land because of the very smoky air!

Because we got back to Kathmandu we were able to go to Church as usual and provide crucial help with the Primary Program (especially Taunya, who has been heavily involved in the preparations — like planning/writing it!) that happened during sacrament meeting. The program went well, the kids did great, and the Spirit was there — and we are so grateful for those tender blessings!

Another addition to the “It’s a Small World” file:

This former BYU-Idaho student and his wife came into the branch meetinghouse a few minutes before sacrament meeting started. He was one of my students during the pandemic remote-class-only time, so it was great to have a brief face-to-face conversation with him and his wife. They were on their way back home to Denver after visiting family here, so it was a tender mercy they happened to drop in right when I had a few spare moments.

Thanks to Elder Bednar, whose conference talk is indelibly etched in and brought to my mind whenever tender mercies are abundantly evident. And thanks be to God, the source of these and so many other blessings!

“When words cannot provide the solace we need or express the joy we feel, when it is simply futile to attempt to explain that which is unexplainable, when logic and reason cannot yield adequate understanding about the injustices and inequities of life, when mortal experience and evaluation are insufficient to produce a desired outcome, and when it seems that perhaps we are so totally alone, truly we are blessed by the tender mercies of the Lord and made mighty even unto the power of deliverance.”

Bangkok, Thailand! We had the opportunity this week to go there for our annual Asia Area Humanitarian Conference. It was a marvelous experience, two days of training and on either end, two partial days of sightseeing. During the trip from the airport to our hotel on the 4-lane freeway, we were pretty giddy from riding on smooth roads at high speeds — well, 120 kph anyway — that’s only 75 mph! About 45 mph above the fastest we typically go in Nepal!

 

 

 

The sights we saw were spectacular, dominated by the Buddhist element. (Thailand is 80% Buddhist. Our Tuesday morning private tour guide, Alice, is a very devoted one. At every temple she took us to she would take the opportunity to kneel, bow low and worship the Buddha there.) We saw the Golden Buddha, the Emerald Buddha, and the Reclining Buddha, to name a few. They are all quite impressive — especially the 45 meter long, 15 meter high Reclining Buddha statue!

 

 

 

Floral designs at the Grand Palace

Mural paintings in the Grand Palace Museum

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Point of interest and pride (for Nepali Buddhists anyway): As all international arrivals are reminded by the big sign on the wall at the Kathmandu airport that you can’t miss: Buddha was born in Nepal!

At the Welcome dinner on Tuesday we started meeting people from all over the Asia area, some we had only “met” electronically — like the Gerlachs, the couple who were serving in the south of India before being reassigned to Cambodia.

 

On Wednesday and Thursday we were trained and motivated by our leaders and support team, and got to rub shoulders with more amazing fellow senior couples – 17 in all. We shared ideas, stories, heartaches and triumphs. It was a tremendous booster shot for our humanitarian work. Newly motivated, we have four months (to the day) now to go and do the most good we can!

We learned a lot at the conference through case studies, group discussions, role playing and other learning activities. Here are just two things we discussed:

Saying Yes and saying No. Not every project will be approved, and we personally know the pain of having to tell a potential collaborator their proposed project was rejected. Ways to lessen the pain were duly noted. This is the Lord’s work, and as we trust in Him we will learn the language of love and encouragement to keep proposing and building relationships, even when we have to disappoint in the short term.

Passing Knowledge. The nature of our volunteer service is that our time is limited and we must take great care to successfully pass the knowledge baton to our successors. As we mentioned two weeks ago, we know who they are and when they’re coming, and have been communicating with them. We earnestly desire to smooth the way for them to take over this important work.

Personal growth-wise, we had another chance to sing Peace in Christ, the song we sang in sacrament meeting a couple of months ago. We have been diligently practicing ever since we were asked to sing for the conference, and while performing the Spirit helped us to do it justice. We all felt the peace of Christ, his gifts of hope, strength and shelter being so much needed and loved.

Now, a word about the food! We enjoy Nepali food, and especially the food lovingly prepared for us by members. But the food we had this week was amazing in sheer variety and quantity (overindulgence was a temptation we did not always resist) Bounteous buffets for both breakfast and lunch. Not just Thai food, although there was plenty of that. We got to enjoy treats we are hard pressed to find here. Cheddar cheese! Strawberries! Crispy bacon! And of course, beef, which I especially have been having a real hankering for.

 

We were all treated to a surprise Thanksgiving celebration — our first in a foreign country. The meal they arranged for us Thursday evening was scrumptious, and had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, pumpkin pie (in miniature) and more. We felt truly blessed!

 

 

The most joyful part of the experience was going to the newly-dedicated temple — twice! It had been almost a year since our last visit to the temple. The Peace that Passeth Understanding is so palpable there in the House of the Lord.

There is peace in Christ
When we learn of Him.
Feel the love He felt for us
When He bore our sins.

Listen to His words.
Let them come alive.
If we know Him as He is,
There is peace in Christ.

There is peace in Christ
When we walk with Him
Through streets of Galilee
To Jerusalem.

Mend the broken hearts.
Dry the tear-filled eyes.
When we live the way He lived,
There is peace in Christ.

He gives us hope
When hope is gone.
He gives us strength
When we can’t go on.
He gives us shelter
In the storms of life.
When there’s no peace on earth,
There is peace in Christ.