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It has been another interesting week here in Kathmandu. We continue to develop relationships with new NGO’s and refine project proposals. Along with this are those things that we need to do as we prepare to exit Nepal and return to the US. It evokes both happy and sad feelings. We truly have enjoyed our time serving as humanitarian missionaries although it has been somewhat challenging. Chocolate helps a lot but not quite as much as prayer.

Besides the challenge of everything that is so different here, we have been coping with the delays inherent in any organization. We find that we want answers much faster than the hierarchy allows. When we add to that the waiting on the other end–we are kind of the middle man–it requires lots of patience.

Aside from all of this we found time to do some serious souvenir shopping. Manoj took us to the “ancient market” and helped us secure some great prices on various goods. The first store we went to required climbing a very steep set of stairs and ducking though two doorways to enter a room with goods stacked all around. I could stand upright, but just barely and poor Rick had to hunch over or sit. I wish I had taken a picture, but I think I was too much in shock to think of it. The following are pictures I did take from the excursion.

While out on our morning walk Tuesday and Wednesday we took note of some salesmen. The first was a man that has a mobile tea service. I didn’t get a very good picture, but he has a small stove inside a large metal bucket that has been cut to hold a large teapot. He carries paper cups and serves his product along the sidewalk as he walks along. Quite ingenious.

While walking through a neighborhood our paths crossed that of these two rug salesmen. They turned left and we went right as they called out their sales pitch while walking along the road. We were surprised to meet them again a half mile later as we both headed across Battisputali road toward our neighborhood.

We also saw one of the fanciest chicken trucks we have seen in either Nepal or India. Chicken trucks are a common sight and assure the local butcher shops have very fresh poultry. One of Nepal’s “farm to table” businesses.

Friday morning we went with our landlord to see his current business project. He is building a small “resort” as he calls it. It has a restaurant, bar, meeting room, a few semi-private dining areas and three hotel rooms. The restaurant and rooms have amazing views that include the Himalayas when the weather is clear. He has space to expand if the business prospers. It is well thought out and in a pretty, natural setting with forest preserve on one side. Krishna is trying to create a natural, traditional Newari feel to the resort. He is quite excited about it and invited us to return to Nepal for a free night’s stay, haha.

All the commerce and industry this week got me thinking about the major shopping trip I need to plan when we return home, so I’ve started a list…Tillamook cheese, ice cream, berries, beef roast…

As mentioned before, life here is full of contrasts and always interesting. One of the boys from church was looking at the pictures on my phone and wondered why I took pictures of dogs and monkeys and people doing what he considers normal, everyday things. All I could say was that these were not things I see at home. I only see monkeys at the zoo in the United States.

Here are a couple of dog pictures to end this post.

 

 

 

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.

We have been in Nepal for eight months now and I have realized that those things that were so fascinating back in May have now become commonplace. Here are some examples of unusual sights that I missed photographing: the extension ladder being carried by the passenger on a motorcycle, the family of four climbing onto their scooter, the goat tied up outside the butcher shop bleating “s-a-v-e  m-e” in his little goat voice. We still find Nepal to be amazing but we have gotten used to things here to the point of wondering how long it will take to adapt when we get home.

We have had another week filled with working on various tasks in the office. It is not as interesting as playing tourist, but certainly what we are here for. We have several projects in the development and proposal stage which require a lot of back and forth as we answer questions and find workable options as difficulties arise, which they inevitably do.

With that said, here are a few photos and observations of the week.

We have stopped counting dogs while walking. There are lots and lots, but we don’t see many puppies. We do see dogs outside of butcher shops and other little shops and cafés hoping for a handout. We see them sleeping curled up on shop steps, at the side of the road, in the middle of the road and maybe on their favorite sandpile.

These dogs are the third set to follow us this morning. They stayed with us for about a half mile before being distracted by some other dogs. Dogs have never followed us before today and it seemed odd. Then I realized I probably smelled liked the bacon I had cooked!

Here is some typical scenery as we walk through neighborhoods. Laundry is hung anyplace that is available. People often have various types of shops on the ground floor while they live on the upper floors of the building.

There are little temples and shrines all throughout the neighborhoods. These include small niches with a picture of a god, small to medium sized structures with a figure inside, and sacred banyan trees. Each day we see people carrying offerings to these spots to worship. It may be water in a copper pot, a plate made of leaves containing rice or fruit, or perhaps a garland of marigolds.

This is a garbage cart. The collector blows a whistle to let everyone know to put the trash out. Today is actually the first day I have seen one although I hear the whistle frequently. On the larger streets they have a big truck for collection. I missed getting a picture of the purple haired guy doing the collecting because he stepped behind a wall for a potty break!

As we have become less conscious of those things here that are so different from home it made me think how we can easily miss flashes of inspiration or not recognize miracles if we allow our lives to become too routine and our focus to drift from what matters most. There are amazing things all around us. Miracles happen daily. We just need to take the time to look and we will see the hand of the Lord in our lives.

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.

Like you we started our week celebrating Christmas. It was a little different this year. We wrote the Christmas program for our the branch here in Kathmandu and were in charge of the presentation on Christmas day. I accompanied the singing while Rick led the music. It really stretched both of us. We had practices after church because it is so challenging for people to return mid-week but that didn’t always work out. We definitely could have used more practice. But it came together well enough and the food and Santa afterwards made it all worth it!

Since we were out of town most of the previous week we had some catching up to do which kept us busy. We also managed to catch a cold on our trip and felt the need to rest between tasks. Fortunately it wasn’t too debilitating and we were able to head out again for a day trip to the hill villages of Lalitpur where Latter-day Saint Charities and CHOICE have been building water systems. It has really helped the people in this area to have consistent water flow and plenty of water for irrigation. They can take their produce a few miles up to the roadside and sell it for a decent price. These people are amazing. Sure they have problems and earning a living is a challenge but they are such hard workers and are happy with so little.

We first went to an area called Malta just to see the water project there but for some reason we drove right past the road…maybe because it didn’t really look like a viable road.

       

When we got into the village the first thing we saw was a woman carrying a load of fodder for her livestock.

       

We walked a short distance to the water tank and saw where they will be constructing a building to house the office and storage area. The program is self-sustaining with each user paying a small monthly fee for their water. This amount is enough to pay the technician and the upkeep of the system.

       

Here are some random pictures from Malta. There will be 190 tap stands in this community. Most are completed and we will return for the “inauguration” ceremony in March.

Following our visit to Malta we stopped in at the maintenance training that was being held as part of the project. We then went to Bagmati Rural Municipality 3 for their official Inauguration Ceremony. They were very excited to have us visit and honored us with garlands, tikas, hats (a shawl for me) and snacks. The ceremony was held at the home of the woman in blue and black. She is quite the character and spoke to me in enthusiastic, rapid fire Nepali with her huge smile. I just had to smile in return because I have no idea what she was talking about.

There were several dignitaries there including the municipality chairperson and the water users committee chairperson. They spoke, we spoke, Kiran from CHOICE spoke. Then there was the ribbon cutting, snacks, and lots of pictures. We also helped hand out some backpacks with school supplies provided by CHOICE and DōTerra.

I have to say that the women of Nepal are incredible. Many are raising their children without the support of a spouse. They are industrious, clever, tenacious and beautiful!

Not only did a woman host the celebration but another woman donated the land that the water storage tank is built on. She has an orange orchard and we had the privilege of picking fruit from her trees while supporting the local economy.

I love finding places like this last photo where plants manage to grow in what seems like an impossible place. Not only do they grow but they can thrive. I think the women of Nepal are like these plants. Life is very challenging and yet they persevere and succeed. Challenges build character and help us become our best selves.

 

 

 

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.

Our lives build on all that has happened previously. Hopefully we learn from our mistakes and grow from our experiences. This week has been no exception. As Rick mentioned last week we went to Biratnagar for the HBB training and I got quite sick. I’m still not sure exactly what the sickness was, but the after effects have lingered. This has tested Rick’s patience as I have been somewhat cranky and not very helpful. He can’t even hope for a new missionary companion. We have had office work to take care of and are trying to get some challenging details worked out. This takes a lot of back and forth between our team in Hong Kong, people in Utah and the NGO’s here in Nepal. With each step we get a little closer to finalizing some projects and some procedures.

Rick mentioned several “tender mercies” one of which was my feeling well for the Primary Program. It wasn’t until the next day that I realized how blessed I had been. The following day I felt totally wiped out and awful without much appetite. Unfortunately this continued well into the week. While we were sitting in the office of our accountant, he asked if I felt all right and then proceeded to tell me I didn’t look so good. To help me feel better he strongly encouraged me, as in not taking “no thank you” for an answer, to take some herbal water. It was rather soothing, but I was very hesitant to take anything I had not prepared myself.

While at the training in Biratnagar, Ranjan, who was coordinating the training, invited us to attend the Gunyo Choli for his daughter this week in Kathmandu. This is a ceremony and celebration honoring a daughter as she turns eight. We weren’t very excited about going, but it turned out to be very enjoyable. We arrived at the party palace a bit early and got to enjoy the extended family singing and dancing!

Since my digestive system was not back to normal it was more difficult to really relax and enjoy the snacks and dinner. We thought we wouldn’t know anyone there but as it turned out there were several people we knew from our humanitarian work here in Nepal and we were made to feel very welcome.

We had a little excitement at the grocery store this week. When it came time to check out Rick couldn’t find his debit card. He had used it before entering the store at an ATM but it was nowhere to be found. After triple checking his pockets and wallet we offered up prayers then asked Manoj and a store manager for help. Eventually we returned to the aisle where Rick had taken this picture…

Rick thought maybe his card had fallen out of his pocket when he pulled his phone out. It was not visible on the floor, but when he bent down he saw it under the shelving. We were so relieved. Having to cancel the card would have left us without access to our money, yikes! Learning from our experience we will always put our cards away properly.

Progress is slow but with a few small steps at a time we are closer to having two more projects ready for approval. Today I felt well enough to go walking and do yoga with a little retail therapy thrown in for good measure.

 

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.”

After returning from our trip to Thailand I anticipated that we would have some things to catch up on but I had no idea we would be in overdrive. We leave on Monday for five days for the training of trainers to help improve labor and delivery, called Helping Babies Breath/Helping Mothers Survive. This is the same training that we went to back in May when we first arrived in Nepal. There was much to do in preparation. 

We are working on a new proposal to provide equipment to a clinic in an underdeveloped area, Dakshinkali, that has a newly built clinic in which they provide low and no cost care to the village people. They also bring in volunteer specialists periodically and run health camps. It is an impressive organization and we are hopeful for this project to be approved. Everyone deserves basic healthcare and early diagnosis of health problems.

On Wednesday we received an email notifying us of a meeting of International NGO’s and some government officials regarding aid for the victims of the earthquake on November 3rd. Upon arrival at the location of the meeting we learned, after talking to several people and several trips up and down the stairs, that the meeting had been moved across town. The traffic was congested and it took us about half an hour to get to the Ministry of Women and Children. It is a restricted area and fortunately they accepted a soft copy of our passports as we had not anticipated needing them. We were quite late and there were only a few seats left among the 69 people who were in attendance. We had planned for our driver to accompany us but there was no parking and so we sat through an hour and ten minutes of people speaking in Nepali. I was able to understand a little as they threw in a few English words here and there. I recorded the meeting on my phone and Manoj translated some if it for us when we got home. The short story is that the people are still without shelter and as it is getting colder they are in great need of warm clothes, blankets, tarps and tents. The powers that be are trying to coordinate efforts so that the needed supplies reach the right people and so that efforts are not duplicated. We are working toward providing blankets but need a formal request from the government to initiate the project. We hope to get this going before we leave on Monday.

There were multiple other little inconveniences and problems that I won’t go into but they contributed to the feelings of discouragement and inadequacy we were experiencing. It is hard to understand how we can come from our week of uplifting, encouraging, motivating experiences in Bangkok and be thrown into the chaos of life in Nepal with the challenges and intricacies of humanitarian work and feel so low. There has been a lot of waiting on answers to questions and on people to respond with needed information this week. At least we had so much to do that we were busy while we waited and we could see that the adversary was working hard to thwart us.

On a brighter note, we got the Christmas decorations out of the closet and put up a little tree and a few other decorations to help us remember that it is the Christmas season and there is always hope and joy as we look to our Savior.

As a second bright note we walked in neighborhoods this week that were recently painted for Tihar.

And to close, there were many bright and beautiful orchids in Bangkok.

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.