Well, it’s second Sunday here in Nepal. Or perhaps first Monday. With our sabbath on Saturday we are always a little confused the following day and often think Monday is Tuesday. It is all part of being on the other side of the world in a strange new land.

We have not taken a liking to many of the vegetables they eat here – snake gourd, bitter gourd, lady fingers (okra), bamboo, hot chiles, eggplant and various “greens”. We eat them when prepared for us, usually in a curry, but don’t cook them at home. Mostly we eat tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, carrots and cabbage – after thoroughly washing of course.  Fruit is also a bit of a challenge. We have enjoyed some good watermelon, grapes, bananas, mangos and pomegranate, but miss strawberries, raspberries, huckleberries, good apples, and citrus fruits. We will give the persimmons that our landlord gave us a try and would like to try a custard apple.

We had a free day amid our paperwork and meetings this week so decided to go to the Garden of Dreams. It is in central Kathmandu and is a delightful place of refuge from the busyness of the city. It was built in the 1920’s by Field Marshal Kaiser Sumsher Rana and originally had six pavilions that represented the six seasons of Nepal. Basanta (Spring), Grishma (Early Summer), Barkha (Summer Monsoon), Sharad (Early Autumn), Hemanta (Late Autumn) and Shishir (Winter). After decades of disuse and deterioration it was renovated but only half of the original buildings remain.

Returning home one day Rick spotted this most unusual caterpillar by our front door. It is a Baron caterpillar and turns into a brown butterfly.

The monkeys at the park were especially entertaining this week. Here are a few pictures…

As we walk through the neighborhood area with every step it is apparent that we are in a foreign country. We greet people and pass the same ones frequently enough that we are friends in passing. There are so many shops that we wonder how they can earn a living. Some don’t have a lot of overhead to eat up their profits though.

Amid the exotic creatures, unusual fruits and vegetables, and beautiful flowers we are all just going about daily life trying to do our part in making the world a better place whether on this side of the earth or the other. I’ll end with a quote from a plaque in the Garden of Dreams-

 

 

Another week of novel and fun experiences.

For fun, we ordered pizza from our favorite pizza place for the first time since we’ve been here. It’s nice to know that in Kathmandu it works to do online ordering/delivery! We also ordered a Caesar salad — our first real lettuce in Nepal — it’s not readily available, and if we find it, it’s hard to know how thoroughly we would need to wash (decontaminate) it!

Because we have lots of downtime when there’s no pressing project or record-keeping work, we often get to play tourist. On Monday we went on an outing to see the nearby 143-foot-high statue of Lord Shiva. Quite impressive! Taller by 35 feet than the Anjaneya statue in Vizag. Liz Christensen from the branch came with us on the spur of the moment — at Taunya’s invitation. She was very grateful for the invite and had a great time.

Tuesday night, to thank Manoj for all his help getting our visas, we took him and his wife Rachana out to dinner at a nice restaurant, and had a wonderful time enjoying the company and the great Indian and Nepali food they served there.

On Wednesday Kiran called to ask if we wanted to go see where they were making the benches and desks for our school furniture project. We did! It was fascinating to see the furniture maker in his shop and the end result (minus legs — they will be welded on after delivery to the schools — less effort and more efficient to transport them unassembled).

We learned on our way to go shopping on Friday (September First) that it was Manoj’s birthday. He is 41. (Also, Happy Birthday, Dad! He would have been 97.) That evening, Manoj brought us momos Rachana had made for his birthday celebration. She gave him a very cool present that their son Rimul helped make (earlier this week he surreptitiously asked for and we gave him a picture of us) — a framed collage with pictures of the last ten couples he has served, with a shot of the two of them in the middle. “I am so lucky to have you” was her sentiment, and it goes both ways!

 

 

We spent Friday evening preparing flash cards and keyboard images for this week’s music lessons. Our after-church sessions went fairly well. Taunya ran them through notes recognition and playing exercises, I taught more conducting techniques. Albeit slowly, most students are getting better. One boy really wants to learn how to conduct. One mom (of three of our students) really wants to learn to play the piano. Afterwards she expressed to me how grateful she is that God blessed their branch with a couple with musical talents who were willing to share and work with them. That makes me want to work harder at providing more value to them!

While discussing with Krishna (our landlord) some computer issues we’ve been having, it seemed like such a minor thing compared to another problem we’re facing, this one involving people. We must deal with life’s little irritations as best we can, knowing that they can prepare us to deal with life’s bigger challenges if we’ll let them. Especially if we seek the Spirit’s guidance. Like for example, how to add more value to music lessons!

We also discussed with Krishna our people problem, and he had a great insight. The interesting part of his offered solution was that he prefaced it with “I have an idea,” then added offhandedly, “God gave it to me” — and why not? He’s a Hindu, believes in God, and God’s Spirit can inspire those who believe, even if their belief is not the same as ours! We who frequently don’t know what we’re doing are so grateful for those nudges, those “sudden strokes of ideas” — indeed, when we feel “pure intelligence flowing into us” — it is such a great blessing to seekers of inspiration everywhere, and a wonderful, tender mercy from a loving Father and Savior!

We have stayed close to home the last few weeks. With all the rain and the many trips regarding our visas we haven’t been able to go visit project sites or go on excursions. This has led to some fun pictures from our walking routes. Early in the week we got to see a rainbow. It always makes me feel like there is hope regardless of what is happening. Just add a bit of light and there is beauty despite more rain.

Our driver did take me and my new friend Liz — she and her family are with the US Embassy, attend church and are new to Nepal — to a shopping area near Kathmandu Durbar Square where we did a little souvenir shopping. The “singing bowl” shop was my favorite. I was amazed at the number of bowls they had in their little shop. What is a singing bowl? – “The singing bowl is a metal bowl, struck by a mallet, often used in spiritual or religious settings to invoke meditation or relaxation through the resounding vibrations and pleasant sounds it emanates when played. They can also be used in sound therapy to induce healing and treat various illnesses.” It’s mostly a Buddhist thing and is often associated with Tibet and the Himalayas.

These pictures are outside of the park we regularly walk to. The demolished buildings had little shops that had snacks and tea and fresh juice. It was a place that people gathered and had a nice sense of community and we were shocked to find them knocked down. We don’t really know why the structures were demolished but perhaps they were not built legally or they are planning to build something new. It is not uncommon for buildings to go up without the proper permits or even owning the land.

We decided to buy a net to improve our badminton skills. Here is our first attempt at putting the net up. It worked out OK but when we returned the next day someone had taken the sticks down. We found two trees that actually worked better except when the sun got in our eyes.

The city is working on removing the masses of wires on the poles and will eventually put them underground. For now I think they are getting rid of those wires no longer in use. It is a huge project.

The Project…

Some other interesting pictures from around the neighborhood…

 

 Typical street scene outside our residence.

After many phone calls and trips to various offices, it was time to go to the office of immigration. It took 3 1/2 hours on Wednesday but Rick finally got his non-tourist work visa!! Of course they couldn’t possibly take care of mine at the same time. It only took 2 1/2 hours on Thursday to process mine. We thought this “guard dog” at the bank counter at the immigration office was too funny. He is actually just a fat street dog which is not very common.

What did we do to celebrate? Had Baskin-Robbins ice cream of course.

What is a week without flowers?

As we walk around we see trash in the gutters, dead rats and dog poop on the road, piles of bricks and bags of who knows what along with many other not so pleasant things — but Nepal is a beautiful place and we just keep looking for rainbows.

 

Another full and sometimes frustrating, but mostly instructive and fruitful week!

On Monday we got a letter from the Ministry of Home Affairs, another step in the visa application process. Except it had an error — it had my birthday a day off from what it is. Manoj did his phone magic and got that fixed, then that letter allowed our getting yet another letter from the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens, recommending us to the Department of Labor. More on which below.

On Wednesday we met two gentlemen from the Young Star Club of Solukumbu District in the Koshi Province of Eastern Nepal. We discovered that they as an NGO who has been doing social improvement projects for nearly 4.5 decades are a worthy partner to LDS Charities, and so we will try to work together. They agreed to email us their project concept and we will take it from there. Solukumbu is noteworthy for being the district Mount Everest is in!

 

On Thursday we paid a visit to SERC (Special Education and Rehabilitation Centre) and met its founders, Anish and Kalpana. They have a school in a municipality about a 45-minute drive from Kathmandu, and a shop and physical therapy clinic in Kathmandu.

Anish and Kalpana are delightful people, full of desire and compassion to help kids with physical and mental disabilities. In their shop they repair wheelchairs (among other things) and also custom-design and build some. One of their “kids”, now an adult and a wheelchair user himself, does the bulk of the work in this shop.

The clinic serves about 30 pre-school-aged kids who need physical therapy, and the school serves about 90. The schoolchildren have various mental and physical handicaps, from autism to cerebral palsy. They do a great work helping these kids learn life skills and gain basic knowledge to manage in a world that’s often unsympathetic to their plight. Some of the school’s former students teach there, which is especially gratifying to see. Knowledge! Gained mainly through education — teaching — knowledge is the gift that keeps on giving, when you teach someone something who then teaches others, and then those still others, growing and expanding to enormous reach!

 

So tomorrow we have to pay 20,000 Rupees (about $150) as a fee for the work permit. But we have to go to a bank to pay it and get a receipt/voucher and then go back and hand this voucher to someone at the Department of Labor so that Monday we can come back yet again to get the actual work permit!

The work permit is the last document we need (there are five others that we have in hand) for applying for the working visa that is required to act as the Country Director of LDS Charities Nepal. These six documents have to be uploaded to the website of the Immigration Department, and if what it says on this website is accurate, the visa itself will be “gratis” — no fee! (This has not been the case in the recent past, so it remains to be seen.)

This whole process has been an education that we can package and give to the senior couple who will replace us so that their learning curve will be much easier to negotiate. And the gift will keep on giving for future couples’ benefit as well. We feel strongly that a big part of why we’re here is to significantly smooth the way for our successors. Unfortunately, we will not be around to see the completion of the projects that we have had a hand in starting (except for maybe two or three), given the lengthy duration of these efforts. But we can still keep abreast of their progress and learn of their (hopefully wildly successful) completion after we leave. That is our fond wish!

We are continuing to settle into our new flat (a child from church informed me that they don’t have apartments in Nepal!) and create a better working office space. Rick turned our TV into a huge monitor for his laptop and bought a wireless keyboard and mouse. Then we were able to replace our very old desktop with a new laptop for the office and now Rick is cleaning off and saving information from the old computer. Meanwhile I continue to remove the extra stuff out of cupboards and either get rid of it or box it up. We had been storing a bunch of boxes of equipment for the Helping Babies Breath program in our spare room and were able to move all of that to the new storage room where the other HBB goods are being kept. We definitely feel more organized and in charge now. It is good because we have work to do!

It is raining a lot, more than it was a couple of weeks ago, and things are rather soggy. It takes our laundry about 24 hours to dry on the drying racks inside. It is quicker outside if I time it right. I try very hard to not do a second rinse while the clothes are hanging on the line!

Rick went out to the Kevin Rohan Memorial Eco Foundation site on Tuesday. It was the last day of the last humanitarian expedition group from the United States. The groups were able to complete the first level of the clinic. There are still brick walls to construct between the concrete pillars but the locals should be able to do that with the remaining materials the groups provided. I was disappointed to miss the outing because I was sick. (Actually I find it ironic that I got sick because a few days before I was expressing gratitude for our good health on our mission. Just doesn’t seem right…)

Between the rain and my being sick we hadn’t been to the park to play badminton for a few days and were disappointed to find the big Granddaddy tree had fallen down. It was sad but the rhesus macaque monkeys were enjoying their new jungle gym.

Friday we renewed our tourist visas as they expired on the 13th. We are still going through the process of getting our non-tourist work visas. We don’t have to worry about our visas expiration date now but Rick is not able to fully act as country director without the work visa.

Random photos–

Dejunking and recreating our flat to better suit our needs has been rejuvenating. I think that as we eliminate clutter from our minds and our lives we are better able to feel the influence of and be directed by the Holy Ghost. I know that as we serve here in Nepal we need all the help we can get!

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!

As you can imagine it has been another week full of new and interesting experiences. We have found the best way to navigate our week is with faith and prayers. We rarely know what our schedule will be, with a few exceptions, and always need to be ready for anything. Hence previous blog titles like–Go with the Flow, Trust in the Lord, Expect the Unexpected, and One Step at a Time. Plans come up suddenly and are changed at the last minute. We often feel out of our element and inadequate but we just keep putting one foot in front of the other and then we find we have walked through another week.

We went to dinner at the home of the director of CHOICE Humanitarian here in Nepal. The food was very good but the entertainment afterwards was a delightful surprise.

We had office work that occupied some of our time this week but we were able to go the Paropakar Maternity and Women’s Hospital to donate two Bubble CPAP machines. At this hospital they deliver an average of 80 babies per day! When babies are in respiratory distress they sometimes have to be sent to another hospital because of a lack of equipment. Hopefully we will be able to do more in the future. We will continue to provide training through the Helping Babies Breath program as well.

Stated like that the donation seems pretty straightforward, however it was anything but…! Dr. Kalpana set up the appointment with the hospital director not realizing that our liaison, Ranjan, was not going to be in town. Because the appointment could not be rescheduled Rick and I had to take care of things. After confirming our afternoon appointment with Dr. Kalpana we went to CHOICE and looked through the poorly labeled boxes they had picked up from customs and put in their overcrowded, disorganized storage room. No one was available to help that knew what we were looking for or where to find it. We found two boxes and brought them back to our apartment thinking we were ready to go. I had a thought that we might need a letter of donation so we asked our supervisors in Hong Kong. While awaiting a reply we tried to find a sample letter we could copy, to no avail. We contacted one of the HBB doctors in Utah and waited. The information we received from Hong Kong was unclear. Ranjan drafted a possible letter that we decided to modify and use. The next problem was that the Wolfgramms had left and locked the office and we needed to use the printer. Fortunately our landlord’s son knew where to find a spare key.  After hearing back from Dr. Mike (11:45pm Utah time! and 45 minutes before we needed to leave) we found that one of the boxes was the wrong thing so had to return it and find the correct one. Part of the challenge was that the Wolfgramms were using our driver to visit a project so we were waiting on a substitute driver. Fortunately he came 15 minutes early so Rick didn’t have to speed walk in the rain to CHOICE while I waited for our driver and directed him to the office. We headed over to together find what we needed. Of course the power went out while we were searching in the windowless storage room so had to use Rick’s phone flashlight. After silent prayers and multiple small miracles to overcome the challenges thrown in front of us we were able to get to the hospital on time and find our way to Dr. Kalpana’s office having only been there once. The “donation ceremony” was a success.

Work is progressing on a new home that we can see from our apartment window. The process of construction in concrete and use of manual labor is fascinating.

 

Another outing arranged by our friends Sunila and Sugam, took us to the office of the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens where we met with the Minister for a brief courtesy visit. It is helpful to have connections with people in high places. His assistant assured us that he will be happy to help with anything we need, particularly our visas. Good to know.

This is the Wolfgramm’s last week here and we have gradually been taking over everything. Rick signed his first check as Country Director. It was delivered to our accountant but had to be returned because Rick abbreviated ‘associates’ in the payee line. The bank won’t accept it unless it is written out. These details are important to know. Besides assuming new responsibilities this week we went out to Simply Momo for a farewell dinner. They have a surprising variety of momos–buffalo, chicken, vegetable, fried, steamed and sauces varying in spiciness. It was very tasty.

At church on Saturday we were blessed to have a visit from our mission president and his wife. It was so good to see them again. I was surprised to find myself missing our time in India a little. They both spoke in Sacrament Meeting as did the Wolfgramms. It was surprising to find myself in charge of Primary since no leaders were there. Yikes!! It was just the pianist and me but since there were only six children it was ok. After church we had an unexpected linger longer in honor of the Wolfgramms so we cancelled music class. Something added, something taken away.

It has been quite rainy here with about an inch of rain per day. We are still able to get out and exercise although one day we needed our umbrellas for our walk and bailed on badminton. It was raining mostly at night but has changed to off and on daytime downpours. Everything is lush and green and the flowers are pretty. No surprise there.

 

On Taunya’s last-week theme of daily new experiences, just today we saw this man giving some snake gourd to a bull — a first time sight in Nepal!

The work is progressing. We have two approved projects awaiting legal agreements to be drawn up. Another project we expect will be approved this coming week. We’re still working on the proposal for a fourth one, and then for an encore—we are determined to get a wheelchair project rolling (no pun intended)! That one is going to be tricky, as the players involved, both old (from previous wheelchair projects done by LDS Charities in Nepal) and new (the Rotary Club) are not in a great position at this point to form a team to do the implementation. We not only get to write the check and serve as in-country coordinators but are also trying to be pros at public relations and interpersonal dynamics. The technicalities are one thing, and no small thing at that. But technical is the easy part! I find it ironic that our “great” people skills are going to be put to their severest test yet in a monumental effort to possibly smooth ruffled feathers as well as coordinate different parties to help identify, fit, train, and assess the benefit to the truly needy beneficiaries of mobility devices that will dramatically improve their lives.

Music lessons yesterday after Church went better than we expected. There is something very unsettling about this undertaking to teach piano and other musical skills to 14 individuals with widely varying knowledge and skill levels. We must be insane! It helped that 3 adults and two children (one of them the youngest one) were not there — but still, 9 students is a lot! They are energetic and enthusiastic and yes, some are somewhat undisciplined. But they responded well to our instruction, which pleased and encouraged us. To help us, we are hoping for some more musically talented brothers and sisters to miraculously materialize when new US Embassy personnel arrive in Nepal next month!

On another looming-large topic, the Social Welfare Council (SWC) is the government agency we work with, and with whom we signed the 5-year general agreement. They approve, monitor and evaluate all projects implemented by us INGOs (International Non-government Organizations) in partnership with local NGOs. The SWC bureaucracy is something to behold. Yes, they have their “process” (which they pride themselves on) — but to my mind it’s a tremendously time-consuming process that involves a labyrinth of offices and people and multiple redundant copies of documents.

Their final evaluation report of the 2nd year of a 3-year project we’re doing numbers 67 pages. In the report the evaluators made some observations about and recommendations for LDS Charities. SWC requires in response a “Commitment for Implementing Recommendations” (action plan) document. The official who had me sign two copies, one for him and one for me, said: Bring back your action plan within 15 days along with 8 (count ’em, 8) copies of the final report! Why in the world they would need 8 copies, and would require us to make them, is a mystery I am far from understanding.

The irony of them telling us that LDS Charities “lacks a proper office and critical personnel to offer the NGO partners technical and other help” — when I compare ours to their office and personnel, wow! The prideful man in me says I could tell them a thing or twelve about efficiency! We have a little more technical savvy and computer skills than our predecessors, so there will be no criticisms come next evaluation that “reporting and documentation were deemed to be extremely lacking”!

Another little irony occurred to me this week in connection with an incident involving a car. The car came out of nowhere as we were crossing the road that we have crossed without a problem many, many times. It was on the wrong side of the road and traveling very fast too! (Unusual for this intersection.) The left side of the car brushed against my right forearm as it sped by, and a split-second later the left-rear tire ran over the most protruding part of me — my left big toe. I remember being surprised that it didn’t hurt. At all. Granted, the car was small, and most of its weight was in the front. Taunya suggested some guardian angel was also there to “push” the side of the car so it would be even lighter at the exact moment of tire-toe encounter!

Where’s the irony? A few days later when I least expected trouble, I stubbed my right toes on the 2-inch lip from bathroom floor to shower floor! That. Hurt. No guardian angel this time!

Notwithstanding the little slings and arrows (and cars and lips) life throws at us, we know we are blessed by Heavenly help, and prayers and love from family and friends who support us. With our best efforts thus magnified, this work will continue to roll forth, because it is the work of the Lord.

To quote Moroni,

“For the eternal purposes of the Lord shall roll on, until all his promises shall be fulfilled.” (Mormon 8:22)

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A delightful bonus from the Daily New Experience file:

Wait for it…!

As usual we had new experiences this week. We are constantly amazed at the unique approach to things here in Nepal. Having never applied for any type of US visa I don’t really know the process, but getting a non-tourist work visa here in Nepal is quite involved. On Monday Rick put together the 24 documents (49 pages of paperwork) and we headed over to the Social Welfare Council Office to get a signature and leave a copy so they could “recommend” Rick for the visa. (I will be added as a dependent.) We needed to stop to print the paperwork and make 4 copies. Our driver suggested the copy shop next to the SWC office and we agreed since it was convenient. Here are photos of the copy shop:

We had plenty of other paperwork to do this week as it was the end of our fiscal year. We are still getting the hang of the computer programs and the process. Hopefully we will be up to speed by the end of the month. We also had to address some issues pointed out to us by the SWC review we had last week. It all takes more time than it seems like it should.

Our driver, Manoj, and his wife Rachana invited us and the Wolfgramms over for dinner to celebrate Sister Wolfgramm’s birthday. They prepared some yummy food for us that included curried mushrooms, sesame chicken and a fried bread that was very tasty. A typical dessert here is rice pudding and Rachana’s is especially good.

We didn’t have any fun field trips this week but we did attend the wedding of our landlord’s housekeeper. She has been with the family for 13 years and is really a part of the family. Krishna (landlord) had to approve the marriage and provide the ceremony. It was held in the back garden and lasted about two hours. Three if you take into account the priest was an hour late. We appreciated that it was the short version! There are many steps involved and mostly no one understands what the priest is saying. The people in the wedding party really dress fancy and the whole event was splendid. They had the food “half catered” which means that Krishna bought the raw ingredients and it was prepared on site. We enjoyed rice with beans, chicken, mutton (actually goat), potatoes with pieces of gourd and spices, cooked greens and jeri with yogurt for dessert.

On Friday our cleaning lady invited us to her home for lunch. She really went all out in her preparations and it was delicious. I know she has cooked for previous missionary couples so maybe we will have her prepare food at our house upon occasion. It was really nice to meet her husband and get to know them both better.

This evening we were invited to dinner at the home of some friends from church. Again we enjoyed delicious food and good company. Four Nepali meals in one week! The Nepali people are so kind and generous.

And lastly, perhaps there is a reason to not have massive rats nests of wires on poles…

 

 

If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear.
— Doctrine and Covenants 38:30

This has been another incredible, amazing week here in Nepal. We are learning so much that has and will prepare us for the responsibilities of our callings.

For the most exciting news, we got our first project approved!

It’s a project in food security and nutrition, helping poor Nepali families in rural villages improve their food production and farming skills. LDS Charities is funding the project and a local NGO (CHOICE Humanitarian) will implement it. It’s super exciting to have had a small part in getting this off the ground and to the stage now of crafting the cooperation agreement — with the help of our legal team in Hong Kong.

This evening we met with the Rotary Club of Kathmandu. An illustrious group of about 15 businesspeople, including many CEOs of corporations, in their early days they were known as the Wheelchair Club because they were involved in many wheelchair projects. We were able to give our pitch and they are excited about getting into a new project partnering with LDS Charities.

We spent a good chunk of time preparing and gathering documents (there are 17 (!) that are required) to support our application for working visas, so we can have permission to stay here and keep working after our tourist visas expire next month. One of the documents is a report from the local police that we have no criminal record during our stay. It was a tedious online application process, and the Police Clearance Certificate is still “in progress” — but there’s a good chance that when it comes we’ll be pronounced squeaky clean!

We wanted to start music lessons this week, but circumstances dictated that we wait another week. We prepared our materials, and practiced and felt ready, but reality has yet to demonstrate to us just how insane it is to attempt to teach conducting, basic piano, and singing skills to 14 branch members of widely differing ages and abilities!

Other highlights of our week:

Learning to enter payment requests in the church’s finance system.

Celebrating Independence Day with Krishna (our landlord) and his family (and legend Betty, a 90-year-old expat who has lived in Kathmandu for 47 years). Not exactly parade-brunch-and-more at the Neffs, and we surely miss those great times, but this is our social circle now!

We paid a visit to a rural elementary school that LDS Charities paid to rebuild after it was destroyed in the 2015 earthquake. Getting there was pretty harrowing — it’s been raining and the already rough road was muddy as well. Only prayers and extra-skillful driving got us through one spot where we were stuck spinning our wheels for a few minutes!

At the school, we wished we had had the camera ready, as coming up the stairs we met coming down the most adorable pair of 3-year olds, who, really, only our granddaughter could be cuter than! Some of the older kids spend 1.5 hours each way walking to school. The younger kids are accompanied by their parents, who go back and forth twice each school day, for a total of 6 hours a day!

All classes should be Child Friendly!

 

 

 

We enjoyed dinner with Sunila and her family, a 6:30 to 10:00 evening affair. Nepalis eat late in general, but starting with appetizers at 6:30, then more eating and talking practically non-stop, getting to the main courses at 9:00 — it was all delicious but a little hard on our digestive systems that really only wanted to shut down for the night!

All told, whatever this mission is going to throw at us, we say bring it on — we are ready!