Wednesday, April 27, 2011

This morning we talked to Clay, Alison, Jason and Chad. All of them called to wish Gene a Happy Birthday. We didn’t have a very good connection with any of them as Jenny was on and we were downloading the Microsoft Office Suite. I think that must have been what was interfering with us getting a good connection on Skype. But at the same time it was good to talk to them a minute.

Jenny said it was a huge file and because of the download speed it could take all day. We decided to walk over to the church and do our duty as we were assigned to do the cleaning this week. We called Kamala because she was also on the list, but she was working. Laxmi said she would go with us and felt like we would be safe enough walking the short distance to the church. We went over and it was really in pretty good shape and we were able to sail right through. It didn’t take us too long.

I must say, it was strange walking over there. Because of the ‘strike’ today, there were no cars or busses on the road. There were however, lots of people walking. It was a strange site. I’m not sure how often that happens. I did email the kids the email from the Embassy. Tina sent one back that said: ‘sounds kind of scary’. It’s not really. We feel fine about it and just know we need to lay low and stay inside.

I’ll just say, we have had to continue to work with Jenny in getting our computer back. We have had a couple of sessions of Team Viewer. Whatever she did, we were finally successful getting our computer back about 1:30 pm. Hooray! It’s been about two weeks and it’s been a bit of a pain. We have downloaded stuff back on and I think everything is there. We are so happy to have it done. We are just hanging out. I guess I will fix Gene birthday dinner. We had planned on going out with Deppong’s and Brown’s, but it doesn’t look like that’s doing to happen because of the strike. (We did discover that Gene and Elder Deppong share the same birthday. We thought that a bit amazing.)I might even make some breadsticks. We have power from 5 – 9 so I could bake them.

This afternoon it is raining and because of that and no power, it’s dark in the house. And it’s really quiet.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

I woke up at 3:15 and lay there for an hour and a half before turning on the IPod and reading for a bit. And unlike last night, there were no dogs barking tonight, which was really nice. After reading for a little bit, I was able to fall back to sleep. I got up and it wasn’t long before Jenny was wondering if I was online. The computer did load the program, but without Excel and Word, the programs we need most of all. We worked with Jenny until about 10:30 am. We had planned to go over to Deppongs to hear the training from the Browns, but thought this was more important. Finally, Jenny was able to take remote control and said she would work on it while we were gone.

We went over and Debbie again, prepared lunch for us. After lunch, Rakesh came and picked us up and we took another cab because there are six of us. We went to the Women’s Co-op. It’s a place Rakesh set up through the Cyber Center, where women who have been trained to sew, can make things to sell, raise a little garden, and do little things to support themselves. They pay a little rent and the place is self sustaining. It’s fun to be there and see their industry.

Women learning how to sew at the Cyber Center

Young blind man learning to knit

After that we went to the Cyber Center and that was a great experience. So much good goes on there. Browns were impressed. We sat in as they talked to length to Rakesh about wheelchairs, the need to train people and help them assess people who are in need of wheelchairs. They said that a wheelchair needs to be fit to the person so it doesn’t do harm to the one receiving it. The church is going to be very sensitive to that. I think by the time Browns finished with their presentation, Rakesh could see that we all need to do things just a little bit differently. Rakesh does a great job and he is our champion, but he needs to fine tune things a little bit. We can always do a little better.

The other thing we are so excited about is the Deppongs are really excited about Wheelchairs. This is something they really want to do – and they will be good at it.

When we finished, we, with Deppongs and Browns went to the Third Eye and had dinner. They took us to the roof and the balcony and we sat outside. The weather was delightful and we had a great evening.

We passed kids getting out of school. They like their photo taken

We hear there is going to be a strike tomorrow. It’s the first one we have been here for. We got a message from the Embassy, saying to stay at home. We understand that the shops are closed and there is no traffic allowed on the streets. We will sit tight and catch up.

We saw this little girl doing dishes.

We turned on the computer when we got home and still, no Word or Excel. So again, tomorrow we will try and contact Jenny and see what the next move will be.

Monday, April 25, 2011

I woke up about 2:00 am with, I’m sure there must have been hundreds of dogs barking. And it seemed to go on for a long time. I finally got back to sleep. I woke again, just after 5:00 am and thought about the kids together at our place celebrating Easter. We got up and were soon downstairs where I think Clay was waiting to see when we came online. We talked to all of the via Skype. Again, have I said lately, how much I love Skype. It sure makes it easier for us Senior Missionaries to be away from home and families. Craig and Tracey (good friends) were there and we congratulated them. Craig was sustained today as a new Bishop in a Singles Ward. He will be so good and we are happy for them.

About 7:30 or so, we started again with Jenny in Bangkok, trying to get this new version of Windows 7 on our main Computer. We struggled with it all morning. FINALLY, after much time and trying and retrying, we got the program to run on the computer. We left it running and took a taxi to Deppongs. Sister Deppong fixed lunch for all of us and then we got a couple of taxis and went to the Presidential Palace. Rakesh had brought invitations for all of us and it was a small gathering of Nepalis.  The occasion was the ‘handing over ceremony’ of a painting by the internationally renowned artist, Mr. Ranan R. Lurie, to Nepali Summiteers, who were going to take it to the top of Mt. Everest as a symbol of world unity and the Nepal Tourism Year. We felt so honored to be there. Rakesh had brought invitation to all of us. Rt. Hon. Dr. Ram Baram Yadav, President of Nepal consented to hand over the painting to the Sherpa, taking it up the mountain. It really was exciting to be part of that. We talked to the Sherpa after the program and Rakesh also introduced us to the artist. Wow! Gene and I, two kids from Smithfield, having great experiences like this. Who would have ever thought that possible?

Presidential Palace in Kathmandu.

The Sherpa, taking the painting to Mt. Everest

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Today is Easter Sunday. It sure doesn’t seem like it. I’m sad to say that it’s come and gone and we’ve hardly had time to reflect on it. We for awalk and that was nice. We left the house about 7:30 and the temperature was just right. We walked about 35 minutes. It’s hard to find a good path or place to walk  but it was good to get out.

I was just getting Gene some breakfast about 8:30 am when Elder and Sister Brown called us and said they would like to meet with us when we were ready. Deppongs had scheduled some visits and weren’t able to meet with us. It was so good to see them again. Before we left on our mission, we met them and had lunch together in Brigham City. Today, we had a great visit. Gene called Rakesh and he came to the hotel and we all had a good chat. Browns and Rakesh talked a lot about wheelchairs and the policy of the church in the distribution of wheelchairs. Rakesh explained what he does and how he works with agencies and people here. They seemed very impressed. I don’t think we have to worry. I think things will work out just fine. We will have a wonderful week together.

Rakesh wanted us to meet a friend of his from America. He was here in Nepal and was flying back to the states today. He was here visiting with his wife and a couple of his grandsons. We did meet him and what a wonderful fellow. He is an Honorary Consul General of Nepal and his name is Marvin A. Brustin. He is an Attorney and lives in Chicago. He has been coming to Nepal for over thirty years and comes and does humanitarian work himself. He asked about some of our projects and was a little familiar with LDSC and was very complimentary about the work we do.

Tonight we, Browns and Deppongs went to dinner. We went to Mike’s Café and it was the best meal we have had there. We both had chicken, French fries, steamed vegetables and garlic bread. It tasted good.

We got home about 7:00. It had been a good day. Tomorrow I’m kind of hoping that we can hook up with Jenny and get this computer going. We are supposed to meet with Browns and Deppongs at 9:00, but if we miss the first  part of that, it’s okay. This computer has got to take a little bit of priority.