4 July 2011                                                                                                  Partly cloudy – nice day

About noon, Deppongs picked us up and we went with them to the Monkey Temple. This is something we have wanted to do since we got here.The real name is the Swayambhunath Temple. It is a very old sacred stupa located on top of a hill in the West of Kathmandu. It is the home to many harmless and holy monkeys and hence derived its name of being the “Monkey temple”. An elongated stairway of 365 steps leads to the temple.  Shyam, our taxi driver, couldn’t believe we wanted to enter at that entrance because there were so many steps. We did stop and rest a couple of time, but it was good to get the heart pumping. We did see quite a few monkeys and the big Stupa at the top of the hill which of course is surrounded by prayer wheels – oh and you have to be sure to walk around the temple clockwise.A huge pair of eyes adorns all the four side of the stupa. This symbolizes the omnipresence of the all mighty. A third eye signifies the wisdom of looking inside ones soul. The weather was perfect. Temperatures were delightful and no rain showers all afternoon. We had a good view of the city. Deppongs had been there before and said usually there are so many beggars and vendors pestering you to buy. But today there wasn’t a lot of people and that was also nice.

Some of the 365 steps up to the Monkey Temple

We made it....

Gene and I with the big Stupa behind us -

A beautiful view of part of Kathmandu Valley

Some of the prayer wheels surrounding the Stupa...

 We did spend some time looking through some art galleries located at the top of the hill. We saw a couple of painting we liked, but they were bigger than we want. The guy really wanted to sell one to us, but we didn’t buy today.

After we left there we went to Thamel and had lunch at the New Orleans restaurant. Gene and I both had grilled lemon chicken and it was very good. I had taken my Ipod and surprised Debbie with some patriotic music. She loved that. We got home about 6:30. It has been a delightful day – and a 4^th of July we will always remember. We have taken time to remember the independence of our great nation and count our blessing of being a citizen in a great country. 

Reminded me of the Liberty Bell...

 We saw this bell sitting at the temple. Not sure where they were going to put it, but it was beautiful. It was metal with all kinds of engravings on it and a whole lot of Nepali writing. It would be interesting to know about it.

3 July 2011                                                                          Rain night time, partly cloudy today

I got up fairly early to see if there were any texts from the kids saying they had made it safely to Cannon Beach. Clay had sent a picture of Luke with the ocean and LOTS of sunshine there. Alison also sent a text saying they had just got there and Brent had arrived earlier in the day. Kind of makes us wish we were there.

Then Skype was ringing and it was my dear friend Veda Hillyard. We had a great visit and it was so nice to catch up on a few things at home. Senior Couples have a lot more leeway, especially in places like Nepal. We are grateful for the technology that allows us to do that.

Dipok, the auditor came and had difficulty restoring the files from when we installed the new version of Windows7. We had backed everything up (we thought) but it was troublesome getting the files recovered. He called a friend who was able to come over and help him.

While he was here (he came at 8:00 am) I took the lap top upstairs and did my walking video and checked email. By the time he left, it was past 10:30. The rain had let up and Gene said let’s get ready and go to SWC and pick up the Two Year Agreement. We did that. Neeti Sherpa, Dr. Lama’s secretary, went over the changes they wanted made. When we left the office, Gene said,” that Agreement just got 8 – 10 pages longer.) It will take us a week or more (depending on how quickly we can get information back from our partners) to resubmit the Agreement. We are anxious as Deppongs will need to start their visa process the beginning of August.

Gene had read in the newspaper yesterday that there are many INGO’s in the country without work permits. We weren’t aware that we needed one. While at SWC, Dr. Rimal, the Director, came in the room we were waiting in. (No coincidences, right!) He came over and greeted us and shook hands. Gene asked him about the work permit thing and he asked if we had our visa’s. We told him yes and he said he would check on it. He left the room and was back soon. He said he thought we had one because when we went to the Ministry of Home as part of the visa process, at that time, they gave us a letter stating a work permit was granted. We remember getting a letter, but it was all in Nepali. We told him we would look it up when we got home. We thanked him graciously for his help. We did find the Nepali letter and asked Laxmi to read it for us. Indeed, it did give us permission to be in the country and work. We are grateful for that. I’m sure the church wouldn’t want us here as illegal’s. Again, how grateful we are for the watchful hand of our Heavenly Father as we are here doing his work.

We’ve worked on it a bit this afternoon but after a while, we knew it was time to quit. It was getting so we weren’t clear headed and you need to be to do this.  We will look at it again tomorrow.

2 July 2011                                                                                   Few showers today

Today is the Sabbath and it’s been a wonderful day. Laxmi and I were at church early to visit with Sister Kim. They are from South Korea. I asked how she was adjusting and she said she was having a hard time. I can imagine how she’s feeling. We had a nice visit and I would like to get to know them better.

Sacrament Meeting was Fast and Testimony meeting and I was touched by the spirit there. I love that feeling. Brother Karin told a story of Hugh B Brown, when he went on his mission. He said his mother wrote and reminded him of when he was little and would call to her for help. Now, she told him, he needed to call on Heavenly Father and he would help him. I felt the spirit confirm that to my soul. A reminder from Heavenly Father of his love for us and his awareness of us here in Nepal. The whole meeting was inspirational.

After the block, we invited Nathan Mahler to come home and have lunch with us. He is a young man just graduated from BYU and spending a couple of months in Nepal before beginning medical school. He has been working in an orphanage, planting rice and other miscellaneous things here. He rides a bus an hour and a half to come to church. After church, Pushpa Tamang, the 16 year old who wants to be baptized, was also waiting for us. I think he wanted to look at his email. We invited him to come with us also.

I fixed spaghetti, corn and garlic breadsticks for lunch. I thought I had cooked way too much spaghetti, and a whole pan of breadsticks, but they cleaned everything right up. I was glad for that. It was fun to have them here. They stayed till 4:30 pm or so and then Gene and I did dishes – and there were quite a few. I forgot that Laxmi wouldn’t be in this morning and so there were yesterday’s dishes as well. It was okay…it didn’t take us too long.

The kids (Paul and Alison, Brent and Clay and Sam and families)were leaving their homes early this morning to go to Cannon Beach. We are excited for them and know they will have a good time. We did talk to Jason this morning for a few minutes and he said it was supposed to be 117 degrees in Phoenix tomorrow. I know Brent will be glad to escape the heat there. Jason and Tiffany are also leaving in the morning and driving to Utah. They will stay at our place over the 4^th of July, go to the parade and fireworks and then Jason will fly home and Tiffany will stay in Utah for a few weeks. Its times like these, it’s a little hard to be so far away. But for now, we are having many great experiences and are happy for this opportunity.

1 July 2011                                                         Rained pretty good all night – Mostly cloudy today

Gene said the paper said we have had over a foot of rain in June. Whoa! That’s a lot. And it’s cooler – probably 77 or so, but we can tell a difference. It makes for good sleeping.

Gene wasn’t feeling quite up to par so I went with Elder and Sister Deppong. We took a cab and went over to Read Nepal. It’s the place they treat and help leper’s. It was very interesting and an eye opener.  We again met Raj Kuar Shah. If anyone needs a hero – he is a good one. He is a Pharmacist, Amputee (leg), deformed fingers, in liver failure and on peritoneal dialysis 4 times a day. He founded READ Nepal and runs it.  When we got there, he was just finishing dialysis. He does that every six hours, four times a day. 

 

Who says there's not a problem with leprosy anymore?

Our hero - Raj Kuar Shah

When he finished he took us on a tour of their facility. We watched a nurse treat three patients with leprosy. She swabbed the area with gauze dipped in some sort of brown liquid and it looked like poked the gauze into the sore. I almost got a queasy stomach. The sores were mostly on their feet. They feet were deformed. It about broke my heart. They next patient would look in the back window and see if it was their turn – when one finished, another one came in.

Nurse - cleaning and dressing leprosy sores on a 'Holy Man'

There was a young boy there who had a bone infection and has been discharged by the hospital. He cannot be cared for at home so he stays here, along with his father. They don't speak either English or Nepali but a dialect we do not understand. He was a cute young man with now, hope in his future. Then we went out back where they had planted a garden and also had some bee hives. As we were walking we passed a fence where there were some leper bandages hanging. They weren’t pretty and white anymore, but were a very dirty brown color. Raj said the crocheted ones are the very best.  I want to make a couple while I’m here. I know where I can take them and they would be put to good use.

Leper bandages hanging to dry...

A beautiful woman recovering from a broken hip

 As we were walking back into their building, I saw many small surgical instruments that had been washed and were sitting in the sun to dry. I’m sure they just do the best with what they have.

It was an interesting tour. Hopefully, there is something we can do to help them. One thing we did see was that they were in need of a good surgical light. Theirs was not working at all and a good light is a necessity to do their minor surgeries by. We did ask them what some of their needs were and if they would send us a proposal and we will look it over and submit something to Hong Kong.

30 June 2011                                                                                 Rain most of the day - Cooler

We went to get a few groceries this morning, came home and put them away. Gene called the Social Welfare Council and they said they had gone over the Agreement and there were some changes to be made. We thought we would go and pick it up, but it was raining, (cats and dogs) so Gene said, let’s go tomorrow.

Again we thought we might go pick up the Agreement, but it continued to rain. And it’s quite a bit cooler today. In fact, Gene was sitting in the office on the computer and got quite chilled through. In fact, he was shivering. He put on sweats and a light blanket and lay down for a little bit. I sure hope he’s not getting sick. He still has a bit of that bug as well. I do find comfort in remembering the blessing President Stahlie gave him when he set him apart – that he would be healthy from the top of his head to the tips of his toes.

We were aware when we came that some of our loved ones probably wouldn’t be here when we returned home. Little did we know that it would be Gene’s good friend and cousin Richard’s wife, Beverly. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor shortly after we left and passed away on June 28^th. We did look up her obituary in the Idaho State Journal. The funeral will be on Saturday, the 2^nd of July. We did call Richard via the gmail phone option and expressed our love and sympathy.

29 June 2011                                                             Touch cooler, partly cloudy

This morning we received an email from Bob and Patsy Shipley telling us that Beverly Haeger had passed away. She is Gene’s cousin Richard’s, wife. She was diagnosed about four months back with a brain tumor. She went pretty quickly. We did call Richard via the gmail phones and it was good to talk to him. He will be in our thoughts and prayers through difficult days ahead. It’s times like this when it’s a bit difficult to be away from home and loved ones.

We’ve spent the morning preparing material for English. It’s been a bit of a struggle. The lesson is on giving directions and it’s been a bit of a challenge. We did find something online that will help liven things up a bit – we hope….

English really went quite well. We had a visitor in class today. I thought we had met him before, but couldn’t remember where. After we left I remember he was here at our home when we had a meeting with members of the Five Village Committee. He must also be on the board at KTC. Anyway, he seemed to enjoy the class. I think the students had a good time as well.

We came home and cooked up some one pot vegetables. Lots of onion, green pepper, carrots and potatoes. Yummy….it tasted good.

Tonight we watched the third Work and the Glory film. It was just a reminder of the struggles of the saints in the early days of the church.