4 September 2011                                                        Started out sunny, light showers PM

I woke up and remembered that BYU was playing their first game - so got up, tuned in to KSL radio via the internet, and heard the last couple of minutes.  Way to go, Cougars!

Dipak,  the auditor was coming, so Gene was up and ready for him. I was in the kitchen making muffins again, when Gene came in and said he had really messed up the computer. He was trying to delete a file and somehow, someway, all the sudden everything was going through the Word program - there was no longer Firefox or Explorer. I fiddled around with it and couldn't figure out what had happened. At this point we are about an hour from Dipak's arrival time. Gene had restarted the computer, but that didn't help. I told him he had better say a prayer - and I'm surely saying one - praying that we can get this fixed. Finally, the thought came to do system restore. I tried it, but it seemed to just cycle forever, so we shut off the computer again. Anyway, to make a long story shorter, we did system restore again and let it keep working. It took a while, but finally, it worked. And again, I know there are no coincidences. Just as the screen come up to the home screen with everything on it and the correct icons showing - Dipak walked in the front door. I'm so grateful prayers are answered and recognize the help we received today.

 Later we walked over to Nina's.. On the way, we pass a small ‘temple’. There were a couple of women there – ringing the bell. Gene said ‘there they are, praying to be seen of men – as talked about in the Book of Mormon.’ We see a lot of that here as there are temples and graven images everywhere....

Back side of can.

Front side of can...

It was hot and muggy today and this afternoon, we have had a light shower. Today has been fairly quiet. I like it much better when we are busy, busy. I think we will be as soon as we can get the Agreement signed.

These two pictures are for all of you out there who like Diet Coke (Tracey this is for you). You can find it here but the cans are not as big - perhaps about 10 ounces. Coke is the most popular soft drink with Fanta Orange and Sprite next. There is also a lot of Pepsi.

 3 September 2011        Mostly sunny AM, cloudy PM

We went to church today and there was a good crowd. In fact they had to bless more sacrament water. That’s good. GC and Pratima blessed their new baby. She is sure a cute little one. After the block, Gene and I met with Devi, the Young Women President  and Pres. Bishnu to talk about YSA/Youth conference. We talked about a few names to be on a planning committee. We need to get this going. It needs to happen within the next couple of months. We will stay here local, but probably stay in a hotel overnight and have some activities and workshops. Our October and November are busy, but we could do it the first week of November. We will see what happens.

I talked to the Sister Bhitrakoti about getting ready for a mission. Devi and Bimala had helped her fill out here papers (as far as possible. She will try and get her physical and dental work at least scheduled this week. President Bishnu will be in the USA for about five weeks. He leaves September 17 and won’t be back till October 24. I’m not sure we can get this all done before he leaves. I hope so, otherwise it will have to wait till he gets back.

Elder and Sister Deppong picked us up and we went to Chris and Gretel Patch’s home for dinner. Kate Hargadon, a young LDS girl from SLC is staying in Kathmandu for a few months and working for Choice Humanitarian. (She just graduated from high school this spring. I wouldn’t have been so brave) Her father is here to visit for a few days and they were also there. What an enjoyable evening. The food was great. And the company awesome.

We had a great visit and talked about lots of things. One thing Chris told us was, (and he works for the Embassy) is that with the Maoist in control now, we need to be careful. We do stand out and some imitation groups are pretending to be Maoist and demanding monitory payment for people’s safety. He told us missionaries that with the white shirts, nice dresses and name tags, people definitely know who we are and they think we have money. He cautioned us to be careful. When we got home, I asked Gene if that made him nervous and he said we just need to remember who we are working for. We certainly have been protected and watched over so far and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that prayers are answered. So, we ask that you continue to pray for us as well as all missionaries everywhere. We recognize and truly appreciate that blessing.

2 September 2011                                                                                          Warm, partly cloudy

Early this morning, Brown’s (wheelchair specialists in SLC) Skyped with Deppongs and us. The connection was poor and after trying the call several times, I suggested they drop us off and just talk to Deppong’s. They did and their call was much better. They are coming to Nepal the end of November for ten days to do some wheelchair training. We look forward to that.

About 9:00 am, I remembered that I needed to call Brent and wish him a Happy Birthday. It’s was still his birthday in his time zone.  I sent him a text and said ‘let’s Skype.’ We did. He said that Jason had taken him to dinner and he had a good day. He was in the process of packing so he can fly to SLC after he finishes work tomorrow and then go to Flaming Gorge with the rest of the kids.

Sister Deppong called about 10:00 and asked if they could come over. They were down by the Chowk and a strike was in progress. She said that Ollie grabbed her hand and said let’s get out of here. She is asthmatic and didn’t have her inhaler. We told them sure to come on over. We just visited for a bit. She filled us in on their visit with Browns and also an update on Helping Babies Breath. It sounds like she is going to get that through…possibly beginning the first of the year. It would be a good thing. There is a need for it in Nepal as many babies die because they don’t get their first breath and just a little bag and mask would do the trick.

We sent an email to Matt Heaps in SLC with an update on a couple of the water projects, complete with a few photos. We are looking forward to wrapping up the Krishnapur and the Chanute projects. Then, we are looking forward to beginning new projects as soon as the Agreement is signed.

Laxmi went with us and we walked over to the Chowk. By this time, the strike was over and traffic and people were moving about freely. We ordered some foam pads for the office chairs. We spend a lot of time in the office and these chairs are hard. Then we went to the market and bought a few things Laxmi needed – a mop, some Clorox and stuff like that. By this time we were hungry and stopped at Nina’s and had a sandwich. It’s just been a day of miscellaneous jobs needing to be done.

Another good quote I've heard many times, but love: "The Lord works from the inside out.  The world works from the outside in.  The world would take people out of the slums.  Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums.  The world would mold men by changing their environment.  Christ changes men, who then change their environment.  The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature."  Ezra Taft Benson

Tonight I talked with Lenore on Skype. I love the technology. We had a great visit and caught up a little on what’s going on with her family and here in Nepal.

1 September 2011                                                                          Partly Cloudy

Today is Brent’s birthday. We are so thankful to be his parents. He is a wonderful son and has brought joy to our lives. We look forward to his coming to Nepal with Clay, Alison and Jason. And that’s getting pretty close. It’s less than six weeks away.

We hadn’t been up too long and the phone rang. It was Panna. He had been up to Chanute to check on a water project for us and wanted to give us a report. I hurried and made some muffins so I would have something to serve him. He went to Chanute on the bus on Tuesday.  He said he couldn’t ride the bus all the way because the road was so bad, being completely washed out in places. I guess there is water running down the mountains everywhere. So, he walked for about four hours to get there. (We should have asked where he spent the night) He said the project is coming right along and they are making good progress. The water tanks are about done and some of the tap stands. We are anxious to go up for the closing of the project. I’m hoping we can do that when the kids are here. It would be good for them to have a ‘hands on’ as to what our Humanitarian work consists of.

We had just a bit of breakfast when the door bell rang. It was Rakesh. He will be out of town for a week and wanted to tell us that he had had contact with SWC. It looks like we might get the Agreement signed next week. He did tell us ‘confidently’ that before we had our meeting at the Ministry, He had taken the Chairman of the Ministry, Dr. Lama and Mr. Rimal to dinner and they had talked about Latter-day Saint Charities. He said the Chairman had to ask us questions, because if he didn’t what would the other ministers think? -  that we were getting special treatment. He said he thought we would be fine on our visa’s because if we had started the process before the expiration date, we would be okay

We have talked about going shopping for a while – looking for a new printer and monitor, if we could find one at a good price. We look Laxmi with us and went down to New Road. We were able to find a HP printer and a Compaq 18” monitor for 13000 NRs. The printer is really pretty basic. We wanted to get one that would scan in a word document that you could edit, but we didn’t have any luck with that. They all scan in a jpeg, tiff or pdf files. Gene is always telling me to remember we are in Nepal.

As far as the monitor goes, we came home and hooked it up and it’s nice. The only thing is, we had hoped to find one  - with a built in camera and microphone. The laptop has it built in and it’s nice, but maybe they aren’t available in the desktop computers.

 We hailed a cab and headed home. It’s always an interesting experience. On the way, the taxi just didn’t have enough steam to make it up the little hill by our place. He was missing a gear. The driver started to back down and ended up off the road and his back tire fell into a little ditch. We all got out and then Gene and Laxmi pushed him out. He gunned the motor and made it to the top. Laxmi said she has lived her many years and this was the first time she has pushed a taxi. We had a good laugh. Of course, he was waiting at the top so we could pay our fare.

31 August 2011                                                                                         Beautiful morning

Alison Skyped early morning and Hannah wanted to show us what she learned at piano lessons. She has started taking lessons from Kelly Olsen. That will be a good thing. I hope she will stick to it. I think she has the ability to learn and be good at it.

This morning I crocheted for a while. I got some more done on the leper bandage – now just another foot or so. My sisters have really been busy crocheting them and will send them with the kids when they come. I know the folks at the leprosy center will be so grateful when we take them there. I also finished another pair of hot pads. It will be nice to give some of the women here a pair before I leave. I will need Alison to bring more yarn.

Debbie called and asked if Laxmi and I would like to go with her and Rukmina. Today is ‘Women’s Day and there is a celebration in the park for women only. This is the Teej Festival and women fast all day for the husbands and families. Laxmi and I (along with out deedee’s walked over to the park, not far from here. I have never seen so much red in all my life. There were lots of beautiful women, all dressed in their beautiful red saree’s. Rukmina and Laxmi take good care of Debbie and I and seem to have a hand on our arms at all times.

You would have thought she was a long lost friend....

So many women....all dressed in red

She seemed to be so happy -

more than willing to have a photo taken

 The traffic was very heavy with lots and lots of buses bringing women to the park. There is a small temple there and they bring offerings to their ‘gods.’ It’s mostly food items. The women there seemed to be fascinated with Debbie and my white faces. I did wear my red dress and they liked that. Many people said ‘hi’ to us or asked how we were. It was great. Debbie likes to dance and the opportunity came. There were groups of women scattered about. One group had a few women in the center dancing. Soon, Debbie and I were dancing with them. They loved it and I have to admit, it was fun. We took lots of cute pictures.

  

After, we took our lives in our hands and crossed Ring Road and went to a little café and had a cold drink. What fun….I don’t know why I brought the red dress….I had heard about red being associated with weddings and thought we might get to go to a wedding – so the red dress got packed. And I’ve worn it a couple of times. The women today seemed to like it. It wasn’t a saree, but the color was great.  

30 August 2011                                                                                   Mostly Cloudy

“Let us relish life as we live it, find joy in the journey and share our love with friends and family. One day, each of us will run out of tomorrows. Let us not put off what is most important.” 

                                                                                                                                    Thomas S. Monson

Gene didn’t sleep much last night and has the ‘bug’. He just hasn’t had a whole lot of steam today. But that hasn’t stopped him. We have had an interesting day and it started early. We were both in the office(and not cleaned up yet) when the doorbell rang. It was Steven Mudumala. He is a finance guy for the church and he is the one we send the financial statements to each month. His office is in Bangalore. He had emailed us and told us he would be in Kathmandu and would like to meet with us. He mentioned Tuesday at eight, but didn’t say where or if it was positively going to happen. We were a little surprised to see him, but he was gracious and we had a good session with him.

I think for the most part he was happy with what we are doing. Of course, there is always room for improvement and he did give us a couple of ideas and helps. We do need to be a little bit more detailed on the record keeping. I am impressed though. Gene does good with this stuff and has made Excel sheets and tracks things pretty good. He is much more organized than I am. It was a good opportunity to ask questions and get answers on some of the concerns he has had.

Steve was here a couple of hours. By the time he left we fixed a piece of toast and peanut butter, got cleaned up a bit and walked over to the ATM. We are liking walking this new route. It might have a little more traffic, but it’s a paved road and really, it’s not that much further – and beside that, we need the walk.

I crocheted again today and am really making progress on the leper bandage – and the hot pads.

This afternoon it rain like crazy and it continued raining hard for quite a while. Monsoon season continues. Hopefully it won’t last too much longer. The thing is, when the rain stops, the power will decrease as well. And we have been reminded over the last few days of how it is to not have power 24 – 7. Our power has gone out for a few hour block several times the last few days. I’m not looking forward to that.

 29 August 2011                                                                   Rain again in the night…nice day

We talked to Clay and had a nice visit. We talked about a lot of things. The kids are getting ready to go camping at Flaming Gorge. All of them but Jason will be there. I’m happy about their getting together and reminded Clay of his Patriarchal Blessing and admonition to keep the family together. He is doing that and we are thankful.

Laxmi came in while I was on Skype and asked Gene if she could talk to him. He went out with her. She said that Jessica got on the Internet somehow last night. We had changed the password, but just added one number to the existing password. I guess she just got lucky. Laxmi said if we could, she would like us to change it again.

I called Chad via g-mail ‘call phones’. He got online with me via Skype and Team Viewer. He helped me again change the password – this time completely different. And Chad remembered how hard a time I had last time, so he had all the tabs and places I needed to go ready, so I could just enter the new password. And now, I actually think I could do it by myself. I wrote a few things down and saved them on the computer. If Jessica asks about it, I think I will tell her she is going to have to earn that privileges. Laxmi did apologize to Gene and said she was sorry for the trouble they’ve been causing. Gene told her it really wasn’t the kind of environment we want portrayed for Latter Day Saint Charities.

We walked via the ‘paved’ way to the bank ATM. It was a little warm out, but felt good to get out and walk. The temperatures weren’t bad, but the humidity was up.

We did go to our meeting at the Ministry today. Actually, things went quite well. They did question and wanted a dollar figure in the Emergency Response area. Gene told them that our Headquarters made that decision and we couldn’t do anything about that. When an emergency came – Latter-day Saint Charities would be there to assist. The other thing they asked about was the Cyber Center. We do spend a lot of money on training people there. They wanted to know what happens to those people after the training. What about sustainability for them. They would like to see some signs that because of the training they are getting jobs. We found that quite interesting here in a country where unemployment is at 46%. There is no way we can get jobs for them. The government can’t even do that.

Rakesh had told us before that they will always find something different they would like us to do. Actually we came away feeling good about everything. They did say they like what we do – but there’s always something more they would like. Now, I guess we wait to hear back from them. Rakesh did call when we got home and asked how things went. And then he said he would go in. I guess they have to write a letter, I guess to Dr. Lama and then we wait to hear from Dr. Lama’s office about coming in to sign the Agreement. Rakesh thought it would probably be next week. The sooner the better for us.

Laxmi told Gene it was Father’s Day here in Nepal and she would like to cook dinner for us. When we got home, the power was out but she did come in and I mostly just watched her cook. She already had most of the preparation done. She fixed rice, cooked in water that had simmered with some cloves and cardamom. She also make a chicken dish, some potatoes, and some chick peas with browned onion. It was kind of like a soup, but very good. We put that over the rice. I will have to ask her how to make it again. It would be good to have in the winter.

Ali called tonight for a few minutes. Gene answered and talked to her a few minutes. When I came and got on, Ellie had a big grin – that made my day. I love and miss those kids.