9 September 2011                                                                                   Partly Sunny

It's been a pretty quiet day. Rakesh just returned from China with Sujata. They were there for some kind of Asian Summit. He stopped by to get an update of the Agreement. We couldn't tell him much, only that we are anxious to get it signed. I think he is anxious for that to happen as well. Then we can start another water project of the Trusts up in the Chanute area.

Last night Gene went to PEC meeting and he has wanted to take a picture of this sign in the bathroom for a long time. He remembered the camera last night. Just remember western bathrooms are different from most of the bathrooms here. Most of the places we go to are what we are used to, but not always. Anyway, look at the picture, I think you get the idea.

8 September 2011                                                       Rain in nighttime – cloudy daytime

We lay in bed just a little this morning. I didn’t sleep much last night and was feeling tired. About 11:30 pm, I got up and took a couple of Melatonin, but it was still awhile before sleep came. I don’t know why – I’m not under that much pressure.

This morning, Gene and I walked over to the little print shop at the Chowk. It’s right on the corner and is very small. There were several people there, but we handed him our stuff and just waited. . It was papers for our visa packets. Now we will be ready – as soon as the Agreement is signed – to get started on the non-tourist visas again. We hope we can get one that will finish out the remainder of our mission. We experienced more of the ‘smells of Nepal’ there as the smell of body odor was pretty strong.

We did talk to Debbie today and she said they are starting to dress down a bit. They feel the situation here has declined quite a bit. And President Jackson told us to use common sense, that he knew we stand out and mostly because of our ‘white faces’. President Jackson told us to dress missionary when people needed to know who we were – not necessarily when we go to the market. Debbie said that President Bishnu also told them he thought it wise to dress down. My problem is, I didn’t bring that many pants – I might have to get some made. There are plenty of tailor’s around here.

I finished the leper bandage today. We look forward to taking a bunch over to READ Nepal (Leper clinic). My sisters and some of their ward members have been crocheting bandages. I’m sure READ Nepal will be so grateful.

We did get approval from the Area Presidency today on teaching English at Read Nepal (libraries). We need to get the English student work book copied and set a date with Sajana. We are anxious to begin.

7 September 2011                                                        Rained all night, cloudy today

We walked over to the ATM and withdrew some rupees and the walked across the street and picked up the cushions we had ordered last week. We got them home. They are just a little long for the regular chairs, but fit Gene’s office chair just right. They should be better than what we’ve had. The chairs we’ve sat on for seven months have been so hard.

I’ve tried to organize my Relief Society lesson. It’s about Eternal Families. While looking I found this quote from President Hinckley and I love it. Someone had said preceding Pres. Hinckley’s remark: “At times when I struggle to feel my eternal worth, or I worry about how it will work out, I like to remind myself of this quote from President Hinckley:”

“It all works out. Don’t worry. I say that to myself every morning. It will all work out. If you do your best, it will all work out. Put your trust in God, and move forward with faith and confidence in the future. The Lord will not forsake us. He will not forsake us. … If we will put our trust in Him, if we will pray to Him, if we will live worthy of His blessings, He will hear our prayers.” (Priesthood Session of Jordan Utah South Regional Conference, March 1, 1997.)

6 September 2011                                                                                partly sunny AM,

We talked to Clay on Skype this morning and got a little report of their Labor Day camping trip to Flaming Gorge. He said he thought everyone had a good time.

We did walk over to Bhat Bhateni’s this morning and got a few groceries. Still, it’s hard to know what to eat and I think that will be a challenge for us our whole mission. I think I will make some chow mien tonight and hope there will be some left for tomorrow.

Gene and I went over to SWC to take the Agreement back. They had wanted some changes made to a couple of different areas. The first area had to do with the Cyber Center – part of the Agreement stated: 4500 sight impaired or physically disabled people will have access to the Cyber Center for training. Gene changed it to: 4500 sight impaired or physically disabled people will have access to the Cyber Center for computer skills training which can increase their ability for education and employment but does not ensure future education or employment. When Mr Basnet read it, he almost chuckled – like he did when Gene talked about only putting $1 in when they said they needed an amount in the Emergency response section. When he chuckled I thought we were in trouble, but he just said ‘very clever’ and shook his head with a smile on his face. Gene told him we couldn’t guaranteed jobs but could train them and help them get ready to get a jobs.

The other part of the Agreement they wanted changed was the part to do with Emergency Response. As it was written it said: The quantity and kind of relief supplies will be determined after an assessment by Latter-day Saint Charities Headquarters in conjunction with authorized local government agencies. Gene changed it to: The quantity and kind of relief supplies will be determined after an assessment by Latter-day Saint Charities Headquarters in conjunction with Ministry of Home and other authorized local government agencies. For some reason or other they really wanted the Ministry of Home mentioned in there.

Mr. Basnet looked through the document briefly and asked if everything else remained the same. Gene told him there were just a few minor spelling corrections, but yes, everything was the same. He told us that the other Mr. Basnet would be calling us to set up a time to return to SWC. The next time we go should be for the signing of the Agreement. We can hardly wait. It’s been a long road and we are almost there. We are so happy about it.

We hadn’t been back too long and Elder and Sister Meehan, new Area Welfare Specialist in Hong Kong called on Skype. They are from Houston and their youngest son is serving a mission in the Pocatello, Idaho mission. We like them and look forward to having that contact. They seemed more than willing to help in any way they can.

Debbie called this afternoon and said they had spent the morning trying to find a better fare for the flight to the temple. They took Rukmina with them and had found a fare for $1200. Then President Jackson called them and said he had gone in to the travel agent he uses and found fares for $1000 – this flight would go through New Delhi and then to Manila. The downside is – there is a nine hour layover going and a five hour layover on the way home. It sounds like this is the one they will use. So, If that’s the case, we will probably go on the trip. I know Deppongs sure would like us to go. I know it would be a great experience. We hope it works out.

It has rained this afternoon. It quite for a while but started again about 4:30 and it’s still raining at 7:30. I’m starting to look forward to the end of the monsoon season.

5 September 2011                                                        Partly sunny Am, Rain like crazy PM

This morning started out fairly quiet. Brent did call on Skype. I asked him where he was and he said Flaming Gorge. Then I remembered it is Sunday night there and time for our regular call – He said they have been having a good time – had floated the river a few times and had played many games. It’s hard to believe they will all head home tomorrow.

Sister Deppong called and said they had been with Chandra yesterday and tried to nail down prices on airfares to Manila. They are set on flying Thai Airlines, and I know that is a great airline. Then she told us the cost. It was looking like $5000 US for Gene and my airfare. We talked about it – I told him I was so like the man who hid his coin in the parable of the talents. He said he was too. We had thought we would be able to go for half that. As we thought about it, $5000 is out of our budget. We feel okay about missing the trip. That’s right after the kids will have been here and there’s just so many financial things going on. I know we will never have the opportunity again, but I can live with that.

I did crochet a little and Gene was working in the office. Then I got ready to go with Subadhra to go get her mission physical. About then the phone rang and it was the SWC, telling him there were a couple of changes for the Two Year Agreement and they would like him to come and get it, make the changes and then bring a couple of copies back to SWC. Gene called Elder Deppong to see if he would ride down with him. Meantime, I had asked Laxmi if she would go with me to help Sister Subadhra and she said she would be glad to.

We both left about the same time – 11:15 or so. We had to wait a bit for Subadhra and then we walked to the clinic. It’s way different than the clinics at home. I didn’t see one computer while I was there. Maybe there were but I sure didn’t see them. In fact, the whole thing was like stepping back in time at least 50 years. They were hand writing everything. Now, we didn’t have an appointment, just walked in and took our turn. And we really didn’t have much of a wait.

Sister Subadhra getting started on her mission physical

First we went in one building to see the doctor. He looked like a kid. As far as I was concerned, it wasn’t much of a physical – she was fully dressed for the whole thing. Then we went back to the first bulding and they gave her a couple of shots, the TB test and Hepatitis shots - then to another small building where she had some lab  work done. All together this cost was less than $75.

Out side the doctors office they were doing some construction. This young man was carrying sand up the ladder. He made trip after trip. The Nepali's carry many things in these baskets on their backs, with a cloth strip around the basket and around their head. Oh! That makes my neck hurt!

After the doctor, we got a cab and went to the Kantipur Dental College and she had most of her dental work completed. This was quite a big new facility. Again, not many computers. I did see one in the main dentists office but that was it. The different rooms were big and full of what looked to be quite modern dental equipment. In one room they did the exam, then another room they cleaned her teeth, another room took x-rays and she will go back on Wednesday to have a cavity filled. All the dental costs were less than about $28 US. We didn’t have appointments with the doctor or the dentist and most of it we completed in one day.

At the dentist office there were two young girls, 14 or 15. They got a chair for me to sit in and they asked where I was from. I told them USA and they wanted to talk to me. Their English was fairly good. Before we left, they asked me if I had a paper. I’m thinking ‘I’m not giving them my phone number or email address.’ When I said yes, they asked for my autograph. I told them only if we could have our picture taken together. They were darling girls, so fun!

They like to talk to American's and were so cute

 While we were at the dentists, it rained like crazy – it was coming down by the bucketful. I just hoped it quit before we finished – and it did. Then the sun came out and it was a beautiful late afternoon. We got home about 5:00. Laxmi and I hadn’t had lunch and were both hungry.The taxi ride home seemed to take a long time, but just because traffic was so heavy, especially around the chowk. By the time we got home, I was glad I had some leftovers in the fridge.

When I got home, Gene had made the corrections SWC wanted and he walked over to the printer with Laxmi and had a couple of copies made with changes completed. We will take them to the SWC tomorrow and hope it is what they want.