23 September 2011 Rain in the night, cloudy day
I got up early while there were no distractions and worked on our Youth Conference Workshop. It's coming together, but in a different way that we had first thought. It feels good to finally have something down on paper. We have some role play and an activity. We do need to fine tune things but we are getting there.
We walked over to the bank again this morning, but no luck. It gave us a message that it couldn't communicate with our bank. So we walked home. It's good to get out, but there was a lot of traffic and a lot of people. Maybe the time of day - about 9:30 AM.
 |
| Beautiful school children and they like their picture taken. |
We did call the doctor as he wanted to see Gene again today. It's kind of nice here. You just call the doctor direct - he told us what time and we went to the hospital and like last time, he came, motioned us to follow him. We again went into the emergency room where he changed the dressing and said to come back on Monday and he will take the staples out. That will be nice. Gene continues to do well. He is a little tender and sore but I'm sure that's to be expected.
Can you believe still no progress on the visas. Rakesh went to the Ministry for us and if he can't move the thing forward, nobody can. They told him no one was there to get the letter ready, the secretary has taken a couple of days off - and for us to return on Sunday. Should we be nervous? We are really getting to that point.
We know we are missing the wedding today of Landon and Seara. We wish we were there to join in this wonderful occasion and wish them the best. Congratulations!
22 September 2011 Sunshine this morning, nice
There is a touch of a change in the air. This morning I felt it. It’s kind of nice really, but I’m not looking forward to the cold house in the winter.
It’s the close of the day and I’m tired. I feel like I’ve been on the run all day, in fact all week. Gene and I walked over to the ATM this morning. We got an email from the Embassy saying that during Deshain, the banks and ATMs run out of rupees, so it’s a good idea to stock up. And with the kids coming, even more reason.
We talked to Brent, Jason and Clay this morning. We told them we have talked to Dipak. He will make arrangements and be our guide for this is a once in a lifetime trip. They are excited and we are too. Dipak will take us around Kathmandu valley the first week prior and Chitwan and Pohkra the next. We will all be together then and that should be fun.
 |
| So many beautiful fabrics....It was hard to choose. |
 |
| Katie getting measured.... |
 |
| My turn next..... |
 |
| Our tailor... |
Then we walked to Kabita’s husbands sewing shop and were measured. That was interesting as well. She is a member of the branch, he is not and he is deaf and mute but seems like a nice guy. There was another women working there as well and she did a lot of the measuring and wrote down figures. Then we got a couple of taxis, and went to ‘The Lazy Gringo”. It was great, again! I had a Navajo Taco and I would have one again. Everyone enjoyed our lunch. And then we headed home, arriving just in time to unwind a minute before having a Youth/YSA Conference planning meeting.
Youth/YSA is coming right along. We made some assignments to the youth and finalized the agenda. Now if our workshop was put together. We are a little nervous about it. The topic is ‘Heaven – Don’t Let The World Get In The Way.’ We are going to talk about the Tree of Life and have an activity and a bit of role playing.
While I was gone, the guy from the Five Village project came. He said the users committee and the DDC and VDC had come to an agreement and they have started laying pipe. That will stop next week for the festival. They are trying to get a budget together. They would like us to go visit the site and they think they can possible have the project finished in December. Hooray!!! This one has been years in the making. This is the one where 45,000 will get access to clean water.
Then there’s still the visa issue. We are getting nowhere. Rakesh even went down there for us this morning. When he got there Mr. Bhattarai wasn’t even there. He’s the one who needs to sign the letters for us. They said he would be in tonight. Boy, oh boy, this is frustrating. Rakesh said he would try later in the day and we haven’t heard a report. That probably means, he didn’t get anywhere. .
21 September 2011 light rain
I’m always finding good thoughts and I like this one from Elder Maxwell. It’s food for thought. “Spirituality has a short shelf life if not supported by a righteous life and the continued influence of the Holy Ghost.” – Elder Neal Maxwell
Still no progress on our visa’s. We called the Ministry and they said call back tomorrow. We are starting to get just a little nervous about getting them before the end of the month. Rakesh told us he didn’t think anyone would have to leave the country since we are in the process of getting them. I sure hope he’s right. I really hope we can just get them. Anyway, Sister Deppong is finally seeing that it’s not just us – it is really difficult to work with the government here in Nepal.
We spent most of the day trying to find resource material for our Youth Conference workshop. I’m starting to feel a little stressed about that. We need inspiration to put this together and we are praying for it.
This afternoon Laxmi and I went visiting Teaching over to Sis. Patch’s. We enjoy going there and had a good visit and then walked home. The walk is along Ring Road and there is a lot of traffic. The walk isn’t so bad and it was only about 20 minutes but I don’t like the traffic. You have to walk right on the road – there’s no sidewalk there. I don’t know as we will do that again.
Tonight Dipak came and we talked about having him take us to Chitwan and Pokhra. He would arrange everything. He speaks pretty good English and that’s a plus. The kids will be here for twelve days. Ask me if I’m excited. YES!
Last night Brother Patch called and talked to Gene. He asked about Timothy Dunn and said he was really concerned about him bringing 17 orphans to church. Brother Patch is the guy who works at the Embassy. He said that kind of action would really put everyone, us, and the church, everything that people have worked so hard for here in Nepal at risk. He said the government would be on something like that in a minute and it wouldn’t be good.
Sister Deppong talked to Tim and said she thought she finally got through to him. She explained how it is totally against the law to ‘proselyte in any way – that he could receive up to three years in jail and then be deported. He finally said perhaps he had overstepped his bounds.
20 September 2011 Showers on and off
We both woke up early. I just didn’t want to get up, but Gene did get up about 5:15. I was able to go back to sleep. When I got up an hour later, he said he had called his cousin Richard and they had a good visit. He also called his brother Roy and visited with him.
Elder and Sister Brown called on Skype. We enjoyed talking to them. They asked about the earthquake and asked if that wall by the Embassy was where we had all walked. We told them yes. That brought things closer to home for them. They will be returning to Nepal for wheel chair training the end of November. That will be fun.
I did walk with Deppongs, Hari, rukmina, and Laxmi over to look at another house. It’s fun to look. This one had lots of bedrooms and bathrooms, but the living room, kitchen were real small. And Debbie wants a big kitchen, living area and Master Bedroom. They don’t need lots of bedrooms and bathrooms.
This afternoon Gene and I went to the hospital to see the Doctor. He is really an Army doctor and so isn’t really on staff at the Neuro. We were sitting outside waiting and saw him walk down the driveway. He saw us and motioned for us to follow him – walking right past the reception area. He took us back to the emergency room where he changed Gene’s dressing. The doctor said he was impressed with his own work. And it did look good. He’s healing nicely, no redness or swelling, just very black and blue (mostly just black) where it shouldn’t be black.
We are still working on Youth Conference. I’ve pulled a few resources for our workshop. We do need to have another planning meeting. It will be here before we know it.
President Bishnu left today for the USA and will be gone a month. We will miss him, but at the same time hope he has a wonderful trip. He will be able to attend conference and he is grateful for that opportunity.
Timothy Dunn, an American working in an orphanage here texted Kate and said he was bringing 17 orphans to church on Saturday. Whoa! I can’t get over him. I didn’t know what to think. I called Sister Patch the Primary President. She had the same reaction. First of all, there is such a limited space – there’s hardly room for the Branch children. And then the big question is – That a form of prosyleting and we are strickly forbidden to do it. We both feel that he is putting everything at risk, the church, and us as Latter-Day Saint Charities, We would love to preach to everyone from the roof tops, but it’s just not the right time or place. Sister Patch thought someone really needs to talk to him. Maybe he just doesn’t understand what being in Nepal is all about.
19 September 2011 More rain, monsoon can end now –
We talked to Chad and Konnie and then Bart and Tina. I love talking and sharing with them and finding out what’s going on in their lives. Things are good at home.
Debbie went with Laxmi and Rukmina to see if they could get the letter at the SWC to take to the Ministry of Women and Children’s for our visa. Mr Basnet was nicer today and gave them the letters. They finally got it to the Ministry of Women’s and Children’s but no further. They said come back in a few days. Our ‘few days’ are numbered. They said not to worry it would be done by September 26. I will believe that when I see it.
Gene is doing great. He’s up and about. He had a good nap today. I think he has truly been blessed so thank you all for your prayers.
We spent the day trying to work on Youth Conference. This afternoon, I went with Laxmi to the Branch Family Home Evening. It was fun although the program part went a little too long. After that they played some game and everyone loved that. Then we had a pot luck meal. It was good. I had hoped to bring Gene a plate of food but it was all cleaned up. I didn’t want to walk home myself – it was dark and ended up waiting for Laxmi. Debbie suggested we take a cab. Hari had gone to get one, so we came home first, then the cab went back and took them home.
When I got home, Gene said the Five Village guy had called and they are starting to lay pipe there. We are so happy to hear that. He wanted Gene to go with him to visit the site but Gene explained he has just had surgery and wouldn’t be able to go for a bit. They will have to reschedule it. But we are thrilled and would love to see something happen there. It was an interesting day.
18 September 2011
I slept like a log last night and it was so nice. When I woke up, I looked at the clock and it was almost 6:10 am. I rolled over and Gene was gone. Jessica was coming at 6:00 to give him the antibiotic injection. I lay there for a bit. Laxmi and Jessica were still here when I came down. It’s nice to have Jessica do that for us.
Rakesh stopped by to see how Gene was doing. He’s a great guy and friend. We talked about our visas and he asked if the SWC had the 19 copies of the Agreement. We said no that we were going to take them when the letter for our visas was ready. He said no, they are probably waiting for the copies so the Ministry of Women and Children’s and the Ministry of Home would know for sure that we have the Agreement signed.
We called Deppongs when he left and suggested they come pick up the 19 copies of the Agreement and take them to the SWC. They came shortly after and had Rukmina with them. They also took Laxmi with them, hoping they could wait if necessary for the letter so they could start step two of the visa process.
I worked on my talk for Saturday and feel pretty good about it. Runjit called and asked if he could come about 3:00 to do some preparatory things before the Youth conference meeting. I had just talked to Devi and heard about the meeting. I hurried and made a batch of cookies, then walked over to the little market and got a bottle of orange soda and some eggs. It wasn’t long and it started to rain like crazy. Runjit came and soon Kate Hargadon also came. Kate is a darling girl from the US here for six months. She will be a lot of fun at youth conference. Devi and Jessica were also here. We got quite a bit accomplished and then we came into the office to type an agenda and a list of those going for President Bishnu. By this time, Runjit, Kate and Devi were still here. All the sudden we felt the floor moving and then realized the earthquake alarm was going off upstairs. The dogs were barking like crazy. I was standing by the computer and just stepped to the doorway. Jessica came in asking what was happening and where was her mom.
We realized we were having an earthquake. We could see the curtains moving and the pictures swaying a bit. The power went off- but with the inverter, the computers stayed on. We all went outside and the neighbors came knocking on our gate. The shopkeeper and his wife and children and some other neighbors we don’t even know. Everyone was talking. I asked Devi if she would tell them, they were welcome here. I’m sure it’s because we do have some open space.
It seemed like it lasted a couple of minutes, but I don’t suppose it was that long. We were all a little shaky and it was un-nerving. It makes me wonder if I dare go to bed tonight. The power came back on and we came back in the house. I did a Google search and found on the internet that there had been an earthquake measuring 6.8 and the epicenter was on the Nepal, India border. Thank goodness we were far enough away that there isn’t any major damage here.
Brother Patch called us on Skype. He said he couldn’t get us on the landline or mobile, but Skype was a good connection. He just called to see if everything here was okay. They are such great people. He said there had been a couple of aftershocks near the epicenter but they weren’t’ felt here in Kathmandu. That makes me feel like we should be okay tonight.
I did post on Facebook and sent an email to the kids. Jason called right away and we also talked to Alison. Gosh, we are having way more excitement than we want.
Jessica came over about nine and gave Gene his last antibiotic through the IV. She also took that thing in his hand out and he is glad for that. He continues to do great. He had a two hour nap this afternoon and I’m happy for him. I think he will have a speedy recovery.
17 September 2011 Lots of rain in the night, Partly cloudy today
Wow! What an experience. We went to the hospital yesterday, arriving there about 10:30 am. Deppong’s were already there. We went into admissions and they said we would need to come back at 2:00 – there weren’t any cabin’s available. We weren’t happy about that. They took us up to a ‘ward’ and really didn’t want us there. So we go back downstairs and then outside and just wait and wait. We finally went back in about 1:00 and they too us to the cabin. We hadn’t know what to expect. We thought it might be a free standing ‘cabin’ our back, but turned out to be a room down the hall from the nurses station. There was a bed for Gene. It looked like a hospital bed from the 50’s. Nothing electronic on it – a rail along one side and a hand crank at the foot of the bed. There was another narrow ‘bed’ not much of a pad at all. It did have a sheet on it and that was where I would be spending the night. Really, there were just the bare essentials. There was a small older TV set but we didn’t watch it.
As I’ve thought about the lack of anything electric or electronic in the room, it makes sense. With the extended power outages here in Nepal, the equipment wouldn’t work anyway. Some places have their own generator. I would think the hospitals would have one, but you just never know.
They took Gene to surgery about 3:15 PM, expecting surgery to last about an hour. (Deppong’s, Laxmi and I) went down to the Canteen to get a little bite to eat. That was interesting as well. They had a pretty good menu, at least it sounded like it. We ordered Chow Mein, but it wasn’t great. The Canteen was quite small. I noticed the none of the workers wore gloves and I’m just not sure how clean everything was. Made me think twice about how hungry I was. We headed back upstairs.
They brought Gene back from surgery about 4:45pm. He was awake and I thought he looked good. He talked to us and his color was good. The only thing was, he was shivering and said he was cold. He was missing the nice warm blankets you get at the hospital at home. They put a couple of blankets on him and finally they brought in a small heating pad. It took a little while to get him warmed up.
It wasn’t long and here comes a nurse with a small plastic basket full of medications and IV bottles along with syringes to give him the injections. She just stacks them on a small table and leaves them there. We couldn’t imagine they were all for Gene and asked about that and she said ‘yes, for him.’
They said after 8:00, he could have some sips of water and some ‘black tea’. It’s always black tea here. When we said no to the tea, and asked if apple juice was okay, they said yes. They also said if he wasn’t nauseated, he could start having some soups. We did go get him soup and it was okay. They did want him to eat something.
The nurses came in to take his vitals. Sister Deppong and I were surprised and then couldn’t help but laugh(quietly) as the nurse asked if someone had a second hand on their watch. I said I did. She looked at my watch and took his pulse. Pretty funny! Even funnier was when the doctor came in just before he released him and did the same thing.
The night was quite a long one. I’m a little concerned about watching the IV bag, not wanting it to run out. Laxmi, bless her heart, stays all night and she is vigilant as well. I slept on the little cot and she slept on some chairs out by the nurses desk. The nurses desk was one desk and behind the desk was a ‘ward’ with quite a few patients in it. I’m glad we weren’t in there. I don’t think Gene nor I slept very well. I was glad to have my Ipod with me and did read quite a bit and played a few games in the night.
This morning Laxmi and went to the canteen and got some chicken soup and toast for Gene. I had a couple of granola bars in my purse and I was glad for them. Deppongs had brought some bottled water and small boxes of apple juice. We were glad for that as well.
A nurse came in to change his bed. That was a bit interesting. She removed all the bedding and then got a plain flat sheet and put it on the mattress (which had really seen better days). It wasn’t a fitted sheet, but she folded the sides in and then lifted up the head, grabbed the long sides and pulled them around and tied a knot, making it a fitted sheet. She repeated the procedure for the foot of the bed. It stayed in place. Gene said he guessed I would be doing that from now on. I said ‘I guess not!”
 |
| interesting way to make a bed- |
 |
| Hari, Counselor in the Branch Presidency. Rukmina, relief Society President |
Someone from the Pharmacy came to our room and gathered up the medications we didn’t use and returned them to the pharmacy, giving us credit on our bill. Then we went to the pharmacy to pick up our medications and pay our bill. The hospital and doctor bill was almost 150,000 rupees. That’s almost three times what the doctor said it would be. Wow! But still it comes to about $2,000. Much much less than it would have been at home.
The hospital was very quiet, closed for the most part because it is Saturday (Sabbath day for us LDS ) the only day off Nepali people get. Laxmi was chatting with the girl figuring up our bill and when we came home, Laxmi told us that the girl had told her the doctor had told them to ‘double charge’ the white faces. That didn’t make me too happy and we will report that to the Embassy, but still, so glad to have it done and Gene is doing great.
We came home in a taxi. It was a little hard for Gene to get in and out but he did it. We had a bite to eat, greeted a couple of branch members, then told Laxmi, we didn’t want to be rude, but we were tired and wanted to take a rest. She was tired too, and she said ‘Do Not Disturb”. We did nap. I woke up and had a shower and feel much better.
Gene will need to take it easy for a while, but he is doing great. He hasn’t even had any pain medication. The doctor wants to see him again on Tuesday. He told him to not do any lifting for a while. No five gallon water bottles for a bit. I feel good about him – so thankful for all the prayers in our behalf. I know prayers are answered.
16 September 2011 Cloudy morning
There was an article in the newspaper about load shedding. We are going to be seeing anywhere from 2 – 4 hours a day without electricity. And it’s already started. It seems like we are losing electricity about dinner time and lasting till just about time to go to bed. Again, we are so glad we brought our Ipods – with Kindle on them.
This morning we’ve tried to decide what we need to take to the hospital. I will just plan on staying there with Gene. We understand there are two beds in the room. Laxmi will stay too, so we will just see how that works out.
No comments:
Post a Comment