9 October 2011                                                                                   Beautiful sunshine today

When I woke up and looked at my email, I saw Alison had texted me that they were at the airport. We texted back and forth a few times. Then Clay called from the airport. I’m so glad they are together. They texted later and said they had checked in at the international terminal for their flight to Seoul, Korea. Alison had talked to Paul and he said the kids were having a hard time.

Our Skype rang and it was Hannah. She had a smile on her face. I think she was being brave. I told her I was so happy she called. We had a good visit and I asked that she help her dad with Scott and Ellie while her mom is gone. She’s big enough to be a big help. Scott was having a little harder time and looking pretty sad. I know it’s so hard for a mom to get away. I know it will truly be the trip of a lifetime for her, and for all of us.

We walked over to Deppongs and borrowed a little bedding. We visited for a few minutes. Sister Deppong is still quite wipped out. This asthma thing has taken a toll on her. She’s got a positive attitude and with some time, she will be back at it. For a bit not, she needs to take care of herself and take it easy

Dipak came this afternoon and we outlined this week. It looks like we will be on the run and be pretty busy all week. I hope we have time to do some of the walk abouts and I think the kids will want to spend some time in Thamel. We need to stay a little flexible, but yet make the most of every minute.

8 October 2011                                                                                               Beautiful day

We talked to Alison again this morning for a minute. It’s not long now and they will be on their way to Nepal. I think she is just a little nervous. I’m grateful one of her brothers will be with her each step of the way.

Gene stayed home from church today. Because of the Desain Festival, the church crowd was pretty small. There weren’t any Primary children and just one or two Young Women and just one Young Man. But the spirit there today was wonderful. The talks were great. Elder Ashesh, newly returned missionary from the Bangalore, India mission reported and shared his testimony. What an incredible young man. I was so impressed. His testimony is strong and he talked about the responsibility we all have of being missionaries – not just those set apart as full time missionaries. He said he will continue throughout his life to share his knowledge of the gospel with others.

I don’t know if I want to admit it, but I was supposed to teach Relief Society today. And I prepared the WRONG lesson. I should have known better. I prepared the lesson I gave last month. This one was quite different. Sister Rukmina, the Relief Society President, picked up on it after our Sacrament Meeting. She had asked me to type up the new schedule for the next three months. I had done that and given it to her before our Sacrament meeting. After the meeting, she asked me about it and said we should be on the lesson about Eternal Marriage. I had prepared the one on Eternal Families. Oh, Boy! I got the Gospel Principles book and read through the right lesson. I prayed that Heavenly Father would help me, that was the only way this would work – and he did bless me. Things turned our fine. 

After church, we fixed some spaghetti and had some breadsticks with it. It tasted pretty good. Then I had a little nap and did some reading. Gene had napped while I was at church. Then we sat out on the roof and looked through the Lonely Planet Nepal book. Dipak called this morning and he is coming sometime tomorrow to plan out our week. Today we read in Lonely Planet that Nepal is the only Capital City of a country in the world where they have load shedding (no power) for up to 16 hours a day. 

I talked to Debbie this evening. She hasn’t been doing too well. In fact, she went to the CIWEC Clinic today. The did a chest ex-ray and she doesn’t have pneumonia. That’s a good thing. But her oxygen levels are low and they are trying to get her stabilized that way. Hopefully, she will regain her health soon. 

We sat out on the roof late this afternoon and it was delightful. I have the feeling we will be doing more of that in the months ahead.  

7 October 2011                                                                                               Beautiful Morning

What a beautiful morning. Gene told me to come up on the roof. It was still a little hazy, but we could see the Himalayas. The ones we could see were all white. They are incredible, and we are remembering they arey are a long ways away and still, they are formidable.

It’s just been a very quiet day. We did walk over to the ATM, but most shops are closed and the traffic was very light. Not much going on. I will be glad to get back to being busy. The quiet days seem to drag by.

Gene has quite a bad cold. His nose is stuffy and he’s been using Kleenex after Kleenex all day long. Tonight he had a bloody nose. It’s not a good time for him to be sick. We’ve been her about 8 months and other than a bit of food poisoning, we haven’t been sick at all. As we talked to Alison she suggested he take a little Benadryl as it’s an antihistamine. He said he thought it was helping.

6 October 2011                                                                       Not a cloud in the sky, though hazy

What a quiet day. Laxmi came in early to do the dishes and then she went to visit relatives and celebrate the Desain holiday. Gene and I have also spent a fairly quiet day. Gene has been inputing information in Chas for the second Chanute water project. 

Clay called this morning and we talked to him for a few minutes. He was wondering what he needed to bring. I’m so looking forward to having them here and spending some time with them. Clay said we will probably eat more Nepali food in the next couple of weeks than we have since we got here – and he’s probably right. I know he and Brent will want to try a bunch of different dishes. Now Jason, that’s probably a different story.

I have listened to some General Conference talks and have been so impressed. I especially liked the one by Elder Holland as he talked to the Priesthood session about the importance of all of us being worthy and ready to serve missions. I’ve thought a lot about our grandsons and especially Porter, as he’s the one closest to mission age, hoping they will plan and be ready and worthy to go when the time comes. I’m grateful for the decision we made to serve a mission and hope that ours is a good example for our children and grandchildren. I know it’s been a great experience for us. 

Gene went to PEC. I was surprised they were holding it tonight. Things are just so quiet. While he was gone, I went up on the roof and I think we are going to have a pretty good view of some of the Himalayas – If it ever clears up good. That will be exciting.