26 November 2011

Kathmandu Branch Primary Children - Thanks, Kate, for the photo!

It’s the Sabbath day here in Nepal – Again. Boy, the weeks come around fast. Today was the Primary Program in Sacrament meeting and it was great. There are about 12 children in our branch and they did a wonderful job. Sister Patch is the Primary President and she is working wonders with the children here.

 Today they conducted quite a bit of branch business. One thing was sustain Brother Christopher Patch as a Third Counselor in the Branch Presidency. He will be a great help and add a lot of strength here in our Branch.

Elder/Sister Deppong - E/S Esplin after church

After the block meetings, they had a large display of things that are available from Distribution in Bangalore. Brothers Sunil and Sundar from Bangalore were here. It was a great opportunity for the Nepali Saints to be able to see what is available and to have the opportunity to order some things. We ordered some religious pictures. This house doesn’t have any artwork and especially anything representing the church. I think it would be a good thing to put up a few pictures in the dining room and living room.

25 November 2011

It’s been a very quiet day. We walked over to the ATM and then got a few things at the grocery store so I could try my hand at some taco soup. I couldn’t find green chilies in a can, but found a bottle of green chili sauce. I bought it and thank goodness I tried it before I added it to the soup. It was HOT! I will give it to Laxmi. We did buy some minced meat. I thought it was water buffalo but when I got home it said ‘mutton mince’. Actually, I think it is goat. I just closed my eyes, cooked it up and put it in. I’m trying to be brave and try a few things.  And you know what? It wasn’t bad……

Other than that, I’m still trying to get over this cold and ear trouble. It is feeling like it’s clearing up a little bit. I know, I keep saying that. For one thing, it’s not draining anymore and that’s got to be a good sign, right?

24 November 2011                                                                                         Beautiful Again!

It’s Thanksgiving Day here in Nepal. We woke to a beautiful morning, the sun is shining and the sky is a beautiful blue. As I reflect on my blessings I know there is no way I can count them all. We are so grateful for the opportunity to be here serving as a humanitarian missionaries, I’m thankful for my wonderful companion and for our family and extended family and friends. We are very aware of the blessing of our citizenship in a great country.  I know there is a long list of things we don’t even think about. I do have gratitude and express thanks to my Father in heaven for all that He blesses us with each day.

We enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner with the Patch family today. The Dearden’s were also there as was Kate Hargadon. We had a wonderful, traditional dinner, even though they told us the turkey was $5 a pound and they had to order it through the embassy. There were sweet potatoes, dressing, potatoes and gravy, salads, cranberries and all the good stuff. And of course, I ate too much. We spent the day with wonderful people and had a wonderful time.

23 November 2011                                                                             Beautiful and quite warm

I got up this morning and took my medicine. It seems to be just a little bit better today. I sure hope so. Next thing I did was look online to see if I could find out anything about the bombing here in Kathmandu that Brother Patch had called about. There was an article in the paper, but it didn’t sound too bad. I think he is perhaps overly cautious, but that’s probably a good thing. We do need to be aware…….

This afternoon we went to a Thanksgiving program at the Ambassador’s Residence here in Kathmandu. It is a very nice place. The program was great. The kids from the Lincoln School, the American school, here in Nepal presented some musical numbers and it was very nice. The Patch kids were in the program and I acted like a proud grandparent. When Yared saw us, his face lit us and he waved like crazy...and we waved back.

I did call Gretel and told her we would like to come to Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. I went to Bhat Bhatenni’s and bought stuff to make a broccoli, cauliflower salad. It won’t be quite the same as at home, but I think it will be okay.

22 November 2011

Today I looked up my ear condition - otitis media with effusion  - it’s also known as ‘glue ear’. One thing I learned is that antibiotics aren’t all that effective at clearing it up and that it takes time. In fact, it said it could take 3-6 months. Oh, I hope I don’t have to wait that long. There are periods of time during the day when I can hear a bit and other times, when I can’t hear at all.

Tonight as I write this, I do feel like my cold is a little bit better. I don’t feel quite so plugged up. I hope it improves real quickly. We are still debating what to do for Thanksgiving. We have been invited over to Patch’s but I don’t want to go if I’m still blowing my nose every five minutes.

It’s been a beautiful day, weather wise. At home it’s foggy and cold. Makes Nepal sounds good, huh?

We did walk over to the bank. Boy, the dollar is up. The exchange rate 82.75. That’s good for us right now.

Just before I went to bed the phone rang and it was Brother Patch. He asked how I was and then said he needed to talk to me. He told me there had been a bombing in the city today and it looked like it was a protest against Christianity. He said they were still trying to sort things out. He cautioned us to keep a low profile for a few days – not wear our tags and just lay low. They weren’t sure who was behind this bombing but he wanted us to be aware and to be vigilant. I expressed appreciation and told him we would be careful and watchful. We do appreciate his keeping an eye open for us.

21 November 2011

The medication is to be taken every eight hours so I got up at 5:30 am so I don’t have to stay up to late at night. I was awake quite a bit in the night was awake and ready to be up by 5:30 am.

Gene has been trying to get reports off Chas(the Church Humanitarian website)with no luck. We were supposed to download another program – we haven’t had any luck with it. Today we called the help desk and they were able to help us through Team Viewer. That’s a great little program. Not we can access the reports we need to.