11 February 2012

We got up about 7:00. There’s no power this morning so I heated some water and washed my hair giving it time to dry before church. Clay called us this morning and said it’s time to make reservations in Island Park. We looked at the site with him.  Tonight (our time) at 8:45 pm we will be able to reserve.  We still don’t know when we will be home, but it’s getting late enough we’d better make the reservations while we can. We missed going last year and look forward to the traditional trip with our family.  

We went to our church meetings. They announced four speakers and only two of them showed up. I think that is quite common here – but everything turned out just fine. We had an Elder return from his mission to India Bangalore a week or so ago and he reported his mission today. What a great guy. We are happy to have another returned missionary here in the Branch. They add a lot of strength and are such good examples for the rest of us.

Brother Dearden invited us to dinner at their home and we went with Sam and Lynn Topham and enjoyed the evening with them. The Topham’s served here as senior missionaries 10 years ago and have been coming back from November till April every year. They have their own NGO and do lots of good here in Nepal. Dearden’s live out near Patan and it’s quite a drive, but we had a nice evening.

10 February 2012

Glad to have a shawl to wrap around my shoulders....it was cold

My favorite Himalayan peak.....Fishtail.

 We got up early and went to see the sunrise on the Himalaya’s. We almost missed this great experience, thinking ‘we’ve been there, done that”. It was great! The air was clear and not a cloud around. The view was spectacular. We loved it. We were thinking it was about time to leave when we heard singing….we listened and it was one of my favorite hymns – How Great Thou Art. It was in a different language but there was no doubt. Can you imagine our surprise….here in this Hindu country? It was a group of young people from South Korea. Gene said they were Puritans. They also sang Amazing Grace. We were so touched. It was a wonderful experience.

We got some great photos and then returned to the hotel where we had some breakfast before getting ready to go to the wheel chair distribution.

The distribution was supposed to start at 10:00, and then it was 11:00. We went over to the place about 10:15.  The special guest was the Minister for the Social Welfare Council. He didn’t come and he didn’t come. We would have loved to start without him but that’s not how it works here in Nepal. It was around 12:00 when he showed up.

Some of th wheelchair recipients...

His right leg was deformed and folded right up under him.

Happy to say this man on the young mans back got a chair...

Gene chatting with a man a getting a new chair

a graduate of the sewing training...

Sister Deppong giving out some 'walking sticks' to the blind.

The program was again all in Nepali, but it had a better feel than the last one we went to. Wheelchairs were distributed, the sewing program graduated a few students and a few walking sticks were given out. It felt good and what a wonderful opportunity to be able to help people who really need it. We see many sad things here in this country and to be able to help via Latter-day Saint Charities is a blessing in our lives and something we will treasure always.

The weather today has been incredible – the temperature was warm and the skies have been clear and for the most part – no hazy inversion. We have been able to see the Himalaya’s most of the day – and for a lot of the drive home, we could see them. We’ve never seen it like that before. It was awesome.

We still are in awe that we are in this beautiful country...

So happy to be here. . . . .

 9 February 2012

Rakesh picked up after 8:30 this morning. He had to scramble to find a driver as the one he had lined up was stuck somewhere because of a landslide. We made it to Pokhara in good time, about 5 hours. Sister Deppong called Sister Clara (a doctor in Pokhara and a member of the church) and she invited us to come to the hospital where she works. Debbie wanted to check it out for Helping Babies Breath. It was quite a nice hospital and we were able to see their labor, nursery, NICU rooms. We also met a few people there who would be influential in getting the HBB program in their hospital. Everyone we talked with was more than interested in participating and would like to be involved. Sister Deppong took their contact info and said she would be sure they get an invitation to the training.

We checked into the hotel and then went window shopping for a little bit. We did happen to stop at a jewelry store and enjoyed our time there. The jeweler was very friendly and showed us lots of beautiful pieces. He is quite an artist and took us back and showed us his workshop – which happened to be about 3 ft square. We were amazed at what he can do – quickly too, as he made a beautiful piece for Sister Deppong overnight.

8 February 2012                                                           power till 10:00 and again from 5 – 8:00 pm

 I woke up in the night to the sound of rain. Showers were in the forecast but I hadn’t thought much of it. It has rained most of the day today so things have been a bit dark and dreary. I like the sunny days best.

Since we had power till 10:00 we turned on the hot water heaters and had a shower. Oh, it felt good. Other than that, it’s been a very quiet day. I’ve worked on the puzzle and made progress there. I also finished one hot pad and got another one started.

Gene has worked on the Power Point presentation, trying to learn how to make changes. He has learned a few things about the program. When we have the Mid Term Evaluation, we will need to update the Power Point presentation, so guess we should get started.

This afternoon, it was still raining but we decided we needed to walk over to Bhat Bhateni’s and get a few things to take to Pokhara tomorrow. We are looking forward to going.

7 February 2012                                                       Power from9:00 – 1:00 pm, after 7:00 pm

It’s been a beautiful day, temperatures near 70 degrees. And the house is warming up. We like that. We spent a bit quieter day today. We did type up a letter for the Social Welfare Council requesting a date for our Mid Term Evaluation, also known as a Project Advisory Committee Meeting. Now the ball is in the SWC’s court. If we get a date, we will be ready. If not, we won’t worry about it. We hope to have it mid March. This is a meeting to bring them up to date on the things we’ve been doing.(things that are in the Agreement). We’ll see what happens.

We also went to the bank. They have started tearing up the walls down by the bank and the sidewalk (what there is,) is in horrible shape with debris all over. In fact, Gene tripped over a root sticking out and he took a tumble. I heard him, turned around and he was rolling in the dirt. Thank goodness he wasn’t hurt, but his blue pants were now brown. And it wasn’t easy to brush them off.

We went in the bank and ordered new checks. Then a man who is the Senior Relationship manager asked us to come to his office. He was very nice and just wanted to know if our needs were being met and what they could do to help us. He was very nice.

We then walked over to the Indian Embassy to see what we could find out about getting a visa to go see about my ear. It sounds like we would need a tourist visa. This afternoon I did send an email to Dr. Clark and one to Pres. Jackson to see if we could get a bit more info to help us make a decision. We need to decide pretty soon what we are going to do. It’s already getting hot in India and I don’t want to go when the temperature is 115 degrees.

6 February 2012                                                     Temperature near 70 degrees – Yippee!!

I woke up about 3:00 and finally turned on my IPod. I pulled up KSL,com and was saddened to see that Josh Powell had blown up his home in Washington with himself and his two small sons inside. The boys were there for a supervised visit. Josh Powell has been suspect in his wife’s disappearance in Utah over a year ago. It’s a very tragic end to a still unsolved mystery, with ties very close to Utah.

Laxmi didn’t go to English class with us today as her sister-in-law Shanti was having a hysterectomy. Now that would be a little scary for this American here in Nepal. But she has been having trouble for quite a while…and the doctor said she needed to get it done. Laxmi tells us tht things went well. She will be in ICU overnight and hopefully moved to a ward tomorrow.

English went pretty well. We continue to talk about opposites and today we played ‘Memory”. We had 14 pair of opposites on the board – they had to remember where they were and match them up. It took a lot longer than I thought it would, but they seemed to enjoy it. When they made a match, we asked them to say a sentence using one of the words. There were a few they weren’t familiar with and we hope they learned something today.

After class, we met with Pratima, a senior staff member at READ Nepal. She wanted to meet over lunch. She took us to this place – I didn’t see any sign of a restaurant being anywhere near – but we climbed lots of stairs and at the top was quite a nice restaurant. We talked about the 50^th Library READ Nepal is building. We have committed to fund one of the sections in the library and we talked about it. The section is the Women’s Section. We asked Pratima to send us a proposal outlining what kind of help they are looking for. The building is slated to open the first part of July. That would be perfect. We could see it finished before we return home.

This afternoon we enjoyed a little time on the roof….it was almost too warm, but still felt good.

5 February 2012                                                 Power from 11:00 till 3:00 and after 10:00

I woke up about 4:00 and read for a little bit. I’m reading a good book on Kindle called ‘The Secret Gift” about a young man who is a gifted violinist, but who wants to play baseball. It’s very good – I recommend it. Then after a bit, I snuggled down and went back to sleep till about 7:00. It was nice.

Gene got up and came down to the office. I had a harder time getting out of bed but about 7:30, decided I’d better get up. Brent was on Skype and we had a nice visit. He had been able to go to the Phoenix Open and had a good time. Then we talked to Chad and Konnie and then to Hannah and Alison. Hannah had her Monster Concert at the Kent Concert Hall. She had a great time and was so happy that her school teacher came. Bart and Tina also attended as well as the Fluckiger clan. Hannah said it was so fun she wanted to do it again. She has made great strides in her piano playing. She’s only been taking lessons for about six months and she is doing great. I sure hope she sticks with it. Music is something you can use your whole life.

After breakfast I was working on the English lesson, when someone came to the gate. Laxmi opened the door and there was a man with not one, but two propane cylinders. Oh, Happy Day! Laxmi’s friend is the supplier and so Laxmi was able to get the propane. Again, it shows it’s not always what you know but who you know. We can relax a bit now – we actually have three spare tanks on hand.

And today was much warmer – it got up close to  70 degrees – and supposed to be in the 40’s tonight. We opened windows and doors because it’s warmer outside than in the house. It just felt so good. We even went for a walk.

We took the pictures of the Manila Temple, the First Presidency and the First Vision over to a little art shop by the Embassy. We asked if they would mount them on a board for us so we could hang them. Laxmi went with us. I told her to tell them I worked in a frame shop in the USA and asked if they wanted to give me a job. They laughed and said they would have many customers if an American was working there. Laxmi asked what they would pay me and they laughed again. They are mounting them on a hard board with a waterproof seal over them. They look nice and we can get the four of them done for about 1000 rupees or about $14. DEAL!

This afternoon we turned on the geyser and while it was heating, I cut Gene’s hair. We had a hard time getting the clippers to cut. Finally, I say the little pack of oil and thought a drop of oil might help – and it did. Then we had showers. It was so nice to have hot water. That should get to be a little easier. Gene went up and cleaned off the solar panels this morning and that helped.

We did get the English lesson ready and Gene submitted a project that was Hygiene kits only. We will just supply the kits and someone else will distribute them through Choice Humanitarian. These are going to a school that is a long ways from here. It’s only 150 kits or so and if someone else can distribute them, we can hardly justify the trip.

We washed a couple of batches of clothes. It didn’t take them long to dry hanging in the sun. We also sat in the sun and oh, it was just so nice. We will have more of these kinds of day to come. Bring them on. Love them….

4 February 2012                                                                      Power from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm

I debated about going to church today….the reason being that for the past couple of days my ear has been quite plugged up. I really have to work at hearing what people are saying. My left ear is pretty good – thank goodness for that. I’m feeling that we probably need to go to India. I hesitate about that. There’s a lot of red tape just getting there, then not knowing how long we would need to stay or where to stay. It seems there are a lot of unanswered questions.  We have to decide pretty soon as it gets terrible hot there in April.

I am a little sore from our ‘trek’ yesterday. It’s quite steep coming down and I was aware that it would be hard on my knees. I did quite a bit of side stepping, but I could feel my left knee before we got down. I was glad we didn’t have another mile to go. This morning I can feel it, but I will survive.

After church we sat on the roof for a few minutes and then I climbed in bed and read for a few minutes before taking a short nap. I was so tired. I hadn’t sleep much the night before and after the hike I was bushed. I did sleep good last night and I’m sure I will be back in the groove tomorrow.