17 April 2012 Tuesday

It has been a beautiful day. It is getting quite warm and we are seeing people carrying umbrella's for shade. It's gotten so it feels good to come in the house. The thick walls, help the house stay cool.

We went to the bank and then walked over to the Social Welfare Council. We thought we had better check and see what the status of our Project Advisory Committee Meeting is. We had submitted a letter requesting such a meeting quite a few weeks ago and we've yet to hear anything from them. We talked to a couple of different people and one man told us we didn't need such a meeting and that about six months before our Agreement expires, to come in and start the Final Evaluation process. 

We were happy to hear that. We had him sign his name on our letter. This afternoon when Rakesh stopped by, he suggested we go down again and stop at the front desk and request the registration number of the letter we submitted. That way we can back up our claim that we had requested such a meeting.

This afternoon we walked over and had lunch at the Bakery Cafe by Bhat Bhateni's. We both had spaghetti. It tasted pretty good. We also got a few groceries while there.

Mrs. Thapa, the landlord, came again today. I think she just wanted to look around the house. We were gone, but got back while she was still here. She's talking about cutting down the big pine tree in the front yard. It does lean one way a bit and she's afraid that it could come down during a big storm. And she's probably right. Gene said he wouldn't mind seeing the tree come down. It sure would help sunshine come in and warm up the Master Bedroom in the winter time. I will be interesting to see what she decides.

16 April 2012 Monday

We taught English today and on our way we were involved in a ‘Nepali’ standoff. We were in the taxi and were driving through a narrow alley ‘road’. There was some construction going on and all the sudden, here come a water truck. The taxi pulled as close to the wall as he could, the water truck tried to get by. They were ‘neck to neck’ neither one could go anywhere. And no one wanted to back up, nor could they as there were motorcycles and cars honking their horns behind us.  Finally, inch by inch, we were able to squeeze by. It was very close. We never know what adventure awaits us.

English was good today. We had a pretty good turnout in both classes. In the second class, we do have quite a few women who have just begun coming and their English skills aren’t as advanced as the first class. In the second class, we were talking about converting money and compared the Nepali rupee and the Indian rupee. I asked how many women had ever been in India. Only one, other than Laxmi. And that out of about 14 women. Remember that India isn’t really that far away and Nepal is only about two thirds the size of Utah. I found that to really be interesting and quite sad. It seems that Nepal is a landlocked country and the people are pretty landlocked as well.

In the second class period we are having to go a bit slower and even have Laxmi help with some of the translation. It’s good to have her involved and I think she enjoys it as well. She also tells us that she is learning too, so that’s a good thing.

15 April 2012

We had thought we would go over to the church and listen to the Sunday Sessions of conference but Pres. Bishnu called and said there were strikes going on in parts of the city so they had cancelled the viewing of conference. We started working on English lesson and Gene on an email to Elder Lawton about renewing the General Agreement with Nepal. The phone rang and it was GC. He said he was at the church and wondered if we were watching conference. He said he would like to stay and see it.

We changed clothes and walked toward the church. At the chowk, there was GC. He said there was no electricity at the church and he couldn’t justify running the generator just for him. He was returning home. So we came home as well. We changed clothes and walked over and picked up the photos being developed for the Branch History. I’ve worked on it this afternoon. It’s a project. There’s still a lot to do but getting started has been the hard part. I still need information and hopefully I can meet with Pres. Bishnu and get the list of names of those baptized and who performed the baptism.

The traffic today has been lighter than normal, but I don’t think there was much of a strike, here anyway. These next six weeks should be interesting, mainly because the Constitution isn’t close to being done and the deadline is the end of May. I’m sure there will be lots of strikes and rally’s.

14 April 2012

It’s a beautiful Sabbath day here in Nepal. We spent the day with the Nepali Saints watching General Conference. I loved the messages we heard today. I had watched some of them on the internet, but there’s just something special about being with members and watching it together. I felt the spirit and my desire to do better was strengthened.

We did have a pot luck meal between sessions. Sister Deppong and I both made potato salad.
Gene is getting so he won’t even try the Nepali stuff, so I was glad I had something he would eat. I have to admit, the potato salad was the best thing there for both of us. They also had some rice and dhal and some chow mien.  I was happy to see my potato salad dish empty. They must have liked it.

13 April 2012 Friday

I hadn’t thought about it being Friday the 13^th until just now.  I’m feeling a bit better. This cold has hit me pretty hard. I’m still congested and using lots of Kleenex. It’s been a little quiet around here today and I’m grateful for that. This afternoon we did go over to the Branch Talent Show. It was supposed to start at 1:00 but it was close to 2:00 by the time it actually got under way.

There were a lot of people there including lots of visitors, many of whom were on the program. The highlight of the program was Elder and Sister Deppong. Debbie was dressed in a saree. Ollie had on his Nepali hat. He lip synced to a Bryan Adams song, ‘Anything I Do, I Do For You. He tried to make advances and she kept pushing him away. It ended with him getting a little kiss. The Nepali’s LOVED it and it was pretty cute.

We came home and I decided I had better get some potato salad made. Tomorrow we are watching General Conference for church with Pot Luck dinner between sessions. It is something I can make and it always tastes pretty good to us. Gene has just gotten so he won’t even eat Nepali food – he just doesn’t like it. I also made some tuna noodle casserole for dinner tonight.

We got an email from the Borland’s. They are in Tremonton. Not sure why or who is there, but the email was nice. They miss Nepal and the People. I’m sure we will get melancholy.  Nepal and the people here, especially those in the Branch have won a special place in our hearts and it will be hard leaving, knowing we will probably never see them again in this life.