28 May 2012

The big news this morning in Nepal is that the constitution didn’t get signed before the deadline. Now the government has proposed fresh Constitutional Assembly elections on November 22. People are feeling there will be legal and constitutional crises. Every politician is blaming everyone else. Many people feel that the country is headed for another stage of political turmoil. I think we are getting out of the country at a good time, but I feel a little apprehension for the new missionaries coming in. I know the Lord will bless them as He has blessed us.

Today is the day the Rempp’s enter the MTC. That makes it sound like our time is short. I know it is creeping up on us. When I think we only have two more class periods of English plus the closing ceremony, I can hardly believe it. And just two more Saturday’s to attend church. I say again, I have really enjoyed our time here, but I have to be truthful and say I’m ready to go home.

We talked to Jason and Alison this morning. Clay and family are staying with Jason in Phoenix. Jason was kidding me (because I know what he thought of Nepal when he was here) and asking if we would be home six months and put our papers in again. It seems that we are getting asked that question more all the time.

We went to English and though we didn’t have as many women as last Thursday, we had a pretty good group. The lessons were a little harder today, but I got them up in front and we did practice English. After the second class, someone brought out a camera and then everyone wanted their picture taken with us. I’m sure that will occupy quite a bit of time on our last day.

We came home and after lunch, Laxmi and I cooked potatoes for potato salad. Then we went to Bhat Bhateni’s and picked up a few things. We came home and put together the potato salad and made a creamy macaroni salad. Then we did the dishes. It’s funny how many dishes you dirty when you’re cooking. We cleaned up the kitchen and then Gene and I walked over to buy a watermelon. It’s a pretty good size one and it was 280 rupees. I didn’t think that was a bad price.

After dinner, I made a couple of cakes. Oh, I will be glad to get back to Fahrenheit and my oven. This little toaster oven is better than none, but not the best. I also cleaned out the fridge, cut up the chicken and got the marinade on it and did dishes again. I’m tired tonight.

Laxmi was going to make rolls. Tonight she came in with my bread stick recipe and was asking me about it. I had thought about suggesting the bread sticks, but had decided against it. She wanted to know how to do the bread sticks. I explained the directions. She didn’t know what Parmesan Cheese was. I told her I had some. (the kids brought a big jar from Sam’s Club – it’s been nice, and it’s about gone. Good timing!) We will need to make two batches. I told her to come in the morning about 8:30 and I would help her do them.

Other than that, preparations for her birthday party tomorrow have pretty much been done. Now, if we have power to cook the chicken and the break sticks, I will be happy. The time consuming stuff, we took care of today. I hope things turn out well and that we have a good time tomorrow. She’s excited about it.

27 May 2012

We started out the day by talking to Alison, Chad and Konnie and Brent. All is going well at home. This is the last week of school. It’s hard to believe. It doesn’t seem like that long ago, they just started back. Where does time go? Brent is in Chicago with Chris Stockdale and his wife. I could see in the background, that they were in an apartment quite high up and though it was dark, the busy city of Chicago all lit up out the window. I’m sure he will have a fun week.

We walked over to the bank. The streets were really quiet. Today is the day the constitution was supposed to be signed. I don’t think it is going to happen – and who knows what will happen next. There is a lot of uncertainty in Nepal right now. It makes it hard to plan things. I know Sister Deppong would like to nail down a time for Dr. Clark and his team to come to Nepal to do Helping Babies Breath, but it’s almost impossible to do right now. I think hard times for Nepali’s are ahead.

We came home and after breakfast, I studied the English lesson for tomorrow. It’s hard to believe there are only three more class periods and then the closing program. We’ve gotten attached to these women. Today I finished tying ribbon on the little boxes and putting a little note inside each one. We will give each of the women one. We bought 30. I hope that’s enough.

After lunch we went over to Deppong’s and had a missionary meeting. I think they will be sad to see us go. They still have three more months – I think Debbie is ready to go with us. Of course, she does want to get HBB going but that’s really up in the air, all because of the political stuff going on. We had a good meeting. There are things we would still like to do, but we are running out of time. We would like to go to Pokhra one more time to set up a sewing center and then over to Chitwan to do the same. But that’s a three day trip and I don’t think we have a three day block. I would really like to go out to Dhulikhel one more time to see the progress of the overhead tank. We will just have to see what happens, especially with bandh’s and strikes. I don’t think we have seen the last of them.

I had told Debbie if she would get some pictures together, I would help her put a movie together. She did have photos in a file. I copied the file onto a thumb drive and brought it home. I must have worked on it a good five hours, right up till bedtime. I had to group pictures together – they were so random. And I was able to put music to it. I’m feeling pretty good about it and hope they like it.

26 May 2012

We got a new load shedding schedule last night. They’ve added about one hour more electricity each day. It’s better than nothing, but hardly noticeable.

I made some bread sticks before going to church. When we got to church, there were many visitors there. One group of seven American’s, mostly from Utah, had been visiting in China, Tibet and now Nepal. They were BYU professors and were nice people. Bikki taught our Sabbath Day class and he was a little nervous about it, but did a great job.

I did talk to Nick and also Brother Patch. Nick, with Brother Patch’s recommendation, has decided to stay with the original plan and report to the MTC on September 5^th. Brother Patch said that if in the visa interview, the Embassy thought he was going for any reason other than missionary work, they could very well deny his visa. He told Nick it would be better, to just go, enter the MTC, and fill his mission. Nick felt good about it. When we got home we emailed Pres. Jackson with his decision. We got an email back pretty quick. He said they had sent it in and had just gotten confirmation about the change of dates, but he said, ‘We change assignments on our missionaries (usually passport and visa problems) like most people change their socks!’. He said he appreciated his desire to get it right.  Brother Patch suggested he go over to the bank and pay his fee for his visa and make an appointment for an interview for his visa within the next couple of weeks. I would like to have this all in place before we leave.

Today is the last time we will see the Patch Family. They are leaving this evening, doing some touring in Europe before returning to the United States for the summer. Christopher will be with them for about five weeks, then he will come back to work. Gretel and the kids will return mid August in time to get the kids back in school. Gretel said the kids are leaving with real mixed emotions. They hate to leave their friends. Then she shared with me a quote from Dr. Suess that she told them. I loved it. It was “Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.”  I think that’s going to be good advice for me.

We came home and fixed dinner. I cooked spaghetti and some cabbage, and baked the bread sticks. It was about ready when here comes Sajana and Maya and also Nick. Nick had some questions about a big long visa application questioner. Gene went over that with him. I talked to Sajana and Maya. They are still wanting to go back to the beauty school and see if they can get some of their money back. I think they will take Rukmina and Laxmi with them for backup. They really feel that they’ve been wronged and they have. I don’t have a lot of hope in them getting their refund.

25 May 2012

Oh, it’s been a wonderful day. About 10:30 Elder Bogati came and we went to the Social Welfare Council. When we got there, Mr. Basnet was there in Mr. Kumar’s office. We told him we needed to reschedule the PAC Meeting and he turned his book right to May 30. They had us scheduled. Surprise!  He went in and talked to Mr. Kumar, the Member Secretary and it is a ‘go’. We are happy about that. It is the day we were going to have Laxmi’s Birthday Party, but the PAC Mtg. takes priority and we will do the party a day earlier.

Then we went to pick up Gene’s and Elder Bogati’s suits. They look nice! The tailor gave them each a couple of ties. We also brought home Elder Bogati’s white shirts and will run them through the washer for him. He doesn’t have access to an automatic washer. We had taken Laxmi with us. Sometimes I feel like we use her for a ‘security blanket.’

Nick was here and we read him an email we just got from Pres. Jackson. He said he had talked the Missionary Department and with Nick’s Mission. He has the option of delaying his entering the MTC until October 16 if he wants to. That way, he could go to Taysom’s and spend time with them, go to the temple with them, do some shopping and get his Patriarchal blessing.. Nick is a little disappointed thinking he would have to wait another month, but at the same time, if he wants to do any sightseeing and go to some different temples, this is the only chance he will get. We will give him a few days to think about it and then make a decision.

By this time it was almost 2:00 pm. Deppong’s came and picked us up and wanted to take us to lunch. We went to the Roadhouse Café in Thamel. We had never been there and it was very good. It’s a pizza place but they have other choices as well. Gene did have a pizza and it was probably the best pizza we’ve had in Nepal. I had a chicken burrito and it was also very good. We had a mango fruit smoothie and it was cool and refreshing. We had a great visit. Deppong’s are realizing our time is really getting short. I’m beginning to realize that as well.

After we visited at the café a bit, we went to a trekking store and Gene and I each bought a couple of pair of North Face hiking pants. They are nice. By the way, the exchange rate is up again today. We like that.

We came home and typed up the letters, AGAIN, for the letters of Invitation for the PAC Meeting that has been rescheduled. Again!  Rakesh came and picked them up and will deliver them for us. He is a great guy!

24 May 2012

The Supreme Court said it was illegal to extend the time frame for signing the Constitution here in Nepal. We wondered if there would be a bandh today, but all is quiet. I’m tired of Bandh’s and wonder what this next week will be like. The deadline is Sunday, so maybe we will be able to gauge things after that date passes.

It’s been a good day. This morning as I lay in bed I had the thought that it might be nice to write just a little note and put inside each of the little wood boxes we are giving the women at READ Nepal. I typed up just a little thing that thanked them for making our time there so enjoyable and that we would always treasure the experience we had there. Then I signed our names and Laxmi’s name. When she saw her name with ours, she was so excited. I couldn’t leave her off. She’s been a big part of our teaching there.

We were able to go to English and it was delightful. We had lots of women in both classes. And they were happy to be there too. It seemed they had a lot of hands on experience today as we got all of them up in front and speaking English. At the end of each class we did take some pictures and they liked that. We only have three more classes (if we don’t have any bandh’s) and then our closing program. I think I might need a little package of Kleenex.

We came home and had a sandwich. And then I read for a little bit. I’m almost half done with Pres. Monson’s book “To The Rescue.” I am enjoying it and getting to know Pres. Monson a lot better.