3 June 2012

Brent called from Pennsylvania where he's still on vacation. He's staying with friends in Hershey, PA and having a great time. He heads home tomorrow.

I've worked on English class. We finish up this week. I might be just a little emotional about it. Gene said he wouldn't mind doing a little bit on 'finding a job' if any of the women are interested. The last couple of lessons in the book are a mini 'Career Workshop'. We do have some young women who are students and I think some of them would be interested. Most of them are housewives, but I wouldn't be surprised if they came as well. We would just do one class with all the women invited. I've done most of the teaching but I told Gene he would do a much better job with the employment information than I would. He would be happy to do that if there is some interest.

We went to the bank and then over to Deppong's. I had put a movie together for them. I copied it onto a thumb drive for them but they haven't been able to get it to work. I thought it would be a quick fix. Not so. I worked for a while trying to figure out what was wrong. Couldn't do it. Finally, Elder Deppong suggested we go to lunch. We did. We went to Thamel and enjoyed a nice lunch. Then stopped in a book store and browsed around for a bit. It was fun.

We returned home and I've been trying to figure out why Deppong's movie won't work. Finally, I remember Alison said you have to have the file with the pictures you used on your computer. If you move the file, the computer doesn't know where to look for them. Why did it take me so long to remember that? I've put their picture file, the music and anything else I think I might need on a flashdrive. We will take it over and see if we can get them fixed up. It's been a great day.

2 June 2012

It rained pretty good during the night and has cooled things off. Oh, did that feel good! We got up and soon I noticed Lenore online, so I called her. We had a good visit. Then we talked to Alison for a minute. She is talking to the car insurance guy trying to get some insurance on our car – then Chad will get it inspected and licensed, so we will have something to drive when we get back.

Then we talked to Chad and Konnie. It was Chad’s birthday yesterday. I can’t believe he’s 40 years old. My gosh! What does that say about us, his parents? (Don’t answer that).  The kids are now out of school and hopefully they can keep them busy. We talked about our coming home. They are excited and we are as well.

We went to our Sabbath Day meetings this morning. There weren’t that many there when we started but after Sacrament we had a pretty good crowd.The investigator class had about thirteen people in it. I think we will have a few baptisms soon.  It was our Fast and Testimony Day. We love to hear the testimonies of the Saints here. We will miss our Sabbath Days with them.

In Sacrament Meeting Pres. Bishnu made an announcement for the Relief Society. She said on Wednesday, there would be a going away social at the church for Brother and Sister Esplin. Oh!, That’s the first we had heard of it. I know the Relief Society likes to do their own little going away party. It is very nice of them.

After church I couldn’t find Gene. Finally, I walked upstairs and he was just coming out of the library with Pres. Bishnu and Anu Lama. They motioned to me and said that Anu wants to go on a mission. Hurray! Pres. Bishnu asked if I would be able to go with her to get her physical and perhaps dental work done on Tuesday. I would be delighted to do that. She will be the 6^th missionary we have had the pleasure of helping since we’ve been here. She joined the church last July and you have to be a member for a year before you can go, but by the time, we get the call submitted, and back, it will be a year. Her friends in the branch are so happy for her decision. I know it will be a lifelong blessing for her and for her family.

Sajana, one of the young returned missionaries (she went to Australia ) told me that Anu had called her and said that she has been thinking a little bit about going on a mission. She just had the opportunity to apply for a good job here in Nepal and didn’t know what to do. Sajana told her to pray about it and Heavenly Father would help her know the right thing. So, she did and she got her answer – she should go on a mission. Some of these young people  go without a whole lot of knowledge about the church because they haven’t been members too long. I think of the scripture that says if you convert even one soul how great will be your joy. I think that one soul is often ourselves.

1 June 2012

We started the day a bit wired and up wound   because of a couple of emails we received. Can’t write it here but there will be more stories for when we get home.

Deppongs came over to take Nick down to pick up their suits. They knew we were having a bit of a rough day and brought us a card and a copy of ‘The Report’. The Report is something we’ve  teased each other for a long time about things going in the report. Today, we actually got a copy of it. We truly appreciate it and it will go home with us….a way to remember some of the little funny things that have happened to us.

This afternoon, I worked a little more on the minutes for PAC Meeting. Then Nick came over and we tried to do his US Visa Application. We couldn’t get his picture to attach and finally decided he needed a regular size passport photo. He went to get one and brought it back on a thumb drive. He came about 5:00 and it was after 7:30 when we finished. It was quite a lenghtly application. We were just glad we could do it online.

We talked to Nick about getting a little shopping done and encouraged him to take his mom and Laxmi with him. He needs some exercise clothing, a couple of belts, athletic shoes and some miscellaneous things, like shampoo, deodorant (he didn’t know what that was) a comb (he said he never combs his hair, just runs his fingers through it) and puts a little ‘oil’ on his hair to make it shine. And that’ regular cooking oil. It’s a bit interesting. This young man is certainly going to learn a lot. I sure hope he has a good first companion. Nick is a great kid, but living  in the USA for a couple of years is going to be a HUGE culture shock.

31 May 2012

I slept good last night. Part of that is the stress of PAC Meeting is over. All that’s left is writing up the minutes. I was elated this morning when I got up to find an email from Kiran from CHOICE with his notes from the meeting. Wow! All the sudden I feel much better about getting the minutes done. Kiran had all the questions from members of the SWC and other ministries listed. And he included his answers and responses to those questions. I immediately wrote him a note expressing our thanks for his help.

We went to English today and it was delightful. I told Gene I am going to miss those women and while there, I did tell them so. They made me feel good when they said they would miss us as well. With about 15 minutes of class time left, I wrote today’s date on the board and then ‘LAXMI’s BIRTHDAY”. The women began singing Happy Birthday to her.  I told them that Laxmi had wanted to do the Hokey Pokey at her party but it didn’t happen so we were going to do it today. They liked the idea and we had a good time. Then we passed out a little treat and they thought that was great too.

This afternoon, I started writing up the minutes. We pulled the minutes that Elder Borland had and many of the same questions were asked then. So, that makes it easy. It will take a little time, but I’m feeling a whole lot better about things.

We have had a little rain shower this afternoon and it’s helped cool things down just a touch. And oh, does that feel good.

30 May 2012

Laxmi came in and was really surprised that the dishes had been done. I just told her “Happy Birthday”. I I did ask her about the sink. It’s plugged up and she said that happens quite often. She said she will get some drain cleaner from the plumber shop and she can clean it out.

I spent the morning  putting  together our English Lesson and Gene spent the morning fine tuning preparations for the PAC Meeting.

We got a phone call from one of those coming to our PAC Meeting and he said he couldn’t get there till after 5:00. Soon we heard from another member. I guess there was a meeting some of them were going to be involved in. Anyway, all the sudden our meeting time is pushed back.

We went over to the Ambassador Hotel about 4:30 to get things set up. The accommodations were actually better than I thought they would be. We waited and waited. Of course we have to remember where we are. Mr. Kumar and Mr Rimal came and after waiting a bit longer for Women and Children to come, Mr Rimal said ‘let’s start’. So we did.

The meeting went okay. The partners reported on their projects and we had a Power Point presentation. I think we would have felt a lot better had the projector been better. We just couldn’t get it to focus very well and I’m sure those in the back of the room had trouble reading or seeing clearly what was going on.

At the end, Gene asked if there were any questions. And there were. Mr. Rimal had quite a few as did others there. The partners responded to most of them as well as Gene answering quite a few.

I had really been concerned about the minutes. I’m not good at it and we had asked Rukmina and Laxmi to come and help us. Rukmina was really caught up in the meeting and was just listening. I was sitting by her and asked her to make she she kept track of the questions and who asked them. She wrote very little. Thankfully at the end of the meeting, I asked Kiran and Krishma both, (Partners) if they would send me a little write up of the meeting. They said they would.

Part of the meeting included a meal and it was actually pretty good. After eating all of us from LDSC talked about the meeting and shared what we remembered. I tried to really get a few notes down to jog my memory. I’m sure the writing of the minutes will fall on my shoulders.

We were quite pleased after the meal when everyone started leaving. Mr Kumar, the new Member Secretary (The Top Dog at the Social Welfare Council) came over and started talking to us. He seems like a very nice man – very personable and he seems very personable. He talked to us for 10-15 minutes and seemed really interested in Latter-day Saint Charities and what we are doing. We were glad for that opportunity. He asked about our going home and we told him ‘yes’, but that another couple would be coming to replace us.

It’s been really hot today and there is no way to escape it. When we have power we can run the fans, but often the power is out. Especially when we go to bed, it’s so hot it’s hard to sleep. The hot season should last a few more weeks until monsoon.

29 May 2012

Boy, it was a long night. I woke up about 3:00 am and had a hard time getting much sleep after that. Not a good time to do that as today was a busy day and I’ve kinda been dragging. I think part of that is the heat. It’s really quite hot in Nepal now. We are hoping for some rain to cool things off, but it hasn’t happened for a bit.

Today Laxmi and I finished preparations for her birthday party. We made breadsticks and got them in the fridge, then cut up vegetables, gathered dishes and made sure things were ready for guests to arrive at 4:30 pm.  Laxmi and I decided we had better bake the breadsticks as we didn’t have power from 1 – 5 this afternoon. Mid afternoon, Gene and I went to READ Nepal to borrow their projector to use in our PAC Meeting tomorrow. When we got there, Pratima and all the staff were in a meeting so we had to wait about a half hour. It was okay. We did get the projector and we also bought a little muffler (scarf) and a journal type book for Laxmi’s birthday present.

When we got back I tried to catch a nap but it didn’t happen. About 4:00 I cooked the chicken. Oh, it smells good. Laxmi cut up the watermelon and it was a good one. Deppong’s and Rukmina and Hari came and soon some of her family. This was about 4:30. True to Nepali custom, we didn’t eat till two hours later, because all the invited guests hadn’t arrived. Finally she said let’s eat. I was happy about that as I have a hard time waiting so long for people to come.

The food was good and looked pretty on the plate. I think her family liked the American food. After dinner we lit candles on the cakes and sang Happy Birthday. She did open a few gifts and she had a great time. She, and everyone else, thought celebrating a birthday with a party was a grand idea. Nepali’s don’t celebrate birthdays much.

After that, we hooked the projector up to the computer and watched the movies I had made. They enjoyed it. Deppongs liked their movie a lot.

There were lots of dishes and I told Laxmi we would do them in the morning. After everyone left and the power came back on, I talked Gene into helping me do them before we went to bed. I’ve always liked to surprise people that way and know she will be surprised when she comes in tomorrow morning. I guess you could say, it’s another ‘birthday present.’