The Shrestha Family

”Namaste! Namaste! Namaste! Namaste! Namaste! Namaste!” (Picture a small Nepali woman in a sari dancing a little jig and yelling this at the top of her lungs.) Sanghita’s mother’s oldest sister was delighted to have us in her home, although this was all she said to us. We visited Sanghita’s family on Monday night, and they were very fun to visit. Her mom treated us to Fanta and cake and talked animatedly to us in Nepali. Her older brother and uncle are also very nice. They seem to miss Sanghita a lot. The housekeeper was hilarious; it is very entertaining to watch a hyper Nepali engage in conversation. I am looking forward to going to their house again tonight for dinner, although I am a little apprehensive about having to eat until I explode. Oh, the perils of being fed by Nepalis…

Marriage bells are ringing (but not ours... don't worry).

Weddings are such happy times: the church is decorated to perfection, the bride and groom are glowing with excitement, and the crowd of loved ones watches quietly and fights back tears as the couple proclaims their love for each other. NOT IN NEPAL!

On Sunday, we went to a wedding. Sudip was invited by the bride’s brother, but he had never met the bride or the groom. The church was full of Hindus who wouldn’t shut their mouths at all during the ceremony, and the decorations reminded me of a birthday party at a Mexican restaurant. The bride looked like she might cry or throw up at any moment, and the groom looked very solemn until he exited the church. I’m not sure that describing the wedding as beautiful would be accurate, although the Nepali standard of beauty is vastly different than the Western standard. I was assured, however, that the wedding was definitely typical of Nepali Christians… I am never getting married in Nepal.

And then there was that one time that Ben got attacked by the tiger.

Last weekend, Sudip decided he needed a break from the ministry since he and Anne Lise are immersed in it all day every day. So, with one day notice, the four of us packed our bags, bought our bus tickets, and headed to Suaraha, the home of Chitwan National Park. Chitwan is a famous tourist attraction with canoeing, elephant rides, jungle safaris, riverside resorts, and week-long trekking for those who are not afraid of tigers. The bus ride to Chitwan is about six hours long and is just as beautiful as the jungle itself. Once you get outside of the Kathmandu valley, the mountains shoot up on either side of the narrow road that follows a huge river. The mountainsides are dotted with tiny farms, roadside villages, and small abandoned temples, and the river is full of huge boulders and rapids that beg for a raft to ride over them. The tourist stops along the main road are usually no more than teenagers pedaling melon, fried fish on a stick, or leechee (which is my new favorite fruit).

We arrived on Thursday night and decided on our hotel—Rainbow Safari Resort. It was nice, although not as glamorous as it sounds. The only thing it lacked for me was A\C, and I enjoyed watching the geckos crawl along the walls beside my bed. That night, we located the ticket booth and found a nice place to eat. Al Frescos, a recommendation by our guidebook, tried very hard at western food, and it was not bad at all. The view of the elephants roaming by and the village far animals during dinner was fun.

Bright and early Friday morning, we woke up and headed strait for the elephant ride ticket booth. Everything in Nepal takes a little bit more effort, and acquiring these tickets was no exception. All of the elephants from the first booth had been rented out by a French film crew (I know, this would only happen to Ben and me.), so Ben and Sudip had to go find another elephant. Sure enough, there were other elephants that could take us for a ride, and after a quick breakfast of coconut cookies we mounted the huge beast. Our ride through the grassy plain and thick jungle was an hour and half long, but we only saw three rhinos and numerous bugs and spiders that we frantically flung from our arms and legs.

After our bumpy ride, we went to breakfast at our hotel. (If you ever find Tibetan bread anywhere, please pick some up for me—it is delicious!) Sudip was intent on going to Pokhara that morning, and I was secretly glad to find out that the bus for Pokhara had already left. That left time for what I really wanted to do: jeep safari! After a long nap, we crossed the river in a dugout canoe and loaded into our open-air jeep. After twenty minutes, we were stuck in the mud in a swarm of horseflies. The men jumped out to help push the jeep, and as the jeep worked its way loose and sped into the jungle, Anne Lise and I got an exciting ride through the ten-feet-high grass. The rest of the ride was fun, but not so exciting. We saw more rhinos, an elephant, a monitor lizard, a snake, monkeys, pea cocks and hens, storks, and a kingfisher. We also saw gharial and marsh mugger crocodiles and a man-eating tiger in captivity at the crocodile breeding center. The best part of the safari was standing on the seats of the jeep and riding through the mud with the wind in my face.

As we rode back across the river, Anne Lise pleads with us to swim in the river with her. Yes, it is the same river that they release the crocs into when they are old enough at the breeding center. But we went anyways. It was nice; the evening had cooled down significantly from the 100+ F it had been during the day, but the water was still very warm. After our dip, we ate in the dark at an outdoor riverside restaurant and enjoyed our time with Sudip and Anne Lise. Our mere presence often seems to be a ministry to them in itself; they are usually too busy to have much leisure time with friends and rarely have much conversation that isn’t about a ministry-related problem. It is also an amazing experience to live with and learn firsthand from a missionary couple, since that is what Ben and I hope to be one day. I think this trip is a huge preparation for our future.

On Saturday, we rode back to Kathmandu on the bus. It was good to get out of Kathmandu and see how people live outside of the metro areas, in the towns and villages. There were definitely less beggars, but the people seemed to survive with much less. There were just as many smiles and laughing children as well. It really puts life in the US into perspective. We lack nothing; most anything we want is at our fingertips, but many people are still discontent. I think I would probably be just as happy in a village hut with only the essentials as I am in my apartment filled with stuff.. maybe more so.

Just another day in Kathmandu

On Wednesday, we met Shovina’s family at their house around 7:30 am after her brother Shuman caught our wandering taxi on his motor bike. We had coffee and snacks with her mother, three brothers, sister-in-law, and adorable, camera-shy niece. We had a nice conversation despite the fact that only her brothers speak English. They are a very sweet family, and they miss Shovina very much.

We got back to the apartment around 10:00 am, and immediately Ben received a phone call. It was Manika’s nephew, and he was eager and ready to meet us. Bibek, her nephew, is a college graduate who is waiting on test scores so that he can get a job; he doesn’t have much to do these days. We took a taxi to his house across from the airport. Upon entering, his first question was, “Have you eaten a meal?” which we are told is a typical greeting. We had not eaten, so Bibek’s mother (and Manika’s sister-in-law) was soon busy preparing lunch for us.

We sat down in the living room and began talking with Bibek, and after a few moments, his mom brought in banana lassis. The one warning we’ve seen in many guidebooks and websites is DO NOT DRINK THE LASSIS! We could not refuse it though; refusing anything you are offered is a major insult to your host. I drank it as fast as I could, but it still took me about 45 minutes to get it down. Sure enough, as soon as I had finished it my body rejected it, luckily into the toilet in the bathroom.

After about an hour of haphazard conversation with Bibek in between his trying to get the TV to work and reach his friends on his cell phone, lunch was ready. Our 18-inch diameter plates were piled high and wide with traditional Nepali dhal baat (rice, bean soop, curries, and something pickled). This particular variety included two of my least favorite foods: greens and cucumber. I finished most of my food—enough to satisfy my host, I hope—despite her efforts to pile on more portions. At the time it was a very significant accomplishment for me.

After lunch, Bibek and his friend took us to Bhaktapur, despite my suggestion that the Hindu cremation temple would be more convenient trip. On our way out, his mother asked us to stay the night, which we gracefully declined. Nepalis are definitely famous for their hospitality. We took motorcycles to Bhaktapur, and now I know why my mom always said she would kill Ben if he ever put me on one. I was terrified knowing that the only thing securing me to the vehicle was my death-grip on whatever protruding part I could find. At Bhaktapur, we paid an exorbitant amount to get into Durbar square, and then we paid even more to enter the art museum. While we were in the art museum, it started raining, so after viewing all of the art we waited out the rain. By the time the rain stopped, it was time to head back into town. I was a bit less than thrilled that we had wasted so much time and money, but I did learn one thing—you can’t say no to a Nepali (and often Ben Brenner).

Chitwan National Park

We are back from a very hot southern Nepal. We didn't see many animals, but a good time was had by all. We'll write more later with pictures.

Change of Plans

We have decided that we should stay in Kathmandu another week. We just went by the travel agency and were able to delay our tickets for only $30. Our new scheduled departure is June 7, We'll then spend 2 days in Calcutta and then travel to Hyderabad.

Today was spent with families of students. We joined Shovna's brothers and mother this morning and Monika's brother's family for lunch (and a ride into Bhaktapur)

Tormorrow we travel to Chitwan the National Game Park. We'll travel with Sudip and Anne Lise. We'll be back in Kathmandu on Monday.

Hope all is well where you are.

Blue Carpet

The six of us sat on the blue carpeted floor of a tin-roofed building the size of a long living room. The dark brick walls led to open doors. Outside, on the far end of a brick lined court yard, red flowers in clay pots accepted the falling rain. Inside, Amanda enjoyed her orange soda which proudly proclaimed that it contained no fruit.

The building was a church. On one end was an inexpensive drum set, a podium, a cross on the wall, and a basket full of brightly colored tambourines with streamers. The other end had a white board and a smaller podium. The room had no chairs. Early each Saturday morning the building is filled with over a hundred children. Later it is filled with adults. The aging pastor who started the church six years ago was born a Hindu but became a Christian seventeen years ago. At the church’s beginning it had only 16 people. Every week they boast of more baptisms.

The six sitting on the floor include Amanda and me; our Guide, Chabbi; his brother; the pastor; and some other guy who bought us all soda. None the church staff spoke English and our guide interpreted for us. “Pray for us,” Chabbi said. The church is located in a heavily Buddhist area. As we walked to the church from Bouda Stupa, we passed shop after shop that smelled of smelting metal. “Idol makers,” Chabbi said.

The teachings of Buddha, as I understand them, talk about freeing one’s mind of cares through meditation and prayer. Here, people don’t seem to be doing that. It seems as if they participate in simple idol worship. The religious touch the charms and prostrate themselves before the stupa in hopes that they will reach nirvana. It really is kind of sad.

Bouda Stupa is the most impressive we have seen so far. It is hidden from the road behind a row of businesses. As we took a path through the buildings it appeared in all it’s grandeur.

The trip was actually for another purpose. After teaching a class on the history of Praise and Worship and eating Daal Bhat (beans and rice), Amanda and I needed to buy pegs for the guitar (it’s missing two, and I want to put new strings on it) and get songbooks for the church. Chabbi was the one available. We never made it to the music store for pegs.

Maranatha Christian Bookstore and Stationary is in a 100 sq ft room on the second floor off of a road of endless businesses and shops. If you didn’t know where it was, there is no way you would find it. Three of the walls were covered with book titles. Most of them in Nepali. One wall had some tapes and CDs. I picked up a CD of Nepali Praise and Worship. One of the guys sitting at the desk in the middle of the store told me I could get his CD that he recorded. “See, that’s me,” he said pointing to the cover.

A Busy Weekend

On Friday, we took a trip to the orphanage. This week was very important for the orphanage because arrangements were made and ground was broken for the new building. Sudip wanted us to go and see the orphanage and meet the children, but his main reason for sending us was so that we could report back the progress of the orphanage to him since he could not be there that day. This is representative of the purpose of our involvement with Compassion for Asia (Sudip and Anne Lise’s ministry).

After much prayer and discussion, Ben and I agreed that we are here to observe firsthand the work that God is doing, the urgent needs, and the miraculous progress so that we may report back to others in the U.S. and make real to others what has become daily life for us: the children at the orphanage living 7 or 8 people to a room and some sleeping on the floor, often not getting the nutrition they need; the current orphanage building in danger of being buried by a mudslide because of a neighbor’s construction; the starving cow that can only provide milk for half of the children; the woman whose husband abandoned her and her child and her only means of support to feed her child is to help Anne Lise around the house; the one room apartment shared by a brother and sister with only a bed and a camp stove and a communal bathroom shared by two other floors; the people coming every day to Sudip’s home with need after need after need. Only when we are informed of the great need in Nepal can we begin to meet that need.

Most of the money we raised will be given to the ministries of Compassion for Asia, but there I so much left to be done. Upon our return, Ben and I hope to be able to raise much more money to send to Nepal. Along with the need in Nepal is the joy of the Christians in Nepal: the smiles and giggles of small girls who just bathed with their new soap (and probably the only soap they’ve had in a long time); the little church that overflows with shouting and clapping as Nepalis worship God; the realization that they don’t just call you brother or sister, they care for you as if you were their brother or sister, and what little they have is freely shared with you. Friday was an important day for the orphanage, it was also an important day for us.

Saturday Ben preached at Mahima, Sudip’s church. For fifteen minutes, he had a very large unidentified object in his beard, but it fell out much to my relief. He spoke very well, and his message seemed to be very relevant to the people. He spoke about how to overcome sin with the help of accountability. That afternoon Ben and I ventured into the city to buy groceries for
Anne Lise. We’ve become quite comfortable on our own in Kathmandu. A more accurate statement would be Ben is comfortable, but I still question if he knows were we are or how to get to were we are going.

That night we ate in a restaurant that is directly below our hosts apartment. The woman who runs it had to excuse herself because se was laughing so hard at Ben’s attempt to speak Nepali. Then we went to visit Manos, a worship leader at church He was not home, but his sisters were there, so we were able to see what Anne Lise calls a “typical Nepali home.” It was one room about 8 feet by 8 feet with a bed, a window, and a stove. There is one bathroom for every floor. There were children visiting from the room next door, and Ben had fun making them laugh.

On Sunday, Sudip sang the praises of God all day long. Ben and I were able to give the first of many gifts to his ministry. Most of the day was spent at the bank to get funds for the orphanage building and the land that Sudip is purchasing the build a new church. Ben and I were able to donate Rs 70,000 ($1,000USD), an amount that supports most of the ministries for one month. Then we went to the orphanage so that Sudip could pray over the foundation for the new building.

Sunday was also an interesting day because it rained most of the day and most of the night before. When is rains a lot in Kathmandu, the city becomes a giant mud pit. The dirt roads turn into mud roads, and the mud roads flow into the paved roads and stick to shoes which carry the mud into homes, stores, buses, taxis, and other places. Walking the hilly streets and paths became much more of an obstacle than it had ever been for us before.

We arrived home that afternoon and celebrated with one of Sudip’s favorite pastimes- a game; we played Yahtzee. Exciting times like these spark interesting phrases from Sudip, whose English often becomes broken and silly in excitement. Here is one from the game: “There is much shouting from my mouth, but I am not the one with numbers!” He meant that he was bragging that he would win, but he was not getting good scores. Here are some more: “Where is my glass? I don’t need glass, I am like fine.” (Referring to his glasses.) “I am not elephant! I am only tiny man!” which translates, “Don’t put anymore food on my plate!” Life with Sudip can be very humorous.

Here are some plans for the rest of the trip:
May 22-May 31- We will visit families of students, visit Mission of Hope (a prostitute rehabilitation program in Kathmandu) and continue to help with Compassion for Asia. Ben also plans to purchase songbooks and a new guitar and teach some guitar lessons to some of the Bible school students.

May 31- We will fly to Calcutta.

May 31- June 5- We will work with Project Rescue (a prostitute rehabilitation pogram).

June 5- We will take a train to Hyderabad. There we will visit David Chavali’s family and families of students.

Please continue to pray for our heath and God’s guidance. Also pray that Compassion for Asia continues to progress at such an amazing pace. Pray that the new orphanage is finished quickly so that the children will have a safe home.

No monkeys in Nepali class

Thursday morning we had a new type of cultural lesson. We started taking language classes at a local language school with Anne Lise. She has been living in the country for five months and is not learning the language as quickly as she would like. When she mentioned that she was going to start lessons, I asked if we could join her. She said we could.

Parbati was our teacher at the language institute. She taught us simple forms of my, your, his\hers sentences (my name is Ben: mero naam Ben ho, and my home is America : mero ghar America ho). Our teacher (shikshikaa) was very good; all three of us learned a lot, and she used hardly any English. We’ll continue to take lessons until we leave.

After the lesson Anne Lise needed postcards for donor thank you notes. She then went home to write them, and Amanda and I attempted to get good deals on a second personal bag and a water bottle (the orange one we have leaks). Later we asked our host what she would have paid for the items, it was invariably less. At least we did bargain with the shopkeepers (saahuji) to bring down the price substantially from what they asked.

I then used my slightly good sense of direction and headed for Swayambhhunath, commonly referred by tourists as Monkey Temple due to the high density of Monkeys. Eventually we got there. It’s a bit of a climb just to get to the base of the temple. And the temple has an impressive amount of steps to the top. At it’s entrance I mistook a fully dressed semi-holy man for the entrance fee attendant. After he had smeared us with red powder and flowers I presented him with what I thought he was requesting for entrance. I’m sure that man has not had a donation like that in a while. Of course once we made it to the top through the hecklers, beggars and hundreds of stairs we had to pay entrance again.

The temple (stupa) is really quite magnificent. It reminded me of a small version of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. The main fixture was the stupa itself. A huge half sphere with a relic deep inside. The square base up to the spires is all supposed to represent the path to enlightenment. Most visitors don’t seem concerned for much more than ritually making the metal scrolls spin. There were, however, several other temples as well. For Nepalis, Buddhism and Hinduism seem to coexist. I’m pretty sure on that hill there were some Hindu temples. One such temple was for the god of polio. According to my guide book, the gold-covered temple is still one of the most worshiped places. It is worshiped by people who want to keep them and their children safe from the sickness.

After looking around we found a back staircase that was a third as long (with no ticket booths) than the front. At the bottom was a taxi waiting for us to take us back to home.

Where’s your culture!

Amanda and I had lunch Tuesday with two Assembly of God missionaries and their spouses. Jason and Christy Loper are related by marriage to the pastor of Moffit Road Assembly of God in Mobile. He was one of the few American contacts I had in Nepal. I called Jason on Saturday to talk about meeting them. He said we should meet at the restaurant in the Hyatt Hotel. When I hung up and told our hosts, their eyes lit up. “That’s the most expensive hotel in the city!” Sudip exclaimed, “ I would not think of eating there.”

We arrived 15 minutes early. As we walked around, we could tell that the hotel lived up to it’s five star rating. Even the bathrooms, Amanda would relate later, were the nicest she’d ever been in. The lunch meeting went well. Jason is in charge of developing an AG Bible school. It has been around for a while, but it is in the process of growing a new building. Bethany and her husband are in charge of the House of Hope, the ministry to rehabilitate Nepali prostitutes rescued from Calcutta and Bombay.

The price of the meal was probably less than what one would pay at an Applebees in the US. But for Nepalis it would have been a fortune.

Amanda and I found it amusing that the native missionary takes his guests to his favorite restaurant for a total charge of 150rs ($2) for four people, and the American missionaries take their guests to a very nice restaurant for a total of around 3500rs ($50) for six people. In their defense Jason indicated that he new that the restaurant would be empty at the time specified, and they would be free to speak openly about ministry. Such openness may be hard to find in a country that still has laws outlawing proselytizing.

Sudip and Anne Lise with their personal support do so much. First off, they live very meagerly. They have no vehicle since Sudip gave his motor bike to the orphanage in January. Their apartment is very livable, but has no hot water (sometimes throughout the day no water at all). Secondly they pay for the expenses of the church and ministry school. That includes teacher salaries, student expenses (all of the students of scholarship), and staff salary. The orphanage has some support coming directly to it, but the rest of the cost is on Sudip’s shoulders. Then financial support of 32 other churches.

17 May… It’s a Holiday

I wonder some times while I am walking around the city if I am dreaming or awake. Kathmandu is so wonderful and strange it really is difficult to distinguish reality. One such moment was today. The dream (or reality) is like this: Sudip, Anne Lise, Amanda and I are walking in a parade that is led by a marching band that is playing a rather Nepali version of “When the Saints go Marching in.” Most of the crowd is waving Norwegian flags (sideways blue cross outlined in white on a red background). Everyone is shouting, “hip hip hoorah.”

Ja, according to my witnesses, today we celebrated the signing of Norway’s constitution. In Norway it’s the major national holiday of the year, like America’s Independence Day. So all thirty Norwegians that live in Kathmandu and a few of their guests formed a parade from the Norwegian House (a guest house for Norwegians located in southern Patan) to the Norwegian Embassy about a mile north. For the Nepalis that saw us, it must have felt like a dream to have a marching band and a bunch of strange looking people waving strange flags. Then again, they may be used to it.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, Anne Lise is Norwegian. Ever since we arrived, she has been talking about this event telling us how excited she was that it was coming. I must admit it was fun. At the Embassy, the Ambassador spoke then everyone ate clean salad, mashed potatoes, and the traditional hotdog (wrapped in a potato tortilla) followed by relay races and games for the kids.

A Class of Praise and Worship (with vomit thrown in)

Monday I woke up sick. This was something that was somewhat predicted. People get sick like this even if they don’t eat anything bad. There’s a good chance that something I ate on the Nagarkot trip started it. I never really felt worse than nausea, but I was sick (I’ll spare you the details). Monday, I was well enough to teach a Ministry School class on Praise and Worship. Anne Lise had asked me if I wanted to take over the class for her (she has been involved in worship leadership for years, though Nepal doesn’t provide much of an outlet for it). She gave me a lot of freedom with the class for the time I would be here.

Agreeing to teach a class is one thing, preparing for it is quite another. I remembered that my father had developed a course on worship, and upon request he emailed it to me early that morning (for us). So I was able to use it for the two hours of teaching.

The school is still quite small. Only ten students live in the building and attend classes. Previous semesters have been much larger but because of the political situation, even some of the people who had registered, have yet to come.

Teaching with a translator has it’s benefits. I use the translation time to think about what I’m going to say next, which most of the time keeps me from rambling. One funny moment was when I was talking about the two trees in the garden of Eden (Tree of life and Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil) symbolizing worship of Jesus and Idolatry. For a few minutes everyone looked really confused. The translator looked at me and asked “adultery?”

We finished the class with singing some songs. I’m teaching them some English songs, and they are teaching me Nepali ones.

That afternoon Anne Lise had prepared a large meal for a late lunch meeting with a Singaporean. Our hosts had some complicated business with her. Amanda and I sat in on the meal. I hadn’t ate two bites, when I reportedly turned ghost white, and ran to the bathroom. The food looked good, but my stomach wouldn’t let me eat. Yogurt, I was able to eat, and what great yogurt it is. It’s made from Yak’s milk.

Maps!

During our get-Amanda-a-punjabi trip (the dress). I stopped at one of the tourist stores and bought these maps. At present, I don't have a way of drawing on them to show you where things are.
City:

Sudip and Anne Lise live in an area of town called Gongabu. It's on the top left of the map, near the bus station. In fact, if you look just south of the bus station, you will see a green circle which is a Buddhist Stuppa. Their apartment is on road not on the map that runs along the east side. The church is in between their house and the bus station (5 minute walk). Thamel, the tourist area, is a 20 minute walk south of the apartment. It's just west of the Royal Palace.

the Valey:
Kathmandu is is the largest city in the Kathmandu Valley. The orphanage (which we hope to visit soon) is an hour walk north of the church in Phutung (on the map it's about 1 1/2 inches above Gongaru). The village we visited for picnick is on the far right side of the map. Called Nagarkot, it is directly east of Thamel.

Hope you can find the places.

How many Nepalis can you fit in a micro-bus?

Well, there is a lot to write; we have been very busy. On Saturday, which is supposed to be the day off in Nepal (although most shops are open, Sunday is a regular working day), we went to church. The whole service was in Nepali. We got there a bit early so Ben could tune the guitar that is used for worship, and Manos, the worship leader, declared him guitarist of the day, so Ben played guitar while Manos sang (in Nepali). Many times throughout the service, they pray. This sounds like a normal church happening, but not in Nepal (although it is normal for them). When Nepali's pray, everyone rises from his or her seat on the ground, the ladies cover their heads with their shawls, and everyone shouts prayers to God in Nepali, "shouts" and "Nepali" being the keywords. Anne Lise was right when she said it sounds like tongues. But I did get something out of the service, and that is that Nepali people love God. There are not too many American services that I have the same reaction about. To Nepalis, Christ and Christianity are real, and neither has anything to do with denominations, dogmatic theological issues, a building fund, or a nominating comittee. They merely exist in Christ.

After church, the guest (Nepali) speaker and his wife joined Sudip, Anne Lise, Ben, and I for lunch. Anne Lise had been up since 6:00 am prepring a traditional Nepali meal for them. The different foods were served in tiny individual dishes for the guests of honor, and Ben and I were served in very large sectional plates. As always, food was delicious. Then, the guests stayed for five (count them: 5) hours after lunch and talked with Sudip in Nepali. Ben and I were so bored, but it would have been rude to leave the room. After they finally left, Anne Lise took us to the Buddhist temple across the street from her apartment.

Then there was Sunday. Since Sudip and Anne Lise had a meeting that would last all day, we went with the youth from the church to a picnic on the mountain. From the church, we walked to the main road where Santose (Sudip's brother, the leader of the trip, an administrator at the Bible school, and our appointed baby-sitter) commandeered a microbus (picture a 15-passenger van shrunken to minivan size) and packed all 23 of us (add to that the driver and the boy that rides along as traffic director and do-boy) into the van. The entire trip through the city and up the mountain was probably two and a half hours, and half way into it (on our way out of the city) we stopped to let half of the crowd climb up to ride on the roof. The bus was not allowed to take us to our destination. We were let off at the mountain village of Nagarkot and had to ascend the rest by foot. The climb up the mountain was probably the most physical activity I've had in my whole life. It was probably 4 km up to the tower, and most of it was very steep inclines. At one point near the end, one Nepali girl grabbed my hand and started to "help" (drag) her sister (me) up the mountain. When I finally got to the top, I blacked out. But I was fine for the rest of the trip. We were fed a plate full of unrecognizabe things, which I could only eat half of. We caught glimpses of the Himalayas, which was news to me. I thought we were surrounded by them in the city, but those must only be the foothills. Santose also cornered an old Buddhist man and preached to him and recieved a positive response. Later, the same old man kept speaking Nepali to me and Ben after we insisted we did not speak Nepali. We also met a girl who lives on the mountain, and we had a short service much like the one described above. Ben spoke a short devotional. Then we came down the mountain which was much easier. On the way down, we saw the national flower and lots of goats. One boy caught a goat so Ben could hold it and I could pet it. Then we waited for an hour and a half for our microbus to return. Ben played some songs on the guitar and attracted alot of children who were returning from school. He also tried desparately to learn Nepali, but most sessions end in laughter because his pronunciation and memory is so bad. I helped him communicate by whispering Nepali phrases in his ear. The bus ride home was much the same, and we returned safely. I think the trip was very good for us; we got to know many Nepalis and gain some understanding of their culure, and we had tons of fun. Please continue to pray for our health, especially after today's endeavor. Please also pray for wisdom and guidance as we have to decide soon on when we need to leave so that our next hosts will be prepared for us.

First day in Kathmandu.

The English teacher at the ministry school couldn't make it, so Amanda and I volunteered to teach it. Three hours of ESL later, I have new respect for ESL teachers. It was fun.

So far, neither of us have felt effect from jet lag. Last night we slept wonderfully, and today we made it all the way through (including the 4 miles of walking). We are exhausted now, but it was a good day.

Traditional Nepali lunch at the ministry school followed teaching. Then Anne Lise and Sudip took us into town on a mini-bus, where Amanda picked out fabric for an outfit which is at the tailor. We also walked through Thamel, the tourist area, and ate supper at one of Sudip's favorite restaurants. The four of us ate for less than $2.50.

Amanda and I are both well. Enjoy the pictures. The first one is a typical Nepali street lined with shops and filled with people traveling on foot, car motor bike and bicycle. The second seems to be the major manner of transporting goods. The third is the fruit market I went to yesterday with Sudip

God bless,

ben

We Are in Nepal!

Thank you for all of your prayers. We have arrived safely in Kathmandu, Nepal and are staying with Sudip and Anne Lise. They have a 2 bedroom, 3 bath, apartment in a three story apartment building on the south side of town. It's right next to a Buddhist temple. From the airport where Anne Lise met us, we took a taxi for 30 minutes down the narrow roads and alleys (many dirt) which make up most of the city.

Our flight from Mobile to Delhi was uneventful. Amanda was able to sleep some on the long flight (5 of the 13 hours) I dozed off a few times, but caffeine from the Exedrine I took earlier in the day kept me unable to sleep much. The flight was on a Boeing 777 which meant each seat had its own entertainment system. The system, however, was showing signs of age. Several of the video channels were terrible quality (audio coming in and out and lines across the screen). Also, the game controllers wouldn't work correctly. Oh well. I spent most of the trip reading books.

because it was a night trip, the window shades were required to be shut (No one wants sunrise at 2AM. I would peak out every once in a while, but would rarely see more than clouds. Though, about an hour before landing everyone was up, so I opened the shades as we were passing over Afghanistan where I took this picture of a mountain range we crossed that was quite impressive.

Upon arrival in New Delhi we recovered our bags, and when we got to customs, they were waving everyone through who wasn't declaring anything. I thank God for no awkward questions about why we have so many books and toiletry items. As God would work, when we flew into Kathmandu, customs was running most people's bags through an x-ray machine. But when we came up to the line, an official waved us through. Perhaps they don't check obvious tourists.

After leaving customs in New Delhi, things started to get crazy. I changed 200 dollars into Rupees (which the next day because of laws making it illegal to take with us any Indian bills larger than 500, of which I had 12, had most of it turned back into American cash). At that point I was hoping to find a locker room, in which I could put our suitcases of books, and then insure with Jet Airways our Travelocity Tickets were appropriate. But there were no lockers, only an open shed for lost bags, and my tourism official persuaded me to buy prepaid taxi (from his friend) to the domestic terminal (we found out later a free shuttle runs that root). I didn't trust him enough to get the hotel room he suggested 2000RP (which sounds like a lot, but it's really only $30US). I attempted to contact some hotels that were in my guide book, but I couldn't get the phone to work. We ended up staying at the airport dormitory in one of their "Retiring Rooms"--a non-air-conditioned room with 8 beds, a fan, and no windows to the outside (when we arrived it was 95f). Amanda spent the night watching fan. I was able to get some sleep despite the heat. The next morning (at dawn), we got some yummy tea from the restaurant downstairs and took the shuttle back to the terminal to await our flight several hours later.

On the hour and a half long flight, they served yummy lunch with a beautiful cloth napkin. The service was really good. I was very impressed with the airline.

There were too many clouds to see any mountains on the trip, but as we were descending into Kathmandu, we broke through the clouds and below us was a canyon-like valley with very steep edges. It was right there and it was amazing.

Once at the apartment, our hosts departed on an errand, and Amanda and I rested. On their return I accompanied Sudip to the general store, down the street. There are stores like this all over the place, but this one (while not the closest) is where he buys supplies for the church and himself. He knows them and doesn't have to haggle. We then walked 1km to a place that had a selection of merchants selling fruit from their bicycles.

Anne Lise, made us yummy cauliflower soup, and now it's time for bed. Please pray we quickly recover from jetlag.

Safe for his Glory,
Amanda and Bean

Stop in New Delhi, on to Nepal

(Ben's mom posting)

Ben called around 7:30 pm CDT this evening
(Wednesday) to say that they had indeed arrived
in New Delhi on schedule, had had a few hours
sleep, and were going to be flying to Katmandu
later (their) Thursday morning.

Katmandu, the capital of Nepal, is 10 hours and 45 minutes
ahead of CDT in the United States. That's weird, but
true! So, Ben and Amanda should be arriving there around
1:15 pm local time.

Hopefully, once at the orphanage in Katmandu Ben will
post on here himself.

Please pray for safe travel today and for healthy stomachs.

On Our Way!

(This is posted by Ben's mom)
Ben and Amanda left Mobile right on time at 12 noon on Tuesday, May 9. We heard from them shortly before they boarded the flight from Newark to New Delhi. They are scheduled to arrive in India at 8:30 Wednesday evening,
which will be around 10 a.m. Central Time.

Here are photos of departure hour. Several student friends
from India, mentors Jim and Mary Mather, two moms, and one
dad were there for the sendoff!

Praise God for safe flights thus far.











...

We have our visas

Great news! Our passports arrived in the mail today from the Indian Consulate in Houston. Inside the passports were Indian visas! So we have everything we need for departure. There are a couple of small things to accomplish before we leave, but most of our list is complete including all essentials. Praise God!

Please continue to pray that everything goes smoothly until we leave.