God has a sense of humour! Would you believe that I have been asked by the church ladies to teach a class on crocheting?! As soon as they found out that I could crochet and actually brought yarn and needles, they got excited and are planning to announce in church a class to start next week for 10 participants. Panic! Katrin, I need you to e-mail me the pattern for the poncho you taught me - quick! I hope you are reading this. Without my teacher here, I'm afraid God has chosen a very weak and inept leader. He seems pleased to take what are our weaknesses and use them by His strength. And I am the last one to choose to teach anything on crafts. He must be truly laughing! So this is an emergency SOS call for prayer. I'm sure you all are laughing with Him but turn it into prayer for me, please!

Praise the Lord for a well of water! Pastor Shem this morning told Ken that the people who deliver water could not come this Saturday to deliver water because there's no diesel for the trucks that drive, due to the blockade. Baptisms were planned for this Saturday's service. So Ken asked Pastor Shem about their well and he said the water table level is too low and the water is too dirty; they can't use it. So Ken asked to see it and they both prayed. The water started filling in the well!! This just happened this morning! The Lord still does provide water in the desert when His saints pray! Please keep praying for the whole situation - petrol, diesel, water, food, especially for the believers. We need an army of prayer-warriors. We are becoming one with this people. I had prayed last night that God would give me His heart for them and He is allowing us to feel what life is like here, for us and for them. Praise God for His faithfulness!

Patan

Yesterday we had time to briefly visit Patan. An old palace of one of the ruling king's in Katmandu, (time line 1600's I believe.) Incredible architecture! I could stay there for days and stare at the details in the carvings on the door posts. In fact I did stare in wonder at one door lintel for half an hour. Running my fingers over the carving and pondering. My girl's said to me, 'Dad what are you doing?' In response I said to them that I was wondering at the person who carved this door post for the king. Was he young or old? Was he married? Did he have achildren? Did he have a passion for his carving? Did he ever stand back at the end of the day and say to himself, this is a good work? My girls just furled their youthful brows and said, 'Ahhh.....yah, O.K. dad.' -But it was O.K. that they said that. A long time ago the children of the craftsman who carved the door lintel probably said the same thing.

Pictures of a visit to Patan. Patan was one of the ruling king's palaces in Katmandu. It's now a tourist site. The young ladies in the pictures are a few of The King's daughters.

The stairs upto the house fellowship.

This 10 X 10 room served as our host homefellowship bedrooms and livingrooms, on our way back to Katmandu church.

The climb upto the house fellowship.

The list of pictures below; Mile long line of taxis, The suspension bridge over the river, The dried rice paddies, The poor at the dump, The apartments that rise like a cliff.

us

Another House Fellowship

It's amazing how quickly things happen around here. All at once you're in the courtyard sitting and enjoying fellowship. The next you're up and out of the compound, off to a home fellowship. Such was the case for me yesterday (Feb. 26). But before this happened I was with Ramesh, an interpreter, putting the final touches on a draft for an application to the Kathmandu Mobile Bible School, and also their goals and vision statment. Feeling a little out of my waters, I plugged ahead in prayer, soon finding wisdom and words being put down on paper. Thank-you Lord! I hope the final revision will be agreeable to Pastors Raju and Noel. (Blessings to all who hold us in prayer. Your intercession is having a far greater impact on the Kingdom coming here on this very day.)
And so back to the sudden change in plans. Pastor Raju came and asked if I was ready to leave for fellowship. (I wasn't even aware this was on my agenda.) I was quick to say 'yes'. The next moment, we were off down a dusty narrow back alley. We came out onto Ring Road (the main road encircling the city.) We walked past a full mile-long line of taxis waiting for gas. Most of the drivers were not there. I asked Raju why the cars were abandoned. He told me the line will not move for three days. The few drivers that I saw stayed to keep watch over the others' taxis. They burn old tires to keep warm at night, talk, laugh, and drink tea. I'm humbled by their patience. I recall a Nepali expression 'KAY GAR NHEY', meaning "What can you do?' This is life in Nepal these days. We continued down another narrow dusty alley, past some tiny vending shops (you wonder if they get enough business to survive) and over the river via a suspension bridge. Crazily enough, a motorcyle approached us - on the bridge! I would love to get a picture of this, but he's not slowing down. We hug the steel support cables as he whizzes by; I feel his mirror just brush my backside. He's by us, the bridge stops swaying. Madness, I say. My brothers say 'KAY GAR NHEY'.
We continue up one side of the valley following a rocky stone path. The heat and the incline are having an impact. My throat is parched; I'll have water at house fellowship. We travel for some time yet. Passing dried-up rice fields, and a garbage dump. The poor are picking through the refuse, searching for bits of plastic bags or bottles, scavenging old clothes to sell or maybe wear if they're less holey than what they presently wear. It saddens my heart to see these people have to resort to this. I'm told that this is their existence. This is as good as it gets. The wind blows the stench in our direction. I smell sewage and rotting food. My stomach turns. We are soon by it and approach a wall of buildings, like a cliff jutting up out of a plain. We take an inclining street up, then a steep staircase. We enter an apartment and up five flights to the top. Our host welcomes us and hands us each a glass of cold water. The believers gather quickly. We sit in a small 10-by-10 room that serves as the host family bedroom and living room. We sing a few songs acapella, pray intensely for a few minutes, then pastor Raju shares a word. All of this is in Nepali; it feels so foreign and yet the Spirit brings a harmony that makes my eyes tear. After fellowship, Raju tells us to pray for the family- in particular the mother who has had back pain for three months. One of our Kathmandu sisters prays intensely for her with a result that her face takes on a less pain-filled countenance. Was she healed? I didn't find out, but she seemed at peace. The mother then arose to give us tea and biscuits and hot, dried noodles. We chat a few more minutes, then we break fellowship and go our way. We take the long trek back in the cool evening, with this long experience just whirling through my mind. All of this is changing my mind and heart. I don't think I'll come back the same. (posted by Ken - pictures to follow)

My impressions:
I find people here very open. For instance, they are not afraid to tell us very bluntly how big our noses are! They LOVE having their pictures taken. Surprisingly, they do enjoy teaching us their Nepali language but sometimes (the younger boys) getting frustrated with our pronunciation. They enjoy playing with the Lego we brought - probably never saw it before.
The one downer so far - washing clothes by hand!!!!!!! Very frustrating but I think brings you closer to God! Teehee!
I cannot believe how the meat is left out on the counter, open to the flies AND left in the sun. I don't think I will be having meat here anytime soon. *sigh* I will have to wait till I get back to Canada.
My morning experiences:
Every morning, I'm woken up by this rooster-that does not even know when to stop crowing, dogs barking, the blaring of obnoxious, out-of-tune horns, and the tinkling of the 'ice-cream' man's bells trying to awaken his dead ancestors. But as I lay in bed, I finally really wake up to the sounds of worship.
I'M CRAVING CANADIAN CHEESE & CRACKERS!! SOMEONE PLEASE SEND IT BY MAIL!
(posted by Vanessa)

The goats, chickens and dogs you see along the sidewalk by the shops. They're enjoying scraps from the meat counter, which displays heads, legs and other portions of meat in the open for the customers.

Walking along the street.

On our way to the marketplace.

This is where we bought our 'kurtas' (Nepali dress) and had our 'mattresses' made (on the right). For a kurta, you choose a material and the tailor measures you and makes it. The fabric on the right is sewn over stuffing into a mattress.

Kathmandu Vineyard House Fellowship

I went to my first house fellowship yesterday. First, let me describe the journey there:
3 of us took a 3-wheeled bus (one wheel in the front) for 1/2 hour, then walked a further half-hour to a believer's 'home'. On the way, we passed a blocks-long line of motorcycles waiting for petrol, the station being 'guarded' by armed sentries by a sandbag guard post, the army guarding against looting or rioting, I guess. Even Romania wasn't as bad as that in the 80's. We walked along many alleyways which are all lined with individual 'shops' selling everything imaginable - 100's of these 'shops', which are really only little kiosks set into the walls of buildings, carts selling their wares, goods spread out on blankets on the sidewalks. We went into the side of one of these buildings - a tenement building, up 4 'flights' of stairs (like the stairwell to our 3rd floor) - and your head almost touches the stairwell above you, into the 1-room dwelling of the believer. 16 of us crowded in, sitting cross-legged on the thin carpet. Beside me were a former street boy-turned worship leader, a former riverbed woman. The latter has an inspiring testimony and now prays fervently for anyone who needs prayer. With no guitar or other instrument, they all sing energetically, clapping and raising their hands, then just as energetically begin praying all together. As the Nepali pastor teaches them, they all sit respectfully with rapt attention, then all chorus 'Amen' together. At the end, they all gather in a circle, again all praying at once, laying hands on whoever has needs, with the former riverbed woman praying the most fervently of all. 2 hours later, we make our way to the bus, this time a van-converted-bus, crammed with as many passengers as it can take, and the 'assistant' calling out to every group of people its final destination to solicit more passengers. Quite the journey to my first house fellowship!

To answer your questions:
Bonnie has posted the blogs so far except where Ken has noted it. We are actually not having to go to an Internet cafe as Pastor Noel installed a computer in our compound so that, whenever (well, not quite whenever) the electricity is on, we try to post a blog. I don't know about any curfews; there probably aren't but no-one from this compound as far as I know goes out at night - certainly not any of us. In fact, by 8:30 or 9 we start getting ready for bed because it's all dark and there's really nothing to do in the dark except floss and brush by candlelight. I mean, it's kind of hard to even read a book by candlelight. Some evenings I do notice flashlights being used outside and I found out that the boys sometimes watch the TV if the electricity comes back on. We will light a candle in each room so we can see our way around from bathroom to bedroom. But since our days start earlier, with the sounds of worship being the wake-up call, we tend not to have late nights anyway. No, not all of us join in the devotions all the time. If we did, the room would be pretty crowded, as they meet in Suresh's sleeping room (the worship leader) and there are at least half a dozen 'new boys'. Yes, Suresh has started teaching us some Nepali songs and the girls are faithfully writing down his translations. His English is pretty good and he also knows several Vineyard worship songs so we can even sing along in English as they sing in Nepali. Karina tried to take her guitar along but was not permitted. There is another guitar here but she hasn't had much chance to play it - maybe in time. Yes, they are also teaching Suresh new songs. In fact, he plays his guitar and sings in the morning, evening, any other chance he gets, on Friday to practice for church, and on Saturday during the worship service. Yes, they have services here on Saturday morning from 10:30 till noon in the 'winter' and 10:00 till noon in the 'summer'. Well, I better head off to bed as the whole compound is now quiet and I was able to grab some time when the electricity came back on. We'll try to add some more pictures of the place where we live and the market area. - posted by Bonnie

Difficult Times

February 12/08. We've been here one week and, I think, adjusting quite well. Our blog/intenet logging is the most difficult in terms of time. The reason being that the power is cut off twice in the day and although we're told there is a schedule we can't seem to figure out exact times. Candelight dinners, although romantic, are certainly not so when one has to prepare the food by the same. As some may have heard through other people we've contacted, there is an underlying tension that I feel as I journey through the city. As I have talked with people here they have said the unrest in the south of the country is the main reason for inflation skyrocketing. For those not aware, different factions of the Maoists are fighting each other for control of southern Nepal. To say the least the factions are not united. The southern people are the ones who suffer most, many are hurt in the crossfire. As the Maoists do have six members in the present interim parliament, the factions occasionly come to negotiate with their counterparts. With little result they go back to the south and exert the only tactic for getting attention. Roadblocks. They threaten the transport drivers with violence to their families or death if they transport goods. The Nepal army has stepped in to guide convoys through but the threats seem to have had impact. So what does that mean here in Katmandu. Inflating prices for groceries. Cooking propane and gasoline/diesel very expensive and hard to find. Lineups at pumps are a kilometre long. When you get to the pump, if there is any to be had, you are limited to the amount of litres. A few of the locals hope the mid-April elections will bring about peace and stability. Most have their doubts. Until then Katmandu will struggle through, and I, I'll go have some toast and butter. (Hmmm....I wonder if I can market this $4.25 half pound of butter on the stock market as a valuable commodity.) Until the next post,-if the power is on. (Posted by Ken.)

Sights, sounds - and smells

Sights, sounds - and smells of Kathmandu - the sight of vehicles zooming around each other, swerving around people and animals, the sight of fruit, vegetable and meat stalls lining the cobbled streets, of people with masks to cover their noses from the permeating pollution, and children doggedly pursuing you for a few rupees; the sounds of worship at 7:00 a.m., and bells tinkling to awaken dead spirits, of constant honking of horns as you walk the streets, of children playing in the courtyard in the dark at 7:00 in the evening when the electricity has gone off, of roosters crowing in the morning, street dogs barking and goats bleeting; and the smells in the evening of people burning their garbage. The last time we saw a garbage can, except for one single one at Bahrain airport, was in Canada - not one in London (for fear of bombs), nor in Kathmandu. So garbage is collected into little piles on the street for burning. Car fumes and burning garbage - the smells of Kathmandu.

February 22

6:30 a.m.
Vienna Boys' Choir - step aside! Imagine the voices of barefoot little boys of all ages, crowded into the room of an older boy, himself where they once were too, but now leading them in worship, singing with loud voices, "Allelulia! Allelulia! No more weeping on the other side!" These are the 'new boys', who used to live and beg on the street, just like the ones we met yesterday whose plea for you to buy their wares was, "I'm hungry". But these ones have met Jesus and, when you see their worshipping faces, the tears stream down my face. More scantily clad than we, crouched barefoot on their leader's one-room floor, warm and happy brown eyes, every morning at 7:00 sing and pray before they do their chores and head off to school. Does their neighbour wonder - the devout Hindu man who, every morning at 6:30, rises to pray? I heard the sounds of bells tinkling, sounding just like the local 'ice cream man' on his bicycle, but these bells are to call on his ancestors to whom he offers his prayers, to waken them so they can accept his daily sacrifices. Oh, that he could find Jesus, Who doesn't need to be awakened, Who is always there eagerly waiting for us to meet with Him!

February 19th

7:00 a.m., waking up to the sounds of worship on the rooftop - what a wonderful way to begin the day! The street boys here love to play guitar and sing, and do it every chance they get (after doing their chores!). We have met Pastor Shem and his wife Sumi, the assistant pastor Raju and his wife Bawani (not sure if that's how you spell it), youth leaders Muna and Bikas - all very welcoming and friendly people who have taken us in and made us feel at home. Many speak English but also try to teach us Nepali. Slowly we are learning their names and language. Yesterday and today we went shopping for (you guessed it!) rice and dahl (lentils) and different spices. But the cooking smells and tastes so good! That is, when the electricity is on and you can see. We also got some candles so that we can see the way to our rooms. Might as well go to bed early as the evenings can be cold with no heat (you can even see your breath!) But for a few hours in the early afternoon, it is like a very warm summer day and we are shedding our sweaters. When you go shopping, the cars and motorcycles whiz by you, honking and beeping to warm others they're coming, as you won't find any stop signs, street lights or even clearly marked lanes. In fact, the whole way here from the airport, we didn't stop once. You just keep going and everyone (people, animals) just move out of the way as you go honking past. So far we have gone out and returned home unscathed! And now begins our 'blending in' ...

February 18th

Our night flight took us to Bahrain the next morning, where we waited for 4 hours, then to Kathmandu, Nepal on Monday night where we were met by some staff from the church. In London we went through very strict security; in Bahrain the same. But in Nepal, no-one even glanced at our luggage. No security, no putting all our belongings along a conveyor belt to be x-rayed, no walking through a sensor - nothing. We picked up our luggage, paid for our visas and walked straight outside into the night. They managed to fit all 18 pieces of our luggage into 2 vehicles, plus the 6 of us. What a drive through the city! By 7:00 it was already dark and there are no street lights. When we got to the church compound, several people were there to meet us but we couldn't really see their faces until the next day. It didn't take long, after unloading all our stuff, before we fell into wonderful horizontal beds for the first time in 2 days! We were surprised at finding a house-sized apartment waiting for us, instead of just one big room we had been expecting. And they even had a warm cooked meal ready for us. What wonderful people! The Lord is truly gracious!

February 17th

The Lord is gracious! After weeks of preparation, including getting shots, Sheri & Vanessa finishing their schooling and exams, putting together some modest clothing, ending our jobs, etc., we left on Saturday morning for Toronto and London, England. We planned a day in London before heading on to Bahrain in the Persian Gulf but were told we couldn't leave the airport all day. First we argued, then were angry, disappointed, and finally resigned to giving up our plans. We arrived in London at 6:30 the next morning, tired and sleepy, and the girls tried stretching out at the airport. Then we found out that we would, after all, be allowed to sightsee in London. It couldn't have been a more perfect day - sunny, blue sky the whole time. Not only that but the subway from the airport to London wasn't operating so we got to take the Heathrow Express (First Class!) for the same price! So we did a whirlwind tour - Big Ben, Tower of London, National Gallery, Buckingham Palace - all the things we may never see again. By the end of a day of walking all over the centre, we arrived back at the airport exhausted but thankful, waiting for our 10:30 flight. The Lord is gracious! Thank-you, Father!

Reality check; it's February 3rd, two weeks to go. Wow! There seems like a million and one things yet to do, and now yet so short a time. We had a family meeting with Andy and Becky Wood this evening. They're our overseeing pastors who we'll be corresponding with while overseas. They had alot of good information, some old stuff (for me anyway), some new. I'm definitely not looking forward to the cold water sponge baths! My thoughts have been, -I have to endure four months of that? Then I remembered a bus trip I took up into Tibet the last time I was in Nepal. Some poor dirt farmer, out in the open, bathing himself in a frigid mountain stream. Am I really going to have it that bad back at the church compound. At least my water won't be freezing and I'll have the dignity of the privacy that four walls are around me. Hmmm, I don't have it so bad! Next week I'll do a cool water bucket bath- just to try and prepare.........and thank God while I'm doing it! (Posted by Ken.)