Waking up in Nepal

The big talent show was last night! It was held in the basement. The kids in resident put on quite a show! It was mostly in Nepali, so we had to read between the lines (in English). There were three skits, a song in English by Sunita (Hosanna In The Highest), a dance number by Roda & co., a song by Will, and a reading by Samuel. Every “act” was about some aspect of truth in the bible.  There were three judges and prizes. They picked me to award the prizes! What fun! The plan is to have a talent show every Friday night. I told Kirk today maybe we can have popcorn & Kool-aid next week. Today Nitu told me how much she enjoyed the popcorn I made for the kids week before last. I’d like to make it again, maybe tomorrow and then Friday night. Pramita had mentioned to me that some of the children in outlying poverty- stricken areas lived on popcorn & wild nuts. It went thru my mind that popcorn might bring back bad memories. A few of the children here have parents but the parents have too many mouths to feed. The children came suffering from malnutrition. When Nitu said that today, I realized that I can’t over think everything. My biggest goal concerning the children is to “cause no further pain”. They have been through enough. God Bless Them Every One!

Thanks for tuning in,

Liz

Hi, everyone! I used my electricity yesterday to bake a cake. Yes, it was from scratch. What else is there? Jacob, we enjoyed your birthday cake! Wish you were here to celebrate. I owe you one! Thankfully, I found margarine here (as I think I’ve mentioned). I’m pretty well getting in the cooking groove now. The fresh vegetables are so good! From what I understand, there is a region that still has a growing season underway. There are fresh vegetable carts and stands everywhere in the city. We are in the suburbs of Kathmandu, so I go to the shop mentioned in the previous post. I even have Kirk eating the fresh green beans! WOW! I’ve been putting them in stir-fry and sauteing them in olive oil. All veggies have to to be soaked in water with a couple drops of iodine to kill bacteria. I noticed even Pramita does this! Vic got sick yesterday. Please pray that he can shake this bug. We can never let our guard down. Back to veggies. There are many that I have never seen before! I’d like to try some, but I need to take Pramita with me  to give me advice. Some of them may be more expensive than I want to pay. Pramita is very busy teaching in the school, as well as being the principal. She wears many hats here, another idiom that takes much explaining. But hey, we have time! Speaking of time, someone asked via e-mail if time was passing fast or slow. It just is. I feel like we have been baptized into Nepal, totally emersed. The rhythm of life here is such that it takes everything one has for survival. And we’ve got it easy! Last week when we went to the home of the new convert (yes, I’ve got to master her name), I found out that she is considered “middle class”. The family of four live in a two room apartment with an indoor bathroom. She served the eight of us a boiled egg each. I am very proud of Will for eating it, since he doesn’t like boiled eggs. She also served us a delicious hot drink, a mix of tea, coffee and milk, along with cookies. She called Will a cute baboo(boy). The past church service, she brought Will a package of cashews, which he was really happy about because he’s always HUNGRY after church. This sweet lady may be the Ms. Carol or Ms. Sheila in Nepal! When people bless us in these ways it is so humbling, knowing what little they have. May God richly bless His people! Amen!

Love to all

Liz