Well, we are back from our Chitwan adventure with Nitu, our guide and niece of the people we are staying with, and after our fun with the elephants, rhinos, and crocodiles (where we left off last time), we made it to a children’s home and a “gathering”.
Friday, we went and visited a small children’s home in the area. Transportation where we were in southern Nepal is a very tricky thing, as very few people have cars, and where we were, there aren’t any taxis, and few buses… so the best alternative is a motorcycle. Good thing I (Justin) got my motorcycle license a few years back, because that is how Krista and I made our way to the children’s home about 30 minutes away. As I remembered the basics of driving a motorcycle, and tried to follow our guide on the motorbike in front of us, I quickly found the two most important functions in Nepal, the horn and the throttle (the break is only used as a last resort). Upon a grateful arrival, we spent the day with the leader there showing us his community building, and plans for growth. About 1 pm when the children were done with school for the day, the Nepali school has a half day on Fridays, we spent some time with the children learning songs and dances, and teaching them songs and some dance moves… their dances were way cooler than ours. And we shared some stories from the Good Book and even handed out some treats. We then played a very exciting game of Bucket Ball (a variation of basketball) until we were all too tired to continue. And we ended the day with some typical Nepali food for dinner… we’ll explain more on the Nepali food in another blog.
Saturday, which is more like their Sunday, we went to a “gathering” and sang some songs, and just when I thought I wasn’t going to have to speak, everyone looked at me, and I guess I was on. So I gave a short message, which with translation actually turned into a 45 minute message, and then we ended the “gathering”. Krista went to the leader’s house, while the leader, one of his top guys, and I took a little tour of his other “gathering” buildings and a spot for a future building… all via motorbike, one motorbike, which I drove with the other two guys on the back. That sure increased my prayer life, especially when the dirt road I was on turned into a narrow bridge over a canal. Yikes. After the tour we joined up with Krista and enjoyed lunch with the leader and his family at their very simple house. In fact it was more like a little hut with mud walls (we’ll post some photos)… surrounded by chickens, buffalo, and goats (kind of a loud place). Oh and a house cat… good for killing mice and rats they told me. After our meal there, we headed back to our hotel to relax before dinner at Nitu’s family’s house of a very good and traditional Nepali meal, complete with the delicious Nepali tea, Chiya.
Back in Kathmandu, we have done a little more site-seeing around the city. We enjoyed a tour of a very ancient part of town, where cars are not allowed, that has many Hindu Temples and some local artisans, especially potters. We also got to go to the farm of our host, Brother Chaatri. He has a few projects he is working on these days and this farm is one of his big projects. They have about 3 to 4 acres with some chickens and goats, and beautifully terraced farmland where they will cycle through 3 crops: rice, wheat and vegetables. It’s also a place where he can employ some of the poor of Nepal… the couple that run the farm were at one time very poor, not believers, and about to get a divorce when our host gave them the land to work on and counseled them. Now they are both believers, thriving financially and their marriage is restored! While we were there, they made us a super lunch which we enjoyed in the warm sunshine by the creek that runs right by the farm! It was a great place and he has some great ideas of expanding it. We’ll post some photo’s soon.
We have been enjoying ourselves at their house as well, staying warm with multiple layers of winter clothes, thick socks and hot Tea. We have been reading a lot, having great conversations with our host couple (they have some amazing stories – we’ll post a few of these here and there as Shoe Stories) and even enjoying a little TV once and a while (way to go Federer in the Aussie open). Now that we’re back in Kathmandu, we’re excited to begin visiting their Children’s Home and their college soon. Tomorrow we are planning to get up early, 4 am, and head to a local area that has a great view of the sunrise over the Himalayas and Mt. Everest (The highest mountain in the world)!!
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