Saturday …. worship day for Nepali Christians. Nepalis work 6 days/week [except for the poor and extremely poor, who try to eke out a living continuously].

Three of our group went to Holy Church – Nicole, Don & Dianne, the church where Kirsten Hawkshaw [CMS Missionary, OT at Green Pastures Hospital] attends. Nicole led the children’s program in her usual beautiful and competent way, ably assisted by Don & Dianne. They were each gifted with scarves and were asked to introduce themselves. For them, the excitement really began they were returning to our bus for transport back to join the rest of us. On approach, Raju, our driver, seemed to be making friends with the locals, but then as they got closer it became clear that wasn’t the case. He had been accused of marking the new road some workers had just laid and were demanding payment to recompense for the damage. Raju was getting quite worried as what they were demanding was the equivalent of a month’s wages for him. The van was surrounded and they weren’t allowed to leave until payment had been made. The group all pitched in and paid the ‘fine’, and they eventually joined us for lunch.

The rest of us were at Nayagaun Church where Ruth & Gordon Russell worship. This is a much bigger church than Kirsten’s. Chris preached with a translator, and did extremely well. In Nepali worship the women sit on the left of the church and the men sit on the right, all on the floor. There are some benches at the back for elderly people. At the end of the service we gifted them with the new laptop which some of our team and several people from church generously donated. We also left them three other second-hand laptops for distribution to those who will find them most worthwhile. It was encouraging that many people thanked Chris for his message in the service.

We had a delightful lunch at Ruth & Gordon’s home. Their hospitality has truly been magnificent! We relaxed for a couple of hours before heading back over to church for the 3 hour session of Children’s Ministry Training we had been asked to do. Nicole led a wonderful time of teaching on leadership, discipleship, commitment and evangelism. They were truly grateful and told us they were blessed, but it was so much more enriching for us to see the vibrancy and dedication to Christ of all these young people, and their commitment to the children of Pokhara.

Exhausted, we arrived back at our guesthouse soon after 8 and collapsed into bed.