Today was a free morning for each of us to explore the local Thamel area bazaar, do some souvenir shopping, or just relax. We had a Nepali experience where a local assisted us to locate a mobile phone handset store to buy a cheap handset for Chris to have for the rest of our travels, as his phone [for some weird reason] won’t accept our TravelSim or the Nepali Sim we bought on arrival here. We have no idea what brand it is, except that it was made in India. At least it recognises the SIM card, and that’s all we need. The experience however was that this guy led us through lane after lane, turning corner after corner to take us to the Nepali shopping area rather than just being in the mainly tourist bazaar. We knew he would expect some sort of payment, and we were prepared to give him Rs200 however he assured us he didn’t want money, but would we help out by buying some food for him and his family. Continue reading MORE OF KATHMANDU – Thursday July 31 →

Day one of two to explore Kathmandu, was again another amazing privilege to see the places where we know the Hayes family – Bruce, Libby, Daniel, Julia, Stephanie & Ruth, would have spent the bulk of their time while here in Kathmandu for so many years. Our first stop was weaving our way through the incredible traffic to see KISC [Kathmandu International Study Centre]. We met up with Kylie Colville who gave us a tour. We saw first hand the rooms where Libby taught, and the classrooms where Daniel, Julia, Steph & Ruth would have sat.

So good to see a place that has been in our prayers for so long.

We then walked round the corner to the INF offices and met Ros Brain, a beautiful vivacious lady who is the Pastoral Care Officer for INF missionaries around the Kathmandu area. More great stories and connections. She also gave us a Nepali/English New Testament for us to give to Raju, our driver. We pray that the profound and powerful words of Scripture might open his heart to the truth of Jesus and His work on the cross. Continue reading EXPLORING KATHMANDU – Wednesday July 30 →

Over these last 6 days we all have a very special place in our hearts for Pokhara. The local people, the local Christian church and the individual stories we’ve heard, the missionaries we’ve met … and the children. Our hearts are bursting, and we are praising God at every point. He has sustained us, He has graciously ministered to us, He has blessed us. Our day today was 6 hrs of driving through more magnificent valleys and gorges, seeing terraced rice paddies, so many stone and mud brick houses, with corrugated iron roofs held down only by big stones.

But today’s particular highlight was the view of the Annapurnas opening up as we drove out of town. Continue reading Farewell to Pokhara ~ back to Kathmandu Tuesday July 29 →

This morning’s visit to Green Pastures Hospital was yet another incredible eye-opener to both the great need and fantastic work being done in this country. Green Pastures is part of the International Nepal Fellowship [INF] work. We joined the staff for their morning prayer and devotion time – some lovely singing and prayer for the work of INF, specific needs of Green Pastures, and some needs of particular patients. Ruth and Salome then took us on a tour round the hospital complex. The main work here is rehabilitation and palliative care for spinal injuries and leprosy sufferers. It was so wonderful to see the workshop which makes prostheses onsite so that patients whose leprosy has led to amputation or disfigurement can learn to walk, work, eat and be as independent as possible. Continue reading Green Pastures Hospital – Pokhara July 28 →

Today is our beautiful eldest daughter’s birthday and we are not very close at all to be able to celebrate together. We went out for a beautiful dinner the week before we left, so the memory of that lovely family night is still very fresh for us. We are sad to be missing out on the day and those special times. Continue reading REACH for the ….. BUBBLES …POKHARA Sunday July 27 →

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. Continue reading POKHARA – Saturday July 26 →

What a day of absolute privilege we have just had. The morning began with a visit to the Pokhara Head Office of the International Nepal Fellowship where Kate Dalitz from CMS Australia works. Between her and Niraaj, a local Christian also working for INF, we heard the story of not only the beginnings of Christianity in Nepal, but also the genesis of INF. Continue reading POKHARA – Friday July 25 →

What a great morning! We drove to the main business area for the locals, quite different from Lakeside where we are staying, which is definitely a tourist area. Kate Dalitz, a CMS missionary working as Integral Mission Officer with the International Nepal Fellowship [INF] has devised an assimilation activity for new missionaries, expats, short term-ers, visitors, which helped us greatly to get into the culture, Continue reading POKHARA – Thursday July 24 →

Saying farewell to Ganesh, Raju picked us up at 8am for the four hour very winding drive to Pokhara. What beautiful vistas. We wound our way through glorious valleys, with rock-filled streams lined with steep terraced rice paddies. Monkeys along the road cheekily looked at us inside our van and then scrambled up the hillside. One of them was carrying the sweetest little baby, obviously very new. After a short toilet stop at a little village we continued on to the lake city of Pokhara. Settling in to the Sacred Valley Inn was very easy as we were welcomed by an English lady, who along with her Nepali husband runs this guesthouse. Continue reading Tansen to Pokhara – Wednesday July 23 →

We had a fantastic monsoon thunderstorm during the night, and then awoke to the amazing gift of blue sky and a beautiful view of the Annapurnas. How majestic is the Lord our God, and how marvellous his works! We were in awe, and cameras were clicking. The clouds were continually moving so the view changed quickly, disappearing, and reappearing. How blessed we are. Especially when we came with the realistic expectation that we would probably not see the mountains because of the season of our visit.

Continue reading Tansen – July 22 →