We are building yet again:)

Hi Everyone,

Just want to thank you for your prayers! Some of them are already being answered so keep praying please!

Our Radio programmer is out in India studying to become an ophthalmologist. He wrote me that his wife and 2 small kids ( 5 and 1yr) are lonely and want to join him in Chandighar. He has 2 full years left in his courses. He attends a Nepali chu-rch there and if they are together as a family he and she can both work together on the programming. I think it is a good idea for their family to be together.

I want you, our prayer supporters to know about this so you can begin to pray for this. We will pray more funds will come in for programming so I can give them a blessing more before their planned transfer just a month from now in March. We have paid up their salary through January 2014. It would be so great If I could give them their salary for the next 11 months. It is only $100/ month.  Praise God for their faithful service of producing quality messages and programs in the local Dotiyali dialect that reach 140,000 or more 3 x per week in their own tongue!

The building is progressing. The pillars are finished for this next level today so they are collecting "Kaat" ( wooden supports) to build the structure to support the "lantern" (cement slab roof of level 2 and floor of level 3).

 Pray for Sundari.  Her husband is my general contractor on all the building we are doing here. She is very sick these last few days and He is somewhere in the terrai. She is wondering if she should go to a hospital in Dhangadi, Nepal Gang or Kathmandu??? is it just a virus or more serious?  She has been to this local Gov Regional hospital 2 x in 24 hours and still the Dr. did not examine her! She has a history of Lupus and a fragile immune system so it is hard to know what is really going on in her body. But the LORD knows!

SO sad there is no adequate medical care here now!.

Digri is slowly getting better and was able to find strength to knit me 5 hats in 2 days. I send her a piece of fruit everyday and occasionally a piece of cake to encourage her. It seems to be helping along with your prayers and encouragement! Some of you have sent specific words for her and she has taken them to heart! Pray for her full recovery from this UTI

Little Laxmi ( Rama's niece and caregiver - only 10 years old) also has some serious health concerns but there is no Dr. to diagnose her condition. I took some video we hope to send to Dr. Caleb, a pediatrician in Kathmandu, to see if he can help with his opinion.

Sundari's father occupied the bench in the bakery and took pills to try to lower his BP for about 10 days. Both Tara Datt and I tried to teach him how important it was for him to drink water, that his blood is like dhahi ( yougurt) and one glass of water  per day is not enough to keep his BP down and flush out his kidney and bladder stones. He would not listen and simply would not drink water. But he would get up most bitter cold mornings and go up to the old outdoor kitchen, change into a thin dhoti ( sheer gauze like fabric) and sit in the cold and make his own fire and his own rice and eat it before changing back into his Nepali suit.  He is HIndu: Bhramin and cannot eat rice from anyone else's hand.Then he would return to the Bakery Café bench and demand blankets and hot water ( but to wash not to drink!) He ended up with 3 thick Korean plush queen size blankets and a heavy sidik ( comforter) and my extra heater I had lent the family.. all for his personal use in the bakery so he could be near a toilet. So 5 other members suffered with cold for the 10 nights he was here hogging all the blankets! But he is the grandfather after all. 3 days ago he suddenly decided the BP medicine was not bringing his BP down fast enough - he was going to Kathmandu. An hour later he was on a local vehicle down the hill to Dhangadi. He vomited the whole way down the hill and went straight to the hospital in Dhangadi as by the end he was vomiting blood. He spent 2 nights there and yesterday got a flight to Kathmandu. He needs your prayers on many levels.

I must admit I was amused... the one night I made spaghetti for the family, he decided to abandon his Hindu restrictions and ate 2 bowls of my salad and 2 big slices of garlic bread! I'm pretty sure he wasn't supposed to eat from my caste less hand! 

Still no word on the repair for the FM transmitter. Raj is due back tomorrow so hopefully he will have some answers. 

I took a walk for 4 KM's today to view a new house some of our community neighbors have just built. I sunburnt my nose! I'm sure you wanted to know this valuable tidbit of info. It does verify the sun does shine here and yes it is starting to warm up! PTL

Well it is late so I will close this for now.

Keep those prayers coming please!

Dawn Didi

Snowy and cold but feeling better:)

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to give you a few updates on life from this side of the world!

The weather has been very nasty here. It has been super cold here the last 3 days with rain, hail, snow and sleet.  We are all bundled in multiple layers trying to keep warm!

We had snow here today. The ground was covered as church let out.The snow in the passes on the surrounding mountains sure makes the hills a pretty sight when the clouds lift! The kids made a small snowman with spoons for arms and coal for eyes and a lellow toy for a nose!

Last night the storm hit us with lightning and struck the transmitter out on Afno FM, the tower just above us...please pray for quick repair so the Christian programming can continue. 

Yesterday we were able to narrow down a contractor for the construction of the next level of the building. We were able to negotiate a good price for the labor and started ordering supplies today though delivery of them was obstructed by the inclement weather! We are still finalizing the contract with the guy so it is just as well.

We are also working with the local Ch-urch and the NGO they have formed- they are finalizing their constitution and proposals but it looks to be a good thing for us to place our interests under their registration otherwise we will have to create our own NGO here in Nepal.( a long arduous process full of beaurocratic quagmires with the existing Gov. ) Please pray for wisdom in this decision and clear direction in this regard.

Thanks to those of you who prayed for my health... it took  a whole week  but I am better, rehydrated and energetic again. Thank God for Tinidozole!

Thanks to those of you who prayed for my cell phone. I bought a new one complete with sim card in K-du 2 weeks ago and on my first week out here had it in my pants pocket. A baby peed all over me and I took them off and plopped them in a bucket forgetting that I had put water in that same bucket earlier... uh huh... 5 hours later I went around in circles looking for my phone! I found it all right- just where I had left it!! I immediately took the thing apart and dried it out but being sick, it was a whole week till I had the energy to walk to town a mile each way to see if it could be saved! Yesterday I took it to the NCell office and presented it to the clerk with the words "now don't laugh..." they were able to fix it and use my same battery and sim card and so there was no charge! PTL! There was considerable laughter amongst all the clerks in spite of my admonition!

About 10 days ago... Tuesday I think it was, I went with Megh Raj and met with the CDO to ask permission if we could go to the jail and bring the gifts we had, to the inmates. He approved ( turns out he was the assistant CDO... the antagonistic one, head CDO, was away in Dehli)  That same afternoon, 4 of the YWAM girls, Megh and I went trotting off to jail. Turns out the "jailer" was in Dhangadi with his very pregnant wife awaiting the birth of their child and the "assistant jailer" was reluctant to let us all the way into the inner court as they had had a recent escape and he did not want to be held responsible for anything going amiss. So we were let into the first passage but had to pass the socks and mittens one by one into the guard through a double set of iron bars and all the male inmates were lined up inside to receive them. We could see most of them and talk to them. They all remembered me and were joking with me. They were all very grateful for the warmth and thanked us for the gifts and remembering them. One of the Ywam girls, Rochelle, had a few minutes to explain why we were there and why we had brought these gifts from our church and that many people were praying for them and it was all because of the love of Jesus. He loved them inside those bars as much as He loves us on this this side of the bars. She did an eloquent job and Megh interpreted very accurately. So they heard the truth and we pray it will set them free... at least spiritually! Thanks to those of you who donated those socks and mittens! They have reached their destinations.

We are praying for another opportunity for Follow up and to take them 2 radios so they can listen to our Chr-ist-ian programming. again pray the transmitters can be repaired!

Turns out Pavitri that came with me to the jail 6-7 times last year has decided to take this prison ministry seriously and took some training and got herself a " get into jail free" card from Prison Fellowship Ministry. She can take me and whoever she wants right into the inner courtyard any time the jailer oks it and has built up a nice relationship witht he jailer. They are allowing PFM to create a small library inside the jail. PFM donated 11,000 rupees for the bookcases and she had them made up already and are ready to install! PFM will then donate all the books those shelves can hold! The inmates have asked for a few books they knew to ask for and those will be obtained as well and the remainder will be Ch-risti-an.... hummm Crazy huh!

So I am waiting to hear the jailer is back in town and we will follow up! (with a present for the new baby of course!)  

I am having guests for dinner tomorrow night... maybe 6. The Leaders and the staff of the Ywam team are to come for spaghetti and garlic bread. They are not sure if they have ever had this before... it will be a new experience for them and a pleasant break from dal/bhat for me!

The paraplegic girls are still cold as we all are here. It just feels impossible to get and stay warm in spite of layers of blankets and triple layers of socks!

 Digri is still very sick and feels she cannot knit or crochet anymore. She is very thin and feels she is slowly dying. The AB and treatment did little to help her feel better and we are trying another AB but she is resistant to so many from frequent and often continuous AB use. The young "green" Dr still has yet to come examine her! Please pray for her. She has been so close to death so many times but by the grace of God, keeps somehow hanging on!

Well I think that covers the picture for now.

I will keep you posted! Could you keep us all in your prayers?

Dawn Didi

Flying through the rails on this trip:/

So grateful to finally have internet! I have been here since Wednesday PM but couldn't get the internet to function! The World Link office was closed for three days and yesterday I was busy keeping the YWAM volunteers busy on 5 different tasks so didn't make it to the office before they closed. ... funny - went and paid up the bill for 2 months in advance and lo and behold the internet suddenly works!

The bus trip from Kathmandu was brutal. The last 4 hours of it was in pea soup fog so thick you literally could not see 2 meters in front of the bus. I suspect the driver switched  with the conductor guy about that time so he could snooze, cause the driving suddenly became erratic and it felt like we were speeding around the corners. Fortunately these were smaller hills, not the actual "mountains". I tried to doze myself, after about an hour of white-knuckling it and just about succeeded when the driver slammed on the brakes and I went flying through the rails. I had had my legs extended on the rail as my seat was just inside the door above the stairs up into the bus. The impact lurched everyone forward and there are no seatbelts on these buses! So I found myself hanging with one arm on the top rail and the rest of my body suspended over the steps. I surely was wide awake now! No real harm but the wrenched muscles when my right arm flew up to catch the rest of me!

I was awake the rest of the trip so yah, 3 AM till we arrived in Dhangadiat 8:30 AM on Tuesday. We spent  a full 32 hours recovering at Balwa's house there before we got a private vehicle to bring us the rest of the 4 -5 hours up the hill on Wednesday. Santos this driver calls me "mom"

It was great to have a traveling companion this trip! Pratiksha, (Shibi's daughter, aged 22) finished her exams in K-du Monday morning so I waited for her so we could travel home together. She has 10 days off and was returning to Dumada, her village, to see her family. This is the same village I grew up in about 6 KM from here. I have known her family well for 46 years and call them my Nepali family  All these kids call me "Mom" as well!.

I went to Dumada today! Joined the YWAM team on their village excursion and we did some prayer walking  and I did a lot of reminiscing and greeting old friends in the village! We had lunch at Bhuwan"s  ( leader of YWAM ) house as his mom made a special feast for us all! Yum. I am praying there will be no negative repercussions to my intestinal tract!

I have had a chance to assess the "sitchyation" at the new paraplegic house and evaluate all the problems over there. Yes it is very cold in that building cause the sun doesn't hit the building but for 1 hour this time of year. The ceilings do drip continuously with "rain" which is definitely condensation from the warm air in the room hitting the cold cement ceilings. The squeegee I brought from K-du  quickly relocates the water  but of course is only a temporary solution. Yesterday amongst other helpful acts of kindness, the YWAM team boys helped me stuff cotton around the windows to fill in the 1/4 - 1/2 inch gaps between windows and walls ( no trim has been applied inside or outside so cold air just poured in through these big gaps). They then used up my precious roll of duct tape and the weather stripping I just brought to seal up on the insides and a tube of "bath and tile sealer" I had in my tool trunk to seal the outsides so that should improve things a little.

We are also suggesting the girls keep the windows open about 3 inches in the day time when the air is warm and their doors open to get  warmer air in the room to dry them out a little but close them promptly when the sun goes down  and the air gets chilly. This makes little sense to them but they have done it now for a few days and it is helping! 

A consensus of everyone from general contractors to the person on the street is: A) this is the worst it will ever be. B) this happens in every new building the first year and will likely be minimal if any issue next year after the cement has set up properly. C) this is not water coming through the cement roof... it is condensation. D) the weather is already warming up E) the single most effective thing we can do to remediate this is to build the next level of the building.

Sooooooo that is the plan. We will build the educational center... at least the pillars and  the next roof!  4 pillars and the back retaining wall are already in place. We need 8 more pillars and at least the nexk roof. We can then fill in with brick walls as we have the funds. We have $ 5000.00  that should cover the pillars and ceiling but will need to collect for the brick walls.

Many of you have written to ask how you can help so I have prayed and want to share the thought I had in response. I call it the "power of 10"

I appreciate that many of you feel you don't have much to contribute financially... and having been broke myself most of this last year I can relate. But if everyone that gets this email could send in just $10 in this next month - we could have this educational center done in the next 8 weeks I am here.  And if each of you could talk to others about this need till each of you can find one other person who could do the same -and send in $10 then we can complete the interior and furnish it as well and get it functional! now if you can convince 10 others instead of just 1, think how we could exponentially impact the potential here.  Who do you know that you could share this need with?

We envision this as an educational center where literacy, skill, computer and spiritual training could take place and we would have a small library as well as a small boutique where these women could sell their fine products locally.

So could you pass on a Starbucks coffee just twice this week and make a difference in this community with those same resources? I know some of you will want to give more and we certainly won't object! But by us all pulling together with just "10" we will make a huge difference in the lives of hundreds who will use this place to learn and grow. Perhaps you know of a philanthropist or foundation who would assist us in this? Please share with them and clue me in if you know who we could approach to help us improve thousands of lives through this center. We know that every impoverished woman we reach in this learning center will exponentially impact 4-5 lives in her home if not in her own community! If you give a man a fish you feed him for a day. If you teach an man to fish you feed him for a lifetime. If you teach a woman how to fish she will feed her whole family and community  for a lifetime and teach that man how to clean his fish!

Will close for now and give you more updates later on our other ministries. Tomorrow I go to talk with the CDO ( chief district officer) to explore what I can do to continue the prison ministry. There are 40 very cold prisoners and I have socks and mittens for them all but am told this CDO ( new since I was last here) is very negative about Christians and has created resistance about allowing ones from the chu-urch in of late to visit. I need the favor of man to proceed. It is a spiritual battle we fight... not against flesh and blood but against principalities...Pray for me please.

Thanks for standing in the gap with me.

We need your prayers !

Oh and please pray for Digri, One of the 2 paraplegics... 

she is running a fever and seems to have another UTI. She gets so very sick with these. We started her on antibiotics yesterday... she needs the Lord's touch of healing! So does a 6 month old baby here in my landlord's home with fever and vomiting for 3 days. The hospital is empty... only a few patients and no supplies. Is there even a doctor? When I was there a few days ago he was due to arrive but hadn't yet!

Thanks for prayerfully considering your part in this educational center for HIs glory!

All for now!

Keeping faith!

Dawn Didi

Donations may be sent to:

Dare to Care

345 N Alfred St.

Elgin Ill., 60123

www.daretocareinc.com    has a paypal link for cc use

One of our young ladies learning to knit

A small group of our ladies learning knitting

More ladies learning to produce product for a source of income to support their families