Howling and Yowling

12/2/11

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

For our light & momentary troubles are achieving for us

an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Hello my friends and family,

I have been home over a week now and am so grateful to the Lord for all of you who have prayed me to the other side of the world and back! On Thanksgiving I was trying to count all my blessings and those I am so privileged to have in my "camp", and got overwhelmed reading your names off my "contacts" list. God has been sooooooooooooooo good to me and blessed me many times over through you. Thanks for letting Him use you in my life and in the lives of others as well! (Especially those in Nepal that have benefited by your prayers and support!)

Backing up a bit... Sorry the Nepali internet system has failed us all yet again. In Dadeldhura I went over 2 weeks with no internet connections and just as I got out a note to you all it crashed again...only to be a "virus" that followed me from place to place...each stop we made had their internet down and even in Kathmandu the wifi at the hotel was out! So you missed some of the highlights!

Here they are in a nutshell:

You missed the chronic nightly howling and yowling of the jackals followed by the 7-12 dogs that claim my narrow patio under my bedroom window as "their territory". You didn't miss much except the looks Susan and I exchanged every morning as we sleepily challenged "REALLY? AGAIN?" every morning. We did get used to the sleep deprivation just as it was time to leave!

A mama dog with 10 pups managed to keep them alive in spite of their multiple tumbles down 20-30 feet of the nearby landslide. She kept trying to dig a cave for them in the sliding hillside and it was torture to watch these wee pups (didn't even have their eyes open when we arrived!) wiggle to the edge to the cliff and fall off the precipice! Eventually she got the idea to dig her cave behind the 1000 liter water drum and then they had some safety.

You missed the note that I finally got to speak to R….. the Engineer on my last day in Dadeldhura! He was a great encouragement! He is willing to assist us to build the new facility pro bono... as it is right on his way to "tea" every day and "no inconvenience". He is willing to draw up some plans, hire us a contractor... the same one already doing the hospital construction, arrange for the building supplies to be purchased and delivered and for a dozer to excavate the site. He is personally willing to oversee daily process/progress... as long as he is there, working next door on the hospital, anyway. So God has given us a tremendous gift in this man. Pray it will all go as easily as he implies it will and that he will remain in Dadeldhura till our project is complete! Also pray that we will be able to accomplish lots by email and for my return date as he insists I return before construction can begin.

You missed the details of our trip down the mountain! Susan and I went down in a rented private car with a young British couple we got to know the 3 weeks we were in DDL, Ashleigh and Peter. It was a scenic and lovely trip to Bhardia, a National forest preserve 7 hours from DDL. We arrived at dusk to a lovely resort of 6 small cottages and ate a yummy home cooked western style dinner by candlelight as the power was out!

The next AM we got up early!!!!! And ran to meet our transport of the morning... Two waiting elephants and were promptly carried off down a steep slope, into the green waters, shoulder deep on the elephants, across the river into the jungle for the next 2 hours. We were privileged to see a wild boar, lots of spotted deer, monkeys, many birds and two rhinos! I'm going to give you a link to Ashleigh and Peter's blog for those of you who might enjoy a blow by blow description and photos of this adventure! They took photos of Susan and I and we took photos of them. Then we sat at lunch and swapped our memory sticks! It (the jungle expedition) was definitely the highlight of this trip!

I didn't tell you about the trip from the park to Sheshia... the leprosy community we are invested with! We arrived only about an hour before dark so had limited time with them but were thrilled to be shown the well that Dave helped them dig in 2009... They cranked up the diesel pump and in no time the water was gushing out in a refreshing torrent. It was clear they have been using it in nearby fields to irrigate new plant starts. Also encouraging was to see the funds they were given for electricity to the village actually did get used for that and each house now proudly sports a light bulb or two or three!

That night we spent with B…. and his family, a long time friend and brother. The next AM we joined them at his Tharu church and coming home, Susan (and the rest of us), got to ride the local cycle rickshaw to complete her Nepali experience of riding every form of transport Nepal has to offer.

That afternoon we attempted to catch a flight to Kathmandu... however the flight was several hours late "due to bad weather in central Nepal" so we spent the entire afternoon outside the terminal in the "garden". This did enable us to meet the policeman that I had ministered to last time I was at this airport. Several police welcomed us and the chief that had asked me to see the sick man in June, quickly volunteered" Oh Didi, he was well before your plane even landed in Kathmandu back then!" I turned and the man who had experienced God's miraculous healing stood before me beaming! I said "I told you my God is powerful!" He answered... "Now I know". I took the opportunity to give him a CD in Nepali about the gospel and had Susan take our picture together. Continue to pray for him.

Shortly thereafter a policewoman quietly approached me. "Didi... I am having unusual female problems... I have been to 3 hospitals and no one can help me... I have heard about your prayers to your God and I wondered if you could pray for me too." So right there in the terminal I took her hands and prayed to Almighty God on her behalf! Next year I look forward to her continued story and am jazzed to think what God will do for her and her faith.

Our flight ... in the dark, petrified as I was, turned out uneventful. Early the next AM Susan took the "Everest fly by" fight and eventually got air born after a two hour delay. We spent the remainder of the day shopping, tying up loose ends, packing etc. The next day, our final one, Susan and I made one last tourist trip to Pashupati temples. This is the site along the river where the Hindus do their cremation rituals and worship. Sobering to say the least, to realize the smoke rising over the river was human remains smoldering.

As we watched they brought a child (not more than 10-12), stripped his clothes and threw them in the river and ceremoniously wrapped his little body in yellow/ orange cloth. Then a man (father?) carefully picked his body up and carried it over to a pyre of logs and laid him on it. A different attendant layered logs and straw upon the body and after walking around the pyre 7 times lit the torch to the straw. Meanwhile all the women quietly were on the other side of the bridge, washing the steps and pavement where he had been wrapped- flushing the flowered offerings into the river with his clothes. It was one of the hardest things I have ever had to watch. None of my Hospice experience could prepare me for the emotional toll of that moment. The darkness of this place was almost too much!

The trip home was uneventful except my visa had expired by 2 days and the airport immigration sent me from line to line till I paid $36 and was cleared for security. All of it took way too long and I had to run for my flight to be reunited with Susan... on the plane this time! We had a lovely night at the Hyatt in Seoul, Korea where we parted ways and have been trying to find our land legs and a match on mind and body ever since. I think I'm finally over jet lag! 4 days after arriving home I had to sleep for 18 hours so I'm reluctant to say I'm really over it!

A disappointment today... one of the administrators of the nursing home I have worked at in the past called regretfully to explain they have no hours for me at present... the census is so low they are sending RN's and Aides home every shift and operating with a skeleton crew. So I am without an income and have a mortgage payment due on the 11th. I know my Lord is "Jehovah Jirah... my provider... his grace is sufficient for me", as the song goes! Pray I will be content and at peace, and without fear, to wait for His reveal for my next move!

Now we are caught up! And I'll catch you next time!

Blessings on you and yours!

Dawn Didi