11/4/12
OK ... I knew this trip would not be
easy but REALLY?
It seems it has been nothing but
challenges!!!!
Last I had a chance to send you an
update was over 10 days ago in Kathmandu. A day later my mouse froze up on my
notebook (obstacle#1) and I couldn't get it to work. Finally the clerk at the
Hotel Utse desk plugged in their mouse and I got 2 emails out before it quit.
The next morning at breakfast I had a German and 2 American IT guys trying to
get it working to no avail. Finally when the shops opened Friday morning, I took
it to a little cyber shop and the guy puttsed with it for awhile and started
telling me to go across town to where they might be able to help me. I
explained my bus left for Dadeldhura in a few hours and I didn't have time to
run around... He asked " you tried the battery right?" "No"
I replied... so we took out the battery and replaced it again and WALLA!
So that works but I still had yarn
to buy, and baking soda for the bakery to buy and finish packing and a few
other errands before getting to the bus park. So priorities... no time to write
emails!
By the way, I had a great time with
Yam Devi, designing and ordering a bunch of new jewelry options for the Brick
maker women to produce! The ladies are thrilled to have new orders and work!
I was infinitely frustrated cause all
the shops were closed for the Deshain holiday (obstacle #2) and I could not buy
yarn or groceries to bring out here. Finally one of the shops in Thamel that
sells sweaters, took me to their factory and let me buy 10 kilo of their wool
(rejects) but it is not in the colors I needed so is mostly blacks and neutrals... it has
put a definite kink in our style in terms of developing the products we hoped
for out west.
5 days wasted sitting around K-du
was about all I could take... fortunately I got a bus ticket on one of the
first buses headed west after the holiday. It was an AC bus so had to pay extra
for that... though who needs AC on a night bus in October in Nepal... it's more
like you need heat! So I bought a big blanket like shawl for that and it kept
me warm on the trip.
Now, I asked the Lord for a good seat
mate, one who would not throw up on me, and for protection on this long
journey. He heard me and gave me a package deal...an army captain, 29 years old
with beautiful blue eyes (rare for a Nepali) and a buff body ( irrelevant I
suppose) who within the first hour asked if he could call me "MOM"!
LOL!
He was pleasant company and took
every pain to protect me and insure my comfort and anticipate my needs. He is
determined to find me on FB and converse if I can ever find Internet access!
Actually I feel honored to have his respect and have agreed to pray for him,
his wife and his new baby boy, 1 month and 6 days old as of our travel date.
Please pray for him and his family as well, as we may never know how God is
working in his heart and life though such an innocent contact!
He called me last night from the
Barracks to check on me and assure me he is still my "Son".
Obstacles I have experienced since
arriving safely last Saturday continue to arise
Here are a few... some resolved and
others still pending for the miracles we are praying for but expect!
#3:It took 5 days to find a dozer
and Tipper truck but it finally arrived last Thursday. It took 10 more hours to
clear away all the rock and debris and mud from the landslides onto our
construction site! But it looks pretty clear now. There were several precarious
moments where disturbing the face of the mountain brought down more slippage
and we were in fear for the house perched ( on no foundation... just stilts)
above. But the dirt seems dry and the house still standing. There were a host
of observers holding their breath. It is still precarious so join me in
believing there are 10,000 angels holding up the face of that mountain!!!
I met with Megh (my master overseer
for the paraplegic facility building project) and Pastor P tonight about our
next plan of action. We all agree we should build a big retaining wall ASAP.
Tomorrow we will meet for prayer at 9 AM and then are inviting a Korean
engineer to come assess our situation and get us back on track with our
building plans. Obstacle #4 is the last engineer quit his job at the hospital
... the one that promised to daily supervise this project pro bono! so he has left town! Bummer!
But we trust God has an even better
plan and engineer in store for us...one who can advise us exactly how to build
this wall. (I am wondering how much experience Nehemiah had in construction
before they took on rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem??? I have none and this
is quite daunting for me... but I told the Lord I was available... so here I
am!)
Obstacle #5 : The hospital is facing
huge challenges with the families of patients who die demanding that the
hospital pay them huge sums of money! Earlier in the week a lady 30 years old
came with a huge abscess on her face. After waiting weeks to come and trying all
kinds of witch doctoring to no avail her jaw was swollen shut so the staff gave
her Ketamine for an anesthetic and lanced the abscess... a procedure that is
done often here. In her case no one could have anticipated that she had a
fistula ( passage) all the way though into her mouth and the pus drained down
into her mouth and she aspirated it and died several hours later. Dr D spent
8 hours at the Chief District Office refusing to pay their demands and even
offered to shut down the hospital if they wished but took a firm position. That
scene has quieted but I'm not sure resolved.
Yesterday AM a woman came and
delivered her baby boy... to complicate it, she had been bitten by a poisonous
snake in her village a couple days before and so bled out postpartum and died.
Her family started a scene with a lot of shouting and threats and demanding
money from the hospital. The hulla went on all day and involved the police
intervening and eventually a whole crowd moving from the hospital up to the
CDO's office again. Last night at about 10pm the loud crowd passed our house
yelling and shouting but it quickly dissipated as we prayed. Today about 12
police have stood guard outside the hospital so at least it remained open. The
family tried to close the road to Doti but I heard the police made them reopen
it. This kind of irrational behavior is clearly NOT from the Lord. Please pray
for peaceful resolution as it is hard to walk around wary of volatile tempers.
Pray for peace and resolution to the confusion.
Obstacle #6: Our water supply has
somehow been damaged and we are only gettting a fraction of the water in our
1000 liter drum that we should. Apparently the general expectation is that we
would pay a bribe to get it fixed at the municipality... we choose not to do
that so are praying we can get it resolved above board.
Obstacle#7: I have tried to get
World Link to supply us with internet access here... alas it has not worked
most of the last 5 days in spite of my paying in advance for a whole year! The
young guy they keep sending out clearly does not know what he is doing... but
twice was able to get me on while he was here but by the time he was over the
ridge the connection was lost and irretrievable! HUMMMMMM
What to do? Just at the start of
this letter I miraculously had a connection but within 8 minutes of typing the
power went off so now I pray I can save all this in a draft and get back on later!
Well it is time for me to go across
the way to have dinner with the optometrist that programs our radio programs in
Dotiyali, the local language. We air 3 x week for 15 minutes gearing the message
of love to illiterate women and children. Please pray for this vital ministry.
For most of the girls and women here it is the first time they have ever been
told they matter and are loved!
I so appreciate all of you praying
me up!!! Don't know what I'd do without you!
Blessings!
Dawn Didi
PS
#8...did you know you cannot save an email to draft if the electricity
is out? so copy and paste to Word! and now here it is some hours and a
great Nepali meal later I am going to quick send you this before there
are any more obstacles!
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