Infestation

I thought since I'm all but confined to the city of Kathmandu I'd catch you up on a few loose details from the last few weeks.

I tried to get to Jawlekhel, the other end of city I normally stay at today, but got part way down the road and the taxi ran into a "jamm" which means a traffic block. ( to be differentiated by a bhundh by the fact that it is expected to clear in due time as it is just traffic or a vehicular cause versus an intentional blocking of the road for an indefinite period!) We found a back alley after inching along a few blocks and he took it, only to find another jamm just ahead! After about an hour of being stuck in the jam and only inching a few blocks he discovered by climbing out of the taxi and up on the roof, that indeed it was a Bhundh and we were going no where fast! Up ahead there were clouds of black smoke and evidently several roads were obstructed with burning tires as protesters were/are rallying against the Moaistgovernment decision to sack the current chief of army staff against the wishes of many other political parties. So we retreated and returned to my hotel in Thamel! It is never ending frustration.

I had a lemon soda and decided to make "lemonade" out of my afternoon!

I had chowmein for lunch with chicken momos ( Tibetan dumplings) which put me in a much better mood! I then took a bunch of the muffler /hat sets my students have crocheted and took them store to store till I got 2 stores to agree to buy them and market them here! (not bad for 6 contacts and an an hours work!) One store bought 10 sets out right and the other agreed to take 10 of my remaining 15 in 2 days after things settle here politically... all shop keepers are afraid things may get nasty and they all close their stores and wait it out till tempers die down and things are quiet and they can freely do business without worrying about protesters throwing rocks at their shops or vandalizing them! So looks like we could have to really lay low here in addition to dealing with the Bhundhs all over the nation!

So that is the climate here at present... I'm in no immediate danger as long as I stay away from main roads and if all the shops close down we will hibernate indoors and I'll read a book or something!

I want to update you on the Chitwan experience... I was there at the Cancer Hospital for 8 days waiting for Daya Madam, the head honcho, to come from K-du and receive me, show me around and interview me for her idea of combining Natural Therapies with current Cancer protocols and offering Alternatives to the many with Cancer that cannot afford Surgery, Chemo and Radiation all of which they do at this center. However with the Bhundh starting the day I arrived, she never did! So after 8 days ( by which point I was getting very bored and terribly wilted from the heat!) I decided to move on. A good move it turns out! I was able to connect with Daya Madam here in K-du and invite her for pizza ( not bad considering the Nepali take on the dish!). We had a lovely evening and found we are very compatible on many issues with a similar heart for poor Nepali people and she promised to go back to Chitwan and "talk me up" to her board and chief of staff there and really wants me to not only come and teach them Natural Healing there, but help them develop a rural prevention program where we would do educational programs village to village and offer free pap smears and follow up to women. (Cervical Cancer is the #1 cancer here followed by colo-rectal then breast and lung Ca.)
So we will see if she follows through!

While in Chitwan I met Ganga, the 13 year old girl with the huge facial and temporal tumor... I made her Neem/ Garlic oil after much trouble finding olive oil there ( primarily cause we couldn't get to the big bazaar till the 7th day!) and I delivered it to her the night before I left and taught Manju(the nurse and my hostess) how to make it... indeed we made a huge batch together that last night. I hope to call Manju tonight and see what kind of success Ganga is having with the oil. I also gave half of our first batch to another woman with spinal cancer that had not had good post op care and has a host of deep bed sores so she is trying the remedy too! I'm eager to hear of their progress!

I wrote about the bedbugs not minding all the garlic I ate while the mosquitoes responded well to the preventive approach. The roaches were a whole 'nother story!!!!! I teased Manju that they were her "friends"! She was working night shift one night, and I was watching American Idol followed by Lost ( believe it or not!) when a 3 inch roach scurried under my feet and another flew across the room. I could hear a few more scuttling in the kitchen and I just lost it! I got up from the couch and whooped and holler'd a little and found a box of "medicine" for roaches I had purchased for NRS 25 (about 30 cents) that day ... it was some kind of chalk... you draw 2 -3 parallel lines around the base of the cabinets, drains or walls and "watch what happens" read the box... in 3-4 hours you will see evidence of success! holy cow... they weren't kidding! I drew chalk lines every where in the kitchen, living room, bathroom, dining room and went back to watching "Lost" trying to ignore the sound effects!

An hour later one scurried to within 4 inches of my feet and flipped over... I whacked it with my slipper x5 thinking for sure this 4 inch creature must be dead... an hour later it was gone!!!! and I didn't know where!
Some time later I dared to get up and discovered the first casualty being carried by an army of tiny ( almost microscopic) ants clear across the dining room! There were up to 6 of its comrades doing the backstroke between the parallel lines I had drawn! Amazing! I tiptoed around them all not sure which were totally dead you know! ( if you watch Princess Bride you know there are degrees of being almost dead and other kinds of dead!) Besides I wanted Manju to see her friends one last time and have the opportunity to grieve appropriately!
She came home the next morning and could barely contain herself... there is a primal squeal that self emits from females in the presence of extra large roaches and she was not exempt! She promptly got a broom and swept them all up... I shared I once knew how to make cockroach stew... she declined and decided all the ants were then my friends! So it went !

Well the power just went here in the cybercafe so I have 3 minutes of battery power to get this sent so ....sionara!!!!! more later eh?
Wishing you all an infestation free day!

Hitting the Road Again!

Won't be able to communicate for the next 7 - 10 days so keep those prayers comin'!!!!

Dave and I head south to the plains tomorrow! We are going to the village ( Sheshia) he has been working in building the church and digging the well in. It will be very hot and I don't tolerate heat all that well! It is a 2 km walk to the village from the closest bus stop!
The next day we'll walk back and he will put me on a bus to Chitwan and return to the village to try to push to finish the projects before we come home the last of May.
Pray the mosquitos really do hate all the garlic we have recently ingested in preparation!
Pray for safety on these crazy roads. And for no Bhunds!
Pray we will get water in this well. It is down 90 feet and still no water. The contractor has made excuses for a month why he can't show up to the job... pray he will show up, flush the existing system and find the water we have prayed for!
Pray the church will be completed this month... apparently they diverted the funds for the roof to building the outside toilets!!! go figure... not ususally a priority for Nepalis!!! Now they are out of funds to finish the trusses and roof! We need wisdom to know how much to do for them and when to let them learn from their mistakes!
Pray for the week I am in Chitwan to be clearly ordained and directed by the Lord and future direction to be divinely obvious!
Pray for the whole trip to be in His soveriegn control and for opportunities to share His love and grace to be obvious as well and for relationships to be built for His glory for the future!
I value you all so much! Dave and I truely depend on you and your faithful intercession for us and His work here.
Blessings,
Dawn and Dave

Tongue Out

Um... Don't ask?

Chitwan

I really did have plans to bug out of town and go to Chitwan but... Yo Nepal ho! (this is Nepal!) and one must be flexible! Plans made does not mean they can be implemented!
The gal I was to stay with in Chitwan suddenly had to go to Kathmandu this week so just as I was about to book my bus ticket, I found out about the change and developed plan "b and c" both which involve going to Sheshia with Dave and spending one or two nights there and seeing the progress and work for myself before allowing him to put me on a bus to Chitwan from there.
I hear it is really hot down there on the plains so I'm going for the minimal time in the village with no running water, outside shanty for a toilet and mosquitos! Can you blame me?
Also there is a new Bhundh so we'll see when we can get past that and how!
I hope to hook up with Julia again in Kathamndu after the week in Chitwan ( which both will be hot as well but should have a few more amenities like fans and showers!) and spend a couple days getting more supplies for the womens ministry and then get back to the hills about the first of May... again Yo Nepal ho and we have to see how it all plays out!
I'm enjoying my freedom without a cast and the increased activity! The arm is still very weak... not sure what I expected! I'm knitting a sweater though and trying to do what I can around the house. My cleasning lady is pretty protective though! ( she does need the job more than I need my independence!)
I heard from my friends that kept my cat, Mz Precious,( already on Kitty Hospice as I left) that she secumbed this week just before Easter!!!! I'll miss her and am grateful for friends that took such tender loving care of her!
All for now and I'll keep you posted!

Photo Moment

The Most recent photo of the brother and sister!

Too many "Easters"

Hope you have all had a wonderful meaningful, joyful Easter! I'm ditching services tonight... all last week, every PM for all of "passion" week there were services every evening with a 2 hour one on Good Friday, a regular sunguthi (fellowship lasting well over 2 hours!) on Saturday, an Easter Sunrise Service at 5 am on Sunday followed by another 11AM one (3 hours including snack) and today there is a New Years Eve service from 9 PM to midnight as it is Nepali New Years tomorrow! But who can miss out on a celebration!!!!!

I am plum "serviced out!"

Instead I'm catching up on email!

I leave Wednesday for Chitwan! Pra-y His will be done for the week I'm there exploring conditions and options. This will be a second interview for a position at a Cancer Hospital who wants me to integrate and teach Natural Healing with Hospice/ Palliative Care and develop a rural program to assist terminal impoverished peoples at end of life! It would be a 2 year contract if it all comes together! I plan to go to Kathmandu for 3 days afterward to get more yarn for our women's projects which by the way, are coming along very well.

Had a great meeting tonight with the "elders" re: our proposal to do radio broadcasting in Dotiali, the local hill dialect/ language. All were in positive, unified agreement and want to get started ASAP. We need board approval and some agreements drawn up before we can progress, but things look good for that, so keep interceding!

No news on the well... priorities for the well contractor were to cut his wheat last week so he never showed up to the job! This is the new Nepal... just like the old Nepal! Dave will return there this week to push on that and try to "get somewhere with that!"

I'm free of my cast! Yipee! I'm running up and down the hill every day now... went to Bhag bazaar ( a kilometer each way)twice this weekend so the ankle is fully functional though with these uneven roads I still watch every step! My right arm is stiff and aches with occassional twinges of nerve pain if I twist it wrong though. I got it cut it off for me on Good Friday! Yahooee! Made it a really "good" day for me!

Dave made it up by a crazy miracle on Good Friday... a total God thing how he connected with Serp ( our friend and driver for the hospital who had taken Dr. Arun and Terry down the night before) but neither knew the other was down... they met up in Attaryia (the timing alone was a miracle of it's own!) and Dave decided to pose as a Bideshi ( foreign) Dr who knew no English and who needed to get up to the hospital for a "operation". They were in the hospital red vehicle loaded with supplies ( in and on the roof) so that was believable. They drove around over 3 miles worth of backed up traffic due to the Bhundh at Godavari on ( well... more off than on) the steep shoulder of the road right up to the front of the que of vehicles and played the "Dumb Blond card". Dave tapped his watch, smiled and spoke several words in English including "operation." The guy said "ok sir" so Dave and Serp helped them move enough rock to squeeze through the man made blockage.So they were first in line to open the bhund and they let all the remaining traffic go through as well!!!!

They got in about 11pm that night and we have had a marvelous Easter ever since!
Lopers, Pants ( our landlord and family) , Dave and I got together last night at my apartment for mesquite chicken pizza, ham, sundried tomato pasta, stir fried garlic zuchinni, cabbage waldorf salad and spice cake and oh yah... ladoos!( a Nepali sweet)

It was so much fun that we repeated it tonight at the guest house over a bonfire, over which we roasted a can of chicken hot dogs and enjoyed all the leftovers from last night!
What did you do to celebrate?
Well all for now!
Toodles, luv and hugs!
Dawn Didi

Growing Mushrooms

The Nepalis are starting to grow mushrooms as an income generating option. The process has been fun to watch!

I'd give my right arm for a biscuit!

Happy Easter!

Hope you all have a wonderful blessed Easter!
It is all moving very fast and I am grateful to get internet access again to wish you joy from this side of the globe as we celebrate "He is Risen"!!!
Thanks to all of you who have faithfully pr-ayed and written me notes of encouragement!
They mean so much and I apologize that I can't personally respond to each on this limited time on internet but know I love you all and how I value those thoughts and p-ray-ers... keep them coming! they got me through a rocky week!
Beth, Randy, and their son Jonathan arrived last week and Randy looked pretty pale and peaked... 24 hours later his wife Beth was on my doorstep asking for whatever I knew might help him over the Nepali Nachna ( dance) ( coming and going at both ends... basically!). He was also pale and dizzy. I sent her home with colloidal silver, probiotics, charcoal pills and a packet of chicken soup... 12 hours later I went to check on my "patient" and found him "feeling great" and treating patients at the hospital for a full days work! So praise the L-ord for his full recovery. It has boosted my credibility in the community as well and we now have a run on those requesting "jouri butti" or natural healing. On the way here today I was asked for an interview for the new FM station for "jouri butti" ... I said 'We'll talk later!"
2 days ago I got the Nepali Nachna! The same routine fixed me up in about the same time frame! I can sure relate to Randy now!
We are in the middle of another Bhand ( road closure) with Dave on that side of it and me on this! Pr-ay he will be able to get up the hill in time for Good Friday and Easter as planned.

Also 4 urgent P-ray-er requests:
1) Rama... one of the paraplegics had what was to her a catastrophe... her 12+ year old waterbed became brittle, cracked and leaked water all over the floor for 2 days before the maintenance man could be located and give it attention. They did patch it yet again! She is back in it but it is fragile at best and who knows how long it will last.
Waterbed rubber mattresses are simply not available in Nepal! Her room mate Digri is in the same plight with multiple patch job version of a bed also! Pra-y with me for 2 full size new or in great condition water bed liners and at least one pump/hoses to be donated for their cause. I'm told there is another believ-er in the bazaar, also a paraplegic, who could really benefit by one too.( he is a victim of a attack by the "M"'s during the war a few years ago! both girls are victims of falls from trees while cutting fodder for the goats and buffaloes!)
My sister,Di, and family are coming to Nepal, L-ord willing, in June for 6 weeks and Di when you get this, let me know if it would be a possibility for you to bring one or more with you if we can gather them by then! They are currently in Rapid City So. Dakota.
It would truly be a blessing to these women to have the security of an firm unleaking bed under them!
2) P-r-ay re: our involvement with the local new FM station. Currently there is no Ch-ris-tian programming and certainly nothing in the local Dotiali language! Di and Larry, with SIL, are comming as afore mentioned to assist with training and programming to see if this could be a viable option for us to assist with! ( Di, a Dr., will also probably be put to good medial use as well!)
Dave and I plan to meet with the local elders and the FM station managers to discuss the logistics and details ( yet again) and hash out how we could do this! It costs $4500.00 for a 15 - 20 minute slot once a day for a year. That is just the broadcasting. Double it ? for the programming and salary of a committed staff. Who would that be? Can we prepare 6 months of programming in advance? Would the Ch-u-rch be responsible for the outreach and content and we just assist with funding? Or do we set up a new committee to manage it all? These are some of the concerns. Could you intercede for us on this important issue. We need wisdom and direction as we'll need to move fast if we are to get Board approval (once we know some of these answers post meeting this week), sign a 6 months or one year contract before Dave and I return on June 1st, and get our team motivated and started before we go or at least excited to participate with Larry when he arrives!
Thanks for lifting us up during this narrow window of opportunity to get out the Word in the language the women and children understand!
3) Well, well! Still have not hit water at 90 feet deep on the well... pr-ay Dave will arrive with good news on that on Good Friday!
4) as in many places... many attend services this time of year where otherwise they may not! We ask for increased ripening of hearts and sensitivity to the lifechanging message of Grace for the Nepali people!

Packing and Leaving for the Hills

Wow your prayers are amazing! Look what God has done!!

The roads opened Sunday morning and it looks like we will be able to leave at 1pm this afternoon!.We are packed and ready. We didn’t want to be the first ones out of town because there are usually a few kinks and glitches because 15 days worth of traffic backed up needs to move through. Besides the first five busses that left yesterday were absolutely packed!

I’m feeling much better and walking normally on my foot though it still feels weak. I can sleep through the night without pain meds for my arm (although it still gets sore from overuse).(I'm still in an arm cast and sling.)

And we had power this morning when we woke up and we thought we had water...it was a false alarm but we had high hopes! We had heard rumors Saturday that all of Kathmandu Valley would also be closed so we stocked up accordingly. It was a relief to wake up Sunday morning and realize it was not the case so we could go to English chu.rch and prais.e Go.d!

Please pr.ay about the following:

1. Journey mercies and safe travel

2. We have tickets for the front of the bus...may they actually be what we get!

3. Continued healing

4. Ministry site visitation (we should get to check on the well situation this week)

5. If God would see fit, Iwe would have internet access from Dadeldhura to stay in touch.

6. Prai.se Go.d that He put Julia in my life when I so needed her... she has been my hostess for these 2 + and a personal nurse and encourager as well. She has also shared this computer with me graciously!

7. Praise Go.d that Dave and I can be together for the next 3 months of ministry, his visa was extended. We should be home on the same flight, June 1^st.

8. Praise God I had my crown re-done this week and all it cost me was treating the dentist to lunch!(I took him, Julia and Dave to a lovely golf course). Anyone need dental work done?! Dave also got alot of needed dental work done this week... we tease him he is now ready for GQ! His was also free! God is good and blessed us with a young entrepreneur from our remote village out west who just happens to own a dental hospital in K-du. He wants us to do dental camps for the poor in rural areas with him and agrees to seek a visa for me with his connections... sounds good but Pra.ay for HIS will in all this!

You guys can’t imagine how much you mean to me, your prayers have encouraged have really boosted our morale.

I love you all!

Calamity Jane

It is with regret that I must report a disastrous situation. Yesterday I was simply minding my own business, taking a walk with my gracious hostess through the bazaar. First one boy pelted me with a water filled balloon...it is holy after all, a religious festival where the public throw paint and water as some kind of sport. The second balloon that was pelted at me appeared to be from a 12 year old boy. He hit me right in the back. As we progressed down the road, I thought I saw him in my peripheral vision about to launch another one. To my detriment I looked back to verify it and lost my footing and fell. HARD! I twisted my ankle and landed on my shoulder and face. The next several hours I spent in acute pain, as villagers and Julia attempted to get me a taxi and whisk me to the emergency room. Multiple xrays revealed that the deformity of my right shoulder was a dislocation, I fractured my right wrist and a strained ligament in my left ankle.

Currently, I am gimping around with casts that are suppose to stay on for 5 weeks. Julia has taken on the added the role of personal nurse to the role she already fulfilled as a gracious hostess. She is graciously typing for me as with left hand, I am totally useless. However, pain is now a 2/10 if I remain still and swaved in slings.

The bundh is still on. Rumor has it may open up tomorrow but the official holiday for “Holy” is tomorrow and Wednesday. We expect Thursday for the roads to be packed so our plan is to attempt to exit the city on Friday...Lord willing and the creek don’t rise. (Not a chance of that!..There has been no rain in months).

I need your continued prayers for rapid healing, for a way to pay the hospital bill (blue cross/blue shield does not cover this) of $400USD, for a smooth journey to our final destinations and for a clear sense of how to accomplish min.istry all handicapped. I asked God today what I could possibly do for Him in this state He said I could still praise Him so that is my intent.

All for now, I’ll keep you posted. Dave has mostly recovered from his upper respiratory virus. I am grateful for your prayers and for how God is teaching me to depend on Him and providing great friends to surround me.

Arrived Safely

Hello friends and family!
"I have arrived!" or so I am led to believe!

I had a long laborious journey but arrived safe and sound in K-du on time on Saturday. My gracious hostess, Julia, met me at the airport and has been a delight to share with... she is a young nurse from Vancouver and we are listening to 106.5 via internet fromvthe pacific North West tonight as I write! I didn't know we could hear "home" like this from half a world away!
I met up with my brother Dave, the next day and we have spent the last 3 days getting visas lined up successfully for the next three months, visiting our orphanage, networking with the college kids we have sponsored in the past and shopping for needed yarn and items to take out west.

Tomorrow I surprisingly have a job interview... the lady I meet with at 1PM is the Director of Nursing of the Nepali Nursing council and cheif of staff at the largest cancer Hospital in Nepal located in Chitwan. One of these before mentioned college students became a nurse, got a job there, rooms with this lady and when she became ill Manju offered her a dose of my "bug juice" she got well in a day and demanded to know where she learned this remedy. Manju told her about me and now she is dying to meet me and she is also here in K-du this week. Their Cancer hospital is reportedly seeking someone to teach alternative therapies and so therefore I am hooked up for the interview tomorrow! I need your prayers!

Saturday, Dave and I plan to head west. There is a road blockage for the next three days so we are obligated to spend a little more time here in the city. Thursday we will visit the women involved in the brick making women's initiative that have been beading and making jewelry for me in the past. We spent several hours with the orphans tonight... they all seem to be happy and flourishing!

G-od is good!
However our electricity is about to cut off again!

Hello from St. Charles, IL

So happy to report a successful board meeting on Sunday, August 10. We have approved five main goals we wish to focus on in the next year with Dare to Care.

1. We will initiate a new project building a church in Sheshia, Nepal, helping a leprosy community with a well, tools and seeds, and improving their medical clinic.
2. We will continue to support the Serve Life Orphanage in Kathmandu. We have 19 children in this orphanage, 10 of which still need sponsors at $30.00 a month.
3. We will continue to monitor and support the five poor women in their micro-businesses. Two of these women are paraplegic and very needy.
4. We will encourage a group of beaders we have worked with from the brick factories in Kathmandu to network with our beading entrepreneurs in Dandeldhura and teach them their skills.
5. We will also continue to sponsor the function of a ministry that provides food for the homeless and hungry patients at the hospital in Dandeldhura.
   

Dave is anticipating a return to Nepal in October to supervise the building projects in Sheshia. And Dawn hopes to return to Nepal in February for a few months.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call us.

Bhundh

Hello everyone!Happy New Year! Hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying God's richest blessings this new year! It's hard to believe we're into 2008 already!

I had a marvelous Christmas in Papua, Indonesia, compliments of my parents who invited me to join them in an all expenses paid trip to visit my sister Di and her family there for Christmas... who could refuse an offer like that! So we were there for three weeks and really enjoyed all but the heat! ( Sorry, I'm not into perspiration!!!)

It was really fun to watch Di's 3 kids ( ages 15,12, and 8) enjoy Christmas and I had always dreamed of going to Indonesia. It was beautiful and so far I haven't come down with either Dengue fever or Malaria! So all in all, I'm really happy I got to go!

On the trip back Mom, Dad and I traveled together as far as Singapore and as it was the day after Christmas there was "no room in the inn" at the transit hotel so we sat up all night in chairs in a coffee shop. They split off and returned to the USA and I returned to Kathmandu exhausted. I managed to stay awake and fight the jet lag until a reasonable hour to get back on Nepali time.

Two days later I decided to go to Kaski Pokara to visit a Nepali friend and her husband for New Years and left by tourist bus thinking I was really going to enjoy the scenery and the 6 hour drive along a beautiful river. "Lunch was included". Two hours into the trip we came upon a "bhundh" or road closure. It was rumored it was due to an accident. So we sat on the bus and waited and indeed several "ambulances" roared by presumably to the scene to help. After an hour of nothing we all got off the bus and milled about the road along with the passengers of hundreds of other busses and trucks and private vehicles. Pretty soon the ambulances roared past going the opposite way ... and got our hopes up... Not long later all the vehicles started their engines and people ran for their respected vehicles with great anticipation!!!! We were finally moving !!! We roared forward ourselves... about 10 meters and then again came to an abrupt halt. Clearly after another hour, we were really going nowhere. This was repeated at least 4 more times so we advanced about 40- 50 meters in an eleven and a half hour period! Finally we learned: the accident was 3 days previous and local villagers decided to protest the death of the involved by sitting in the middle of the road surrounded by big rocks they had dragged into the street and by burning tires. The " ambulances " were bribed by officials or the wealthy to skirt the scene and transport them up to the site of the "bhundh" and then they would walk to the other side and arrange the same on the other side of the obstacle! Clever HUH!

We finally actually got to move forward but by the time we actually got going the line of traffic had backed up for 20+ KM's in either direction and to pass oncoming traffic on those narrow winding roads took 2 hours @ 5 - 10 KM's/ hour to get to a point where traffic could move normally.

At midnight we finally got to where we had been scheduled for the free lunch! Wonder of wonders they actually came up with it too! By this point we were all famished and dehydrated and really impressed the tour bus delivered!

Twenty minutes back on the road burst our bubble as we came upon a second "bhundh"! Another accident, again several days before and same scenario. This time we got in the queue and hunkered down to sleep in our seats for an undetermined amount of time. The next morning we discovered that this time we were within walking distance of a little town and it was the site of the situation so we walked about, bought chai and oranges and hard boiled eggs and killed time for the next half a day till the Bhundh finally lifted @ 11:30 AM! Once more everything lurched forward and we ran for our busses and snaked our way forward. You have to understand that as these big vehicles pass each other or oncoming traffic they have exactly 4 inches of room between them as they move! One is strongly advised NOT to stick any apendages out the windows!!!!

Thirty-two hours after I left I completed the 6 hour bus trip and arrived weary but safe in Pokara on New Years Eve! My friends were raring to go to attend a huge festival in the center of town and as I was already a full day late I dared not disappoint them in our celebratory efforts. We welcomed in the New Year and as we crashed about 1 AM at their home I wondered if any of us could really expect to get up to see the sunrise over the snows of Mache Puchade ( Anapurna Himalaya range) as planned. I certainly had doubts that I could!

I was proved right and we slept in vowing we would do that "next Time".

Carol arrived on queue the next Wednesday. ( The return trip to Kathamndu was boringly uneventful.)

We shopped for a day as well as scurried around to immigration offices for my visa, the bank ( where they didn't want to do my transactions with out my passport and I had to do a lot of fast talking to explain that the immigration office held my passport and I couldn't retrieve it till after the bank closed!) We also sent Carol's biggest 2 suitcases ( Alright... a lot of my ministry stuff was inside them) with a kid that was going to Dadeldhura by bus, bought a sewing machine for the ministry and visited the orphanage!

The next morning we confirmed our flights to Dhangadi and set out for the airport only to be told our names were not on the seating list and there were no extra seats. after a full day of waiting in the airport we were put on a different flight to Nepal Ganj instead and told the airline would provide a taxi for the next 4 hour leg to Dhangadi! So off we went, now with Yeti airlines who provide a small twin engine prop plane that looked like it was made of aluminum foil. It had 23 jump seats 9 of which were filled. Carol tripped and went splat as the first to board the aircraft and fortunately hurt only her pride... we will have to travel a different airline next time as she refuses to ever show her face ( or her backside) there ever again. ( Is there a Yak available anywhere???)

The flight was actually very beautiful and we needed every bit of the cotton offered for earplugs. We had an otherwise uneventful flight to our non destination and a smooth transition to the taxi followed by the bumpiest ride ever on to Dhangadi. One cannot fathom the joy of bouncing along, dodging cows, goats, the man on the pink bicycle, potholes and the ever elusive, slow moving buffalo carts laden with straw 3 stories high.

The rules of the road is everybody, including all oncoming traffic, straddles the white line in the middle of the road. The key is timing... as every vehicle driver calculates if he has time and juice to pass the bullock cart and 6 bicycles before getting creamed by the oncoming lorry who must also clear the bus he is passing, and the 3 goats and the dog in front of it before getting back in his rightful lane so as not to cream said first driver! It is all calculation and timing... and defensive driving and so very exciting when accomplished at dusk. Our Taxi must have honked his horn 3021 times in the first 20 minutes. This usually means a) get out of my way you stupid person ( cow, goat...) or b) move over I'm passing you or c) I see you coming straight at me but I'm NOT moving ( cause I can't... the buffalo cart prevents me from moving into my own lane so YOU better MOVE NOWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

Ah yes... we made it to Dhangadi in 3 hours instead of 4... and I tipped the driver an exorbitant amount of $1.83 just for knowing which speed bumps he could take at 105 km's per hour and which he really needed to slow to 5km's per hour!

A night in Dhangadi and a 4 hour trip up the hill on Sunday put us "Home" where we will be the next 5 months ( Lord willing!) This is already so lengthy, I'll stop here for now and wish you well! God Bless and keep those prayers coming!

Safe Arrivals

Just wanted you to know Carol arrived in good condition yesterday. We obtained my 2 month visa today and purchased a sewing machine and are in good shape to fly to Dhangadi tomorrow. Our plan is to pay a few bills and
try to head up the hill yet tomorrow afternoon.

All is well here!

I'm at an Internet cafe in Kathmandu....I don't know what the internet access will be like on my return to Dadeldhura as the hospital is closed and at least 36 of my friends are with out jobs and a way to support their families! Please pray for all of them and for a way I might be able to encourage or help them!

Recent Prayer Requests

The following are a few things you can pray for:

• Protection from all little pests and pestilence

• My sister and her family... very stressed and about to loose their visas again they are preparing to return to the states unless the Lord opens a clear door for them to remain and obtain a visa under which they can continue to work and serve.

• Their dog died day before yesterday... tumors and worms in the esophagus on autopsy ( I know this cause their neighbor is a vet!) This has been very hard on them emotionally added on to their other stresses like finances, visas, holiday mayhem, and extra family showing up for 3 weeks to visit!

• Safe return to Nepal on Dec 26th and 27th. I have an overnight layover in Singapore and the transit rooms you rent by 6 hour blocks was full up and no further reservations were available... pray something will open up on my arrival or it will be a grueling trip back to Kathmandu.

• Pray for renewal for my tourist Visa... I should be able to get one at the airport in Kathmandu... Pray for the Lord's provision for a long term visa if He wants me there past May or to return again after this stint is up.

• Pray for Carol Brown... she will be joining me from the Bothell, Seattle area. Her flight gets into Kathmandu January 3rd. She will serve with me the next 5 months. Pray for her safe travel, for easy adjustments to life, culture and service in Nepal and for the Lord to really use her contributions to the ministry of Dare to Care for His glory!

• Pray for the women waiting for my return in Dadeldhura who have been diligently learning crocheting and are making saleable items in my absence. Pray for their walks with the Lord and for a willingness for them to reach out to their community with God's love in the future. These are believers and we will be opening up the class to poor women in the community when I return. Pray this will also be for God's glory as women network and share with each other as well as learn marketable skills.

• Pray for the church in Nepal... this Christmas time is a time of great opportunity to share as the community is always curious as to what this holiday is about and many new visitors can be expected.

• Pray for the Hospital and the staff of TEAM Hospital there in Dadaldhura... I heard today that they closed it as Team's agreement ran out, the new NGO ready to take over did not get the new agreement as we all hoped for, so to put pressure on the Government to give the NGO the agreement they needed they closed all but emergency care and deliveries. Today it sounds like negotiations have not produced the desired results and the government is taking it over. This will likely mean the loss of jobs for many if not most of the staff largely all believers there and so they have few other options. Pray God will be glorified even in this a great trial for about 38 families there in the church. (Perhaps we should extend our Income Generation Training to the whole church where we were focusing on the poor and especially single women before!)

• Pray for the many who heard the testimony of my brother, Dave over Radio Nepal last Thursday. He was granted a 45 minute interview in which he sang local songs and gave his very clear testimony. He was offered weekly radio time for $100/ week. Pray that if this is a direction the Lord wants us to go He will provide the people and resources for us to run with this opportunity.

• Dave is back in Chicago... pray for the Lord to open a door for him to return to Nepal again soon if it be His will... be was not bashful but took every opportunity to share the gospel and his testimony that he saw.

A few days until Christmas

Just and update from Papua, Indonesia...

I'm enjoying my time here immensely! All but the heat ( it makes me wilt with the humidity) and the mosquitoes. Did you know there are 2 dangerous kinds here... daytime biters which cause Dengue Fever and Nighttime biters which cause several kinds of Malaria. My Sister Di is the Dr. for all the expats on this island and has had to treat a man with hemorrhagic dengue fever last week ( not that you can do much but rehydrate and pray ) ... he recovered! and Lizby and my new dentist got malaria. I was most pleased to discover the treatment that works the best for this is an herb I've been researching for the last 2 years called Artemisia Annua... most cases are resistant to all the drugs previously tried in this area! So far I don't think I have been bit... I attribute it to my daily dose of garlic... the 'skeeters don't even land and they evacuate!

I did have to hunt down a dentist... lost a very big filling 5 weeks ago in Nepal when it just fell out of my mouth! It turns out one of the SIL staff here is Dentist from Columbia, trained in the USA and serving with Wycliffe here... my parents are staying in a cottage on his property! My sister hooked me up with him and I'm thrilled he was able to repair the damage and do a composite filling for only $30.00!!! He says I'll need a crown when I get back to where I can find competent dental service. Too bad he cannot do it here... I love his prices! He also had a great sense of humor! Hard to find in a good Christian dentist!

A couple days ago we got to go shopping and found some lovely batiks and local artisan shops! You know I love to shop! I also spent some time recovering my sis's dining room chairs and am now making her some kitchen accessories and finishing the drapes she had started 10 years ago but never had time to finish. The sewing machine has been temperamental though so progress is slow.

Yesterday we went to a gorgeous beach about 45 minute drive away then a 15 minute catamaran ride to the island with this lovely beach and a little fresh water lagoon! A slice of heaven! I got my wish to dig my toes in the sand and read a book. The water was gloriously perfect and so was the weather.

Well all for now... more shopping tomorrow and a busy week ahead of Christmas parties to attend and potlucks to plan... ours is a curry potluck at which I'm to show my Nepal slide show on Friday.

Trust your holiday preparations are meaningful and fun and not at all stressful and that you have plenty of time to slow down and reflect on the Reason for the Season and His wonderful gifts to us!

I'm so grateful for all of you and your prayers!

Dawn

Paradise in Indonesia

The Himalayas upon depature

Sentani, Indonesia

Sunset in Sentani

Merry Christmas from Tropical Paradise

No... I'm not hallucinating though I did have a fever and some "spells" last week. (Thanks for your prayers! A week of stomach flu while traveling almost leveled me but I'm raring to go once again now!)

I really am in a tropical paradise! I'm in Sentani, Papua, Indonesia!

How'd I get here? you ask... you thought I was in Nepal in the Himalaya mountains?...well I was till my parents came through town in Dadeldhura, Nepal to visit for 10 days and offered me my way paid to Indonesia for my Christmas present!!!!

How could I refuse an offer like that? especially after I had prayed about it back in August when I heard my parents were making plans to visit my sister Di and her family for the holiday... I put it in God's hands saying if He wanted me to go too, He'd have to provide the way! I then forgot about it as it seemed a dream too far out of reach to waste any more energy on... until Mom called upon their arrival in Kathmandu and made the offer!!! WHOOHEEE!!!!

We all left Dadeldhura together last Thursday and made the grueling trip arriving here Monday morning at 7:30 AM on the all night, red eye island hopper( 4 stops from Jakarta to Jayapura!).

So here we are... getting ready for a tropical Christmas with many of my family... and counting my many blessings...just wish my kids could be here! I miss them so! Pray for them... our first Christmas apart... to feel God's arms around them and His love transporting them before the Throne of Grace.

After all it was 2007+ years ago Jesus left that throne to come here to be born in the humblest of beginnings, to share His life with us (Emmanuel - God with us), so He could be Life for us and rescue us from death (eternal separation from a Holy God) to Everlasting Life! The Spiritual ramifications are so huge... I cannot really comprehend that kind of love. (but I try!!!)

This year, I also have a new appreciation of how He left His home of luxury and Family and instead, went a very long way to help those who desperately needed help and a Savior.

I wish you all a wonderful, meaningful Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Dawn

PS I'll be here till Dec. 26th when I fly back to Singapore... there my parents and I part ways... they return to Chicago then South Dakota and I return to Kathmandu on the 27th.

I'll be joined by Carol Brown, our first Dare to Care volunteer the first week of January and we'll go out to Dadeldhura together to serve for the next 5 months!

Tiny Pictures-Get out your Magnifying glass!

This is the view from Dawn's room.

This is the tiny of Dadeledhura .

Women thrashing rice.

Men selling textiles.

And because this is Eryka interpreting on behalf of Dawn, I have no idea what this picture is other than it looks like a house of a wealthier family. Perhaps this is where my Dawn is staying.

How Nepali's deliver babies- Nov. 8th

Warning!The story below has discussion of vomit. And Dawn is a nurse, so she discusses such things freely. I have also edited out the names of the Nepali's involved, for their safety.

I left off with urgent requests for prayer for the young 15 year old with child and we were leaving the next morning to go south to Dhangadi to the plains. My brother,and 3 friends and I piled in a van with her but not before the lad who got her pregnant showed up to claim her. He promised to accept her, marry her, continue her education and take responsibility for the mother to be and the child. I grieved the 4 hours down the hill for the lack of voice for Nepali women to choose their own destiny, and for the child that would be brought into a world where it really wasn't wanted and for a young mother who would now be isolated from Christians and taken into her new Hindu home to who knows what end. But Nepali culture prevailed and even church leaders felt this was what was best and

I packed the OB kit just in case she went into labor on the road. Unless she had the gumption to really create a ruckus when we arrived at the boy's home and met all his family, chances were pretty good I would not be going to Kathmandu as proposed.

While I grieved and prayed, the young girl puked... all the way down the hill!!!! Fortunately for me, she was a quiet little puker! And fortunately for both of us I had saved the air sickness bag from the last airline flight and it was on the top of my bag! We were in the front seat with the driver and I fought to keep it just the 3 of us. I offered to pay an extra 100 rupees ($1.50) to NOT sell another ticket up front for that extra seat!

There were 16 passengers packed into the back... only 2 of those did not puke!!! The rest could not be dubbed "quiet pukers". The driver's solution to drown out the noise of incessant vomiting, was to blare to Nepali radio to overcome the sound!!!!! Yes - it was a lovely trip !!! But to God's glory we all made it in one piece and though Dave's bag was doused in vomit we were glad to be safe in Attaryia (20 KMs) from our friends home in Dhangadi.

After everyone's stomachs settled and we had Fantas and Cokes followed by lunch, we had a serious talk with the "lad" who made us the promises we hoped for and then took all of us to his home and introduced the young girl to his extended family. All the women of the household seemed very warm and understanding and his mother apologized for her son's despicable behavior and assured us they would take great care of the girl and make sure she got to a hospital when she went into labor. I went into great lengths to explain the severity of the medical situation... that the ultrasound showed the baby as breech and that she was already 39 weeks and could deliver any day and might need a C-section.

It was one of the hardest things I ever did, to leave her there. Her own widowed mother had accompanied us down the hill and it almost broke my heart to watch her try to pry herself away from her baby daughter... a child herself, with child!

We found out a few days later on our return trip that the young girl went into labor shortly after we left her and delivered a healthy baby girl at midnight that same night. She weighed 2 kilos and 800 grams! A good size for a Nepali wee one. She came normally... no C- section needed!!!!! PTL. Boy, am I grateful we didn't try to go to Kathmandu... we also discovered the road to Kathmandu was bhundh ( closed) starting that same evening and didn't open for 5 days!

You have to acknowledge that His ways are High above our ways!

We spent a night with a long time childhood friend and his family and the next morning put the young girl's mom on the bus back up the hill and prayed she would have a better trip up, than she had coming down ( no nausea would be great!) We then went shopping (YEAH!) but most of it was for hardware for making my new apartment into a Dare to Care Suite. It currently has no kitchen and no western toilet or hot water. That will be rectified before Dave returns to the USA.

We shopped most of the next day, trying to cash travelers checks at a new bank in town took an hour and 3/4. then we piled into a local bus and headed for Mahendra Nagar. Originally my brother and one of the friends were going to visit a model farm just across the border into India I was going to stay in Mahendra Nagar and shop and find my way to the place where we were all to spend the night with a Christian Pastor who is one of our original leper patients from the hospital my Dad started.

However plans changed along the way. We ran out of time, and my brother and his friend never left. We caught a bus back and arrived in the Christian Pastor's town just at dark, in time to walk the 2 km in the dark. We all got the giggles cause we couldn't find the road across a huge mud puddle full of frogs. The friend found rocks to "build a bridge" and we somehow got across without falling in. 100 yards up the road we crossed a river ( ankle deep ) but you try it when you are carrying a 20# pack and your flashlight is croaking on you! We found a 2nd river just about another 100 yards up the road and by this time we had the giggles so bad we looked drunk. Fortunately our friend managed to control his laughter on the other side and find the dirt track that took us to our destination and a fascinating adventure of spending not one, but 2 nights in a village with no electric and no bathrooms!!!! The house had dirt floors and straw walls covered with cow dung for mortar.

My brother got sick there... it could have been the food he ate the day before though the locals blame the fact that he ate "Chuke" ( giant lemons) at night! Everyone knows you never eat Chuke at night!

Finally about noon on the 4th day we succeeded in getting a vehicle ( van) and loading all our steel, tin sheets, pipe, and hardware on and headed north. Five long hours later we once again praised the Lord for a safe journey and fell into our own beds.

Progress on the house makeover has been slow as many interruptions and invitations to lunch and dinner have made for great building of relationships but poor progress on remodeling. I am proud to say as of this morning, we now have a Geyser hot water heater up and running and I had my first hot shower before church today. Our hostess was delighted to get to wash her dishes in hot water for the first time ever and we will all be praising God for this for a long time to come!

Well I've rambled quite enough for one day and as the Dr wants his bedroom back must get this sent and close for now! ~ Dawn~

Hi everyone!

A lot has happened in the last week or more since I last had an opportunity to email!

I left off with urgent requests for prayer for Sita, a 15 year old with child and we were leaving the next morning to go south to Dhangadi to the plains. My brother, Dave, Prem and Megh Raj and Raj and I piled in a van with her but not before the lad who got her pregnant showed up to claim her. He promised to accept her, marry her, continue her education and take responsibility for the mother to be and the child. I grieved the 4 hours down the hill for the lack of voice for Nepali women to choose their own destiny, and for the child that would be brought into a world where it really wasn't wanted and for a young mother who would now be isolated from Christians and taken into her new Hindu home to who knows what end. But Nepali culture prevailed and even church leaders felt this was what was best and I have to trust God for her and her little one.

I packed the OB kit just in case she went into labor on the road. Unless she had the gumption to really create a ruckus when we arrived at the boy's home and met all his family, chances were pretty good I would not be going to Kathmandu as proposed.

While I grieved and prayed, little Sita puked... all the way down the hill!!!! Fortunately for me, she was a quiet little puker! Fortunately for both of us I had saved the air sickness bag from the last airline flight and it was on the top of my bag! We were in the front seat with the driver and I fought to keep it just the 3 of us. I offered to pay an extra 100 rupees ($1.50) to NOT sell another ticket up front for that extra seat!

There were 16 passengers packed into the back... only 2 of those did not puke!!! The rest could not be dubbed "quiet pukers". The driver's solution to drown out the noise of incessant vomiting, was to blare to Nepali radio to overcome the sound!!!!! Yes - it was a lovely trip !!! But to God's glory we all made it in one piece and though Dave's bag was doused in puke we were glad to be safe in Attaryia (20 KMs) from our friends home in Dhangadi.

After everyone's stomachs settled and we had Fantas and Cokes followed by lunch, we had a serious talk with the "lad" who made us the promises we hoped for and then took all of us to his home and introduced Sita to his extended family. All the women of the household seemed very warm and understanding and his mother apologized for the "lad's" despicable behavior and assured us they would take great care of Sita and make sure she got to a hospital when she went into labor. I went into great lengths to explain the severity of the medical situation... that the ultrasound showed the baby as breech and that she was already 39 weeks and could deliver any day and might need a C-section.

It was one of the hardest things I ever did, to leave her there. Her own widowed mother had accompanied us down the hill and it almost broke my heart to watch her try to pry herself away from her baby daughter... a child herself, with child!

We found out a few days later on our return trip that Sita went into labor shortly after we left her and delivered a healthy baby girl at midnight that same night. She weighed 2 kilos and 800 grams! A good size for a Nepali wee one. She came normally... no C- section needed!!!!! PTL. Boy, am I grateful we didn't try to go to Kathmandu... we also discovered the road to Kathmandu was bhundh ( closed) starting that same evening and didn't open for 5 days!

You have to acknowledge that His ways are High above our ways!

We spent a night with a long time childhood friend and his family and the next morning put Sita's mom on the bus back up the hill and prayed she would have a better trip up, than she had coming down ( no nausea would be great!) We then went shopping (YEAH!) but most of it was for hardware for making my new apartment into a Dare to Care Suite. It currently has no kitchen and no western toilet or hot water. That will be rectified before Dave returns to the USA.

Shopping took most of the day, trying to cash travelers checks at a new bank in town took an hour and 3/4. then we piled into a local bus and headed for Mahendra Nagar. Originally Dave and Prem were going to visit a model farm just across the border into India and Raj and I were going to stay in Mahendra Nagar and shop and find our way 8 kms back to She Sheia, walk 2 kms to Dharampur where we were all to spend the night with a Christian Pastor who is one of our original leper patients from the hospital my Dad started. There is a whole community of Leprosy Patients there that have relocated because the government gave them land about 20 years ago. They have cleared it all by hand and built quite a little oasis there near a river in an otherwise parched dry land.

However plans changed along the way. We ran out of time, Raj found a friend and went with him, Megh Raj went on ahead to Dharmpur and Dave, Prem and I went on to Mahendra Nagar arriving there about 4 pm and shopped for stainless steel pots and pans and coats for Prem's kids. We caught a bus back and arrived in She Sheia just at dark, in time to walk the 2 kms in the dark. We all got the giggles cause we couldn't find the road across a huge mud puddle full of frogs. Prem found rocks to "build a bridge" and we somehow got across without falling in. 100 yards up the road we crossed a river ( ankle deep ) but you try it when you are carrying a 20# pack and your flashlight is croaking on you! We found a 2nd river just about another 100 yards up the road and by this time we had the giggles so bad we looked drunk. Fortunately our guide, Prem, managed to control his laughter on the other side and find the dirt track that took us to our destination and a fascinating adventure of spending not one, but 2 nights in a village with no electric and no bathrooms!!!! The house had dirt floors and straw walls covered with cow dung for mortar.

David got sick there... it could have been the food he ate the day before though the locals blame the fact that he ate "Chuke" ( giant lemons) at night! Everyone knows you never eat Chuke at night!

He also wore a blister from his new Chappals ( rubber flipflops) and wading streams to and from the churches we visited that became infected and he has been limping ever since. I'd feel sorry for him but I saw what he ate and drank and laughed that he had the carelessness of the invincible!

When we returned to Dhangadi our order was not ready( what a surprise)

My new pad... I have the lower flat

Typical transport

and a truck strike prevented us from getting transportation up the hill so we spent another night with our friends. Finally about noon on the 4th day we succeeded in getting a vehicle ( van) and loading all our steel, tin sheets, pipe, and hardware on and headed north.

5 long hours later we once again praised the Lord for a safe journey and fell into our own beds.

Progress on the house makeover has been slow as many interruptions and invitations to lunch and dinner have made for great building of relationships but poor progress on remodeling. I am proud to say as of this morning, however, we now have a Geyser hot water heater up and running and I had my first hot shower with it before church today. Our hostess was delighted to get to wash her dishes in hot water for the first time ever and we will all be praising God for this for a long time to come!

Well I've rambled quite enough for one day and as the Dr wants his bedroom back must get this sent and close for now!

Thanks for all your prayers!

Young Pregnant Girl-- Oct. 31st

This was Dawn's general email to everyone on October 31st.

Jai Masi ( Praise Jesus!)

We have been enjoying having my brother here. He loves being home! Everyone enjoys his natural ability to communicate in their language and it has come in handy numerous times to begin building relationships with everyone from the District Police Officer to the Chief District Officer.We, along with church elders, have been talking with these dignitaries in the process of trying to assist a 15 year old girl who got herself pregnant ( forced by a 16 year old classmate ). She didn't tell anyone until 3 weeks ago and now she is almost due. There was a court case filed by her widowed mom and her uncle against the boy who fled and for the last 2 weeks was not willing to take responsibility. We have talked with her at length as a church to assure her of our forgiveness and support since she has confessed and asked for forgiveness and had things pretty well worked out for her to go to Kathmandu to have the baby. She does not love the boy or want to marry him, she wants to give the baby up for adoption and wants to continue her studies and eventually become a nurse.

There is a church in Kathmandu that will take her in and assist her and 3 families in that fellowship would love to adopt. We have a family in a different church that would take her in and help her with her education if we can find the financial means to make that happen. We have a pledge of $100 for starters and $25/ month for a year. We estimate a need for $500 for travel, delivery ( more if a c-section) and 6 weeks room and board at this church. She'd need at least $60/ month to stay and study in K-du if we have calculated correctly.

Her family canceled/dismissed the court case and the legal papers are in order. Our plan was to leave in the morning and go to Dhangadi and spend the night there and then I would accompany her on the bus for the next 16 hours to Kathmandu.

2 setbacks have occurred today. The "Boy" suddenly called ( he's been missing for several weeks) this morning and has decided he will "accept her" and admits the child is his and his dad can relax and no longer push for the DNA testing ( only available in Kathmandu for 200,000 rupees). He agrees to marry her.

This puts a curve on the program and he wants us to bring her to Dhangadi to him!!!!!! I just took her up to the hospital and asked for a few tests as she has had no prenatal care and a few who knew estimated her at 36+ weeks. We just did an ultrasound and discovered she is 39 weeks and breech!!!!! And I'm going to take her on a 24-26 hour ride!!!!

Dr Arun assures me there are hospitals every 3-4 hours along the way and her being primip she will be fine even if she goes into labor along the way! He is giving me an OB kit and gloves and a baby blanket for the road. He obviously has more confidence in me than I have !!!

So I'm calling for urgent prayer for protection and safety and that I won't have to deliver any babies on the way!!!!!!! She still wants to go to Kathmandu and doesn't think he would be a good match for her if he did marry her. She is sure his call is the result of pressure from his father and family.

Young Pregnant Girl-- Oct. 31st

This was Dawn's general email to everyone on October 31st.

Jai Masi ( Praise Jesus!)

We have been enjoying having my brother here. He loves being home! Everyone enjoys his natural ability to communicate in their language and it has come in handy numerous times to begin building relationships with everyone from the District Police Officer to the Chief District Officer.We, along with church elders, have been talking with these dignitaries in the process of trying to assist a 15 year old girl who got herself pregnant ( forced by a 16 year old classmate ). She didn't tell anyone until 3 weeks ago and now she is almost due. There was a court case filed by her widowed mom and her uncle against the boy who fled and for the last 2 weeks was not willing to take responsibility. We have talked with her at length as a church to assure her of our forgiveness and support since she has confessed and asked for forgiveness and had things pretty well worked out for her to go to Kathmandu to have the baby. She does not love the boy or want to marry him, she wants to give the baby up for adoption and wants to continue her studies and eventually become a nurse.

There is a church in Kathmandu that will take her in and assist her and 3 families in that fellowship would love to adopt. We have a family in a different church that would take her in and help her with her education if we can find the financial means to make that happen. We have a pledge of $100 for starters and $25/ month for a year. We estimate a need for $500 for travel, delivery ( more if a c-section) and 6 weeks room and board at this church. She'd need at least $60/ month to stay and study in K-du if we have calculated correctly.

Her family canceled/dismissed the court case and the legal papers are in order. Our plan was to leave in the morning and go to Dhangadi and spend the night there and then I would accompany her on the bus for the next 16 hours to Kathmandu.

2 setbacks have occurred today. The "Boy" suddenly called ( he's been missing for several weeks) this morning and has decided he will "accept her" and admits the child is his and his dad can relax and no longer push for the DNA testing ( only available in Kathmandu for 200,000 rupees). He agrees to marry her.

This puts a curve on the program and he wants us to bring her to Dhangadi to him!!!!!! I just took her up to the hospital and asked for a few tests as she has had no prenatal care and a few who knew estimated her at 36+ weeks. We just did an ultrasound and discovered she is 39 weeks and breech!!!!! And I'm going to take her on a 24-26 hour ride!!!!

Dr Arun assures me there are hospitals every 3-4 hours along the way and her being primip she will be fine even if she goes into labor along the way! He is giving me an OB kit and gloves and a baby blanket for the road. He obviously has more confidence in me than I have !!!

So I'm calling for urgent prayer for protection and safety and that I won't have to deliver any babies on the way!!!!!!! She still wants to go to Kathmandu and doesn't think he would be a good match for her if he did marry her. She is sure his call is the result of pressure from his father and family.

Oct. 28th, 2007

I'm still helping Dawn catch you up on all that she is doing. So here is from Oct. 28th!

Praise the Lord!!!!!!!!!!!!

My brother Dave arrived in one piece last night and we are rejoicing in the Lord's protection and provision for him on many levels!

It was a series of hassles starting with a flat tire on his way to Midway airport that led to him missing his flight to Detroit by 10 minutes followed by rerouting to Ohare where he just made the flight running and sweating for Detroit but the flight attendant thought he looked "drunk" so they made him disembark and wait for the next flight to Detroit so therefore missed the flight to Amsterdam. There, they failed to change his ongoing ticket accordingly. So he sat in the Amsterdam airport for way too many hours!

But he is here now with many stories and seems to be thrilled to be back and all the local people are charmed with his fluent language and humor.

We postponed our "Income Generation meeting" till tonight so Dave can participate so I must dash for that now and will let you know the outcome.

Oct. 25th, 2007

This is a post Dawn tried to publish on Oct. 25th.

Greetings from Dadeldhura Nepal!!!!
I'm so excited to finally be here and settled after weeks of travel and excitement!
I arrived on October 11th with a relatively smooth trip from Kathmandu out to the far west and made it up the hill in only 4 hours... record time!
I spent a couple days at a guest house here near the hospital ( my Father built years ago) and found a family who wanted to rent me an apartment in their home as my permanent abode.
The family is wonderful! They are most hospitable and accomodating. I am renting just one room so far and by the end of the week will have a second ready just in time for my brother's arrival. Dave will be here for about a month exploring if he is to come and work here full time as well.
In another 2-3 weeks with Dave's help we ( landlord and Dave and I ) will make the remaining 2 rooms habitable with one as a kitchen! We plan to also put in a "western toilet!" and make a new bathroom there and put a hot water heater and a shower into the current Nepali bathroom. Yes... I realize how very much I have taken hot showers for granted in the past!
Since I have no kitchen at present the family has persuaded me to take all my meals with them so I'm eating curried veggies 3 x day and either roti ( bread) or Bhat (rice) with that and lentils. It is starting to get routine... but still tolerable and at least I don't have to cook!
It is great to think that this "Blog Thing" might actually work! I have high hopes... the last 3 attempts didn't go through so I'm getting closer!
It is getting quite cold here in the evenings... we are all starting to prepare for winter!
Pray for adequate warmth... I think of all the villagers who have no means of getting any warmer!
My first big meeting with the local NGO I hope to work with with Income Generation Potential is tomorow evening... think of me and lift us up!
More to come!
Dawn

Safe in Dadeldhura, Nepal!

Hi Everyone. This is Eryka standing in for my mom on the Internet front. Mom has had some difficulty posting to Blogger, so I'm taking her emails and transposing them into blog entries. It also appears she doesn't quite understand all this Blogger terminology, because I found some drafts of posts that she tried to make available to you, but couldn't quite figure it out. So this post is from Oct. 18th, 2007.

I'm so excited to finally be at my destination. I have overcome some big hurdles to get here but am safe and sound at last!
I have rented a room from a lovely Nepali family and have promises of having 3 more rooms within the next month so will have a whole "flat" of my own. As I have no Kitchen as yet they are feeding me 3 meals / day with their family. It's a good thing I like Nepali food!
The weather is turning cold... we are at an altitude of about 2000 meters or 6500 feet. So my days are spent settling in, planning for increased cold weather/ winter and waiting for the current Deshai Holiday to adjourn so we can begin meetings with the NGO and finalize the future of the ministry to the widows and orphans and impoverished people of the surrounding villages.
Many income generation options are available and narrowing down what we think would be the most effective will be one of our biggest challenges.
So far the receptiveness of individuals to my vision and offer to assist for the next 8 months has been very positive so now our collective planning begins in earnest!
I hope to update you all soon! It is a relief to finally be able to blog from here as most of the journey I could not access my website for whatever reasons!
So ... more to come and wishing you warmth and peace!