hey ... if you are not doing anything today would you wanna catch a flight to Nepal??

4/16/11

Hey everyone!

Thanks sooooooo much for your prayers for journey mercies! I have arrived... I am in one piece and saw God's hand at work on my behalf several times in the last 3 days!

First I thank God for my dear friend Anne who called me up Thursday AM with the question " hey ... if you are not doing anything today would you wanna catch a flight to Nepal??" of course I answered affirmatively and invited her along! She agreed to go as far as SeaTac airport with me and so ... my ride to the airport was confirmed. We made good time to the airport and on the way I shared my secret prayer that the rules would have changed and I wouldn't have to collect my luggage in LAX and schlep it all through the airport to the international terminal. I also had 20# extra in one suitcase and was prepared to pay an extra $50 to take it with me.

Within minutes of arriving at SeaTac both prayers were answered. Alaska Air was able to book my luggage straight through to K-du and they could not find Korean Air's policy or fee schedule for excess baggage after 10 minutes of researching it in the computer, so let me take the extra 21.6 # on for free muttering the whole while "if Korean wanted them to charge me for that then they should put it in black and white!"

The trip was long and virtually uneventful... oh except the Korean lady behind me that got up for her 4th trip to the lav and fainted in the aisle... it was the only spot on the whole plane where there was actually room for a body to lay fully extended... so she didn't hit her head and there was actually room to assist her without being right on top of her! I tried to help but the flight had a team of 10 Korean Dr.s on which somehow trumped my ER experience... So I did crowd control... "please, Ladies and gentleman... step back and give her some air... give her some space… let her breathe... yes she is breathing... she has a strong pulse...The Dr.s will give us an update in a few minutes... uh huh she is stable". All the Dr's did was take her BP about 7 X and then sit her up and assist her back to her seat... end of their obligation! Not that there was much more that could be done 3 hours out of K-du. She looked pale for about an hour. I suggested to the flight attendants to get her 3 seats together and let her stretch out, help her push clear fluids and provide her with an ice pack and a cool washcloth for her head... They jumped right on it and at least made her comfortable in this respect and by the time we landed she was doing "quite well" she said in her broken English.

I have recovered from my jet lag... I think. It has taken a couple days... I keep wanting to nod off at 4 pm!

Today I attended a new Nepali fellowship... my little friend that sells me tapestries has been very interested in my faith, asking many questions... I took him to a fellowship gathering last time I was here. He says he has gone twice since, on his own, and gotten many of his questions answered! We tried a new one nearer his home today... Funny... didn't think I'd know a soul there, but ran into a person I had met before in Dadeldhura and she introduced me to relatives of two others I knew! Of the millions of souls in K-du I would not have presumed the "degree of 6's" would work so well in a foreign culture.

H… R…, the tapestry seller, insists on taking me where I need to go on the back of his bike. Speeding all over K-du on the back of a motorbike scares the bejeebies out of me so pray for my safety as I tool around. I know there are angels watching over me... just too many narrow escapes for there not to be!

This evening I invited all the Kids from Dadeldhura that are currently in K-du to join me for dinner. D…. with OM is here with a group of 9 youth from two of our fellowships in Dadeldhura for a conference plus about 12 who are going to college here. Turns out they were already meeting at the Nobles for a meeting so they invited me there and it was truly exciting to see 25 young people worshipping God and praising Him and planning how they can impact Nepal for Him. I took them all out for momos (Tibetan dumplings) and sodas after! All three of my landlord and the bakery owner’s daughters were there! They all go to school here in K-du now!

My landlord called this AM with the dimensions for the space for the oven. So one of his daughters, D…, and I will go oven hunting tomorrow. God has given me 2 business people who run restaurants/ hotels, who have given me the same lead for a kitchen factory and supply store so we will start there with our research. On the dimension issue: there is plenty of space for a big 36x36 oven! The problem comes in that they didn't think about how to get it through the 30" door! Pray for how we will accomplish this! One solution might be to peel back the new tin roof and lower it into place and then replace the roof! I'll try to get pix! This could be good!

Praise God He has already supplied a ride for me and the oven back to Dadeldhura! Turns out the hospital vehicle from there arrived here, this afternoon and the administrator offered to T… D…., "to bring back anything for the bakery... even an oven” if he wished, so I guess he is eager for the bakery to open. He is not usually so charitable! Looks like God has prepared the way before me and tonight I was able to confirm that there is room for me in the vehicle too! This is a huge relief to me. Yeah!!! No bus ride this time!!!

Some of you know the consternation I have endured trying to anticipate how to transport an oven over that sorry stretch of highway! It turns out they are planning to head back just a day after the date I picked as my target day to head west!(Wednesday?) Praise God!

Well the power just went out so rather than hunt and peck in the dark... will save this till the power comes back on and then send it to you all.

Keep those prayers comin'... they are being heard and answered!

Dawn Didi

D2C Orphanage

4/9/11

Pray for an opportunity to get our Dare to Care orphanage on the docket with 5 other organizations for support from New Life church. If you go on line and pull up New Life... click on the " 5000" and email your request to add our organization to the ones already there as a contender for people to sponsor our kids too. We have 21 kids now and only 9 have sponsors. So this would be a big blessing if it can be arranged and our voice heard too! YAH!!!!

Call or email me pronto if you are sending things with me so we can connect. Tuesday at 2 is my departure and it’s rushing towards me! Thanks for all your prayers and support! You are the best!!!!!!
Dawn

I am home but not without adventure!

1/12/11

Thanks everyone for your prayers! I am home but not without adventure!

Just once... just once!!!I'd love to be able to travel ... anywhere without an adventure! Couldn't I just have a normal, run of the mill, uneventful journey????

I was scheduled to leave Chicago at 3:30 pm yesterday but due to the storms across the country we never got off the ground till after 8 PM, putting me into SeaTac airport at precisely 11:11 PM on 1/11/11. But that meant I missed the 11:20 air porter by the time I collected my luggage. The 12:20 air porter was about 45 minutes late due to the falling snow and slushy streets and held only 24 passengers so the remaining 28 of us had to wait till the 4:20 AM air porter ( the other buses to ferry had ceased for the night by this time). It was an hour late and 24 people pushed ahead of me leaving me again standing in the cold! This time the driver felt sorry enough for me to give me a priority pass for the next shuttle so I actually made it on the 5:20 (albeit it too was an hour late). I finally made it into Port Orchard at 7 AM and Diane sweetly obliged to rescue me at that hour and get me to my own home and my own bed about 7:30 AM!

Those of you who do not travel much cannot appreciate the joy and relief of collapsing into one's own bed after 10 weeks away! I highly recommend it sometime... just for the experience of it and to appreciate what you have been taking for granted for so long!

Today after sleeping most of the day, I verbally wrestled with Quest to re-establish phone and internet service for almost 2 hours! I had a work order to have that done yesterday... but they insist someone made 97 calls total from my line to "directory assistance" daily between Nov 11th and the 26th, as well as 8 long distance calls all over the country while I was away and until I pay the $193.03 for that, I cannot have my service reinstated!!!!! I finally convinced the girl I would fax a copy of my itinerary once she reestablishes my fax line, proving I have been out of the country these last 3 months! This is a total mystery how this could have happened.
I think they will get me functional after 3 business days... so no service for 6 days more.

Please call me on my cell phone if you need to contact me as I'm in limbo and at the mercy of the phone company till Tuesday!

Other than a dead rat in the basement (he apparently took the bait I laid out a month ago) and the viscuine blown off the garage roof, things seem pretty much in place. I look forward to getting settled back into living in my own home and finding a job here as soon as possible.

My friends Bert and Karen have treated me to a fine dinner at their house tonight and generously shared their internet ... I am so grateful!

Hope to see many of you in the near future... I have missed you so much!
Blessings and wishing you all safety, warmth and joy in the days ahead!

So much to do, so little time

4/18/2010

Some of you have had trouble getting onto our blog... this is an overview and since much of this is sensitive I cannot post it on the blog! We need your urgent prayers for Nepal... especially the next 3 days and beyond! It is a volatile time. Many are taking a huge stand for their faith this next three days! They need you to stand in the gap for them! Please get your kneepads on and read the following!

Mr. D… just returned to Seattle after 3 months here in Nepal. Most of his work was down in the terrai/ plains where he was assisting the leper community we adopted last year. Last year he helped them dig an irrigation well by hand it took four and a half months and dug down 100 feet before water shot up 90 feet and so that is all going well. He will be posting a report very soon now that he is home in Seattle and internet is more accessible. He also helped them build a fellowship building and we saw that under roof just before we left last May. This year he helped those same 72 families start new seed farms and kitchen gardens and about 8 families qualified for our new animal husbandry initiative... sort of a microloan concept but with the added stipulation they share their first female offspring and the education and the gospel with a family poorer than they are in their immediate community or the next village. He thinks it is going well and is pleased with the progress.

We are both trying to work with a few leaders here in the hills in Dadeldhura to begin the first radio broadcast in the local dialect to carry the "Message". It will be called Kushi Ko Kura or "Happy News". Your intersession for getting this off the ground would be greatly appreciated! We have about a month's worth of programming together... then the key man doing most of the recording and technical stuff took off for a few weeks! He got back last night so we hope to get a little more programming under our belts and then dive in! I'm praying we can get it launched before I leave end of May.

I am trying to co-ordinate a music competition for xian songs in the local dialect. We are inviting all the local fellowships that speak this dialect to participate and hope to have a day about a month from now, where all songs/poems will be recorded and judged and all rights for broadcasting them on our FM station slot will be reserved. Prizes for the top 3 songs will be given and a great time of sharing and fun and snacks etc will complete the day. Please lift this concern up as well. It will fill in a lot of gaps around our messages!

I continue to work with a few local women that started in our trainings and microloan programs last year. Two of the women are paraplegics and have been producing a great bounty of knitted products which we try to market in Kathmandu and the U.S. We would love a few more steady accounts to market these items!

I am also training a new lady to run her own bakery. It will be the first of its kind in all far western Nepal. They are hoping to turn it into the first xian coffee shop/ bakery in far west (Starbucks?) The building is ready for a roof (they are having trouble affording it, but we trust the Lord to provide). We collected enough to help them with a microloan for an industrial oven to get started. I am also ordering a small fridge for the Dare to Care apartment that they will use for the bakery till they can afford their own. We will let them use all the pots, pans, spatulas, etc. S…. and I have been having baking lessons twice a week and then testing recipes with locally available ingredients. It must be sustainable to survive!

Ms. S…… has agreed to teach the microloan concept and business management to others for their own small businesses as she repays the loan for the oven from her profits. Two days ago she announced too many in the neighborhood she was making yeast bread and they could place orders a day in advance and begin purchasing. She has sold 5 loaves in the last 2 days. She will do a pizza fest on Saturday and invite 12 or more to come and taste her products. She also plans to take her products to the four local hotels and convince them they should order for their guests! She seems highly motivated ... rare here in Nepal!

The roads have been Bhund (closed) for the last 3 days so my fridge remains to be delivered.

The roads opened again this evening so many are traveling tonight. Several million believers from 75 Jzilla's (districts) are in route to Kathmandu for a huge showing. The Maoists are in charge of designing the new Nepali Constitution and believers want a voice so they are meeting for a 3 day rally in the heart of Katmandu to make their presence known and to ask for representation in the new constitution! This is huge! Please intercede for their safety, not only in travel, but during the rally with the high visibility from a hostile leadership in command.

Two nights ago at the start of the Bhund, I was walking back from the bazaar at dusk and was met on the road by about 100 M's running, shouting, and carrying flaming torches. It was a little frightening! But He is faithful and I am safe. I heard they set a few tires on fire to start their Bhund and let the community know they mean business!

We regularly claim Psalm 91 here! Please claim it with us and for us!

Hope this fills you in a little. So much to do! So little time!
Till all have heard!