Kathmandu Christmas

This is a picture of the members of the LDS Branch (congregation) packaging blankets and other items for distribution to families in need. Over 20 families received packages.

This is a picture of the taxi that we took to deliver packages to 3 families.

This is a picture of the visit during one of our package deliveries. You will note the plate with a cup and bread. Shortly after we arrived, the mother brought us hot milk and bread. These good people who have so little were anxious to share what they had with us. This was a very humbling experience.



Today's Shopping Trip - We made the trip on our own for the first time!

This is the brand new grocery store in the neighborhood.  In the
foreground, a paving crew is paving the parking by hand, one tile
at a time.

This is the view from the deck off of our bedroom on the second floor of the
apartment building where we live.  The garden in the foreground is our
backyard area.  Our landlord has done a beautiful job of landscaping here.



Sis. Weaver is standing in front of one of the many small, sole-proprietor shops
that dot the area where we live.  Today we bought two small bags of
unpasteurized milk, which we will have to take home and scald before using it. 
His wife and baby stand beside Sis. Weaver, while another customer is being helped.

This is a view of the apartment building where we live.  We live on the first level
at the edge of the courtyard.  There is a guard who has quarters just inside and to
the left of the gated entrance to the property.  Our landlord, who is a graduate of
Cal Poly with a degree in Civil Engineering, designed and built the apartments.  He
and his family live in the upper three floors.  The apartments suffered no damage in
the earthquake, unlike the building in the foreground.

First Day at Church

On Saturday we attended Church in Nepal for the first time.  Saturday is the day of worship in Nepal.  The building that the branch had been renting was damaged in the earthquake in April, so the branch now meets at a hotel about three miles from our apartment in Kathmandu.  Instead of the traditional three-hour block, the Nepali branch meets for two hours.  Sacrament meeting begins at 10:00 AM.  After sacrament meeting, the meeting room is divided into two rooms by a partition.  The Primary and Youth meet in the back area while the adults meet in the front.  Sunday School and Priesthood/Relief Society meetings are held on alternate weeks.  Since some of the branch members do not speak English well, most talks and lessons are taught alternating English and Nepali.  Here is Sis. Weaver standing in the room where the branch meets with two of the Nepali sisters in the branch. 

Arriving in Kathmandu

We arrived in Kathmandu a day later than expected as our flight from Salt Lake City to Chicago was delayed three and one-half hours due to weather.  Arriving in Chicago, we found that the only flight Etihad Airways has to Abu Dhabi had departed.  So, we stayed the night near the airport and tried again on Tuesday. At the ticket counter, we found that Etihad had recently restricted the size and weight of carry-on luggage, so we had to check our two carry-on bags. We arrived in Kathmandu with not one of our six suitcases in hand.  Imagine our relief as each of the six came into view!   Exiting the airport, we found Elder and Sister Oliphant, the other senior missionary couple assigned to Nepal, waiting for us.   It is a tradition in Nepal to welcome newcomers by placing a silk scarf around their necks....kind of like the leis in Hawaii.  Here we are with our beautiful scarves standing in front of one of the two tiny taxis it took to transport the four of us and our six suitcases to our apartment not far from the airport.  By the time we finally crawled into bed, we had been up 28 hours!

Welfare Missionaries

This is a picture of us with the two other welfare missionary couples that were in training with us during our second week in Provo. The church welfare staff and the LDS Charities staff provided us training on the basics of church welfare and on effective and sustainable projects in developing nations. LDS charities, the organization that we represent, provides assistance to all people regardless of their race or religion. The other two couples will be going to Mongolia and Beirut, Lebanon. The couple going to Beirut will be helping with the Syrian relief efforts.

At the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah

This is our MTC District.  On the first day, the 60 missionary couples that reported with us to the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, were divided into small groups or districts.  All of the training we did in the first week was done with the couples in our District.  The two young people on either end were our teachers.  It is amazing how quickly we came to care about the other couples in our District! 

On Thursday, during one of our breaks, Scott was talking to Elder Montgomery and figured out that he had been serving in the Roanoke Virginia Mission (where I was baptized) in the summer of 1974 (when I was baptized).  We asked him if he had known the Elder that taught and baptized me.   He had not served with Elder Packard, but remembered him.  Through a mission website, he was able to pull up Elder Packard's contact information, which he gave to us.  Unbeknownst to us, he called Elder Packard that evening and suggested that he call our phone number (he did not give Elder Packard any idea who would be answering the phone).  Imagine our surprise when Elder Packard called that evening.  Numerous times during the 40 years since my baptism, I had expressed to Scott that I wished I could let Elder Packard know what had occurred as a result of that one baptism.  I finally got the chance to do that!  Elder Packard then shared with me that he had struggled with some significant health concerns during his mission and for that reason did not remember those two years as fondly as many missionaries do;  he appreciated knowing what a difference his missionary service has made in our lives.  It also turns out that a close friend of Elder Packard's is currently serving as one of the counselors in the MTC Presidency.  He was able to arrange for Elder Packard to come this afternoon and spend an hour visiting with us.  What fun we had catching up on the last 40 years!

This whole experience has strengthened my testimony that our Heavenly Father knows each of us individually and that what is important to us and for us is important to him, even the little things.