End of Mission

This is the shoe cobbler that works on a street corner near our apartment. He fixed two pair of shoes for us. He did it by hand and his work was as good as any we have ever seen. We paid him about $1 per pair for the repairs.

We went on a shopping trip to Asan Bazaar in Kathmandu. This is a typical street scene from this shopping area. It is an ancient place.

One shop we went to was a t-shirt shop. This is the entrance to the shop.

These are the rickety stairs leading to the shop which is on the second floor of the rickety building.

Once inside the t-shirt shop we thought of Diagon Alley and Ollivanders Wand Shop from Harry Potter.

We also shopped at an Indian store that has had painted decorations made in Kashmir.

Each month Lear and our house helper Rukmina make a 90 minute drive across Kathmandu to visit a young mother who is a member of the church. Her husband works out of country and is only home a few days a year. She and two children live in one tiny room that serves as the kitchen, bedroom and living room. There are many families like this in Nepal. She always prepares a lunch for her visitors. She does not have much but is always anxious to share and would be offended if we did not partake.

The above two pictures are of a roadside barbershop. It is located on the side of the major highway leading out of Kathmandu. He may do a brisk business with drivers and passengers who often get stuck in traffic jams for hours on this road. The barbershop does not look like much but the hair cut is better than you can get at most barbers in the US.

This is a Nepali crow. It looks like crows elsewhere except that it has a grey head and chest. Other than the two-tone paint job it sounds, acts and looks like any crow in America.

At each of our wheelchair distributions we are treated as honored guests and often get a silk scarf and occasionally a special recognition badge. This was at our very last official function in the country on May 22nd. It was held in the resort town of Pokhara which is the Jackson Hole of Nepal. During the mission we gave over 2,000 wheelchairs to disabled people all over Nepal.

We have grown to love the Nepali and their country.  We did a lot of good things here but we got more from the Nepali than we were ever able to give. We are sad to leave Nepal but at the same time ready to get back to our family and many good friends in the USA. May God bless the wonderful people of Nepal and God bless America. He has certainly blessed Scott and Lear.