How do we become "one"? One in purpose, one in desire and one in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The "world" I now live in is so different form the "world" I left 2 months ago. I could have never imagined the differences, but am so grateful for the experiences I am having in Nepal.
As missionaries here in Nepal, our purpose is to do all that we can to put the church in a good light so that one day, the Church of Jesus Christ can be recognized as a legal entity here, where missionaries can come and share the gospel with our brothers and sisters. One way we do this is by finding ways to serve here, to try and make life better. Better is relative, my better is not necessarily their better so we have to find out their needs rather than what I think their needs are. It's an interesting, long and slow process.
Elder and Sister Rempp are working on 8 water projects. Clean water (hanni panni) is a very big deal, very few have water let alone clean water. Here in the big city, many homes have indoor water, but there are still so many that are walking with their buckets to the closest watering "hole" and carrying their water home. We see many bathing, and washing clothes in the nearby tap. The church builds water facilities in villages where women and children walk miles to haul water home. They also continue to work on sewing centers, giving women the opportunity to learn a skill to help support her family.
Woman washing at the local "watering hole"
The projects that Kent and I are working on are HBB, this is a neonatal program that just started this last year. This last week we've met with many government officials to try and explain how we'd like to help and how we'd like to do it. We have to be very careful, how we explain this, careful to not offend, pretending like we know what we're talking about, and smiling and nodding a lot. I remember when I was set apart, President Scoresby blessed me that I would be creative in many of the ways we work with and around the government. Now I know what he meant. I tell Rukmina (our Didi) my brain hurts, and then I have to explain "no", I do not have a headache. It's just that I have to pay such close attention to what's being said and trying to understand the Nepali English that I come out of the meeting exhausted and even then I let Kent do all the talking. I can only imagine how he must feel. Here in Nepal, women still are a lower class than men so I don't want to mess things up. We're trying to get new Visas, I had a letter to explain what I was doing here as a volunteer worker, it was rejected, I had to be on Kent's letter, as the spouse of the volunteer worker. :} I smile, I can handle it!
Here we are with the neo-natalies used for the HBB training. The doctor and nurses who came had to carry these on the plane, because we are still having fits with the government trying to get the other 200 hundred here so that training may continue.
This is the closing ceremony, a really big deal, still not sure I get this part.
We also do wheelchairs, we have a wonderful partner who does most of the work, we just have to make sure the wheelchairs are ordered and get here and then we get to go to the ceremonies, see them distributed and get credit for the Church. We haven't been to one yet but when we go the next time I will post pictures.
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Another project that we just completed was with READ Nepal Leprosy Clinic. Raj Kumar Shah wanted to raise chickens so they could sell the eggs to help feed the patients who come in for treatment and to raise some extra money. The church paid for the chickens and coops, we hope it all works out. Hong Kong told us that when someone in Vietnam wanted to do a chicken project they ate the chickens before they started to lay the eggs. I made Raj promise that he would get eggs and not eat the chicken,s he promised LDSC the first eggs. If any of you have leprosy bandages laying around that you may have done in years past, if you'll get them over to Caleb and Cami, they will see that they get here. The sisters in our branch are also working on bandages.
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Here's the chickens and here's a picture of cute little Konchi with a duck. When Raj bought the chickens he got 4 ducks. He said duck eggs sell for more than chicken eggs. When we went today there was only one duck left. The cats and the monkey had gotten the other ducks. We saw a monkey coming down to get the last duck but our friend Hossan chased him away. I wish I'd had my camera. Not sure if this little duck will make it. It's been fun watching the few residents at READ Nepal with those furry little animals . Quite therapeutic for them.
My desire is that life could become more equal here. During this last week Kent and I were having lunch at Pizza Hut, yes, it was the real Pizza Hut and almost tasted like Pizza Hut, there were a few different pizza choices but we found one we liked and were grateful for a little taste of home. Anyway, as we ate lunch we were noticing the people and commented "how can there be such a discrepancy here in the "haves and the have nots?" It's not so obvious necessarily in the way they dress but in the places we see them and the kinds of work they do. Shops that have windows are" haves," and those that just set up shop wherever are the "have nots" and they make up most of Nepal. There seems to be little middle ground.
Another desire I have for the people of Nepal is that they could let go of some of the old, old traditions. The caste system, arranged marriages, the expectation of children moving in with their parents and taking care of them, not just a short time but forever. Of looking to the future and realizing that there can be a future, so many are not only helpless but hopeless. They do not look beyond today. They don't take much pride in the little they have, this little country is not only poor in money but poor in spirit.
Let me tell you about those that are 'one' in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our branch has a little over 100 members we usually have about 75 at church on Saturday, with several investigators. They are pretty good missionaries, we can't talk to people about the church at all except at the meeting house so they are the ones that share the gospel and their testimonies. We go to the investigator class, can't understand a word but can definitely feel the spirit. I rarely see anyone use a manual, they teach from their hearts. Nepalese people have a funny little bobble they do with their head, I could never tell if it was a yes or a no, but now I know it means, "yes, I agree or I understand." I see a lot of bobble heads in class. At the end of the month our mission president from New Delhi, President Sackley and Elder Gerrit Gong from the Quorum of Seventy are going to be here. We will show them a couple of the projects we are working on and they will be meeting with government officials to try to further the work of the church here. We're also going to have the sisters make newborn hats for the hospitals. We're going to sew some with a cute fabric, others will crochet and knit. One hospital that we've been working with has over 22,000 births a year. Utah Valley hospital has 4,000. Can you even imagine and many of the nurses have a 6 month course to become a nurse out of high school. When a woman goes to the hospital to give birth, it is up to the family to bring food in for her. That's true with any patient in the hospitals.
As missionaries we've been asked to do "shadow leadership," to encourage, answer questions but to be careful not to jump in and take over. On Sunday, President Bishnu, our Branch President talked to Kent and I. He said, "I want to light a fire under the youth, help me." That's a hard thing, with the members so far away, the caste thing is still difficult in the church, in ways they can associate with one another, load-shedding will only get worse in the winter, so you have to plan activities when there is electricity and that schedule changes all the time. So we have a task in front of us to help these brothers and sisters to become one in Christ. Pray for us, we truly need the inspiration from our Heavenly Father to overcome the obstacles of Nepal. We love these members already, they are strong and they do their best and I know their best will be good enough in the Lord's eyes.
These are just a few of the members of our branch. I want to be "one" with the Lord and these brothers and sisters from Nepal.
As missionaries here in Nepal, our purpose is to do all that we can to put the church in a good light so that one day, the Church of Jesus Christ can be recognized as a legal entity here, where missionaries can come and share the gospel with our brothers and sisters. One way we do this is by finding ways to serve here, to try and make life better. Better is relative, my better is not necessarily their better so we have to find out their needs rather than what I think their needs are. It's an interesting, long and slow process.
Elder and Sister Rempp are working on 8 water projects. Clean water (hanni panni) is a very big deal, very few have water let alone clean water. Here in the big city, many homes have indoor water, but there are still so many that are walking with their buckets to the closest watering "hole" and carrying their water home. We see many bathing, and washing clothes in the nearby tap. The church builds water facilities in villages where women and children walk miles to haul water home. They also continue to work on sewing centers, giving women the opportunity to learn a skill to help support her family.
Woman washing at the local "watering hole"
The projects that Kent and I are working on are HBB, this is a neonatal program that just started this last year. This last week we've met with many government officials to try and explain how we'd like to help and how we'd like to do it. We have to be very careful, how we explain this, careful to not offend, pretending like we know what we're talking about, and smiling and nodding a lot. I remember when I was set apart, President Scoresby blessed me that I would be creative in many of the ways we work with and around the government. Now I know what he meant. I tell Rukmina (our Didi) my brain hurts, and then I have to explain "no", I do not have a headache. It's just that I have to pay such close attention to what's being said and trying to understand the Nepali English that I come out of the meeting exhausted and even then I let Kent do all the talking. I can only imagine how he must feel. Here in Nepal, women still are a lower class than men so I don't want to mess things up. We're trying to get new Visas, I had a letter to explain what I was doing here as a volunteer worker, it was rejected, I had to be on Kent's letter, as the spouse of the volunteer worker. :} I smile, I can handle it!
Here we are with the neo-natalies used for the HBB training. The doctor and nurses who came had to carry these on the plane, because we are still having fits with the government trying to get the other 200 hundred here so that training may continue.
This is the closing ceremony, a really big deal, still not sure I get this part.
We also do wheelchairs, we have a wonderful partner who does most of the work, we just have to make sure the wheelchairs are ordered and get here and then we get to go to the ceremonies, see them distributed and get credit for the Church. We haven't been to one yet but when we go the next time I will post pictures.
.JPG)
Another project that we just completed was with READ Nepal Leprosy Clinic. Raj Kumar Shah wanted to raise chickens so they could sell the eggs to help feed the patients who come in for treatment and to raise some extra money. The church paid for the chickens and coops, we hope it all works out. Hong Kong told us that when someone in Vietnam wanted to do a chicken project they ate the chickens before they started to lay the eggs. I made Raj promise that he would get eggs and not eat the chicken,s he promised LDSC the first eggs. If any of you have leprosy bandages laying around that you may have done in years past, if you'll get them over to Caleb and Cami, they will see that they get here. The sisters in our branch are also working on bandages.
.JPG)
Here's the chickens and here's a picture of cute little Konchi with a duck. When Raj bought the chickens he got 4 ducks. He said duck eggs sell for more than chicken eggs. When we went today there was only one duck left. The cats and the monkey had gotten the other ducks. We saw a monkey coming down to get the last duck but our friend Hossan chased him away. I wish I'd had my camera. Not sure if this little duck will make it. It's been fun watching the few residents at READ Nepal with those furry little animals . Quite therapeutic for them.
My desire is that life could become more equal here. During this last week Kent and I were having lunch at Pizza Hut, yes, it was the real Pizza Hut and almost tasted like Pizza Hut, there were a few different pizza choices but we found one we liked and were grateful for a little taste of home. Anyway, as we ate lunch we were noticing the people and commented "how can there be such a discrepancy here in the "haves and the have nots?" It's not so obvious necessarily in the way they dress but in the places we see them and the kinds of work they do. Shops that have windows are" haves," and those that just set up shop wherever are the "have nots" and they make up most of Nepal. There seems to be little middle ground.
Another desire I have for the people of Nepal is that they could let go of some of the old, old traditions. The caste system, arranged marriages, the expectation of children moving in with their parents and taking care of them, not just a short time but forever. Of looking to the future and realizing that there can be a future, so many are not only helpless but hopeless. They do not look beyond today. They don't take much pride in the little they have, this little country is not only poor in money but poor in spirit.
As missionaries we've been asked to do "shadow leadership," to encourage, answer questions but to be careful not to jump in and take over. On Sunday, President Bishnu, our Branch President talked to Kent and I. He said, "I want to light a fire under the youth, help me." That's a hard thing, with the members so far away, the caste thing is still difficult in the church, in ways they can associate with one another, load-shedding will only get worse in the winter, so you have to plan activities when there is electricity and that schedule changes all the time. So we have a task in front of us to help these brothers and sisters to become one in Christ. Pray for us, we truly need the inspiration from our Heavenly Father to overcome the obstacles of Nepal. We love these members already, they are strong and they do their best and I know their best will be good enough in the Lord's eyes.
These are just a few of the members of our branch. I want to be "one" with the Lord and these brothers and sisters from Nepal.
Hi Janet,
ReplyDeleteI love reading about your mission and the experiences you are having. Thank you for sharing! On a sidenote, if you get a chance to say hello to Elder Gerrit Gong for me, please do. I was his Executive Secretary for 2 1/2 years at BYU several years ago. I hope things go well with their meetings with the government officials!
I also hope that things continue to go well for you and Kent. I know the people are benefiting from everything you're doing!
Teresa Tasker Quist