John 4:13-14 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again; But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

I love the story of the woman at the well, not only because everywhere we go we see women at the wells, washing, bathing and socializing but because every time I see them drawing their water for the day I think of the story of the Samarian woman who desired  the living water that Jesus offered her and for the living water that He offers each of us.

When one lives in Nepal, water is a big deal, sometimes too much, and sometimes too little. Monsoon is supposed to begin June 10 but it began 4 days later.  Yes, they really  do know which day the monsoon starts, but in reality sometimes it's late and sometimes it's early.  A couple of days ago I was reading in the paper about the poor management of water in Nepal.  I think I've mentioned that they have the 2nd most rainfall in the world and yet we have to have water trucked in about every 3 weeks because they can not manage this precious resource.  Water gives life, it's our most precious resource and yet Nepal can not figure it out.

Our Bansbari Home with Lake

A few weeks ago we met with all the youth in the branch and assembled 800 humanitarian kits.  Boy, they worked hard and we were all done in a couple of hours.

Elder Rempp made it fun by sticking candy bars among all the towels and combs and soap.

Many hands make light work

The youth are all going to deliver these next week at one of the schools where a water project has been completed.

I have a new folder in my pictures, it's called flat tires in Nepal.

This would be the fourth flat tire we've had, another one just last week - with the roads the way they are it is no wonder we have not had many more flat tires.

Here's another funny taxi picture - we see this frequently

One minute the goat is a passenger in the taxi

And a little later on ...........

Dinner

I shouldn't complain about the taxis ........... we could be taking the family car instead.  Only the driver is required by law to wear a helmet, go figure!

There was a family of five on this motorcycle

My birthday was last month and Hari, Rukmina and Hitson took Kent and I out for dinner.  I got to choose where and I chose a famous Nepali restaurant, I forgot my camera but it was very good.  

We also met with Karishma who is  our HBB monitor, she just recently had a baby boy and we took over a baby blanket that I had made.

I only took the little boy hat, I'll save the little girl hat for another blanket.

A few of our good friends from Nepal are going back home.  

The Patch's are going back to Utah for a few months and then on to Washington DC for a year where Chris will be learning whatever language they speak in Iraq.  He works for the state department and after a year he will be assigned to Iraq for a year - not taking the family this time.  Gretel and the kids will return to Utah while he is gone.  He said that all the embassy workers need to take a turn going to Iraq.
We will miss them and will pray that the Lord will keep Chris safe during his next assignment.

The Dearden's are returning to Boston where Kirk will return to teaching at the university and Betsy will again teach math.  We wish them all the best of luck.

These have been strong families who have been a real blessing for the branch in Kathmandu but their good examples will remain here with our members.

We've all (both missionary couples) have decided it is time to move from these big home that the missionaries have been living in for a long time and move to smaller, newer, modern apartments.  Our landlords have been unwilling to keep up the homes without always raising the rent.  This has been a very hard decision for all of us as we are not having to make new arrangements just for ourselves but our families that have been working for us and living with us have to make major changes in their lives.  As we talked to Rukmina and Hari about this big decision we worried about what they would do.  Work is not easy to find in Nepal, and housing can be very expensive.  They were worried about what they would do but were very supportive of our decision and very understanding as to the reasons we would be moving.  Two days after we talked to them Hari and Rukmina had found a nice little apartment for their family.  In fact it is really better than what they have had here.  Hitson will have his own bedroom, they have a nice little living room, which they haven't had.  Rukmina will even have a kitchen with running water and an indoor bathroom.  Rukmina was able to do some translating for our upcoming wheelchair training that we paid her for so she is buying some of the furniture in this house.  She is so excited and two days later Hari got a full time job.  I hope to have her help me a couple of days a week if she does not find a full time job in the next month.  As we talked with our mission president who encouraged us to make this decision, he told us that employing branch members full time is not always a great idea.  Sometimes there are hard feeling between branch members and we need to be very careful.  

Our new apartment has 2 bedrooms and office, I'll have a pantry and even cupboards I can put my dishes in.

We'll have air conditioning, heat and hot water and a little more electricity plus there's a swimming pool, too bad I didn't bring a swimming suit.   Now I just have to go through 15 years of stuff.  I'll post pictures after we move in in a couple of weeks.

After making the big decision to move Tiff and Lauren came to spend a week.  It was so fun, I think it may have been a big culture shock for Lauren and probably even Tiff but they have lots of stories to tell.
They arrived on Friday after traveling 36 hours.

We picked them up from the airport and headed for home for a few hours of much needed rest.  

Later that afternoon Anjana and her husband came over to pick up a laptop that Tiff had brought from her brother, Girish.

Girish is Nepali and is a counselor in the newly organized Nepali Branch in Salt Lake.  They live in Tiff and Jon's ward.   

Tiff carried 4 computers with her, one for Kent, whose computer crashed about a month ago, one for Anjana and Dr. Clark asked her to bring two more for Dr. Ashish at Paropakar hospital.  

We were all a little worried about her getting through customs but it was like everyone had told us, they just shoo the white faces through customs with no questions, in fact they don't even bother to ask or look at what they bring through. We had told her if she got stopped and questioned she was to leave two of them with the custom agents and we'd let Dr. Ashish figure out how to get his.

We then went to Nina's for lunch/dinner where it poured.  We just and visited and waited it out.

Saturday we went to church where Lauren played the music for church and after we loaded in the van and headed for Chitwan.  Lauren's one big request for her visit to Nepal was to ride elephants.  



Once we got to Chitwan, we were all ready for bed, we stayed in a different hotel than usual, which was very nice with air conditioning which we appreciated very much and after we got the frog out of Tiff and Lauren's room we settled down for the night in anticipation of a fun day. 

On our way to ride elephants 

Because of the hot season in Chitwan we'd all had to start taking our malaria pills and make sure we had lots of good mosquito repellent

Here we go!

We first entered the crocodile infested river oooooh

These big deer sort of remind me of mule deer

RHINO

And more RHINOS

We finished our elephant ride and Tiff and Lauren wanted to go and bathe the elephants........they thought they would just go down into the river with them, they were a little shocked at what happened next....

This guy is taking pictures of Lauren 

That was fun

After the bath with the elephants we all went back to our rooms to shower and get ready for a wheelchair distribution.  As they were getting ready for the distribution I was sitting next to one of the doctors from the hospital, sodas were being served to everyone, in bottles from a tray.  The doctor went to grab one and knocked it over and I went to help him and pretty soon all the bottles of pop on the tray were tipped over.  He was not happy, I felt bad for the young man who was serving us all.  But it was funny.  I was a little sticky  on the 5 hour ride home.

Wheelchair Distribution in Chitwan

Tiff and Lauren at the distribution

This cute little girl was excited to get her first wheelchair

Rakesh got up and asked Tiff to speak at the closing ceremony of the distribution.  We were all a little surprised but especially Tiffnie.  She did a great job and Rakesh interpreted for her.

The next day we got up and went to breakfast at Mike's and then dropped off two of the computers to Ravi at Paropakar Hospital where Lauren handed out the baby caps she and her friends and cousins had made.

Tiff brought Ravi two computers, he was excited

Lauren handing over the newborn caps

She and her friend had raised a few hundred dollars selling cupcakes, cookie dough, etc. and she then bought the materials for newborn caps.  She brought the few hundred she had made and then many friends and neighbors had donated knitted and crochet caps for the winter time babies.

This tiny baby was 22 days old

This was quite an experience for Lauren - not like the hospitals in the U.S.

Some of the staff at Paropakar Hospital

We then headed to Bhaktapur to visit one of the oldest cities in Nepal

Lauren in front of one of the hundreds of temples in Nepal

Tiff down in one of the many wells that have run dry

One of the cleaner alleys in Bhaktapur

Just trying to get Lauren to smile, I think it was getting to be a little much for this thirteen year old.

Lauren and Tiff throwing  pots in Pottery Square

After the long day, Rakesh and Sunila had invited us to their home for dinner, Tiff had brought the kids BYU sweatshirts and jump ropes, they were way more excited about the jump ropes, and brought Rakesh a superman t-shirt.  I had made a afghan that we were going to give them when we left but I wanted Sunila to have something so I took over the afghan.  

Rakesh, Sunila, Lauren and Tiff

Rajasee and Lauren

She had pulled out all her games for Lauren to play with her

Now for a funny story, I think I've mentioned before that Rakesh's brother Rajesh is Nepal's most famous and popular movie star (you can verify that on wikipedia) sort of the Brad Pitt of Nepal.   When he's around he lives in the home where the Hamal family grew up which happens to be Rakesh and Sunila's home.  He was around this night and came up and joined us for dinner.  A very nice man.  As we were getting ready to leave I asked if we might take a picture, and he told us he'd be happy to let us take his picture.  Well, Lauren has been carrying around a little 2" gnome, it was a YW summer project.  The YW  were to take their little gnomes wherever they went for the summer and take pictures and then post them on a ward blog.  It was a reminder that wherever they are they will stand in holy places, (the YW/YM theme for the year).  Rakesh has been watching her take this little gnome out of her purse and take pictures of all the fun things she is doing in Nepal, elephant ride, Bhaktapur, Hindu temples, etc.  As we sat down to have our picture taken he told her take Babu (that's what she named him, it means little brother in Nepali) and let Rajesh hold him for the picture.  She was so embarrassed, in fact on the taxi ride over she had told her mother not to mention Babu while we were there.  It was pretty funny but I bet none of the other girls have their gnomes pictures taken with a movie star especially in Nepal.

Speaking of taxi rides, we got a flat tire on the way over.

The next day we went Swayambhu (Monkey Temple)  another place to visit on Lauren's bucket list

Of course we saw lots of monkeys

Monkeys (notice the baby)

and more monkeys

Can you see the pot (middle right), Tiff and Lauren are throwing coins and trying to get them in the pot

Lauren in front of a statue of Buddah

Tiff and Lauren on the 1,000 steps up to the Monkey Temple, not sure if it's really a thousand but it's pretty close

Kent showing Lauren the Kathmandu valley from the top of the Monkey Temple

After we left the Monkey Temple we went to a friend's orphanage.  She is a member of the Church from Germany and has a children's home here in Nepal.  She really emphasizes education and makes sure that when she is here in Nepal she is home when they children get home and she helps all of them (around 60) with their homework.  

All of their shoes and socks, she actually has two homes, there are 21 girls and 21 boys in this house

Loved this picture of all their shoes on the front porch where they leave them before they go inside.

Nepalis rarely wear shoes inside.

The boys eating their after school snack

The girls eating their apples

Everyone

Everyone in this picture is in the 8th grade











Tiff had also brought some bigger winter hats that we left here for them when it get cold.  Tiff and Lauren said this was one of the highlights of their trip.

The next day we went to Pashupatinath, where they burn the bodies.

Notice Tiffnie hanging on tight to Lauren with these guys - don't blame her

We stopped by READ Nepal Leprosy Clinic to say "hi"

We also went up to Buddanilakanta where a group of school children wanted their picture taken with Lauren

Lauren buying bangles for the YW in her ward

When Tiff was here we had necklaces made with their names in Nepali and also for all our daughters and older granddaughters.  They turned out pretty cool.

Here is my name in Nepali

We also had a CTR ring made for Kent - it says Righteously Choose

You can't see it very well, but it's pretty nice











The time went way too fast.  Lauren has girls camp next week and the whole summer filled with fun activities.  It has been fun having them here and sharing in some of the things we do in Nepal, but I hate saying goodbye.

On Tuesday, a few of the RS sisters went over to Laxmi's new place (Laxmi has been Elder and Sister Rempp's didi) to help clean it up before she moves in.  It was a mess but it looked a whole lot better by the time we were finished scrubbing.  She's got a job cooking 2 meals a day for a Nepali family.  They want a Nepali lunch and a Western Dinner.  It takes her about 8 hours of prep time to fix those two meals.  She is making about .50 an hour.

Rukmina, Sister Rempp, Udpati and Jessica

Hari has found a full time job in security.  He works 7 days a week 12 hours a day and is making about .30 an hour.     Welcome to Nepal  :(

Tuesday was a perfect day to stay indoors.  It rained most of the day AND we had a bandh all day, again and maybe again tomorrow. Crazy, crazy Nepal.

Tomorrow our wheelchair guys are coming.  We've spent the last few days running around and making sure that everything is ready for our training to begin on Monday. There is never much down time, I've got a ton of paper and computer work that I need to catch up on when they leave.  Reports to write, projects to close and getting moved into our apartment.  Whew!  Missions are hard work but I'm not complaining, just explaining.

Our wheelchair training mess

I watched Rukmina this afternoon washing her clothes in a bucket of water out back, and thought about how unfair life is sometimes,  these people need  water, they deserve to have running water in their homes, water to bathe and drink but it's not available to them for whatever crazy reason , but somehow they seem to manage.  They also deserve to have the living water that Christ offers each of us.  Right now it is just a trickle here in Nepal.  But one day there will be a flood and there will be Nepalis whose thirst for truth and righteousness, for hope and peace will be quenched by the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I know this to be true, it will happen and it will happen all over the world, one day.  I'm grateful to be small part of sharing the living water of Christ, in just small ways here in Nepal.
The other day a young man was here with his father looking at buying some of the chickens that Hari has been raising.  I was sitting out on the step when he came over and talked to me.  He asked me if I was a Christian, I told him I was.  He responded with "Christian people are all so nice."  He asked if I was a Protestant, I told him no, that I was LDS, a Mormon.  He said, "but you don't have a Church here," I told him that yes, we do have a church here.  As he walked out he asked Rukmina about where the Church was located, she told him.  Maybe we'll see him there on Saturday...................