Beautiful people

October 4 

     Given that there is no electricity, activities of daily living have to cooperate with daylight around here. It becomes completely dark by 6:00pm, and the starry night sky is immense and mesmerizing; makes a late night outhouse trip worthwhile. The phrase "early to bed, early rise" is actualized in this place.  The "symphony" of roosters crowing begins at about 4:30 a.m, and is soon followed by additional loud wake-up calls by cows, pigs, and dogs.  

         The rice is almost ready for harvest

Anita with her sister-in-law and niece, always busy-

bees. No daily task is quick and easy here!

     Soon after, amidst the sounds of children playing (LOUDLY), the clinking of pots and pans can be heard as people prepare squash, pumpkin, dal, and rotis for breakfast.  

     Feeling well, and keen to wash off the previous day's sweat and grime, Nate and I made our way to the village water pump to shower.  Anita lent me a petticoat to shower in so that I'd "fit right in."  Not a chance.  In no time flat, a group of kids trickled in and stood shyly to spectate. The braver the kids got, the louder their giggles became.

 

                A curious onlooker

     Families in the distance climbed on to their rooftops to get a good look.  Anita tells us that we are the first people from the West that she knows of to have ever visited her village, so I guess we were quite the spectacle.  Additionally, a family of little I piglets rummaged around the water pump, adding to the audience.

     Janaac and Nate continued the teaching sessions at the church, and Nate concluded by speaking about "how" and "why" we read the Bible. I also had the opportunity to share my testimony, with Janaac as my translator.  Access to teaching materials and other resources are extremely limited in this area, so the Bibles (in Nepalese) that Nate and Janaac had brought were received with excitement. People here are HUNGRY to learn.  

Making new friends. In many villages, there are more

women than men. With the hope of greater income opportunities,

many men have left to find work in India, Dubai, and Malaysia.

     At the end if the sessions, Danel and Anita presented us with little notebooks as gifts, which was very touching. Being cared for and loved by people who themselves have so little is enough to bring me to tears. We are filled with gratitude.

Nate and I with our hosts and friends, Danel

and Anita. We are...large.

     In the evening, Danel (along with other curious companions) walked us around his village.  At the village's edge, he pointed out a shocking landslide that had completely wiped out the village below.  He tells us that devastating landslides are not uncommon in high mountain villages. 

           Surveying a landslide area

Sheer cliffs where the earth 

fell away. Somebody is still trying

to cultivate rice on the remaining

patch of land

     

     Danel also pointed to an Orthodox Hindu community in the distance which had recently moved down from higher mountains; his desire is to develope friendship and relationship with the occupants. Danel and Anita may be from a tiny place that almost no one knows about, but their hearts, dreams, and faith are BIG; their desire is to love and impact the people around them, and to share the hope that they carry.