Lydia’s Blog:
 
Lydia's Bog:
 
HAHEM!! (clearing of throat) Hameahamahgmgl!  Welcome to the wonderous world of NEPAL--where your wildest dreams will come true: hopefully your wildest dreams include dying from a bus wreck or dust inhalation.  They most definitely should include fake tandoori chicken and piles of trash on any sort of road you may travel.  ANYWAY, Nepal has been great for the most part.  It’s definitely been a quiet/awkward time on my part- not speaking Nepali really doesn't help communication, but Rachel and Dad have done pretty well, despite Dad’s Spanish/Nepali mosh pit.  I'll let Dad do the talking from here:
 
So Thursday we arrived in Nepal after having left Sunday afternoon.  Then we flew from Kathmandu to Nepalgunj.  They announced on the flight intercom that it was 40 degrees on the ground (104 degrees Fahrenheit).  I think it was still 40 when we left the next morning at 6 AM.  The Nepalis had told me "Just take a taxi and come up on the road."  My first clue for this being a rather poor choice would have been the price, but it became even more clear soon enough--the eight hour trip to Chaur Jahari turned out to be a combination of rock crawling and mud bogging, most of it on the edge of cliff hanger roads. The last twenty miles took four hours.   When I suggested that someone talk to the road department it was explained that this road wasn't theirs, but the army has been digging a track to the northernmost portion of the nation strictly for defense purposes. (The road has no gravel, no bridges, no structures, no right of ways....a simple war time get 'er done approach).  Bless God they got it done.  Now monsoon rains have come; I hope we can get out.)

I have often joked about how the Hindu worldview affects their driving.  This time we got a Muslim driver, and when I asked him to slow down because I was afraid, he simply asked me if I was really a Christian or not.  I had to shut up.  We made it eventually with no trouble, even without a spare tire. Our driver missed the turn to the hospital so we came at it the back way by the new church.  My first thought was that it was huge but yesterday when I was speaking I noticed it was full and people were crowded around the door to listen.  The music was still pretty rough but has been improved greatly by the addition of a blind flute player.  I was able to preach; the Lord had put two messages on my heart, and then we had communion together.  My original co-worker Bal Ram Bhatta had also come so it has been a great reunion.  Everywhere we go we are introduced as the person who brought the hospital to the area. To the Christians we are introduced as the ones who brought the gospel.   Last night as we looked out over the surrounding hills, (Chaur Jahari is a valley surround by mountains.) we saw all of these solar lights from houses dotting the hills.  The Nepalis joked that it looked like Kathmandu, but I thought of it in a different sense: it is still a dark place but there is Light for those who wish to search it out.