March 31

Yesterday we got up and about. We had our hearty breakfast as per the normal. Then we readied and trekked to the Peacemakers Fellowship. Sam invited us to come today. He has “Sunday Church Service” on Saturday, because this is the one day Nepalis have off. They work six days a week – Sunday through Friday, Saturday is their one day off (Sam had told us this and the reason for this is. The people complained to the government when it used to be five-day work week. They needed to work more. So government implemented the six-day work week.)

Anyway, we arrived to a service of about 40 people at 1130. It is the second service of the day – first was at 830, and Sam says he has more attendance at the AM one. So God has been working here in Nepal!! Amen! The service was in Nepali, and began a bit late. But Wow! Time became irrelevant!! They had just over one hour of praise and worship. We recognized about three songs and joined in English, otherwise just enjoyed hearing them. During this time we all read and recited together Ps 47:1-7. Sam even blew a Shofar horn couple of times. Then took up an offering. Some then praised God out loud, and Sam's wife did a fairly long prayer/praise. Then three children got up and recited memory verses. One girl was only four, cute as a button, and only needed mom to help her in one spot. It is so exciting to see the children so gung-ho! Then Sam had us get up and do testimonial of sorts (he had asked us beforehand if we wanted to do this). Of course he had to translate, as we were going. This always is difficult for me because I loss track of what I was saying and think about something else while he is speaking. I hope God blessed the hearing!! Then Sam preached from Mark 14:17-55; 15:21-34. He spoke a little English, so we could follow. Sam closed the service and prayed over people.

Then he invited us up for lunch. Sam's wife and another lady had made it for us. Sam called it, “A mountain meal. We had Kodo Ko Dhido (a thick type of porridge made from millet); Rice; Fried Chicken; Mutton Curry; Spinach; and “pickle” – a spicy, chutney-like condiment that is a Nepali must. It was good. Sam said we had to eat it with our hand, not the spoon. Okay, he then rinsed our hand by pouring water over it. Then Jeff asked the blessing. Sam's youngest daughter and his niece joined us, eventually his wife joined. It is Nepali custom for the wife to eat last, in case the food runs out. (I know this because I asked her to join us, and Sam invited her to sit, so she did. Just different cultures.) Anyway, we finished, and we thanked them. It was nice to 'break bread'.

We left and Jeff knew of a coffee shop, Mountain Brew. I will be needing some soon (in the Maldives where we go in couple of days, and it will be cheaper here then there.) So we trekked there. I tried the coffee I liked the smell of and bought a 250ml bag. With that purchase we now head back (trekking the 2 miles) to our hotel. We arrived and cooled down then ate a light supper. Just as we finished my mom called and we did our weekly chat/catch up. Then watched a bit of You tube and bed, by tenish.

Today, well, it was a – horse of another color, as in green. I woke up nauseated which I was able to curtail with medicine. But well, I was visiting the bathroom for other issues. I could only eat my toast for breakfast.

SOO… any plans for today were shot. We just stayed in the hotel room, me being mostly horizontal. Thankfully, Jeff is good, not having any problems. He filed our U.S. taxes and figured our India budget. The one time I was able to sit up, we were watching “I Can Only Imagine.” We literally got half way through when we had a Netflix/VPN issue, and could not complete it. Questions?? I laid back down. I was able to eat couple of bananas and some crackers with PB, with Jeff finishing our salami and cheese on crackers. He also had a banana. Jeff joined our ZOOM church service back home, I just listened. We went to bed by ten-thirty.