moon pies and mountains

oh man, Nepal is such a beautiful country! The mountains and the countryside are so nice to look at. It’s a nice change from the cities we’ve been in the last few months. The weather in Kathmandu is wonderful. A nice light sweater and a scarf feels great! I have no idea what the name of the village we are in is called…but I do know that it is in the Banke district. We are a good 13 hour bus ride away from Kathmandu. The ride getting here was not easy either. I mentioned about our travel to Nepal in my last blog. Our bus ride to ministry was even worse! No, we didn’t get in an accident…we did have to sit in traffic for an hour as a result of one though. Our bus ride was supposed to leave at 6 pm. We didn’t leave until after 8 pm. We get on the bus and realize there are not enough seats for the 2 teams we have plus 3 translators. No problem though because we bought our tickets in advance. The bus is now in an uproar over seats because the white people want seats. lol Well, we finally get our seats but there are a few who are not happy about and others who did not purchase in advance have to sit on tiny chairs placed in the aisle. The bus is hot and I sweat most of the way. There is very little leg room and we are all squished up like sardines in a tin can. The bus driver at least stopped every two hours for a potty break. Our first bathroom break was the side of the road. The men got out and stood on that side of the bus and the women crossed the street.   There are no bushes, no trees to stand behind, and no wall to hide you. The women are literally on the side of the road. And yes, because I have one of the world’s smallest bladders…I also went on the side of the road. Cars passed and honked. At least it was very dark outside and most people probably didn’t get mooned. I’m sure a few did though. Poor things…kinda feel bad for them. Well, after hours and hours on the road we finally made it to our quaint little village in Nepal. And it’s blazing hot!! No more nice mountain weather like in the capital…nope, it’s blazing hot here. I took a nap today. The fan was on…which was an answer to prayers! (the electricity goes out a lot…many times a day) So the fan is on and I’m still sweating buckets…my hair is soaking wet where it laid on my pillow…as is my pillow from it touching my sweaty head lol. I fan feel something on my leg and I’m not sure if it’s an ant or a sweat bead…both are extremely common while sitting on my bed! There are quite a few ants here. They do no harm really…other than find ways into an unopened moon pie and devour it! That was a sad day…

Ministry is going great though. We’ve had the opportunity to do some evangelizing in the nearby neighborhoods. We’ve also gotten to teach English a few times this week. The school does not have enough classrooms for the secondary and primary to go at the same time. So, the secondary goes from 6 am-11 pm and the primary goes from 11 am-4 pm. We don’t teach all day…just a few hours in the morning and a few hours in the afternoon. Our few hours in the morning start at 6 am though! I’ve never been good with mornings that come that early. It’s also a thirty minute walk so we leave at 5:30 am. It’s already daylight by that time as well. The sun rises very early here in Nepal. At 5:30 the sun has already risen over the distant mountain tops. The sun rises here are quite gorgeous actually. The sun is a wonderful mixture of orange and red. We have a kids day coming up and church on Saturday. Not sure what else the week holds but I do with you all blessing and peace!!