A friend who works in one of our other hospitals 5 hours drive out of Kathmandu commented after another ‘hairy’ ride in on a Toyota Van that perhaps he was getting too old for all the ‘put up withs’ that we have to put up with here in Nepal….the electricity cuts have just gone up to 14 hours a day in Kathmandu, just enough time to recharge your laptop…not much point in keeping stuff in the freezer….

Well all that may be relevant to those with the money to afford laptops and freezers, but my friend also minded me to think of the millions of poor who have to put up with the injustices of society, increasing inflation and decreasing opportunity to earn an income to ‘stay afloat’…of those who have no access to decent health care or just a polite response to their presence. So we are in a good position to follow in the footsteps of Jesus in reaching out to the poor, in economy, in society, in spirit.

We left the house this morning at 10:30am for the Domestic Airport, lots of traffic on the road. A few friends accompanied Ali and I, Terry and Ram. We commented that it was great to see little signboards popping up around the city for new Church Fellowships. Since we have returned – just a week now – we have learned that the Nepali Church continues to grow apace with lots of people eager to hear of Jesus’ love for them.

At the airport the Yeti Airlines 33 seater plane is 15 minutes late in taking off, had to allow for a Thai Airbus landing with another load of tourists…we took off from Kathmandu at 3900 feet above MSL and an hour and 5 minutes later we landed at Dhangadhi, 690 feet above MSL, boy was it hot, about 30 deg C, very nice! Tirtha, the maintenance man from the Hospital was waiting for us with the Toyota Land Cruiser and we headed down into the bazaar for some new oxygen bottles which we lashed on to the roof rack, then picked up some medicine and I had a look around the bazzaar for supplies and to see what what available.

Before we left for the hills, we called into a wee tea shop for some Samosa, jilebi, momo and liquid…they were all delicious, what great cooks they have here! So off we went into the hills through the Sal hardwood forests climbing up to 8000 feet through the pine and rhododendron, the sunset was very nice with rays piercing through the mist and heat haze over the seemingly endless lines of Himalayan ridges…it got dark about 7.30, just as we were passing through a small village called Budar. We learned from Ram that a new fellowship of 15 believers had just started there recently. We arrived safely in Dadeldhura, at the Hospital about 9ish. The guest house was awaiting and we enjoyed the dal bhat meal left on the stove for us to heat up.

Well it is a new day tomorrow, going around the Hospital after devotions at 900am, meeting the staff again and seeing what progress has been made on the building work. There is much to be done and for tonight, we commit them to the Lord of the Himalaya for he is mightier than all we have seen today!