No Regrets, Just Anticipation: Summary Photos of our Years in Nepal

It has taken awhile, but my heart holds this truth -- There are no regrets, no mistakes, just anticipation of God's faithfulness and goodness. So here are the last slides, just found, of family and village friends. More stories with most pictures too.

Proof that once upon a time, Bill actually had hair.

In front of our last house in Kathmandu.

Jenny's 2nd birthday cake and celebration!

Jenny's first birthday in the village: Grandma Leal was there and we all had homemade ice cream--the first the villagers had ever tasted.!

I love this one. This was our kitchen in the village and our dearly loved Kunti is in it  A British friend named Julie came  to visit and painted the wall for us.  Our sink was that pail at the end corner. We had straw mats on our cowdung and mud floors.

This was how we got to the airstrip in Bharatpur to catch a flight to Kathmandu. We caught a bus in Tandi when there was one. That's Bill's Dad with Kunti, Jenny and I. 

Jonathan and I in Pokhara with the Himalayas behind us.

Kathmandu from the air....1974

Another one of Jenny and the flowers. She's always loved them!

Jonathan and Jenny introducing the two Henderson kids to one of the village goats. Dudley is a dentist and came down to the village to help the village people with their dental problems. He pulled a lot of teeth in our backyard!

Jonathan and an amazing man we called Malidai. He worked for us five years and helped our garden to grow and so many other helpful things.

Kissan and Hathani and their first two kids, Santa Kumar and Mina. 

Our landlord, ManSingh, had two wifes. We gave them fabric from the US and they made matching blouses. They didn't live for long in the same house.

My mom came to Kathmandu when Jenny was born. 2 women I love very much!

One of my favorites--kids in the flowers and Malidai in the distance tending our vegetables....and strawberry plants

Not all bridges were safe to cross.

Kissan, his dad and younger brother

Bill and Kissan at work on analyzing the Tharu language.

Kissan was baptized shortly after we left and followed Jesus all his life until he had a heart attack at age 50. We look forward to seeing him in Heaven!

When we were expelled from Nepal, our whole group of 100 worked very hard 24 hours a day. We took shifts printing recently translated Scriptures. Here I'm working on the gospel of Mark in Tharu.

Some precious village kids!

Bill and Jonathan and I think one of our rabbits! Jonathan called them "hummies" and when we had to kill one to eat it, he combined his Nepali-English vocabulary to tell us, "Hummy sidhiyo" which means quite literally, "The bunny is all gone or finished." I love watching and listening to children's language development!

Jonathan loved books from an early age. Anyone recognize the book?

Jonathan pumping water for us from the one village pump we had installed.

Bill's parents came to visit when Jenny turned one year old. :)

Mom and Daughter in matching dresses

Jenny and Melinda Hugoniot celebrating 2nd birthdays together. They were due the same day, and born 10 days apart.

Jenny, tinker toy, and friendly chicken later to become dinner!

Jonathan's tinker toy creation :)

This was how we got places more quickly than walking.

Wake up, Daddy!

Christmas with Trudingers and Sewards--a roast pig on top of Trudingers' house. Our house is in the background.

Recent Pics from our Tharu Village Friends in Nepal

So delighted to find these treasures in Nepal!

Kissan's Wife, Hathani (in green), surrounded by two sons and two daughters: Santa Kumar, Ramji, Mina and Niru (Putali)

Kissan's family's house

Niru and her two sons. We've had some emails and lots of talk about helping Oz Aman get more education.

Church in Devouli!

Inside of church

Kissan's mother, 100 years old. One amazing woman!

Nothing's Mature at the Time it is Born

It has been a long time since I've written more of my story. So much has happened that draws my heart back to Nepal. It was a time of seed planting, watering, and not seeing anything mature.

Yet in the last two months something amazing has happened. Through Facebook, many of Kissan's Tharu children and grandchildren have found us! We've been having daily contact with them and even chatting and  talking on the phone ... in Tharu. We have found they all survived the earthquake, but are suffering from the Nepal-India border sanctions. BUT several are following Jesus. There is even a church in our village. So hard to imagine. All we left with Kissan was the book of Mark and half of Genesis. Then Kissan's letter came, soon after we settled in California, telling us how he had decided he, too, would follow Jesus.

This story goes on in future blogs, but for now, another serendipity: I found a whole batch of pictures and slides from our time in Nepal ... and now we have received some recent ones that our Tharu friends have sent. So, before moving on to the "rest of the story," here are some pics and memories of those years planting and watering and seeing nothing mature.

First, a series of pictures Jonathan drew for one of his kindergarten assignments. The kids were asked (Thank you, Heather Wells!) to draw where they lived in their villages and what it was like. I love these pics! The next blog will be the recently discovered photos with captions. Enjoy!