Fire in Devauli, the VW Van that Crossed Rivers, Many Visitors, and a Miraculous Trip Back to Kathmandu

After two eventful months in the village, we returned from the village for the summer monsoon season in Kathmandu. Kissan and his family came and stayed with us until they heard that there had been a fire in our village and 23 houses were burned. They were, of course, concerned and soon left to check it out. Only Kissan returned. His house was spared, but many others were in need. Grandson Joshua drew his version of the houses on fire here. He put in a fire truck, not realizing that fire trucks did not exist there.

The rest of the summer was good and full of God's provision. Some USAID families were leaving and gave us their food and we were grateful for extra food provisions. From my journal:

Bobgans [friends in the US] packed a suitcase for us that came with Dick Hugoniot, so now Jon and Jenny have some new toys and are having great fun with their Doctor and Nurse kits.

We also were able to sell our little three wheeled rickshaw vehicle and purchase a used VW from some UMN missionaries from Butwol who were leaving. We were thrilled that we would have a vehicle to take us to and from the village. Little did we know what adventures soon awaited us in our "new" van.

During this summer I began to have severe migraine headaches. Nothing seemed to help. It also meant Bill went to the village without us while I stayed with the kids for a short time. When we finally all made it back to the village as a family, I forgot to bring my journal but wrote this summary in my journal on our return after two months:

It's been quite a time. We had a wild trip to the village. Rivers were flooded. We had a truck tow us across the Rapti river in our new-to-us van. Bill knew it was risky so had the kids and me ride in the truck that was towing the van and him. Halfway through, the rope pulling it broke from the strong current. We started to pray.

Bill saw the rope break and he began to be carried by the current. Because the van was heavier in the back and it was rear wheel drive, the current pushed the front more than the rear so the front was pointing down-stream at about 45 degrees. Bill put the van in reverse and started driving. With the river pushing the van down-stream and the engine pulling it up-stream, he managed to drive back across to the bank where we started. As Bill said later, "Halfway to India and I didn't even have my passport."

We found another truck driver who had a chain and he pulled us all the way across. Whew. But that's not all. A bit later there was another, somewhat smaller river to cross. Bill tried driving across it and got stuck in soft sand. There we sat, wondering how we were going to make it. Then a bus full of people came by. The driver stopped and asked if he could help. He did, pulling us out and across. The passengers enjoyed the show. But now the van wouldn't start. So Bill looked around inside the van and finally found a dry piece of cloth. He took the distributor cap off, carefully dried everything, and put it back together.

Then the starter motor wouldn't work. Fortunately, by this time a small crowd had formed and they gave us a push. Bill popped the clutch, the engine started, and we finished our trip to the village at last, only 12 hours after leaving Kathmandu. I meanwhile passed out the fried chicken I had prepared for our supper.

This event was later drawn by Gracella Cunkle, an artist friend. The story was later published in the magazine Christian Conquest, as a children's story as one of a series called "The Adventures of Jon and Jenny." This story was called, "Miracle at the River."

The return trip up the Raj Path to Kathmandu was better than the one down. We did  however have two flat tires and only one spare. Bill managed to patch the last one with a bike tire kit and miraculously it held! Oh, but that's not all. Here's from Bill:

After fixing the second flat, Bill was feeling pretty tired and didn't tighten the wheel's lug nuts adequately. Shortly after arriving in Kathmandu he was driving up a hill when all of a sudden the van stopped moving. He checked: the engine was on; the transmission was in gear. Nothing. He got out to look around. Something seemed a bit strange. Then he saw that the lug nuts had come out and the wheel had come off the axle. But instead of falling into the street, it came to rest in the wheel well. A moment later, a small boy came running up with a lug nut. Bill offered a rupee each for all he could find (a princely sum at 10 rupees to the dollar in a country where a day's wage for a laborer was 50 cents) and altogether there were three: enough to put the tire back on and drive safely. Yes, God is good.

Accusations and Healings, Pulling Teeth, the King's Coronation, 2 Deaths, and Cherry Pits

We also experienced some difficult accusations that cut to our core. From my journal:

Sita Ram has been trying to slander us here in the village--telling lies about us and telling people to not associate with us because we were Christians. The Lord will justify Himself without our help.

During this village stay, someone also started stealing things from our home--a picture off the wall, books, toilet paper, and then used crayons to write on our car. It hurt, but we prayed for that person or persons and forgave them. But healings also continued:

A few days ago we were called down to see Somol's daughter who was in a state of fear with a high fever. We told them that we had no medicine for this but would like to pray for her in Jesus' Name so we did. And the Lord healed her. That night another lady came and asked us to pray for her hand. We did, but it was not better. Today she came and asked me to pray again. Kunti was with us and explained about faith in Christ since she [the lady] thought at first we were "jankries"--witch doctors. So we prayed for her too.

We also had a wonderful visit from Dudley and Mona Henderson, missionaries with the Assemblies of God. Dudley was a dentist and he came to help our village people who needed dental work. Most of our Tharu friends had never seen a dentist and their teeth were in bad shape. Dudley spent most of the time pulling teeth. But they with their two kids also got in an elephant ride too!

Soon after this came a real time of isolation and loneliness. Our normal arrangement for mail was to have it sent down once a week from Kathmandu by plane. We would catch a ride into Bharatpur and eagerly wait for the RNAC plane to come with mail for us. Reading mail and news from home was a big event. But when the King's coronation came, this was a HUGE event for the country as seen in the photo. For three weeks we had no flights and no mail delivery. It looked like everything, including flights with our mail, were cancelled for the coronation celebration. Stores closed, all work stopped, and people stayed home.

When mail finally started to arrive after the coronation, the unexpected happened:

I received a letter from mom telling of my father's death. It hurt to tears. I had sent him a Living Bible for Christmas. My hope is that he read it and changed his bitterness and anger to hope and joy. Then another significant death happened.

A new baby of our friends who ran the local tea shop was quite sick. The baby had not nursed for several days and was dehydrated. We knew IVs were needed but there were none available. So yesterday we lost our first baby and our hearts were saddened. We had prayed and laid hands on the child, and soon thereafter it died. We were reminded of how God had recently spared Jonathan's life with IVs and could only surmise that the Lord wanted this little one with Him.

This village stay was full of challenges and some funny things too. The governor of Chitwan District and three of his friends came for dinner in our small village house. I made a cherry pie for dessert. I used a special and expensive can of cherries I had purchased in a shop in Kathmandu. What I didn't know was that the cherries still had the pits and lots of added sugar! We simply told our guests that this was how we ate cherry pie and to put the pits at the side of their plates. Can you see the pits in the cherry pie Ethan drew?

Jonathan's Life Is Spared and Jenny Gets Hepatitis

In early February we planned to return to the village. The schedule was for Feb. 4th, but we weren't ready with supplies so we had to delay til the 7th. From my journal:

During this time Jonathan became ill with fever, diarrhea and vomiting. By Feb. 5th we took him to the doctor at Shanta Bhawan hospital. Bill took Jonathan into the bathroom so he could vomit again and he just fainted from dehydration into Bill's arms. Bill took him back to the doctor's office. Jonathan was in shock. It took three quarts of IV fluids and several days in the hospital before he started looking human again. 

Dr. Nietzhke [his pediatrician] said "It's a good thing you came when you did. I wonder what you would have done if you had been in the village when this happened." We knew what we would have done. We would have have prayed and trusted God as we did each time. During this time I read Watchman Nee's biography and found a new release. I'm not only "free to fail" but "free to be sick." Abiding in Him there is no fear, for the consequences are His.

Isn't it good how He orders our days and rearranges "our plans" for our own protection and good? We gave thanks for how God spared Jonathan's life and that he was better within several. We returned to the village on the 12th, "even though now he's quite skinny--and our Tharu friends are all commenting on how thin he is." But he was still well enough to play with the village boys on the haystacks!

We were, and are, grateful that He left Jonathan with us. Soon after this,

Jenny became quite sick and came down with hepatitis. Our landlady wanted to call a guru (medicine man) to do puja (incantations) for her. I tried to explain that Jesus will make her well. Show them Your love, Lord." Meanwhile we prayed for Jenny while she experienced the pain and then the healing.  Here she is with one of Tinkertoy creations in front of our home in Kathmandu with one of our chickens nonchalantly crossing her path.

How Many Times Can You Be Sorry for the Same Thing? No "I told you so" with Jesus, just "Do you love me?"

It seemed like there was always too much language analysis to do. But I continued to work on further developing the Tharu literacy materials … until one significant day. On this day I was working at my desk when Jonathan came to show me a picture he had drawn. I looked at it and said, “Can you see I’m busy right now?” Immediately my heart was pierced and I knew something was badly out of relational focus. I wept before the Lord and apologized to Jon.

When I saw the picture above, that grandson Ethan drew for this blog, my heart wept again. I loved the elephant carpet, but the reminder of my failure then came back anew. How many times can you be sorry for the same thing done long ago? I recently heard the answer from one of our pastors: Jesus asked Peter only one question after his failure of denial: "Do you love me?" He didn't say "I told you so" or ask if he'd really repented or any other questions that would be reminders of his failure. He only wanted to know that his heart of love was still alive.

Bill and I later met with a mature couple who had raised 5 kids. They helped us see that my first responsibility was to my husband, then the children, then the work. We talked with our SIL director and he agreed. It was so hard for me to lay down the work I was doing, work I thought I was called to do. But I did it with all my heart and found not only more time, but more joy and contentment with my children and in all my relationships.

I had previously completed a Literacy Primer that I could still test in the village, but there was to be no more work on language analysis. It lay in Father's lap.

The kids were excited that mama finally had more time to spend with them and to be a mother who was actively present and involved in their daily lives. In the picture below you can see that I even let them play with our clothespins! Creative Jonathan had taught his village friends how to use them his way!

Here are some pics of me with both kids as babies! Matching colors for Jon and mom and matching dresses for Jenny and mom.

Healings in the Village and Our Children's Illnesses and a Dream

Soon we were finally back in our village home. Here's a picture of the Himalayas taken from our village, Devauli. We and the Tharu people lived in the Terai, the southern flat part of Nepal. But you could still see the mountains....even when there was fog.



You know the expression, "What can go wrong will go wrong." Well, I was beginning to see a pattern and sense that God had called me to bring Him honor, not through "what went wrong", but through His faithfulness in physical suffering. It is Father who holds my life, and each day and hour, in His Hands. I only know that each moment of suffering draws me to His heart and His Heart is good. And THAT is what goes right…every time.

We arrived at the village with more challenges, after driving through rivers and dirt roads. From my journal:

2 days after the bumpiest tractor ride ever—and most expensive, Then Bill got the flu, plus burned his arm hair off in the incinerator explosion from petrol and Kunti seems to have amoebic dysentery….. and Jon and Jenny have been squabbling and cranky, and I sprained my ankle and am confined to inside. It’s festival time and so much noise all night, besides the mice and dirt are everywhere. Yet all is perfect as I choose to give Him thanks and praise.

We spent Thanksgiving in the village and gave thanks for a small kerosene refrigerator to keep our milk cool. What a blessing! I found myself worshiping the Lord and giving thanks for His goodness to us.

During these days I had “a vivid and colorful dream last night—that we had another baby girl with a natural and easy delivery. She had a large nose, dark hair, and her name was Joyanna Adelle Leal.” It would be another year before her life would begin.

Meanwhile, we continued to see healings in the village. Continuing my journal: 

A mother and daughter came. The girl had a high fever, paralyzed left leg and much pain. We didn’t know how or what to do. I felt strongly that we should bind the powers of evil on her body and ask for healing, so we laid hands, prayed and she was healed. She came back the next day, paid us 10 paisa [about one cent US] and said she was well after we prayed for her. Praise God. Glory, honor and power be unto Him.

We knew friends back home were praying. Here is our prayer card we shared with those who prayed.

The next morning after this healing, Jenny woke up at 4:30 with a high fever and racing heart. We recognized signs of a bladder infection and began to treat her with sulfa. We were feeling under attack, with some very strange things happening, like marbles rolling around upstairs when no one there. The next night Jenny work up screaming hysterically and arching her whole body and nothing would calm her. It was frightening. This went on for 6 hours. It was warfare-out and out-and the oppression was severe. Today we are fasting and praying. He told us to look only at Him, and believe, though exhausted we hold up the shield of faith. The battle just changes shades, though the victory and love of Jesus changes never.

Then for 2 days it was Jon’s turn to be deathly ill with strep throat and tonsillitis, coughing and choking like I’ve never seen. I’ve begun giving Jon large doses of penicillin shots. We feel we began medication in the nick of time. I had to open my palm again, and leave all in His Hands. I know so little, but nothing can separate from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Below is Ethan's interpretation of my giving Jonathan the shot and how Jonathan felt about the needle and big syringe. Jonathan has always hated needles and still does!

Kissan's parents and family we also loved and prayed for daily. The picture shows his mom and dad. Dad was 81 and that's pretty old for a Tharu to live. He was quite a character!

It was a financially rough time too. We were learning more about faith and living on His daily provision. Then 

I had a lovely dream last night—of shopping and losing my purse and money and searching everywhere to no avail. Then sitting outside, Kunti offered me her 2 pennies, and I had 4. We put them together and suddenly there were many, at least 100. Then the pennies turned into dimes, quarters, and 50 cent pieces before my eyes, and we had much more than I had lost. Then people came to watch and try to steal, but the Lord put an invisible ring around us and those who tried to attack us a received an electric shock from this ring and so none were able. We went home, and the food was still warm, though I think we had been away 2 days.

The dream not only spoke of the Lord's provision for use, but of the future and the many Tharus who would come to follow Jesus in the decades following our living there. He assured us that He was with us always. Here's a couple of pics from those days.

 

Where Do You Call Home? The Raj Pat, Leeches and a Put-putiya??

In August we returned “HOME,” for Nepal was now our true home. Home is where our heart is settled, "where God is" and where I am at rest with no desire to be elsewhere. Nepal was where we thought we would spend the rest of our lives.

We returned during the monsoon, with mud and mosquitoes everywhere. A week later, Bill tried to get to the village by bus with a friend and colleague. They made it almost the entire way but then were stopped by landslides because of the heavy rains. They were forced to leave the bus, and then walk back. After three days walking many miles through the mountains, they arrived very weary, with blisters and leeches. I pulled many leeches off of Bill’s legs especially. I was just grateful they made it back safely and alive.

While waiting for the monsoon rains to subside, the Lord opened up another house in Kathmandu for us to rent—one that didn’t have a muddy road to get to. Only the main roads were paved back then—with only one stoplight in the whole city. Things have changed dramatically since then, though the recent 2015 earthquakes have brought the city back to times gone by.

We were looking forward to being next door neighbors to our friends Dick and Edie Hugoniot, who had already been to visit us in the village. Our kids could now play together more often. David and Melinda, Jenny and Jonathan climbed over a makeshift ladder on the fence between yards. Bill made a swing for the kids in the front yard. You can see the fence they climbed in the photos.

 
Jenny and Melinda Hugoniot had both been due on Nov. 5th. Jenny was 5 days early with her C-section and Melinda 5 arrived days late. It had been fun and encouraging to share the pregnancy adventure with Edie. Here are two pics of Jenny and Melinda together, one at about a year and then their second and third birthdays together.


 

We also got a new vehicle, a little three wheel “put-putiya,” as you can see in the photo. The kids and I could sit in the back and there was space for others, or shopping items too. It was only for use in Kathmandu, not the village. It would never make it over those roads.

  

Getting back to the village was difficult. Bill first had to go to the border of Nepal-India (Nepal is an land-locked country) to get our shipment from the States—supplies for the next 3-4 years. They told him he needed a new import license and he would have to come again. Things that might be simple and straight forward in the US would require much more time and patience in Nepal. When he finally got to the village, he found everyone and everything well. God was there......

“God was there.” After the last blog a dear friend wrote of a similar experience to Jonathan's tongue bite with her own brother when she was only about 5. She said that it was one of those events that makes her look back and know, "God was there." I’ve had so many of those moments. God is here now. God has been so good.

Jonathan Bites His Tongue in Half and We Begin a Lifelong Friendship: Our First Trip to the US

In April we returned to Kathmandu. Then, in the summer of 1974, after 3 ½ years in Nepal with no break, we left for the States. In May we visited my mom and her husband in Santa Barbara. Our dear friends the Bobgans, who still live in Santa Barbara, not only loaned us their station wagon to use but gave us a gas credit card for travel. It was a special blessing to visit with them again just last February in our trip to California. The photos with them are from then and now.

 

Next we traveled down to be with Bill’s parents in Santa Ana and see other loved friends. My journal says, “Yesterday we went to Disneyland with the Lynips. It was a really nice time though Jon was scared of most of the rides.” Can you imagine if you had spent most of your life in one slow paced, simple, quiet culture and country and were then suddenly transported to a world of Disney’s creation? Way too overwhelming.

Later my sister took us to a Toys-R-Us store--that also was way beyond their imagining. In Nepal, there had been only one choice for a tooth brush ... or kind of toy or most anything we needed. Here there were hundreds of kinds of toys to choose from and choices were difficult. Jonathan was hyper-excited and Jenny was wide-eyed!

From California we went to SIL in Norman, Oklahoma, for the rest of the summer. Bill taught grammar courses to new recruits while I was engrossed in literacy courses that were helping me plan the Tharu primers to teach our people to read and write their own language.

It was during this summer that adventuresome Jonathan ran up a flight of stairs in our dorm, tripped and bit his tongue, as I recorded in my Journal:

He tore his tongue open, needing about 12 stitches from an oral surgeon. He’s been a hurting boy all day. I know Jon is precious to Jesus and He is doing perfect things for Jon. Help him, Lord, and bless him in Your love, even as you do us.

The next two days were rough as Jon’s mouth was so swollen he couldn’t talk and wasn’t drinking even water. They were ready to put him on IV fluids when he finally began to drink (Jonathan has always hated the thought of any kind of needles). We then witnessed his steady healing, with much gratefulness.

So here’s another interesting Jonathan story. Every night when we prayed for the children before bed, we anointed them with oil on their foreheads, in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. One night we forgot.

Half an hour later, Jon went came trotting into our room with, "You forgot to put the Holy Spirit on me." We smiled as we prayed and anointed him and his sister.

Our time in Norman was more than we dared hope for, and more than we could have imagined as preparation for our future lives. Here we attended a fellowship led by Dow and Lois Robinson, another Wycliffe couple who were completing a New Testament translation for the Aztec people in Mexico.

Our times of fellowship in this home church cleansed and encouraged our hearts more than any words could express. Week by week we gathered and shared together around God’s Word. We were greatly assured of God’s deep love for us and our children, that they were cherished. Our marriage was also strengthened as I learned to trust Bill as my head, and the one who loved me dearly.

Before we left the States we took a train to visit my dad in Chicago. My mom came out to visit us and also went with us. It was the last time I was to ever see him. He was 84 with diabitus and very frail. But he let me pray for him and the left me with hope and joy. You can see us all in the photo below.


Here’s a poem I wrote that summer:

A Tale of Love that Has No Fear

Listen my child and you shall hear
Of a tale of love that has no fear.
It first began when God planted His love
In a heart so cold it was tight as a glove.

It grew as He watered and tended it with care.
It flourished and it blossomed without a tare.
But then one day when it looked away,
The sun was hidden….it could not stay.

The flower had begun of its own accord,
To revel in its glory, and it soon grew bored.
Then sin crept in as it sought from another;
It began to wither and in the wind to smother.

But God is faithful and He changes never.
A heart in Him is precious forever.
His righteousness cannot be abolished at all.
But only exalted through a wayward fall.

And so as He watered and He pruned and He cut,
Dredging all the ugliness, every bit of smut.
Then the flower took the look of its Maker and Lord,
The glory was His and He was adored.

But the end of this tale as not been written,
For the joy of the Lord never can smitten.
It only spreads from flower to flower,
As He perfects all creation to exalt His great power.