Expelled From Nepal, "Letting Goods and Kindred Go" -- Nomads Again

The memory is still tender, so first I will just give you my journal entries of our last days in Nepal. (In parentheses I'll explain a few things you wouldn't know.) Then in a separate blog I'll put the articles published about this happening, including being accused of being CIA agents.

6-3-76: It was yesterday that Dick told us as a group that visas are not being renewed and that the government plans to terminate our SIL work in Nepal. Dick and David [SIL director and administrator respectively for our Nepal branch of about 100 workers in close to 30 language groups] see the Vice-Chancellor today at 12 while we fast and pray. We were prepared that the plane would be refused, but not everything. Our visas all expire on August 28 -- 3 months to end a life-time work. Last night we gathered for prayer at Hugoniot's. My heart was low as we prayed--until the Lord showed me a picture of Him with us all, Tharus too, gathered around Him in worship. He will do it, without us, or with, but HE will do it.

2:30 p.m.: I didn't sleep much last night and was was up early about 4-5 a.m. John 16:20: "Your sorrow shall be turned to joy." The word was given: 3 months maximum, out by the end of August. No appeals. It's unreal. Am really in a state of shock, and exhaustion. We prayed and sang from 11 to 2, knowing God's plans are far larger than ours. So many thoughts swimming in my head. Dick cried as we prayed for him. Bill and I had just heard a message (by Bob Mumford) about running to meet the bulldozer. God's will is goodness.

Christian activity, and for our Christian witness, we are called to suffer for His Name....leaving my lovely Nepali and Tharu brothers and sisters here.

6-4-76: June 2, Daily Light from Exodus 12:11: "Up! Be gone! This is no more your land and home. This world is not our home; we are looking forward to our everlasting home in heaven." Somehow it seems like years since yesterday. It was just yesterday that Bill shared Christ with Damda, and He received Him. Bill has also shared Him with our dear malidai (faithful gardener, shopper, and general handyman for five years) and with our landlord this morning.

At long last the restraints are lifted and we can shout His praise. (We were not allowed to share our faith with anyone and "no proselytizing." That was part of the agreement SIL had. We knew that God's Word would be enough without our spoken words). This morning I went over and helped EBE (another mission organization) pack up their book exhibition as they too were told to leave. Mr. Sharma told us that the country is in a crisis now.

6-6-76: Thank you, Lord, for everything. Yesterday morning we had a meeting at TU (Tribuhuvan University, with whom we had the agreement to study and analyze the languages of Nepal) to discuss close-up details. When they announced no on could return to their village, my heart broke. I got out of the room before the tears spilled. My emotions have caught up with the reality, but not the truth of His control. It will come. He is Lord of lords and King of kings.

We had a good meeting last night at Shepherd's. Today Bill took Damda to Ganeshwar, (the Nepali church), where he took communion, after a warning and exhortation from Bill. He fully considers himself a Christian. May God work it though and through.

I still haven't been able to write letters. Tears are always close to the surface. Isaiah 55 has been a lovely promise. At tonight's meeting it's Bill's turn to speak. What a time! He will speak on forgiveness.

Such a turmoil in selling all our stuff. Just doesn't seem real or possible. Wish we could leave it all somehow. It's a strange feeling. I don't feel we've got as much time as it seems.

6-13-76: What a week. But for His goodness and faithfulness--impossible. We've sold nearly everything, and then had 500 rupees stolen, plus some of our stuff.

Nepali people of course want to argue and bargain till I've burst into tears. They don't believe in fixed prices. It's demoralizing to live in an empty house. Jon and Jenny have been better.

Bill and I had a good exit interview with Dick, though plans keep changing. First I was to go to the Philippines and wait one month for Bill. Now I'll fly with Nancy (Watters) and Sandy (Gordon) to London with our 8 kids and we will hopefully stay with friends Ron and Sue Trudinger a bit.

Then we'll fly on to Oklahoma to be with Bill's folks, and our prayer group there with Dow and Lois. Maybe we'll wait for Bill there. We move out to TU in 2 weeks. Bill will stay there and hopefully Kissan will come too. They're checking through Mark now. John 14-21 has been my reading and feasting this week--so much of His death and life in this all, and then Jesus' question: "Lovest thou me more than these?" More tears.

6-21-76: For the next few weeks I'm being trained to take Joan's place burning plates for our Ricoh offset press. (We had set up an around the clock printing of Scripture as it was being finished.) Am thankful to have this part in the work. Such good lessons on possessions and friendship and LOVE.

6-30: Thoroughly enjoying doing the Ricoh press. Feel so privileged to be a part of what's going on, so exciting to know He's going to bless abundantly His Word as it goes forth. So tired--hours long--to 10 every evening. Bill finished checking Mark today. Yet there are moments of real encouragement, knowing people are praying. The joy of promise outweighs all sorrow.

7-5-76: Such long days, but not long enough. Nights to midnight now. Good night out with Dick and Edie, and Dave and Nancy last Friday. Everyone is working hard and are tired. Jon's been uptight, feeling our tiredness. Forgive me, Lord, and heal us all.

7-14: Time is going so quickly. Days continue long, and yet the thrill of being part of god's place in this just keeps increasing in my heart. I praise Him for this encouragement. I'm now training Maria and Marlena (single women because all the women with kids were to leave first--men and single women stayed til the end) to take my Ricoh job when we leave. Everyone is obviously under pressure these days and everyone is obviously being kept and upheld by the power of God. It's exciting and a joyful thing to behold.

The book of Mark is almost photo-ready and we hope to see it off the press by the end of the week, and I hope to take one with us when we go. The kids have been so good lately too. I took Jon to see the Biola King's Players two nights ago and it left him really thinking.

7-17: Tharu Mark is done!!!!! Praise God. Soon His Word will sound to every village. God is faithful. Things are getting busier and busier. My last night was good and I felt encouraged to believe Him for His care on this trip--a removal of fear.

Many are so tired and wearing down and on edge (now many working round the clock to print translations). But it's Glory to love each other in spite of these things, and see His blessing in each other's lives. As Roma, a dear friend said, "It's been worth 15 years with Wycliffe to be here this last month." She echoes the cry of my heart too.

The next blog entry will be July 23, from England. I would not see Bill again until the middle of next month. This I didn't know since communication was not instant like these days. Even getting a phone connection out of the country was often impossible. Letters were the only way we communicated and those often took three weeks.

This quote by Bilbo Baggins, in The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, expresses my heart then and all the years to come, here on earth, and beyond: "The greatest adventure is what lies ahead." 

Song: Matt Redman, "It is Well with My Soul" -- I love the new verses he has written in. Weeping may come for a night, but joy comes in the morning: It Is Well with My Soul

This poem by Amy Carmichael, in Roses from Briers, expresses my heart (with most of the thee and thou words changed to you):

You have not THAT, My child, but you have ME;
And am not I alone enough for thee?
I know it all, know how your heart was set
Upon this joy which is not given yet.

I know it all: but from your brier shall blow
a rose for others. If it were not so
I would have told you. Come, then, say to me:
My Lord, my Love, I am content with Thee.

Here is the last photo that I have of our SIL/Wycliffe group taken in 1975. We represented many different countries. Bill and I are in the first two rows, second from the left end, surrounded by friends who served, suffered, and loved with us.

Expelled from Nepal: Publications, Implications, Tribulations, and Reflections

 

There were many important documents regarding our abrupt departure from Nepal. Above, there's an article I wrote that was published in Wycliffe’s monthly magazine, In Other Words in May,1977, titled His Word-Our Plan of Action. It is similar to my journal entries, but includes more reflections and information. It tells how everyone helped and how children as young as “Jonathan helped fold pages of the books of Scripture as they came off the newly-arrived press.”

Then, in contrast are the newspaper publications below. (1) All the major Indian newspapers carried the story, some on the front page, and there was international coverage as well. But Nepal was silent. As you will read below, we were accused of being CIA agents (2) (of course no one checked our missionary bank accounts). Later we received a letter from the Vice Chancellor apologizing, below (3), and saying we had nothing to do with the CIA. The real accusations, which we denied, were: “proselytizing, preaching, and engaging in anti-government activities.”

Later, we received a letter of thanks (4) for our contribution to Nepal from the office of the His Majesty the King, also below.

Another important document was the lengthy three-month phase-out report describing what happened. It also lists what Scripture had been completed and printed for each language group before leaving in August. Chitwan Tharu was listed as:

Genesis 1:1-25:11 300 copies 9% of New Testament
Mark 300 copies 8.1% of the NT

Other language teams who had been there several years longer than us had much more, up to 60% of the New Testament. And as you will later learn, since then, many translations have been completed and distributed to groups of thriving churches and followers of Jesus.

The product of those three months were so many portions of Scripture in so many different languages. Here are a couple pages of the final ready to print Gospel of Mark in Tharu that Bill finished checking before leaving. This the end of chapter 14 and beginning of 15.

So why didn’t we fight the decision more? We wanted to leave graciously. It was also made very clear that the decision was non-negotiable. We tried to get a one year closing date instead of three months, but three months was the maximum they would give. And officials and members of the royal family were too busy to see Dick or David. Most Nepali people and other people serving in Nepal were shocked at what was happening and offered all kinds of help, which was greatly needed and appreciated.

As members, many of us realized we would face separation from one another. For Bill and I it was nearly a month. For others who left even earlier, it was two months. It was difficult for all of us in too many ways to mention. Those who were abroad on furlough when the announcement came, were asked not to return. Wrapping things up with grace and peace was paramount. And there was a deep confidence in the sovereignty of God to complete the work He began.

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(1) Newspaper coverage outside the country:

(2) CIA Involvement

(3) Letter from the Vice-Chancellor

(4) Letter from the King, signed by his private secretary

Our Photo Op in the Yeti, RNAC's In-flight Magazine: A "Typical" Family Vacation in Pokhara Followed by Almost Losing Bill

We have another funny story about how we got published in the Yeti Flight Tales, the in-flight magazine that was in the back of every seat on all RNAC's planes. But first let me tell you about our first few days in Pokhara, a beautiful town on a lake where you can see the Annapurna range with Fishtail, or Machapuchari, as it is called in Nepal. Fishtail is on the left in this photo -- sticking straight up in the air. But the whole Annapurna range is spectacular to view.

From my journal:

5 days in Pokhara--not exactly a vacation, but definitely interesting. We played musical hotels. We spent the first night at Crystel--expensive and depressing. Then we moved to Fewa the next night. It was on the lake. Lovely lake, dirty hotel. Finally Bill took us to Shining Hospital, another mission outpost, who graciously took us in for a few nights. We also were able to arrange for more medical supplies for some of the other SIL / Wycliffe teams working in other people groups. 

The next day we took a canoe trip on the lake and had a picnic lunch. We went on the lake the next day too. Then we moved to the Annapurna hotel, the best of the lot, and promply got asked to be the subjects for a magazine article- the RNAC in-flight magazine about a "typical" family vacation in Pokhara. Dozens of photos shot. We never realized it would take the whole day traveling from place to place. Jon and Jenny weren't too excited about this, but they got to ride a donkey, catch a pretend fish, eat a little food from the picnic lunch."

Below are the pictures the RNAC couple took of us and used in the magazine, and then the article. Jon became "John" in the story and the "we" was not written by us! Again, we experienced editorial prerogatives. Hope you enjoy the photos! The cover of the mag is at the end of this blog.

The next day, after the RNAC day photo-op, Jenny got dangerously ill with a high fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and bad tummy cramps. We took her to Shining hospital and the doctor saw her, took a specimen and said she had amoebic dysentary, so she's back on Flagyl. [Amoebic dysentery was something we all 4 dealt without throughout out stay in Nepal.]

On our trip back to Kathmandu we took 3 doctors and a mechanic from Shining hospital. It was great to get to know some colleagues from other mission posts. What a great time we had--before we came back to the news that our aviation program may end. It was a call  to prayer. *** are you leaving this hanging? what happened next? ***

When in Kathmandu, we continued attending some wonderful meetings and times of prayer, both with our SIL colleagues as well as the ecumenical one we were a part of. We came to love two Jesuit Catholic priests, Fathers Lud Stiller and Jim Dressman. It was a new and good experience for us to find this kind of fellowship across doctrinal lines. It was God's Spirit and His Presence that joined us as we worshiped the One we all loved and served.

We made one other trip in May that was pretty significant because we almost lost Bill in the undercurrent of a river. We were on an outing and arrived at a river for a picnic.

There was a small island in the river and Bill went upstream and swam to the island. As he swam back, he was caught in a whirlpool and began to be sucked under. Meanwhile, the children and I were watching all this from the shore. As he hit the whirlpool, I gathered Jonathan and Jenny and started to pray. Bill doesn't remember much of what happened next, but the next thing we knew, he was on the shore. Perhaps he found something to grab a hold of? Or more likely, an angel pulled him out.

Then on May 21 we made a trip to the hospital for three of us. Jenny had tonsillitis, I was treated for tapeworm and Bill was treated for amoebic dysentery. That doesn't list all the things that God healed when we asked, like Jonathan's boil and Jenny's sty. We are grateful for any healing, direct or through doctors and medicine.

This was followed by another trip to the hospital. This time it was me, with "a little bronchial pneumonia." It was very painful and it meant another round of antibiotics. How good to have friends who bring meals.....and then share them with you.

All this was not long after my ectopic pregnancy. What with that and two C-sections, we needed to make a decision. We wanted a large family, with lots of kids, but our Father had other ways of fulfilling this desire.

Another trip to the hospital.....We had made one of the hardest decisions of our marriage. Bill and I had a necessary and lovely time talking about a vasectomy.  So very hard, but now I feel the Lord will bless this as we've sought His direction. It's been a difficult experience but good for us each. Thank You, Lord. There is peace and rest in His Presence, though accusations come in my thoughts. Having done all, STAND firm. 

June 2, 1976: Monsoon arrived yesterday. I'm still feeling weak and been calling to Him for help, physically and emotionally. Still pains in chest 
from the pneumonia. Yet will I rejoice in the Lord. I've really felt Bill's prayers for me. Thank You, Lord, for a loving and compassionate husband.

But more tears and pain were to come, more than we could imagine. Next to come was the day that changed our lives forever.....

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 The cover from the in-flight magazine that had the article about us.

A Puppy, Haystacks and Two Good Months in the Village

After six weeks recovery, I was allowed to return to the village. During the recovery time in Kathmandu, Bill went to Dang Valley in eastern Nepal for nine days. He went there with the Benns, a new Wycliffe team, to help them settle into their new village home and setting. From my journal:

Yesterday we flew to the village--with 10 minutes of very turbulent weather--the plane was bouncing all over the sky and me a dizzy mess.....But God put such joy on actually arriving and knowing He is going to bless us. I've had a real joy and gladness to be here and feel this an answer to prayer. We couldn't drive our van because our tires from Singapore hadn't arrived yet.

The following entries span two months of our life in the village: March and April 1976.

The last few days have been lovely: lots of food gifts from people, even our landlady gave dozens of garlics! Then today Bill started translation work with Kissan and I started teaching Jon, and wham-o. Bill and I had a lengthy discussion-argument about lots of little things that was not governed by love. Jon's been a crank, though he did well in his lessons. There's lots of medical work and Bill had to take one injured man into Bharatpur for treatment, but he and Kissan keep working.

Yesterday there was a big wedding at Baghmara and we rode royally in a tractor. I've been deeply grateful to be completely healthy these last few weeks. Yet now Kunti is quite ill, Jon's got a hacking cough.

Then we got a puppy! The kids named him Frisky. Jon and Jenny loved him. On Friday some village kids stole him from the yard and threw him to some big dogs who attacked him. We've dressed his wounds and prayed and now he is getting better. These same kids tried to break and enter yesterday, but we caught them. The village elders told their parents to reprimand them. We're grateful for their intervention.

Yesterday we took a lovely family walk and climbed a 10 foot haystack at Kissan's. We had a ball frolicking and lying at the top of it and singing Alleluia to God.

A really refreshing wind blew through the 100 foot trees. God is good.

Our weekly mail flight came and brought lots of good letters. So much to be thankful for, even though there's a need for rain here. It's so dusty, with one huge dust storm that swept through our house, even with windows and doors closed.

Now it seems like the whole village is sick--so much disease. One baby died, after it seemed to be recovering. It was not able to urinate. Seems to be a big cause of death and sickness here. Wish we knew the cause. But we know love's the answer. Then I had my first penicillin reaction with Hongari's son--a very bad rash on his body.

Mid-April: Even with the little rain the other night, it's still so very hot. Tons of medical work and still no language helper for the summer. Jon's lessons are over and only one more week in the village for this spring. Our return flight up to Kathmandu on RNAC was very windy and bouncy. We all felt it. But we made it back with gratitude ... for cleanliness. We returned to Kathmandu briefly before heading to Pokhara for five days rest and different scenery.

It was a good two months, with much progress in every area. Relationships were being forged and built up, medical work flourished with village people being healed. I was working with the women on literacy skills, and we were beginning to feel at home in the village. We spent time visiting in other villages too. You can see the kids and Bill waiting for a meal here. You can see the water jug in Bill's hands. They always gave us this to wash our hands before eating. And they always gathered around to stare at the "angrazi" (Literally this means "English" but it refers to all western foreigners.) Note all of Jenny's blond curls too!

Also during these two months Bill was making good progress on Bible translation and Kissan was asking probing questions about Jesus. However, he discovered that the Tharu people had NO knowledge of God and his initial work with people, places and events. This meant that all the New Testament references to the Old Testament didn't make sense to Kissan....or any other Tharu for that matter. This was something of a crisis for Bill: Clearly he would have to provide the background, but why should he be describing the customs of a far-away, obscure people group from 5,000 years ago to a Nepalese farmer? It seemed meaningless.

From Bill's experience:

For about 3 days I stopped and thought about this. Then, suddenly, I realized for the first time that there is no doctrine or teaching in the Bible that isn't situated in a particular time and place. We have to understand the context in order to understand what God was saying and doing. Even Paul's letter to the Romans, sometimes described as the most concise statement of theology in the Bible, was written at a particular time by a particular person to a particular congregation, and as we understand their situation and issues and Paul's message, we understand what God was saying to them.  

Anyway, this released me to begin translating again. So I stopped working on Mark and started translating Genesis to give them the background of God's invasion into the life of Hebrew people for the amazing preparation for Jesus.

Then, it was time to return to Kathmandu.  It was so good to have a van to travel these mountainous roads back and forth between Kathmandu and the village. A normal trip in good weather took 7-8 hours....if the rivers weren't flooded! The rugged beauty is amazing, even through the Raj Path, a winding, always turning road. What a gift all this time in the village was, before the soon-to-come shock and heartbreak.

My Ruptured Tubal Pregnancy and the Miracle of God's Saving Grace

Do you remember reading the dream I had a couple months ago that I was having a baby girl we named Joyanna Adelle Leal? Well, it was real, we were to have a baby girl, but the Lord decided to take her closer to His heart than mine. It was a miracle that we didn't both go to His heart then and there.  

We returned to the village after Christmas, the end of December. Within a week I was in bed with severe cramps. I'm so grateful that Kunti, a Christian friend and house-helper along with Ann Lycett, a dear British friend and school teacher in Kathmandu, came down to the village with us this time, and were able to help out. Eventually the pain subsided and I reengaged daily activities. But then, the next week the pain erupted so severely it was hard to stand up straight.

January 14, 1976: 

The Lord is good. Blessed be His holy Name and Love....Thank-you, Lord. So we're in Kathmandu. Last Wednesday the stomach pains returned along with a migraine. So I took a migraine pill which, we later learned, apparently can cause bleeding in pregnant women. Then I began to spot, enough that we decided to evacuate and leave for Kathmandu.

Bill bundled us on the motorcycle and drove us to the Bharatpur air strip about 10 miles away. We hoped we'd be on time for one of the twice weekly RNAC flights. The plane was there when we got there and, amazingly, there were enough seats for Jenny and me. We took off an hour later. Then, Jonathan and Bill rode the motorcycle up the Raj Path to meet later that day.

Jenny and I were met at the airport by David Meech who got me into a taxi that drove me to Shanta Bhawan, the mission hospital where Jenny had been born. I was immediately admitted to the hospital. Dr. Mary Eldridge, the Queen of Doctors--took such good care. I expected it was a miscarriage, but it wasn't. It turned out to be a ruptured tubal pregnancy.

So she did an emergency surgery to remove the right tube....I am still weak, but am so grateful to be alive and a recipient of His mercy. Turns out that I was the most unusual case of the week in the hospital so all the doctors were in here discussing me. I learned a lot listening to them. Maybe I learned too much--like how many cc's of blood they took from my gut to save my life. But the Lord is faithful.

The pregnancy was ectopic: the fetus was growing in my right fallopian tube. Once it started bleeding, without the emergency intervention, I would have died. The Lord's love surrounded us. Apparently He still had more life for me to live, more work for me to do, more family and friends to love. Of course our hearts were sad to let Joyanna go, but we look forward to one day meeting and spending time with her in Heaven. Here's a picture of how Ethan understood what happened.

So you see how Father protected us: the ectopic pregnancy, the medicine I shouldn't have been taking that caused us to leave early, the availability of a plane and seats on it, and a British doctor that recognized the crisis and dealt with it. Here was something we could not plan for and had no control over. Nor could we have scripted the sequence of just-in-time provisions. Truth, as Mark Twain said, is stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense.

Imagine....

If Bill hadn't decided to have us leave the village when he did?

If it hadn't been one of the two days RNAC had a flight into Bharatpur with return to Kathmandu?

If they didn't have a few seats left on the plane?

If David Meech hadn't taken me directly to the hospital?

If Dr. Eldridge hadn't recognized what was going on (remember they didn't have ultrasounds there)

If my Father hadn't decided to leave me here all these years?

George Herbert, in 1633, penned the following words and I echo them: "I live to show His power, who once did bring my joys to weep, and now my griefs to sing."

Here's a song to express what gives deep rest in the midst of fears: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qec8TMNJEcw&feature=youtu.be

Prelude to a Miracle: Three Weeks in Thailand and Christmas in Kathmandu

After many village challenges, Bill decided we would take a vacation with our SIL friends, Gary and Barb Shepherd and Klaus-Peter and Doris Kugler and all the kids. We found a place in Huahin, Thailand, that was specially created to help missionaries get away and rest. We spent the first night at the CMA headquarters in Bangkok. Everything was flooded. People were using boats to navigate the city. The next day we took a bus four hours south to our destination. We spent a lovely time, a "little bit of Heaven and a gift from the Lord. It was good to meet and talk with other missionaries too.

"The beach was lovely--so perfect for the kids. we had lovely meals and ice cream every day. I gained seven pounds! One day Bill and Jonathan went on a fishing expedition. Jonathan enjoyed this a lot. "

He looks a LOT like Joshua in this picture. Or maybe it's the other way around.

During the last week there a hurricane hit that changed the whole beach. Afterwards there were dead octopi all over it. It was cold ... and sad. And, we had gotten enough rest because we got bored and left three days early. Nepal was more home than ever and we could hardly wait to return.

We saved shopping til the end. What an experience. You can see the monkey and elephant. Bill was pretty brave to let him do that. Our experience in Nepal led us to be very wary of monkeys. But, of course, we were very familiar with elephants. Jon and Jenny both now collect elephant figures and house decorations.

We returned to Kathmandu for Christmas, 1975. Our 55 gallon drum from the US, long overdue, had finally arrived. It turned out to be, as my journal says:

It was a learning Christmas and too materialistic. The kids got so many toys, Jon a train set and Jenny a doll house, plus many, many little things. We thanked the Lord for our friends and the gifts before opening but we hope in the future to have the emphasis more on Him and giving gifts to others as joy.

Before we left for the village. I thought I was pregnant and saw my GYN who tested me and found I was carrying our third child! We were very excited as we had wanted a large family. Little did we know we were very soon heading into the most difficult experience of our years in Nepal and one that almost took my life. This part of God's good plan left us full of tears and full of gratefulness at the same time, as you will read in the next blog!


Some verses express our hearts. A high-school friend of Bill's who is following these blogs (thank you, Wes Goble!) recently shared, "What a life of adventure (suffering) you two led.... Some verses come to mind: 2 Timothy 2:3 'You therefore must endure hardships as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.' 2 Timothy 2:11,12 'Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.'"

Elephant Rides, Both Kids Learn to Read, Roasted Mouse for Breakfast, and Scenes from Village Living

We loved having visitors in the village and we had lots of them. Many came with all their kids! (No wonder I was tired so much of the time!) Our house was pretty small to have us and another family living in it for up to 4-5 days--plus all the constant village visitor friends. Remember -- we had only one outhouse, one kerosene burner for our cooking, a 5 gallon tub of water for all inside washing, one outside pump for washing clothes, and, during our last year, one very small kerosene-powered fridge.

Our visitors always enjoyed an elephant ride. Being the only SIL village allocation near the king's elephant camp, we were a popular destination for many of our friends. Note the ladder Ethan included in his drawing! The elephant driver was called a mahut and he directed the rides through jungles to see rhinos, tigers and anything else alive in the fields

Most visitors were immensely helpful and spent time with with Jon and Jenny who gladly gave them the village tour. Our village neighbors loved our kids--Jenny especially as she had a Tharu name! (In Tharu, jeni means "woman", or female in general.) Jonathan is demonstrating how to use the village pump! He was strong enough to bring in a small pail of water.

The visitors also gave me time to do medical work and literacy instruction while Bill worked on some initial Bible translation of the book of Mark. Many of the people we lived with had never seen or held books. We brought some National Geographic magazines to teach them how to look and hold a book. They didn't know how to interpret the pictures or hold it right side up. I had to start from scratch with initial steps to literacy.

You can see in the picture, taken in our downstairs living area, how two young women found it fascinating that they could read and write their own language. We enjoyed our times together. Usually only men learned to read and only some of them. Today it is different as schools are more numerous.

This was Jonathan's kindergarten year which meant that in the village I was his teacher. In Kathmandu, the SIL base had a school where kids attended, so we followed that curriculum. Teaching went well most of the time. But we all found it challenging at times, especially when Jenny wanted to interrupt. But I enjoyed getting back into teaching letters and sounds and numbers and all!

Jonathan was a quick learner ... and so was Jenny. While I was teaching Jonathan, Jenny was listening and soon began to read too. At two, she was an early reader for sure! But they did (and do!) love each other and played together well.

During one village stay we had another visitor--a well-known Christian author. He chartered a plane, flew down from Kathmandu for one only day, ate one meal at Kissan's house, flew back, and then published an embarrassing (unrealistic) view of our village people in an article about this visit. (We still have it if anyone wants to see it.) Amazing how people think one or two days in a village can make you an expert on a culture and people! The longer we were there the less we felt we knew.

Bill made one great addition to our village home this year--a "front porch" with a swing for Jenny and Jon. They loved that swing. You can see Jon sitting in the background on the front step in the shade waiting his turn.

Another interesting sight you may see outside our village door, on a cold morning, is some neighbors roasting breakfast over a fire. Yes, that's a field mouse on the spit; a delicacy they enjoyed ... as well as other respectable critters. You might wonder if we ever ate a roast mouse as a treat. Fortunately, in the Hindu caste structure, each caste has it's own dietary restrictions. As members of the "American caste" we were thereby able to avoid giving offence when we declined.

OK, some more village scenes: First, Jonathan having a swim in the local river, then our backyard which was an elephant trail, and finally another form of transportation which was very bumpy. The kids and I were being given the royal treatment to attend a wedding in another village.