Nepal Revisited – Day 11

This morning, although being a Saturday, it is the Sabbath in Nepal and I had the honour of sharing the message with the local Corps.

Utilising a message that I had prepared a few years ago now, I shared how a bag of M&M’s can be used to experience Ministry Moments in our lives, which we can:

• Rejoice in the Lord;
• Allow Him to Reveal things in our lives and the lives of those around us;
• Reflect on issues and concerns that affect us and;
• Relax in Christ as His yoke in light.

This is the first time I have ever had a translator translate my message as I presented it which was interesting. Even though I had a full set of notes which Hari could use, he spent the majority of the time concentrating on what I said and how I said it. Which made me really concentrate on not only my diction but also the speed in which I spoke.

After I had preached MJ, Heather & I shared our rendition of the song ‘In Christ Alone’, which was very well received. A number of the congregation wanted copies of the words of the song as it had moved them & they themselves wanted to learn it. They also thoroughly enjoyed my message and a few of them also wanted copies so that they could get it translated into Nepali.

After the service and morning tea we took the Officer’s out for lunch, as it had not only been MJ’s birthday during the week it had also been Manun’s. The food served was absolutely delicious and the service was outstanding. Well worth another visit if we get time.

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and letting lunch settle.

In the evening we headed out for a light dinner, and was greeted by the instrumental version of the song ‘In Christ Alone’ at the cafe. So we hummed along!

Later that evening Heather & I stayed up to watch the 1st of the Rugby World Cup 1/4 finals – Heather got a myriad of comments on Facebook from family, friends and colleagues as I got talked into wearing a Springbok jersey as they took on Wales.

Into the early hours of the morning the All Black’s took on France and produced a masterclass to stifle all the negative press that they had received throughout the group stages. Heather only made it to half-time – If they can play like that next week against the Springboks even she agrees that they (the Springbok’s) haven’t got a chance.

So come on boys, back it up twice more and show the world why you are ranked #1.

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Nepal – Day 19

Now I may have got some of yesterdays blog entry and this one today a bit muddled up. This is due to the fact that I am doing this about three days after the fact, having spent two days out of the office. But I’m sure you get the general idea of where things are at…

This morning Andrew, Heather & I headed into Sister’s due to a couple of meetings that had been prearranged there over the past couple of weeks. The first one Andrew, Heather & I had a meeting with Child Nepal re. our partnership with them over Temporary Learning Centre’s (TLC’s) and Stationary supplies that we had assisted them with in the past couple of months and to help cover a shortfall in funding due to student movement from schools due to the upheaval caused by the earthquakes.

After this meeting I had had a meeting scheduled with someone from Handicap International. (However, I didn’t know the name of the person I was supposedly meeting and I hadn’t got any contact numbers.) Needless to say they were a no show.

Now this is where I think yesterdays shopping expedition and this one got just a tad mixed up and the dinner with the C.O’s & Monopoly game should have been noted as today rather than yesterday but hey!

In the afternoon Andrew, Sanga & I went shopping for essential supplies. We seem to be doing a bit of shopping of late – some personal, some work – but that’s the way it goes, we still need certain supplies. We need to get some additional furniture so that we had enough work space to lay things out on tables etc. While we were out we also invested in a TV and Sat. Box (which is a personal expense from Andrew & I which we will be giving / donating to the C.O’s upon our departure).

This is so that we are prepared for the upcoming Rugby World Cup TV Coverage. After all there is a South African, Australian and Kiwi all living in the same house, and the banter has begun! Go the All Blacks! To be fair it started not long after Heather arrived, but we won’t go into that, hehehe.

Later in the afternoon, after some stable Internet connectivity it was really great to catch-up with family back home. I am obviously missing them like mad! – I worked out the other day that this is the longest stretch of time that I have been away from Annette since we have been together (over 20 years), and she is also finding it hard being mum & dad as well as holding the fort for everything else. God is good though and she is drawing strength from him and those that we have in our church community, so thanks guys keep it up!

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