Busy Sunday and Monday

Sunday begins with Tim getting ready for the Funeral Seminar at 11 am. Nothing seems to start on time here in Nepal...so it actually gets started closer to 11:30. The church is full of Pastors, students and others who help when there is a death. Tim does a wonderful job speaking about the Christian view of burial. He also covers how to respectfully treat the body in the home and how the pastors can handle various situations taking safety precautions. He holds their attention for 2 hours! Sunil, the young man who has lead the Christians in their talks with the government to find a burial place, updates everyone on the progress. It is all in Nepali, so we ask him afterwards what he said. They still have no place to bury, but they seem to be making progress.

We have an hour to clean up and get a bite to eat before we are back in the church for the meeting of WOW: Women of Worth. Tim and I are the speakers with the topic of Successful Parenting. It is also translated into Nepali. The talk seems to go well with several women sharing their struggles with us afterwards. Ching said that this is unusual for them to open up like this. I think it is because we shared some of our hard times and how the Lord helped us through it. An outcome of this talk is a vision of a couple of the women to begin meeting to pray for their children and families regularly.

We have breakfast Monday morning with Steve and Anju. He is an American who is married to a Nepali. It is fun to get to know them better. Time is too short and we need to finish packing and get on to the airport. We wish we could stay longer, yet also want to come home. Those interested in the funeral side of things really want Tim to come back and do seminars across the country and help them set up a funeral facility. We will see what God has in store for us in the future!

Final Weekend in Nepal

We have a very busy Friday as Tim is getting ready for his Funeral Seminar to be presented on Sunday to Pastors in the Kathmandu area. We shop at a pharmacy, a grocery store and a fabric store for supplies for an example of an in-home preparation kit. The man helping us with fabric is asking what we are wanting the supplies for...Ching just smiles.

We are invited to the upstairs neighbors, John and Diane, to dinner for homemade Momo's. These are half moon shaped steamed dumplings. They are filling theirs with a secret ingredient pork mixture. John shows us how to shape the dough around the filling. They are served with "pickle" which is similar to salsa with varying degrees of spiciness. It is a fun evening of eating and visiting.

Saturday we attend the Himalayan Evangelical Church where Vijay is the pastor. Tim is preaching the sermon with Ramila translating for him. He does an excellent job using 2 Corinthians 5 and speaking of our Eternal Hope. He shared from his personal experience in funeral service and had people in tears! Ramila did a wonderful job translating.

We went out for Indian fast food at a local mall with Vijay, Ching and family and Bishwa, Ramila and family. It was fun to taste even more different food and be told how to eat it. We then went to a larger mall to have coffee and tea at a very modern coffee shop. We felt like we were back in the Pacific Northwest! I had an interesting talk with Ching and Ramila and the lack of rights for the women in Nepal. They are very passionate about it and both want to pursue PhD's in order to gain credibility in the country in order to help the women.

Visit to Asha Nepal and Long Morning Walk

On The first image is of some children on the street near our neighborhood.

The next image is of Tim and I in Durbar Square in the middle of the Old Town Kathmandu.

Thursday I along with Ching were able to return to Asha Nepal (Nepal Hope) the home for women rescued from sex trafficking in Mumbai. Ching had some errands to do before so I was able to travel in some of the local public transportation. Such an experience squeezed into the back of these Tuk tuks!

The women were very gracious again and were happy to show me the bags and cards that they had made. When I found that they individually received the income from the bags they made, I felt I needed to support each one. It was a rewarding time. I was also able to meet one of their board members and found out how anyone in the States could support them also. Ching had a meaningful talk with Bimala, as she too is concerned about the issues of women in Nepal.

Tim was able to take a motorbike (major means of transportation here) ride with a young man, Sunil, who is involved in the Christian burial issue, to a local hospital to see the facilities at the morgue. I can only say that he was dismayed at the sanitary conditions. However he very much enjoyed the ride around the city!

Photos of Hindu and Buddhist Holy Sites

When blogging yesterday I did not have the photos nor the names of the shrines with me. We only have access to the internet when we are at the Himalayan Graduate School of Theology so I have to seize the opportunity as it arises.

The Hindu site we visited is called Pashupatinath and it is Nepal’s holiest Hindu site. Vijay explained that if you are cremated here that you are assured of going to heaven.

The Buddhist site is called Swayambhu. It is a stupa, which is a dome shaped shrine. The stupa is very large and dominates the hilltop. It is surrounded by many smaller shrines of both Buddha and the Hindu gods. The smell of incense pervades the area. We were able to sit and have tea at the Café de Stupa.

Visits to Hindu and Buddhist Holy Sites

We do most of our exploring of Kathmandu on our early morning walks. Just near us in the Sanepa district is a bridge across the Bagmati River. There is a path that goes down to the river. The river itself is disgusting. The homeless are living in makeshift housing and everyone dumps their garbage into, not to mention that the sewer system dumps into the river unsanitized! But along the river here are ghats. These are worship sites and platforms for Hindu cremation. The worship sites have statues of their many gods where the people come to do puja (worship).

Yesterday, Vijay took us to Pashupahti (sp?), one of the top pilgrimage and cremation sites of the Hindu religion. We saw 4 cremations taking place along with 2 being set up. All very interesting and very foreign to us Americans!

Today we walked to one of the most revered Buddhist sites. Many, many stairs to climb up the hill.

Randy's Class

Monday and Tuesday we have sat in on Randy's Theology class in the afternoon. We are very impressed with his gift of teaching and his ability to connect with the students of Nepal. We think of the sacrifice that his wife Cathy and son Andrew make in order for him to travel. Please remember them in your prayers as they hold down the home front in his absence.

Several interesting discussions arose in the class today as they discussed culture and how it affects the theology of the church. One issue is the Hindu tika that the

women wear on their forehead. As this symbolizes worship and honor to Hindu gods, should Nepali Christian women wear the tika because it is part of the culture and for beauty?

Another issue is Christian burial here in Kathmandu. Last week the Hindus have forbidden Christian burial at the sight where they are currently burying their dead. Now the Christians have no place to bury. Yesterday and today there were protests and riots at the government buildings pressuring them to provide a place for Christian burial. Some Christians have been forced to cremate like the Hindus against the will of the family, because there is no other options. This is a very urgent issue for the Christian pastors and families.

Vijay has called many pastors in the area to attend a seminar that Tim will present on Christian burial and preparation techniques. He will also set into motion putting together a committee to locate burial space with several churches involved. Please pray for the pastors as they handle most of the funeral arrangements and preparation. Pray for Tim also as he shares with them on Sunday. Also pray for quick resolution of this burial issue as several deaths have occurred in the last couple of days and there is no place to bury.

Commissioning of Leaders of Himalayan Church

Sunday we were honored to observe the commissioning of the pastor, elders and deacons of the Himalayan Evangelical Church. This was a powerful time of establishing the leaders of this four year old church here in Kathmandu. We were impressed with the biblical depth, quality and commitment of their leaders. The pastor Vijay, is a former student of Randy's at the seminary in Manila. We are also staying with he and his family while we are here. We are including photos of Randy with the family; Vijay and his brother, Bishwa and their proud mother, Rebekah; and a photo of Randy greeting the deacons and elders.