Lora Nafziger
At the end of January I travelled to Tansen. This is the location to the west of Kathmandu where the Tansen Mission Hospital is located. I went by myself, and while I don’t love travelling alone, I did love the freedom for conversation, time outside and reading novels (I completed 3 in the week!). I was gone for 6 days and while I was away I had the chance to go on a hike with some wonderful women, who then had a perfect picnic to offer at the top of the hill. There I told them a bit of my story, they shared what is happening with them and we prayed together Nepali style (all at once and out loud) and then I ended with a prayer for each of them. It was a lovely way to begin my time in Tansen and I am looking forward to sharing the picnic spot with the rest of my family when we return again after Easter.
In addition to a picnic-prayer-hike, I met one on one with 7 people and three families. This meant that I got to share food, tea and great conversations. Those conversations could go on sometimes for more than 3 hours. In the evenings I read and played some games with medical residents and on-call doctors, and then I had phone calls with my family.
On Saturday (church day here in Nepal) I planned and led the English church service for the expats that gather every other week here for worship in English. Many of them also attend Nepali church in the morning, and some go to Nepali church every other week. I also had the chance to hang out with a group of the expat school-age children one day for a couple of hours. We played some team building games, talked about resilience and created nature sculptures/scenes. It was wonderful to learn to know people better, and to feel that my time with them listening and praying, preaching and sharing was appreciated. It felt good to feel like I am “doing my real job,” and as I continue to make connections it is easier all the time.
The pictures here shows the local airport. Because I was by myself I flew most of the way and took a taxi for the last two hours. That was very preferable to a motion-sick ride mostly without those I love to comfort me. You can see how small the airport is in the first picture, as the photo is taken from the outside of the plane. The orange containers had our luggage and they were pulled by hand into the covered area and handed out, one piece at a time (carefully checking luggage tags) over the cement barrier you can see in the 2nd picture. The third picture is a wonderful view of the Himalayas from the airplane window. My colleague who booked my tickets was sure to get me mountain side both ways! I was very grateful!
