This morning we awoke to another foggy day. But, thankfully, after the fog dissipated yesterday it was nice and sunny so the solar water tank heated up the water and today’s shower was hot. But, unfortunately, because of the fog the wifi isn’t working. We are assuming it is connected by satellite. So these blogs will be posted whenever we can connect again. My (Susan) stomach is not feeling so good so after some dry toast and tea for breakfast I thought I’d still be able to make it to church this morning. Church services here are on Saturday. But, when it came time to leave for church I really felt like it would be best to stay in the hotel. Sam joined the rest of the team and left to go to the little Nazarene church here in Dhanghadi. They returned just before 12:00 with the message to bring all our suitcases down to the lobby and meet in the restaurant for lunch.
Thankfully, this restaurant serves a very good grilled cheese sandwich which is mild without any spice. Once we finished eating we loaded up the van to head to the airport. Darrell had to finish up paying the hotel bill. Leaving the hotel close to 1 p.m. we headed to the airport. It’s only about a 15 minute ride, thankfully, because it’s a first come first serve flight. Although we had paid tickets they were open-ended. We could fly back to Kathmandu whenever we wanted to as long as there were available seats. Our baggage security check was on the front porch of the terminal. A couple of long tables were end to end with military personnel behind the tables. They opened each suitcase, peered around in them, then placed a piece of tape on the outside saying “security checked”. Then to the ticket counter inside to get our boarding passes. While we waited for the incoming plane to arrive we gathered around S and carefully prayed for him. We didn’t want to attract any attention to him as he is staying here. His wife, T, and M are returning to Kathmandu on the same plane with us. I was in error previously. Although S is the JF team director for this country he and his wife live in Kathmandu, not Dhanghadi. He owns property and they both have family in Dhanghadi but don’t live there. Until now he has been working with JF teams mostly in the east part of Nepal. Our visit to Dhanghadi is the opening of the work there. He will stay to help train the teams in that area before returning to Kathmandu.
When it was nearly time for the plane to arrive people started lining up at the departure gate. One line for women, one for men. Each person was let into a room by themselves where any carry-ons were looked through and a hand scanner passed over the body. Then you exited through another door where your boarding pass and passport were checked. Then finally to sit down and wait. The room quickly filled up one by one. I began to think that there was too many people for the small plane and there might not be enough seats. We were flying again on Yeti Airlines. But shortly after the Yeti plane arrived one from Buddha Airlines arrived. The roomful of people were for both planes. After the second plane arrived at the terminal the waiting room door was opened and we all walked out to the grassy yard. Then someone came up the the crowd and called out “Yeti” so those of us for that flight started walking out. This time I got to sit more in the middle of the plane but on the opposite side from the mountains. This flight was closer to the Himalayas than the previous Yeti flight we had flown on and this time there were no clouds. It was an excellent view of the mountain range. Coming down into Kathmandu I was surprised to see mountains on my side of the plane. I knew that Kathmandu lay in a valley but I didn’t realize the mountains were so close into the city. No wonder flights are grounded or don’t land when it is foggy.
We were met at the airport by Dilli, who arranged a couple of small Suzuki taxi vans to take us to the hotel. I sat in the front seat next to the driver. It was an interesting viewpoint of the traffic! The Hotel Himalaya….such a nice hotel. It’s about 4:30 and we are met at the hotel by Dan. While we are waiting for our rooms a hotel employee from the restaurant came up to us with a tray filled with glasses of cold fruit juice. Already we can tell they are setting up for a big wedding tonight. There are several tents out on the lawn, tables all around, flowers everywhere. The sign inside the hotel states it is a wedding for a female doctor and her new husband hosted by her parents. We finally make it to our rooms to freshen up before meeting downstairs at 5:30 for supper.
Sam & I were downstairs first. Then Gordon showed up. Finally here came Darrell and Mike. While Sam & I were waiting I noticed a few people coming into the main lobby of the hotel wearing white shirts with little colored bars on the shoulders. Then a couple with dark blue suits with the same bars. At first I thought that perhaps they were military or maybe airline pilots. But just before Davina showed up the first few were joined by several people, not all in uniform. They gathered in a circle with one Anglo lady in the middle speaking to all. Oh yeah!! They look like Salvation Army. I pointed them out to Darrell and mentioned they looked like S.A. Right about that time she started praying out loud and without hesitation. He walked a little closer to them then stopped and bowed his head. As soon as they were finished he went up and introduced himself. Within just a few minutes she was coming over to meet our team. She was Linda Bond, the International General of the Salvation Army. In our denomination we have leadership of a 6-person General Board of Superintendents. In the S.A. there is just one General at a time. And there she was, standing right in front of us. She stated she was only the third woman to lead the S.A. in it’s history. And, since the S.A. is a sister denomination of the COTN and follows the Wesleyan view of theology as the COTN Darrell was really excited to meet her and perhaps introduce them to the JF Ministries.
Dinner was very nice. We ate from the buffet which seemed more American than the previous weekend. But, I am seeing several American/European faces in the hotel tonight. The wedding is really in full-swing outside the restaurant. Our hotel room is on the opposite side from the gardens so we won’t hear all the festivities late into the night. Must go to bed early as we have a 5 a.m. wake-up call for tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment