Left: Reminiscing with a good college friend Salil
Right: Me and the kiddos, always a great time with those wild and crazy youngsters.
Playing volleyball with the original gang, minus one taller individual.
Visiting Leah and crew. Enjoying a meal and laughs with a family that has been such an encouragement and blessing.
Meeting up with the Koepp ladies and Sarah at Raw Deal. These are some amazing friends who are so faithful and genuine. Some truly great women!
One of my favorite women in the world, my mom, as we spend a day together visiting Como Conservatory, lunch & pie at Baker's Square and touring the Mill City Museum.
Check out this amazing Christmas/Winter themed Banagrams game.
Left: The only Western-influenced restaurant in Nepal, KFC, and yes, they deliver. Don't ask me how, since no one has a home address.
Right: My Nepali Aamaa (mom), cousin and I celebrating Losar together while selling sausages!
So the answer to your question is no, I was not stampeded by a wild herd of yak, I am still in existence. Sorry for the long delay in posts, but I was caught up in a whirlwind of friends and family, spending the holiday season back in the arctic United States. Other than the subzero temperatures and loosing two toes, I had a marvelous time in the midwest. I was blessed to see many family members and friends, however due to the lack of time, I also missed out on seeing a lot of people as well. So I apologize if I was not able to meet with you. Also I gained about 40 pounds from eating approximately 3 french silk pies, 5 pounds of bacon and 10 trays of Christmas cookies, therefore I had to purchase an additional seat for my plane trip back to Nepal.
These were just some of the highlights of coming home for the holidays:
1. Watching my mom and dad compete in Just Dance 3 on the Wii to the lively song choice of Land of a Thousand Dances.
2. Watching an unnamed friend slide down an entire flight of ice-glazed stairs on our way to Devil's Punchbowl.
3. Entering a coloring competition at Culver's to get free custard.
4. Thinking Risk was a "short game" and then spending 8 hours getting my butt kicked (but having fun doing it :)
5. Modeling 10 cultural ways of wearing an infinity scarf.
6. Playing indoor sand volleyball with the original Red Cedar team.
7. AND most importantly meeting so many marvelous family members and friends over tea, pie, Log Jam, Ticket to Ride and themed Banagrams.
So now I have entered back into the land of the yetis, though I have not seen one...yet. On Friday, January 31st I got to celebrate Losar (the Tibetan New Years) with my Nepali family. We went to the festival and got to see some entertaining dance & song performances. Unfortunately I didn't know in time to sign myself up to perform Thriller, but there was an amazing dance group named "I Love Manang" that did breakdancing, which was very impressive. I also got to help out selling sausages with my friend Tseten.
As for now, I am still volunteering at the Montessori, but I will be leaving at the end of February. I will be looking for something different, since I'm not able to get a visa at the Montessori. There are a couple other potential jobs that are more geared towards my education that would make it easier to get a work visa. These next couple months could be very interesting with a lot of changes and challenges. Looking for a new job, applying for a work visa, taking Nepali classes, looking for an apartment, potentially moving (although I love the family I'm staying with), getting a driver's license, buying a scooter and helping out with ministry. So there's a lot of things on my mind. I know God doesn't just drop us in difficult situations and wishes us good luck. I know He is intricately involved in working through this with us, but sometimes trusting is easier said than done. I know God has a plan for every one of us, the same goal, but different plans, and it's not always easy to figure out what that is, but I know it's worth searching for. Something that I just read reminds me of how important it is to look for that vision from God. Proverbs 29:18 "Where there is no vision, the people perish." Well my computer is about to die, so until next time...
