100 miles from Everest, Finally!!

Only four short hours from the sunshine of the UAE, Nepal welcomes you with open if a little chilly arms!  On our descent we caught some amazing views of the Himalayas and our first glimpses of Kathmandu itself.

We didn’t have any problems getting on to the flight this time (UAE have a very generous luggage allowance) but arriving at Kathmandu airport was more like arriving in rural Africa and the rules that apply for nationals are often waived for ‘Bedeshi’s’ (foreigners). We were ushered through security checks, and totally skipped customs altogether!

Once we had met the person picking us up we drove through Kathmandu to the UMN head quarters and what will be our offices.  The city is dirty, highly polluted and the air hangs thick with smog, but this feeling is exaggerated by the low lying mist that descends into the Kathmandu Valley during winter and blocks the mountains from view. Once the sun has set, the temperature drops significantly and with houses designed to keep the heat out it is often colder inside than out.  It’s usually around three degrees inside and so layers keep getting added, and hot water bottles tucked down jumpers!  That said, warm food and a good duvet make it all ok.

We are living in a city called Patan, which is right next to Kathmandu, divided by a river, which makes the Thames look drinkable! It is probably more like living in South London and working in the North than changing from one city to another in the UK. We are beginning to get our bearings (although every street looks the same at the moment) after a guided walk around with our link host, showing us the stalls which were safe to buy fruit and vegetables at, and those which were not! There are some unlikely finds down back alleys if you know where to look, like a bakery in a back room of a house at the end of a dirt track making fresh bread, croissants and even pizza!

We are moving into our temporary flat on Saturday, which we will have until June, our freight arrives on Monday (we hope!) and we start language training on Wednesday. There are busy times ahead but we are grateful for the peace God has given us about being here and the friendship and hospitality of the people we have met.

Abu Dhabi, only 1,959.02 miles to go......

As we drove to the airport our worries about the weight of luggage were confirmed at Heathrow by the scales at check-in. However, after playing the volunteer worker card and a few glistening tears from Lucy the situation was resolved by the kind gentleman at the desk choosing to let us pass without paying a fine.

We arrived in Abu Dhabi bleary eyed and sleepless after a comfortable flight, but missing most of the night due to time changes. But, so wonderful to see one of our great friends with whom we spent the next couple of days.  After concluding quickly that all there is to do in the UAE is shop, sand and sea we went ahead and enjoyed just that.  Ok, so the shopping bit was more like window-shopping, but we compensated by enjoying both the beach and a trip into the desert. On our last day we drove up to Dubai for some fun at a water park on The Palm Island.

Jumping on sand dunes as part of desert safari with friends!

It was very relaxing and for most of the time we forgot that we were in the middle of emigrating to Nepal. That was until we were asked by someone, “Where are you from? Where do you live?”. We realised that the first answer seemed quite straight forward but the second one was not so easy! How could we say we lived in Kathmandu when we had yet to set foot in the country, but after all the goodbyes our heavy hearts were sure we did not live in London anymore.  So we live in the State of Limbo, do you know it?  The now, but not yet kind of life?  We had a great time there, saw some incredible things, spent time with precious people, but the real adventure begins about 1,959.02 miles from here in our new home!

Well more like 4,605.57 miles.......

So it’s less than a week to go (we fly on Saturday to Abu Dhabi before heading on to Kathmandu on the 19^th) and we thought we better post something on here at long last!

We have said many goodbyes over the last few weeks and even months, and the sadness of this at times has felt too much. The reality of being separated from so many important people is beginning to sink in and the events we will miss sharing in with them. However the emails we have been receiving from people in Nepal looking forward to our arrival, has given us the excitement of anticipated hellos and new experiences at the other end, and for this we are very grateful.

Our freight was picked up today and so we are left with two suitcases to live out of for the next couple of weeks until we are reunited with our things in Kathmandu. Packing was an experience which tested us more than we anticipated. Deciding what to take? What not to take? What do you need? What do you want? How can it all fit? Eventually everything in the "take/need" pile and a few from the "want" pile got condensed into 5 packages weighing thirty kilograms or less in accordance with the strict airfreight rules. All of this was made possible by the discovery of vacuum pack bags, allowing us to watch in amazement as our super king size 15 tog duvet was reduced to nothing larger than a pillow!

We made a visit to our link group in Dengie (Essex) yesterday and were completely overwhelmed by the welcome we received. The three churches may be small in number but are not lacking in enthusiasm and we very quickly felt part of their community even though we had known them for a matter of hours.  Following the service in which we gave a brief introduction to what we will be doing, the church held a bring and share lunch (something they do every month but held an extra one in our honour!) which was incredible, we had never seen so much food!!  We met some wonderful people and heard about new ventures the church is starting within the local area. Once we had torn ourselves away from the yummy food we gave a more detailed presentation with members from the other two churches in the group arriving as well.  We are excited about the partnership we have with them and were truly touched by their genuine love for us, as one member said as we thanked her on leaving “Don’t be silly, you are family now!”  

This refreshed in us the amazing truth of the Gospel in the sense that all who are in Christ are indeed brothers, sisters, family! We are comforted that wherever we go we are part of this wider family and the strength that this gives us as we take the next step of getting on the plane!