Happy Easter!

we found this (somewhat creepy) Easter bunny at the Int'l Floral Expo in Taiwan

Good Friday with the Tansen Mission Hospital Community: Stations of the Cross with readings and worship songs in English and Nepali

Easter (Saturday) Service at Tansen Church: 4 local churches combined to celebrate together!

a glimpse of some of the missionary kids from the community

the wall on the left is the mission hospital compound's North wall; this is looking back towards "shanty town"

from Shrinagar Hill looking East towards the town of Bagnas (on the distant hill); just last year, a Christian church was planted by one of the churches here in Tansen

from Shrinagar Hill looking down over the town of Tansen (stretches from the foreground down into the valley)

our first guest in our tiny room; it was the size of my hand! just kidding, it was only the size of my thumb :o)

We wish you all a very Happy Easter as we rejoice in our salvation through His risen Son, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior! Celebrating a holiday away from home was definitely a unique opportunity and experience for us. There was the expected heartache of not being with our family and our church family to celebrate such a joyous occasion. But there was an amazing blessing in celebrating here in Nepal with local believers and the international missions community at the Mission Hospital in Tansen. With the four local churches (two from Tansen, and two from two different towns within 5km from here) combining to worship together, one of the mission doctors giving the sermon in both Nepali and English, and a town clean-up organized by the churches to demonstrate their faith in a very practical way, it was one Easter service we will never forget! It was neat to worship with such a diverse group of people united in one faith. 


Following the morning service, the international mission community held a service (all in English) on the hospital compound for all of the "bideshi" (foreigners) in the town of Tansen. Yet another new experience, and a great opportunity to meet and fellowship with many people from around the world. Their stories of faith and the paths that God has put them and their families on are truly encouraging, and rather humbling. So far we've met people from the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Korea, and the Netherlands. It's only been a week, but we praise God for his answered prayer in providing a mission community with a strong and active faith in which we can continue to grow as believers. Thank you all for your faithful prayers. As we look to one last week of language training before we start work in the first week of May, we will certainly need your prayers to soak in as much of the language and settle our stomachs before we hit the ground running here at United Mission Hospital, Tansen! 


A note on the videos: hopefully these clips are working better than the ones on the last blog (our apologies!). We're still trying to figure out the best format to record and upload them so that they are easy to view. Thank you for your patience, and for your feedback to let us know if they are still not working well! The first clip is of Dr. John's two children accompanying worship in Nepali on Good Friday. We have no idea what the Nepali words mean (yet), but we were so impressed with how beautiful their worship songs are. The second clip is a panoramic view of Tansen and the surrounding villages/towns. It was taken from Shrinagar Hill which is behind the hospital compound. Just a couple hundred stairs up, and on a clear day, it is said that from this point, you can see the longest stretch of the Himalayan Mountain range, better than anywhere else in the country. Perhaps the locals just tell the bideshi's this because at this time of year, it is very rare to get a clear day! Thus far, we have been blessed with just one brief morning on which we could see the tops of these majestic mountains. We can't wait to see more! 


Dherai Din (have a great day), and wishing you all a very Happy Easter!

Praise God, we're in Nepal!!!

Welcome to our very first post from Nepal! Thank you all for your faithful prayers as God has safely delivered to Tansen, Nepal. Here's a glimpse of our short time in Kathmandu, our travel to Tansen, and a look at our new home. Enjoy!

Video 1: morning commute in Kathmandu (warning: if you are prone to motion-sickness, be careful when watching this video!); you'll see why we were thankful to leave after 2 days in the city

Video 2: monkey see, monkey do

Video 3: the winding and not-so-paved road to Tansen (warning: see the warning above!)

Kathmandu Valley

just outside of the city center of Kathmandu

men at work

after a successful summit of Swayambunath "hill"

Kathmandu Valley

Swayambu is more commonly known as Monkey Temple

very punny (that is, if they meant it to be a pun :o)

Thankfully, these were not from the above restaurant! Momos are like Chinese dumplings, but have curry and cinnamon spice in the ground meat of your choice (being wary travellers, we chose the chicken). They are quite delicious!!!

safely on the ground after a prayerful flight to Bhaiwara

We have been in Tansen for two days now, and are feeling a bit overwhelmed with all that needs getting used to. Thankfully, we have a loving and faithful God and we trust that He has us right where He wants us. So in spite of the challenges, we are overjoyed to be here! The Nepalese people use the saying "ali maathi, ali tala" to describe life in Nepal.  They say life here is like the country itself, "there are little ups, and little downs." And they say it with this endearing little head bob and a warm smile. So we've learned that things like sharing a tiny room with twin beds (we'll move to a larger place in couple of weeks), not-so-warm showers, bucket-pouring toilet flushing systems (observe the water tankless toilet), 20 minute walks to the store with 40 minute walks home due to carrying the load of what you bought at the store, and purchasing an electric water boiler that is missing a certain (and apparently crucial) heating element, are all part of life here, are all to be expected, and with a joyful and thankful heart for God's grace, are all to be dealt with an endearing little head bob and a warm smile. The missionaries here are very encouraging and understanding of our transition to this new way of living, and more than once we have been greeted with a warm, "welcome to the REAL world!" 

We have about a week and a half left of daily language classes and observation in the hospital before either of us start work. But we'll share more about daily life and serving in the hospital later! For now, we continue to pray for the large majority of the support staff and the patients and families who do not know the Gospel. And we pray that God may speak to them through our actions and words while we are here. We thank God for providing such a supportive missions community to welcome us, show us around, and pray with as we transition into the community. And we thank God for the faithful love and support of our family and our church, Lighthouse Community Church, who lovingly hold our hands as we walk through this experience in Nepal. 

Tomorrow we go!

 Before we leave Taiwan for God's great adventure in Nepal, we wanted to give you one last taste of our time here. Enjoy!

The National Museum in Taipei

Tom and his Dad next to a giant cypress in Alishan National Park

Sunrise over Alishan Mountain

One-Leaf Orchid: each plant yields one leaf and one bloom per year

Tea fields on Alishan's mountainside

Okay you foodies, here we go with the food photos!

fruit tea

La Mein: handmade noodles!

Hotpot galore!

Who knew you could eat a succulent for dessert?!

my dear friend, stinky tofu 

rainbow boba!!!

Xiao Long Bau: juicy pork dumplings

double parking?!

Rush Hour

He paid this lady 3 US dollars to give him the knife massage experience of Taiwan! After seeing the bright red slash marks on his back, I figured the video was at least worth the money :o)!

Hello from Taiwan!

Praise God for the time we have spent here in Taiwan with Tom's parents and their family friends! To say they have been gracious hosts would be a huge understatement as they have been filling our days with new experiences and filling our stomachs with tons of tasty delights. Having never been to Asia before this trip, Kim has been a wide-eyed tourist trying to soak in all the sights, sounds, smells, and energy created by this mass of humanity. Everyday life out here is definitely different for us both, and thanks to Mom and Dad's example and instruction, we are learning how to navigate in this new world.

We are in awe of the amazing diversity God has created here, from the food, to the people, and to the languages. In Asia, it truly is a blessing to be in a circumstance in which we are reminded that as Christians, we are just travelers in this world. And our time spent here will make a difference in our eternal lives. So be it in Taiwan, Nepal, Thailand, or back in California, we pray that we may use this time God has blessed us with to live out our faith in such a way that others may see and hear the true joy of the Gospel message.

And for those of you who enjoy photos, here are a few pictures from the International Floral Expo in Taipei which we visited yesterday:

This little girl made the most of her experience in Japan's exhibition