26.05.07

Construction is a heartfelt profession. I love the work that they do and believe that it is essential.

This morning all was relatively quiet. I was going to indulge and crack open another note of encouragement when a call from Sujan came. He said to come immediately. So I ran over. It was nothing he just hadn’t seen me in a while and just wanted to hang out. So we did. We had tea at his place and just sat in his living room. People here are extremely friendly and do a whole lot of just hanging out. Perhaps a bit too much for my liking, sometimes it just seems as if it’s just passing time. Anyway, it was good to share with him about Canadian geography and a bit more about life. I had to leave for church so I left at 0855 to get back home and ready myself for church. Walked to church, was shorter than anticipated. Abinas, host kid, is very energetic so made him do some running in the less polluted areas of town – so that we don’t hyperventilate vehicular exhaust. You must understand that cars will go anywhere. Sidewalks do not exist – only torn up asphalt. I’m not sure how these vehicles survive. Roads here make Spadina a couple years back look like a walk in the clouds. Bikes (motorbikes) will go anywhere as well, just tuck in the mirrors.

Anyway got to church and sat with some other foreigners. Ed and Nicki from the UK and Seth from Minnesota – who came with YWAM in December, but decided to stay til now. He’ll be headed toward the Everest Base with a medical mission team next week. Essentially if you’re willing, people will accept any help they can get.

I see great potential for this country, with the recent changes in government the people here all seem optimistic for a better Nepal.

An elder spoke today. Talked about the authority of JC given to the church and it’s charge to exercise it. I bought a shirt in funding raising support for the new church building which was to be complete for the August 4 celebration of the 50th anniversary. The shirt says: “Not just living but alive!” I’ve come to really appreciate how members at BCBC poured sweat and blood into the building of the church.

After speaking with an older fellow at the church, I asked him to translate for me as I asked the construction worker if I could try carrying a load of bricks. He replied, ‘un-cha’ – the Nepali way of saying OK with the slight nod of the head that I always associate with no. So I gave it a shot. There’s a band that goes to the top of the head and then your load rests on your back. This creates a huge moment force about your cervical vertebrae which is unhealthy just at rest. Once moving depending how well stable your gait is, this may create extra undesired forces. The walk up the narrow ramp left little room for error, next you had to maneuver around a narrow (~1-1.5ft) path to your destination. A slight imbalance to the left or right would send you tumbling a good 3-4 feet with a load essentially around your neck. My load was 20 bricks. I thankfully made it to my destination about 20 metres away but not without a couple of fearful thoughts. But perhaps the greatest achievement was being able to identify with the worker. I didn’t get his name because my translator had left. So I thanked him and returned his gear to him. I really wanted to say more, but perhaps this wasn’t the time. The worker promptly went back to work.

I then had the most encouraging talk with Ashish. A young man of 17 years who turned from a life of drugs and smokes every since coming to the valley. His testimony was most encouraging to here. Despite my enthusiasm for hearing a great testimony and hearing of real struggles of a young man from a Hindu family living as a follower, my heart was still wanting to reach out to the construction workers. Finally as we had cold drinks across from church I could no longer take it. I believe that the 6L of cool liquid on the hot day went a long way in sharing the gospel. It is my hope and dream that this church building project will be a lifechanging project for each of these construction workers. I wasn’t able to converse with these people, but I (as a representative of the collective efforts of the church) certainly do hope to be a blinding light to them. Still need to find some way of sharing this with the church.

From a brief previous discussion with Ashish’s sociology teacher, these construction workers make ~100Rs daily. They work 7 days a week – yes even Saturday which is the national holiday. At cheapest rate, a 250mL coke costs 15Rs, a plate of 10 dumplings will cost 20Rs (mind you the filling is minced everything including bones.), rent is commonly 1500Rs/room/month I’ve learned that when eating buff (Buffalo) meat, you learn that there’s a threshold to the efforts of your chewing. There’s a point when you just have to give up and swallow it. Anyways point is, I’m really hoping that this will be an outlet of God’s love. May God continue to work through the physical construction of a worship centre building!

The remainder of the day was spent more time loitering with others. Apparently, you only write exams once a year here. School classes finish quite early because teachers rush through course material in case of a bandh (strike). These happen quite often (~3x a week) but have been on the decrease.. oh here’s a pic

Spent more time with host kid’s friends… nice to see other people’s homes. One friend who we visited today lives in a traditional Nepali home – one that’s been around for a long time. Many of the houses in Kathmandu were built wherever there was land. That is why roads are so random, there was no city planning and no anticipation for growth. Another reason why so much pollution.