The one with all the Thanksgivings

Happy Thanksgiving!!! I hope you all had a great holiday with lots of food, family, and reasons to be thankful. 

Thanksgiving in Nepal

You might think Thanksgiving in Nepal would be a sad reflection of the feasts and celebrations we’re used to in America. Although Thanksgiving isn’t celebrated here, it wound up being one of the most celebrated and eventful Thanksgivings I’ve ever had. There are quite a few Americans who were more than eager to celebrate and plenty of International friends who certainly weren’t opposed to joining us in celebrating a holiday that involves mass amounts of food… go figure…

School was still in session, so my day started off at KISC. The primary school has assemblies every Tuesday and Thursday, and that day was my turn to lead assembly where I tried to get the students thinking about all the blessings in their lives and their reasons to give thanks to God. Later in the school day, the Year 3 class had a pot-luck style party with food from all over the world. 

Year 3 pot-luck party

After school the cooking frenzy at my house began. Just imagine a house full of people, all cooking for the same Thanksgiving meal with one (and a half) ovens and the power going out mid-way through. Despite the obstacles, however, everything turned out great and we had an incredible meal and some awesome fellowship :). It was such a blessing to have such an international group and to share in some people’s first Thanksgiving. We celebrated with friends from America, England, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Sweden, and Nepal. The festivities continued on till Saturday evening. Several people couldn’t be bothered to celebrate on a school night, so we had another full Thanksgiving meal over the weekend. 

Pumpkin pie SUCCESS!!! I made it all from scratch... even the whipped cream!

I’m so thankful for such a well-celebrated holiday, but I’m glad that it’s finally over. Now the Christmas season can officially begin! 

Anticipating Christ and Overcome with Thanks

This morning I read the following quote by John Piper and wanted to share it with you:

“Be reminded and stunned that you and I deserve nothing but wrath from God, and in Christ receive nothing but mercy from him.”

As we reflect on Thanksgiving and look forward to Christmas let’s remember the ultimate reason to be thankful: That God gives us mercy when we deserve wrath through the gift of Jesus. What an awesome thought.

One final picture. This is my "backyard" just before sunset... just another thing to be thankful for.

A little of this, a little of that

So I can end on a high note, I’d like to start this blog post with a little venting: Daylight Savings Time. As if I wasn’t already having a hard time keeping track of the time difference(s). Now it’s OVER a 12 hour difference for California, so my somewhat simple conversion there is long gone and who knows what it is for Pennsylvania now. PLUS, just for kicks and giggles, some states don’t even recognize daylight savings time (ehhemmm… Arizona…)! All this is bonus confusion that I already had because the time difference wasn’t an even hour. The difference for California is now 13 hours and 45 minutes… so do you add 15 minutes or subtract 15 minutes?? I may never get the hang of it…

On a more positive note...

Other than my frustrations with the conventions of space and time, life in Nepal has been very pleasant these past couple of weeks. My friends and I have begun a new health regime that includes cutting down on sweets and increasing exercise. Comparing my exercising here to what I did back in the US, it’s still not much… but it is nice to feel a little more fit and healthy :). 

I’ve also had a few encouraging moments in my teaching. I’ve been feeling fairly confident about my lessons with the Year 1 and Year 3 students and have really enjoyed teaching them. I’ve had a harder time with my Year 2 students, however, but God’s been giving me a few glimmers of hope and encouragement in this area, which I’m so thankful for. 

I have now officially completed the language learning requirements of KISC and am done with my Nepali lessons. This is definitely a bitter-sweet feeling for me and I definitely want to continue my language learning. At the moment, I’m going to see how self-study goes before I consider jumping back into formal lessons. A shopping trip to Thamel, however, is always great Nepali practice and I had a great time haggling with the shopkeepers this past weekend. After  a day of bargain-hunting I was even blessed with an opportunity to practice my Spanish as we sat down to a cup of coffee next to a group of Spanish tourists. I had a great time chatting with them and it was so fun to hear the Castilian dialect of Spanish that I became so accustomed to during my time in Spain a few years ago. I did, however, have a hard time keeping Nepali words from popping out during the conversation :). 

The fruits of my haggling. This is how I plan on beating winter: fleece-lined wool socks and yak-wool blankets. Bring it on, winter... bring it on...

Cold-weather cozies

Even though I do plan on fighting the cold weather (and winning), I have enjoyed all the coziness that comes with the cold. I’ve been loving my blankets and hot drinks and even had an afternoon listening to Christmas music after church today. Plus, my pumpkin has been a huge success! I’ve had several encore requests for my pumpkin scones and enjoyed a few bowls of pumpkin soup. I’m definitely looking forward to Christmas time and especially looking forward to having a visitor from America for New Years :).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks so much for all of your prayers and encouragement! Check out updated prayer requests and praises in the box to the right -->

*** KISC will be facing some major gaps in staffing for the secondary school for Term 3. Our CEO is currently recruiting in America. Please pray that this trip is fruitful and that God will provide the teachers we need for next term. ***