While you were sleeping last Saturday night, as we arrived safely at the Kathmandu airport—where it was Sunday afternoon in Kathmandu—and with ALL our luggage!  On Friday, November 27, we flew west from Philadelphia to Los Angeles, leaving LA at 9:30 pm, for the longest leg of our trip, a 17-hour flight to Bangkok, Thailand. It was night the whole way! Occasionally, I would take a peek at the night, lifting up the shade of our window to see the beautiful stars and moon.  Every time I looked, it was gorgeous!

Having crossed the International Dateline, we arrived in Bangkok as the sun began displaying its beautiful sunrise colors on Sunday morning. After a 3-hour layover at Bangkok, we started the final leg of our trip, a 3-hour flight to Kathmandu. As we were approaching Nepal, the Himalayan Mountains were CLEAR and we could see Mt Everest.  Often it is clouded over and not visible.  But not this time! I felt was God saying, "Welcome back!"

When we exited customs, we were greeted by big smiles—friends from the HDCS office were waiting for us with a vehicle to take us to the guesthouse! Our guesthouse room is VERY nice and big!  The guesthouse is right around the corner from the building that the Nepali church we attended in the early 1980’s met in, bringing back sweet memories.

After getting settled in our room, we took a walk down the hill to a teashop for a cup of Nepali tea. It tasted so good! This particular tea shop we discovered just as we were preparing to leave Nepal last year.  We would have tea there every morning on our way to our almost empty apartment we were packing up. On the day we were leaving Nepal we found out that the woman shopkeeper is a Christian. So when she saw us on Sunday, she said us a very joyous "Jaya Masihi," the Christian greeting which means "Praise the Messiah," and gave me a big hug. She said she had been remembering us since we left and gave us our first cup of Nepali tea gratis as a welcome back!

The sounds of vehicle horns blasting, dogs barking and roosters crowing … the smell of tea cooking on a wood fire in the early morning brisk air... the hubbub of Nepali people walking everywhere … all are familiar sounds, smells and sights that have welcomed us back.

Returning to HDCS’ office, seeing the ABBS kids, stopping to see friends, greeting shopkeepers and receiving their warm welcome back are all a part of our everyday adventures.

We are speaking Nepali again, stumbling hesitantly – some words forgotten, some not.  We are also seeking a place to live and organizing ourselves for an intensive two-week language review course in Pokhara, a tourist town outside of Kathmandu Valley. Then Christmas will be here.  All that will keep us busy this month.

Thank you for ALL your prayers for us and your support of us which has brought us thus far.

We wish you a Blessed Christmas and Happy New Year.

In joyous celebration of our Lord’s birth,

Carole and Bucky