It's good to be home in Ashtead after a long but safe journey. It was very special being back in Kathmandu; having great times with old friends, and finding favourite places again, mostly half hidden by new and more imposing buildings. I had a warm welcome from the ladies at 'Emmanuel beads' (sold on the Interserve stall at the Worldwide Charities fair recently) and joined them for their morning praise and prayer before work. It was quite heart rending hearing their praises - how the Lord had sustained them or their children through hardship and illness, and how he had provided for them. Then after after a cup of tea they all set to work, enjoyed having a chat and their photos taken.

On Saturday (the day off in Nepal) I visited our old church fellowship, for the first time since they have had their own church building. I was very surprised not just to get a warm welcome, but to be called up to the front and given a brass pot of flowers. They wanted to thank our fellowship in Ashtead for helping them when they were short of the money they needed in order to purchase land for their church (it was part of our 'parallel giving' while St George's Christian Centre was being rebuilt). Since then, they have prayed for us every week - and that was 8 years ago! Now they need our prayers; their pastor died of cancer last year, and his widow and family are finding life very hard with out him; and the church needs a new pastor.

It seems all good visits end with a motor bike ride ... Anup, a friend that our son Jon had grown up with, gave me a lift back to where I was staying, after a lecture from his father to drive carefully as I was likely to be
even more nervous than his mother!

Back in India, the team are preparing some special Christmas parties at the Day Centres they run for the disabled children and their families; it may be the first time they have heard the story of Christmas. It's the first time the team have done this and they were really excited about the idea.

Unfortunately the field workers have all had health problems; please pray that they will be restored to health and that the Christmas events will be very special times.

Thank you for blogging with me and for praying! I'll look forward to talking to you soon in person.

My last Saturday on the motor bike was definitely the grand finale! Ranjeet demonstrated his excellence in both Passenger Awareness and Skillfull Navigation through Impossible Traffic (coming from 360') when we had to try and get through about 1/2 mile of solid trucks, buses, rikshaws, horse drawn tongas, cars, motor bikes, loaded cycles, loaded pedestrians, cows, and a wedding band! Fortunately we did get to see the children too, and had a good last day finishing off with a tea party they'd organised for me, which was very touching. I shall miss them all and feel so blessed from my time there.

Sunday's journey to Nepal was much less stressful with good border crossings and flight. The plane was not one of the newer ones and felt more like a Nepali mini bus with wings (a bit ratttly and very small). Slightly disconcerting to watch one of the baggage handlers affectionatly tidying up one of the wings by picking off the loose rusty bits. But it did the job in 13 minutes instead of 8 hours for which I was very grateful as it meant I could visit a friend and her family for supper. Hercha used to help in our house and it was lovely to see her and her family.

Since then I've had some very good times visiting old friends, being warmly welcomed and hearing their stories. I would value prayer for wisdom though as I listen to some issues which are not at all straightforward, that I would be able to encourage (or challenge if that is right). Also that I use the time rightly so I don't return home too exhausted. I also had a lovely day at the disabled children's day centre where I used to work when we lived in Nepal - it's grown so much and is a wonderful place of hope.

So...home on Sunday! (and work on Monday...) . thank you for praying, it has been much needed and appreciated. Look forward to seeing you soon.

Hi again,

There are also unexpected requests; there is a steady trickle of families with children who are not talking who are sent over from outpatients in the afternoons to see us; another surprise was being asked by the doctor in charge of the hospital's family medicine programme if I would come and give a talk to the doctors and nurses on how to help stroke patients who lose their speech after stroke (at a couple of hours notice this time!).

• health for Silas and all the staff
• safety on the roads
• stamina and wisdom in planning for the workshop
• the workshop and all who attend on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
• spiritual protection

Hello from Duncan Hospital, Raxaul!

I had good and safe journey here, and all my (slightly heavy!) luggage was allowed on with me. As I reached the Nepal-India border there was a 'strike' which meant that they were not allowing people across; but when they saw our Hospital vehicle, they just waved us over, much to our relief.

The Community Rehab team has grown and are very busy with lots of disabled children being referred for therapy and help the whole time. Yesterday we went out to the villages and saw 12 children (and their families and friends - I counted 54 who turned up to watch at one house!). They brought 3 new children while we were there. It was so encouraging to see how the 2 Field Workers who we had worked with last time, Silas and Ranjeet, had remembered all we had taught them, and are now putting it into practice with new ideas of their own. They are keen for new knowledge and also want to learn how to train others.

Please pray for ... 

• safety on motor bikes; traffic & roads even more horrendous with big border traffic jams since the Nepal situation has eased
• less mozzie bites!
• sleep (v. hard bed & pillows, v. noisy train horns dogs etc)
• being able to communicate all that's needed for training the 3 boys (one just left, too bad!)
• that they'd be able to recruit more staff, there's too much work!

Hi everyone! Some of you may remember that 3 years ago I was asked by an Interserve partner to spend some time in northern India with a small Community Rehab team working to provide therapy for disabled children. They were looking for a speech & language therapist to give some advice on how to help those with communication and feeding difficulties. I went with Interserve’s ‘On Track’ (short term) programme, and we had a great 3 week visit, staying at the Duncan Hospital, Raxaul, in Bihar state near the border with Nepal. 

In preparation, I have been trying to learn Hindi; enjoyable, but not very successful! As I will be travelling alone this time I have decided to miss out that 26-hour train journey from Delhi, and instead fly to Kathmandu and on down to the Indian border just near Raxaul. (I’m hoping it will be as simple as it sounds…). This will also give me the opportunity to visit friends in Kathmandu on the way back (we lived in Nepal for 10 years before we came to Ashtead). I’m grateful to the friends who have helped me prepare for this visit, with professional advice and practical giving, and in praying.

• Being well prepared for what is required of me in India
• The family back at home
• Safety in travel, both on the way there and in getting around (on the back of a motorbike) the very hairy roads of Raxaul & district!
• Good health
• That I’ll be able to communicate, despite not having Hindi language skills, and build good relationships despite the short time
• Being able to bring something useful for the community rehab. team and others at the workshop, to help the disabled children in their local villages
• Spiritual protection