As water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. Proverbs 25:25

As Janet and I travel through the streets and alleys of Nepal I see many different wells, and realized better the scene of our Savior speaking to the Samaritan woman.  When  the day begins with bringing water to the family for washing and cooking what better place to have a frank conversation than a well.  The Kathmandu valley has many, many wells, where we often see women and children gathered to collect water or to bathe.


 On the way to church there is a holy well that is used for house water and washing clothes.  This woman was in the well which you can see to the left, dipping water with her buckets, behind her, when she had enough water she started her Saturday washing.  We asked to take her picture and she said it was OK.  Sometimes I find it hard to smile, but it wasn't hard for her with her hands in the cold water.

















Frequently as we are walking we will see these scenes with the women washing, if you look closely you will see that they are washing their clothes, just out side their front door.  They got water from this community well.












  I asked how long the well had been there and was told by Suman, It was there before his grandfather lived in the area.


As you can see water is so very important.  These next few pictures you can see the time it takes to do everyday household chores. washing clothes, washing dishes, etc.  I believe we take for granted the everyday things that make us more productive and a greater asset to our brothers and sisters.  This is nothing new for those of you that have lived in a third world country of any length of time.  My question to all of you is... What do you do with your time?  Are you trying to find a way to help those in need, the sick and the weary?  What is your plan to make a difference in the life of someone?    


As I look around I see many that have come to the well for some life sustaining substance, how many would respond as the women at the well if what we offered was hope, or the living water that makes us whole, and  the knowledge that our lives have worth and most importantly our sins are forgiven allowing us to return together and live for the eternities with our brothers and sisters. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews" John 4:22.








As we trek through the hills it is the same, women at the well doing chores, some times alone and other times with the whole clan.




In this area the monsoons are long gone and so the water flows at a slower rate from the wells.  You can see it really is a gathering place, what an opportunity for a young missionary.  When you look at the picture you see many plastic and metal containers, each one will be filled for the families needs. Once those containers are filled they will carry them to their homes. Look at the scenery!  What do you see?  Hills all around them, the paths that will lead them home are steep and very difficult to navigate walking, now think of carrying the jugs and water vessels along those trails.

The picture below is Janet hiking one of the trails, this is a reasonably even and easy part of the trail.



 They walk it every day.  Some to go into the town for work, some to plow their fields, that is another story, some to shop and or course the water.  This is an amazing world and in it live amazing brothers and sisters.

The reason were were in this particular place is because of a project we were visiting in this area.  Since we were in the vicinity we decided to take a short hike to see the Annapurna Himal, at sunrise.  That is an amazing experience.  As the sun comes up the mountains begin to glow a beautiful fuchsia color.  I snapped a couple of pictures but it is difficult to see the magnificence of those mountains.



This picture is looking toward the north and the center right is the Machapunchare, in English it is Fishtail.  It is easy to see how it got it's name.  The mountain just juts up 6993 m.  It is interesting because it is considered a holy mountain, and therefore no one is allowed to climb it.







 There it is right behind us, we can now cross that off of the bucket list.  Been there done that!  You can see in the background the hills we climbed, far above the city of Pokhara.

Looking now to the northwest you can see the sun rising over Pokhara, it is a spectacular sight.  The valleys are very smoggy hence great colorful views from the hills







As were were about to begin our walk down from the lookout I saw this sight, the fog had come in over the lake which is Phewa Taal.


The picture below is Phewa Taal from our vantage point on a clear day.
I thought how  blessed we are to be able to see these glorious sights.  To me, however, to be able to experience this with Janet...She loved it, which made it even better.

Look closely and you will see on the top of the hill across the lake from Pokhara a small white dot, that is the world peace stupa which has been built by the Buddhist monks from the Japanese Nipponzan Myohoji organization.  We decided to make it a whole day and drove over to the other side and climbed the hill to see the Stupa.
That was quite a climb, By this time we were counting the number of steps to the top.  There were plenty as you can see, just behind the woman carrying the doko (basket), but first our decent to Pokhara.



As we walked down from the top of the hill those mountains kept calling us, it was a very interesting walk.  When we think of our mountains and walking around them you don't very often find people living there, let alone farming and raising animals, and children.  This is a picture on the trail looking toward the Annapurna Himal through the court yard of some people living up in the hills.  The cool part is the clothes hanging on the fence to dry, it makes the scene very homey.





The fact that there are people living and working and raising families is a sure testament of the character and quality of the people of Nepal.  The picture on the right is a picture from the ridge line as we were walking down the trail.  It is amazing to me to see those mountains.  I must be an extraordinary sight for these people who step out and see Heavenly Father's handiwork every day.

On the way we found this house and decided to take a rest, but most important a photo opp, there she is the princess of the castle, waiting patiently.  

Still more wells and of course more jugs to carry.  

A little further we encountered this little shed and inside was a new born water buffalo calf.  You can't see the woman to the side but she had just cleaned the shed with her hands, I guess you've really got to love the little critter.

After the nice early morning climb as I mentioned earlier we decided to climb to the World Peace Stupa, Why, you might ask, answer, because it is there!  It is a beautiful sight and a very well kept place.

We couldn't walk to the temple without first taking off our shoes, they really want to keep the place clean and nice.  While we were standing on the terrace of the temple a plane flew by, you can see just how high this place is.  That is us looking at the Annapurna Himal from the terrace of the World Peace Stupa, Cool isn't it!  We walked around the grounds and what should we see,YUP,  a well.  This time with a view.  They do need to get water to the temple and this is how it is done.

We left the heights of Pokhara and went to the Lake.  This is Phewa Taal the famous lake of Nepal.  It is a very beautiful sight to see.

 These boats are used to ferry tourists across the lake to a stairway that you can also walk to the top of the mountain.  In August when we were here some of the nurses decided to go across and to the top.  They were not aware what monsoon season was.  When they got near  the top it started to rain, and rain it did.  By the time they returned they were soaked, That was not the worst of it, they worried that their boat would be swamped and sink before they got back across the lake.  That is a great story to tell the children.



That evening we went to get something to eat, and I had a surprise birthday cake.  Our partner and friend Rakesh went to a local bakery and had a cake made just for this special occasion.  Janet and I really enjoyed the surprise.  Good food and good company, it can't get any better.

We found this temple as we were driving back to the hotel and dinner, amazing the view of Machapunchare from the temple terrace.

Back to Kathmandu we find within the very heart of the city, wells.  These wells are in certain locations and serve the population of that area.

The area of this picture was first settled by the Newar Clan (cast)some say 30,00 years ago.  As the population increased and the people became more developed the Newar family ruled and developed into a very powerful people. This well is in what is known as Kathmandu Durbar Square which is like the old section of a city.  It was a kingdom before the unification of Nepal.  The present palaces and temple have undergone extensive renovations so nothing remains from the early 10th century kings, I guess just the spirit lives on.  When Kathmandu City became independent under king Ratna Malla from 1484 unto 1520 the palaces became the royal palaces for the Malla kings.  When Prithvi Narayan Shah invaded the Kathmandu valley in 1769, he also liked the Kathmandu Durbar Square for his palace.  You can see this is a very old and important part of Kathmandu City.  Yes, the well does still work and the people use it.

Just outside the Kathmandu city but still in the valley is a small village called Satungal, one of our home teaching families lives there and near her house is this well.  The girls and women are fetching water.









This well is off the side of the road as we drive to Satungal.










The well to the left is just up the road from our house on Bansbari.  There are wells every where, that sounds very interesting until you realize that in most of our homes there is a well and the water is controlled for heat and cold and the well goes right into the showers heads and sinks and tubs, we really have it good.




This picture is not to make an editorial statement, well maybe it is, What are we doing with the time we have.  We are blessed to live in a land that has been consecrated for the purposes of Heavenly Father, that being, the building of his kingdom on earth.  "Wherefore, this land is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring.  And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them..." 2 Nephi 1 :7.  We need to take a close look at how we serve Him.

One day in Bhaktapur another city in the Kathmandu valley we were walking and saw this picture, it is the major reason for this blog.

You may not see the rope the woman has in her hands pulling the water from the well to fill her water can, but it is there.  This is the arduous work they do every day, no wonder the woman at the well said to the savior "...Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw." John 4:15.  What greater blessing can we give them than the water of life.  So... what are you doing?

Our little compound has water that comes to it in to a cistern  which is filled by city water.  Sometimes, for example right now,  city wells are very low, so they receive water us once a week and at a very slow rate, so we need to haul water into our compound.  This water is brought to us by truck which is very nice for us.  I'm not sure if I could haul enough water into our house to take care of our needs without spending the whole day each and every day.  But, that doesn't matter, Janet would be the one to haul it into our house anyway, that's the Nepali way.  It was delivered this night because they were very busy.  This load of water cost us 2000 rupees (about 22 dollars) to be brought in and pumped into our water vaults.




As you can see our lives are much easier than those around us.



When the water was being pumped in we had a very curious helper as usual making sure the men pumping were doing it right.

This is our Didi Rukmina watching that the pipe didn't leak too much on her new grass.  You gotta love her!

My prayer is that all of you will continue to serve one another and find those in need to uplift with your individual skills.

Next chapter "The straight and narrow path"