Practical Stuff

For those who have been asking...

We are working on setting up the donation/financial section for those who would like to give.  Here is some preliminary information so that you can do so.  At the bottom of this page you will find examples of what it looks like when you click the "Donate" button on this blog. You find it on the right side of the blog and it looks like this. 100% of the money donated goes to the children's home, minus bank fees. 

If you live in the United States, you have three options:
1.Normal bankcheck 
     Please send donations to:

     New Hope International Ministries

     One Macklem Dr.
     Wilmore, KY 40390

    On the subject line of your check please write NEPAL 
    (New Hope is a registered non-profit and the donations are tax deductible.)

2. Paypal. Use the "Donate" button on the right here on the blog.
3. VISA/Mastercard. Use the "Donate" button on the right and choose that option.

Om du bor i Sverige:

Det finns ett bankkonto du kan använda redan idag. Det hittar du till höger här på bloggen. Du kan också använda dig av "Donate" knappen och sedan använda ditt PayPal konto eller självklart också ditt VISA/Mastercard.
Alltså, du kan välja mellan vårt Swedbank konto, Paypal eller VISA/Mastercard.

Om du bor i Norge:

Tag kontakt med oss personligen så hjälper vi dig med detta. Andreas har telefonnummer 98027134.   

For any other country that you may be residing in:
The best way would be to use the "Donate" button on the right and chose to pay via Visa/Mastercard for the donations connected with this site.

INFORMATION
This is what it looks lik when you click the "Donate" button on this blog. Notice that it says "Because of Two" everywhere. We are registered with Paypal as a verified account.

_______________________

This is what it looks like when you click the link in the blue circle aboe, indicating that you want to use a VISA/Mastercard. It is a standard form that is simple to follow.

Thank you for your help and interest in these beautiful children.

Blessings,
Laurie

Making a New Normal

We have been home for about a week now from N*pal and working on remembering all the details. Sometimes it is so easy just to fall back into the old patterns and routines...but that is not what we want.  We go through the pictures and see the faces that are so easy to love and remember why we made the journey in the first place.  We want to make a new normal in this family, by adding all these beautiful people into our daily discussions, prayers and thoughts.  We want them to effect the way we see the world, the way we spend our money, and the way we see others.  

One of the things that we talked about with the Director (daddy, KB) of the home was the religious climate that is in N*pal.  KB has letters from Hindus that state they would be willing to support them and give them money if they would renounce their belief in Jesus.  He has lost supporters over the fact that he teaches and lives Christianity with the children in a Hindu/Bhuddist country.  Yet, his faith is strong and they are thriving even without the money that we Westerners believe that we ''need''.  

Kathmandu

Kathmandu is a rather large city.  It is really hard to get a true picture of it while you are in it, but easier from higher view points.  I have not met one person that lives in Kathmandu that actually says they like it there.  Don't get me wrong...they all love their country and think it is amazingly beautiful, but they are not referring to Kathmandu when they are speaking like that.  It is a cacophony of smells which include incense, sewage, car fumes, pollution, trash, cows, dust and sweat.  It is a cacophony of  sounds which include horns, chanting, bells, loud music, normal city noise, cows, monkeys, dogs, etc.  It is a cacophony of sights (which include a lot of what I have already mentioned) and temples both Bhuddist and Hindu, colorful buildings, amazingly beautiful people, trash, trash, and more trash,  and spectacular mountains, etc.  I think you maybe starting to get the picture.

This is known as the Swayambhunath or more commonly known as The Monkey Temple (because there happens to be monkeys all around). It is a Bhuddist stupa...with a small Hindu temple on the side.  (notice the dark spindle looking objects...that will be explained later)

We visited some of the sites in Kathmandu that Andreas had not seen before.  It is amazing to watch people of different beliefs and how they (me included) have a sort of sub-culture.  For those of us who are Christians the Hindu and Bhuddist beliefs are straight out of the Old Testament.

The statue of Bhudda at the stupa.  This is the N*pali Bhudda...not the laughing Bhudda that you find in other parts of Asia.  The Bhudda was born in N*pal...interestingly enough he stated that he was not a god and did not want to be worshipped...guess no one listened.  

This is a stone...that some people were worshipping like a god.  

This is a bell, when you go to the temple you ring it...some say to make sure the god is awake, others say to seal the deal (so to speak).  

This is another part of the Monkey Temple, the flags are Bhuddist prayer flags.  Here is where I will explain the spindle objects in the picture above.  Each flag has a prescribed written prayer or prayers on them.  When the wind blows it is suppose to take the prayers with it.  The spindles objects are actually prayer wheels.  They hold paper in them that has the same prayers on them as the flags.  The people walk around clockwise and spin the wheels to release the prayers.  As they walk around they also carry beads to count how many times they spin the wheels...I think they are suppose to do it a prescribed amount of time.  Then there are huge wheels that they also walk around and spin.  

This is a stone, carved like a little man and dressed that was being worshipped.  I'll be honest...it gave me the creeps.  

This is the rat god, I really don't know what he is suppose to do...but he is obviously popular.  

This is the Pashupatinath Temple.  Considered to be the most holy temple for the Hindu god Shiva. It is on the Bagmati river (which the people say is the most polluted river in the world), and it is where most of the funerals are held in Kathmandu.  The smoke you see is from the cremation of the deceased.  The ashes are then put into the river.  It is not a site for the light of heart and makes me sad every time I am there.  Yes, there is a boy in the river collecting the firewood that did not totally burn up.  On the other side of the river was a girl wading in to try to find valuables from the bodies...every part of me wanted to scream...get out of the water...but I refrained. 

These scenes echo all over Kathmandu with small temples everywhere, or a rocks for that matter.  It really does make you think about belief.  Hindus believe in anywhere from 35,000 to 38,000 gods.  I personally think it would be exhausting trying to please all of them.

So now maybe you have a little better picture of the people that we have long loved and the culture that is almost totally opposite to our own.  We will be planning within the next two weeks and working on getting the non-profit registered in Sweden.  We have a non-profit in the States that will allow us to use them as an umbrella until we can see if we need to begin our own there and in Norway we can receive donations through our church. We also have paypal.

If you are interested in joining us on this adventure please let us know.  You can contact us through this blog or kjernald.blogspot.com   We will be getting specific needs out soon.

Blessings,
Laurie

Pictures - part 3

Children's home

Sister Lala and the kids

River of trash

View from children's home

Did I mention trash?

Good-bye!

"Downtown" Kathmandu

One of MANY temples

Sunrise over the Himalayas

Nerwar, or Nepali, food. Very good...and we didn't get sick!

Pictures - part 2

Pictures - part 1

First, some pictures of Nepal and Kathmandu...

This is not Mt. Everest but the view of the Himalaya we had on our overnight visit into the mountains. The place was called Nagarkot and offered a stunning panorama. This is a sunrise over the Himalayan mountains.

This is us a few minutes later...

This is Kathmandu as seen from the Monkey Temple, facing east. It is a teeming city of millions of people and to be perfectly honest, we couldn't find a single person that liked it.

Heading up into the foothills of the Himalaya we came across some very typical homes and "normal" Nepali people. Primitive, although this particular building was pretty decent.

This picture was taken from our taxi so it isn't great, but it does give you an idea of how people in the city live. Yes, those shacks are dwellings and yes, the creek at the bottom was covered in trash.

cancelled flight

Our last day in Nepal was a long day. Our flight didn't leave until 21:00 so we had to fill a whole day with whqtever we could come up with. Boring. However, we did meet with KB who came to the hotel to show us some receipts as well as to say goodbye. His oldest son and daughter also stopped by for lunch, which was very nice. They are wonderful people and we hope and pray that this partnership continues on the right path. We have much to learn and adjust as we love ahead with helping the children.
Our goodbye was full of the hope that we will see each other soon.
It also feels like our mission was accomplished even though it just started.

Unfortunately our flight was cancelled so we have to stay an extra night in Kathmandu...not happy at all about that. We miss our kids terribly.

But even as we are tired and feel spent we also feel a tremendous sense of gratitude and hopefulness over what has been accomplished and the potential future ahead. Thank you for following our journey and please continue to be a part of it.

Andreas

The wonderful day and the unnecessary day

Funny how two days can be so different. Yesterday, read Friday, was our last day with the children. We spent a good 5 hours with them and the staff/family. The sun was shining and it was a warm and peaceful day. We spent most of it outside playing soccer, throwing hackysacks and playing various games. It was glorious.
We also had a chance to talk more with the director and his family, explaining that we wanted to partner with and join them in providing for the children. We were very keen on explaining that we are not donors but partners and what the difference is...that we are not ATMs but involved and interested friends (brothers and sisters in Christ). We are investing for life, as well as our lives, and it was great to see and truly realize that we share the same vision.

To be honest we began our journey in doubt. Can these people be trusted? Are they telling the "truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?" Are they just saying what we want to hear? You know, making us feel good so that they can have our money. We have met people like that.
There is much to tell but we are slowly starting to trust them. We now feel comfortable to leave and know that we share the same vision and purpose. We believe that when we return (as soon as possible) our partnership will be on the same correct path that it is today.
Let me share some examples of why this is:
First, we have a shared understanding of the need for financial transparency and accountability AND we have Bobby who has volunteered to verify all financial records, including receipts and also make sure that they money spent is appropriate and necessary. For those of you who wonder if we can trust Bobby, ask us for our reasons and we will be happy to tell you. They are many.
Second, the children are obviously loved and well taken care of by the whole family (KB and his wife Mina, his children Peter married to Laksmi, James married to Shittva and Paul). They are indeed poor but happy, and that doesn't just happen.
Third, there is no evidence of financial mismanagement and much evidence to the contrary. The family draw no salary. No one has an iPhone. There is no car or motorcycle. The director has the same clothes as he did when Laurie saw him 7 years ago.
Fourth, every little thing "adds up". When many different things, small and large, remain the same it eases our concerns. So when they say "A" one day, it is still "A" three days later. In short, there are no surprises.

To be sure, these are normal human beings we are dealing with and we understand that mistakes will be made...but we don't find any reasons to believe that they will occur out of wrong intentions or greed.

We went to bed smiling but we woke up with a sense of "we want to go home". I (Andreas) got the opportunity to preach in a church here in in Kathmandu. It was a privilege and we enjoyed visiting with the people and also enjoyed the lunch with the pastor's family. They were very gracious and shared their home with us.
Bobby's orphanage was close-by so we also got to spend some time with the kids there...adorable children. They are a testimony to the heart and mind of Bobby and we really enjoyed being with them. That was a great time.
Then it was time to go back to Thamel, the tourist part of Kathmandu where our hotel is. It is not a great place to be, unless you enjoy chaos and pollution (Our hotel sits off the main road a bit which helps). We met with another man with whom we had shared our vision and he told us his vision for the children in Nepal. It was good to make a new friend and we will continue to pray for each other.

We ended the day (Saturday) with some great Nepali food before we headed back to the hotel. To say that we are ready to go home is to put it mildly. We are in awe of what God has done during this trip (as well as how he had prepared everything before we got here) but we miss our boys deeply. Soon!
As we leave we fell confident that we are doing God's work, that we are on the right path and we can't wait to continue with him as he leads our future together with our new "family" in Nepal. There are many ways you can be a part of it too. Think about it.

From Kathmandu with love,
Andreas