Sunday July 1st
We set out for Dhading. The trip was an ordeal. We started in a bus for a three hour drive but the bus was very crowded, it was hot, and a truck driver had gotten in a fight with a policeman stopping all the traffic for a long time. So we were sitting, crawling with trucks belching huge clouds of fumes and blasting waves of heat.
Finally out of the city the road traffic opened up as did the magnificent vistas of valleys, graduated descending patches of rice paddies, corn terraces, banana groves etc. We wound up and down each new mountain and valley. At Dhading we got in a 9 passenger van with 30 people in it or hanging out the door. I was the latter and the centrifugal force going around the mountain curves was rather intense.
At our drop off we started a five hour hike continually up and down the mountains. I had tried to pack just what was needed but I soon decided it was way too much. The first 3 hours the heat was overwhelming for such climbing then it started raining, cooler but even more humid and soon everything was soaked including many important things in our backpacks. After a while we took refuge in an animal shed. Now, setting out again, the trails were running with water, the clay and rock paths very slippery. We made it wet, muddy, consumed.
The vista’s along the way were inspirational, God’s handiwork ranging before us in overlapping ranges, fields, and woodland. We slept last night above the cow barn on a straw mat. We pray the Lord will bless the teaching of His word today.
Sent from my iPad
