Addition to the Fam

The posts to this site have been few and far between. I've been in a holding pattern of sorts, waiting for our new baby to arrive. The wait is over; she is here. Here's our baby, Sophia Reena Storm. She's a whopper at 9.5 lb. and 22 in. long. And she's healthy.

As we were waiting on Sophia, we took trip to the Phuket Zoo. Solomon was the dragon's snack. I wouldn't let him get this close to the tigers, though.

Trouble in Nepal

Jenn and I are in Thailand awaiting our new baby. She's due in two weeks, but the doc seems to think she'll come any minute now. We're here in Thailand, safe and sound.

But our friends in Nepal are experiencing some shock. A Catholic church in Lalitpur, the town we live in, was bombed during a service on Saturday. Two people died an another dozen are injured. This is the first attack on a church in Nepal. The authorities are still in the process of figuring out which end is up, though they did get around to warning some other churches that were in session on Saturday. See the article on the BBC.

Please keep Nepal in your prayers.

So Much Going On

A few weeks ago, I woke up to gunfire again. It was democracy day and the army was doing one of their 21 gun salutes. Those are way better than fire fights.

A couple from Indiana visited for a week. It was a lot of fun to spend time with them and show them how it works to live in Nepal. They're considering moving out here to work with us. It would be nice to welcome them here as teammates.

The day they left, I got yak flu. It's the less well-known, but way more dangerous cousin to the swine flu that is sweeping the world right now. The yak flu doesn't get any press though. I'm here to tell you that the press couldn't handle it. The yak flu only spared me so that I could warn others. Consider yourselves warned.

Yesterday and today in Nepali politics.... There has been a lot going on. I think the Prime Minister (Maoist) fired the Army Chief. Then following protests and government walk outs (other political parties), the President reinstated the Army Chief. Then today the Prime Minister resigned so he could spend more time sucking his thumb and crying. Pretty much everyone else is quitting the government too. I think this lack of government will operate about the same as the government did before, just without individuals to blame. There have been lots of burning tires and protests around Kathmandu. I don't know where those protesters come from. Nepal should work on improving it's employment numbers, then perhaps the politics wouldn't be such a big deal.

For the latest developments, go to the New York Times, CNN, or BBC.

While the focus is on Kathmandu, I'm headed to Eastern Nepal. Hopefully there will be fewer protests in the hills.

Encouraging Observation

Yesterday, I sat in on a couple of sessions at the ServLife Nepal Church Planter conference.  There are 42 guys from all over the nation attending.  These guys traveled a minimum of 6 hours on a bus, at most they traveled a couple days. 

The encouraging part was watching them soak it all in!  They were paying close attention and taking thorough notes.  Being a westerner, I was fading 45 minutes into the sessions, but their interest had amazing stanima.  It will be nice to send them off, back to their villages with more material, ideas and tools to shepherd their flocks.

This afternoon, the 11 newest planters will be commissioned.

Question of the Day

Should Mark have one more burger before heading to Kathmandu?

Perhaps two?

I'm excited about seeing our training center graduate its fourth class. I'm also going to Sanne to evaluate the latest loan developments. I'm also excited about hosting a couple from the US that is thinking of living in Nepal full time. Please keep my family (currently in Thailand) and me in your prayers.

Smiles or Protests?

The Storms have made it to Thailand. After an absolutely wonderful few weeks back in the US visiting with family, it is good to be back in Asia. And, what is being back in Asia if there aren't a few protests here or there?

Do you remember back to Nov. and Dec. of 2008? Thailand was having quite the disturbance because 'the people', dressed in yellow, wanted to overthrow the government. I've come to realize that this is not an uncommon occurrence.

We arrived in the country in the wee hours of the morning to find that protesters, this time wearing red, are demonstrating and would like to have new elections. Last year the yellow shirts seized the airports and kept the country (and many tourists) hostage. We're in luck! According to CNN, "The red-shirt protesters said this week that they would not take over airports." I'm relieved.

Perhaps Thailand should throw out that motto "land of smiles" and replace it with "land of protests, coups, and overthrown governments?" Oops...I think Nepal has already claimed that slogan.

Visitation

We've been in the US for about 3 weeks now. One week in GA, two in MS. After another week in GA, it's back to Asia.

We have a busy summer ahead of us. There will be one more Storm on the planet. Most of us were born in the US, but this one will be born in Thailand. Probably the first Storm ever born there if I had to guess. We're excited about the addition. After playing with his cousins for the last few weeks, Solomon is ready as well. He's been very gentle with his 3 month old cousin.

We went to the zoo earlier this week and we'll probably go to the aquarium next week. Solomon is getting all the experiences that are hard to find in Nepal. It's been a good visit.

Time Travel

So, we're in the US now.  It seems more like 2009 than 1850.  I can't say that when we're in Nepal. 

We're here to visit with family while it's still cheap to travel.  After July, it will cost us 50% more to fly.  Solomon will be two and no longer be a lap baby.  We couldn't do it any later because Jenn needs to be in Thailand by April 12 (32 weeks) in order to have our next baby there.  Our family really wanted to visit with us, and we really wanted to visit with our family.  It's a win-win situation. 

We are certainly not missing all the hardships of Nepal, but we do miss the life that we live there.  We will all be back there by mid-monsoon. 

Got To Keep On Moving

So, we found a place to live and it's almost ready.  We've even moved most of our stuff.  The problem is, we don't have much stuff.  No beds, no table, no dishes, no chairs, nothing.  It's a problem, but we're working on it.

I did experience a 'first' today.  I drove a 4-wheeled vehicle in Nepal.  It's right hand drive, left side of the road (opposite from American standards).  Have you ever seen the videos of the astronauts driving on the moon?  The roads here are a lot like that, but the gravity is real.  Each bump hurts.  And all the while, you've got to dodge pedestrians.  Two years old, eighty years old - you've got to watch out for them all. 


And to top it off, today is a festival celebrated by people (usually children) that blockade the roads and demand money.  It's a lot like getting mugged.

Woke Up to Gunfire

That title sounds terrible, huh? It's the truth.

Almost a year ago, we heard bombs going off from our house. Close enough to hear, but not a danger to us at all. Those were part of the pre-election violence. This morning was different.

At about 6:20 am, we heard gunfire. It sounded like machine guns. First one burst, then within a minute there were 3 more bursts of fire. I thought there was something serious going on at Ring Road, about 300m from our house. I called a friend who lives closer to that area to see if anything was going on there.

"It's Democracy Day. Those were four 21 gun salutes in honor of the martyrs."

I was very relieved to learn this. Today will be a normal day after all.

Milking It

The trip to eastern Nepal went well. We have started another loan. This one is again a buffalo/milk operation.

The last buffalo/milk operation we started is going pretty well, however, it has had to adjust to a changing business environment. When it started, the buffalo was producing 5 to 6 liters per day. Now, the buffalo production is down to 3 liters per day. Because of this drop, the business owner has decided to quit selling the milk. Instead, he has taken the process one step further and now makes butter to sell. They're still doing well.

Loan collection day was yesterday.


In other news. We've been looking for another place to live. Our home for the previous year has been a house-sitting arrangement. We want something a little more permanent; something we can call home. We think we found it. By the end of the day we will know.

Loaning and Groaning

Back to eastern Nepal next week. I plan on checking the status of our current loans. I don't think we'll be starting new ones, but who knows, plans often change.

The only groaning I expect will be if I have to take a shower. The water this time of year in the Himalayan foothills isn't what we'd call comfortable. Frigid is more appropriate.

Our Nepali lessons are over for the foreseeable future. In theory, I should have no problem conversing in Nepali. Reality is different. My Nepali isn't bad, but listening is the most difficult part. Practice will help. Every trip outside of Kathmandu qualifies as extreme practice.

From Battered to Battery

Well, the numbers just kept going up. We took a beating from all that load shedding. Nevermind the lost computer and internet time (though very important for our work). It was hard to bathe our son or cook at night. Couldn't read much either. Seems like the solution would be to sleep and wake on the sun's schedule. Unfortunately, we took that advise but misspelled it; 'son'. He doesn't like sleeping more than 12 hours a night, even in winter.

The solution? Inverter. We have been blessed with batteries that charge when the electricity is on and provide electricity when the grid cannot. It's a nice system, though not fully maximized. Since we only have up to 8 hours a day to charge the batteries, they don't get fully charged. We remain conservative with our electricity usage during power outages. Even on a full charge we'd be hard pressed to get 8 hours in a row from them.

Regardless, life is more pleasant when the lights work.

One-Hundred Eight

The numbers are not getting smaller. We're in the triple digits now! It's really starting to hurt. I just sent an email out yesterday complaining about how we had electricity outages averaging 12 hours per day. I should have counted my blessings.

We now have 16 hours of power cuts each day except for one merciful day per week - that day we only have 12 hours of outages.

BBC decided to pick up this story:

Nepal hit by 16-hour power cuts

Eighty-Two

Here we go again. I know, it's old news, but worth reporting anyway. Electricity here in Nepal has become increasingly scarce. There are only 168 hours in a week, and the power is out for 49% of them, 82 hours a week. This power crunch is making life in Shangri La a bit tougher.