Happy thought in the night

I was describing Nepal as pre-Walmart until I saw this shop in Pokhara.

Cab ride

Yesterday, I turned over every stone, tried every angle, and went through the stages of grief I had taught during the week as I came to terms with reality: I could not get into India without a visa (scans won't do), there was no way I could get my passport sent to me in time (DHL's same day service would actually take 4 days and cost nearly $1000), and I could not get a new tourist visa (Indian embassy in Kathmandu closed until Monday).  I denied reality (there must be a way), felt guilty (if only . . . ), was angry (stupid me, stupid visas, stupid man walking down the street), and even burst into tears. Finally, I cancelled the Bangalore side-trip and booked a new flight directly to Brussels. I leave here tonight at 9:00.
But in the night, a happy thought surfaced: How fortunate I  realized the problem in advance, before going to the airport en route to India.
The whole process was not without some great moments:

Street scene in Kathmandu

• Careening through the streets of Kathmandu in a taxi, I saw the driver had "Hallelujah" painted on the dashboard. I read it out aloud. He said, "I'm a Christian." Had been for 20 years, and his whole family was Christian as well. We were just passing the Assembly of God church, and he pointed out all the Christians streaming there (on foot, services on Saturday which is the holy day here). Then he started singing, "I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised." We bellowed out the whole song together. Fellowship and worship, not your usual cab ride. 
• Talking with Expedia India customer service agents, who were so careful to ask, "Will you allow me to address you by the name 'Harriet'?" We had to establish this before we could continue. Obviously much more emphasis on social class/caste in India than USA. 

The Trauma Healing equipping session here was wonderful. Christianity has only come to Nepal in the last 50 years, so this is a young church and most everyone has converted to Christianity from another religion. We had a former 'witch doctor' (the term he used) and a former Hindu priest, a former Maoist. Almost everyone had a dramatic testimony of how Christ called them to himself. And most of them had paid the price: being beaten, put out of the house and mistreated by her husband, and so forth until, for many but not all, a dramatic moment when Christ also called the other family members. Many of them experienced healing of the inner pains they were carrying during our week together and went out ready to share the good news with others.
The last day we went to a mountaintop near Pokhara for the sunrise, where we were surrounded by the Himalayas on all sides. As the sun began to show, the many hills and mountains became visible. It was not a perfectly clear day so there were many peaks we couldn't see. But they were there nonetheless. Like God.