Hello from Felixstowe!

Since the last newsletter, and before we flew to the UK, Megan attended another 'Wheels for the World' wheelchair camp. This one was in the eastern part of Nepal, in a town called Itahari. In all our time in Nepal we have never had the occasion to travel east and so this was an extra interesting trip for Megan. Not only was she able to be part of the team which gave out 150+ wheelchairs over five days, she also got to see a different part of the country! One of the highlights for her this time was to be able to help a man walk again who had been wheelchair-bound for 13 years following a stroke. He had been told after this stroke that he would never walk again so he hadn't tried, but seeing some potential Megan was able to get him on his feet again.

Alan has been helping the team he works with to prepare for the start of a new project in the remote western region of Rukum, along with preparing some reports and being involved in running some workshops.

We had planned to fly to Surkhet, where we used to live, for some meetings at the beginning of the same week that included our flight to the UK. It was a tight schedule with an overnight stay and we were a little concerned, as flights in Nepal can be unpredictable, but we had promised we would go. We arrived at Kathmandu airport at 6.30am for the first flight of the day, checked in and were sitting in the domestic departure lounge when we were told that all flights to Surkhet that day had just been cancelled. Apparently, a crack had been discovered in the runway of the Surkhet airport that morning! So the trip was off, and we had an extra day to prepare for our trip to the UK though we did quickly make some recorded materials for the training sessions we were down to do.

It was great to attend a family wedding in the first few days of arriving in England and lovely to catch up with many family members all in one go and to meet some people we haven't seen for several years. It was a special time of celebration together.

Since then we have had several meetings in our BMS offices in Didcot, including the opportunity to meet face-to-face with the small team we have been part of for more than 2 years. It was really good to be together in person rather than via the internet, getting to know each other and also taking time to sit and chat and plan for the year ahead.

In case you would like to catch up with us in person, this is our visit schedule:

Saturday June 7th Aintree Baptist Church, lunch time meeting

Sunday June 8th Lancaster am service

Thursday June 12th Leven Baptist Church,

Sunday June 15th Mountsorrel Baptist Church, am service and Quorn Baptist Church, pm service

Tuesday June 17th Barrow Baptist Church lunch meeting

Thursday June 19th Centenary Baptist Church March, lunch meeting

Sunday June 22nd Carleton Rode Baptist, am service and Wymondham Baptist Church, pm meeting

Sunday June 29th Walsworth Road Baptist Church, Hitchin am service and Great Shelford Church, pm meeting

Sunday July 6th West Worthing Baptist Church, am service

For those of you who pray:

Please remember us as we travel round the UK for the next two months. We love to meet with everyone and catch up, but the travelling can be tiring.

As a result of the meetings in Didcot, we are now working towards slightly updated job descriptions so please pray for wisdom in getting those finalised and then managing the changes we will need to make in our routine when we get back to Nepal.

For ongoing team building with our 'Didcot' team as seen in the photo.

We have been discussing the next few years as we prepare for our road to retirement and leaving well and would value your prayers for us in that.

Pray for our friends in Nepal as they continue with all the important work there.

With thanks as always for your friendship towards us

Alan and Megan