It’s 18 months since we visited India. We went there to get a taste of life in a mission hospital, and to see whether we as a family would be able to live in the reality of a third world country. As a couple we have always sensed that this might be something God calls us to, but until now we haven’t been sufficiently trained and experienced to be able to offer ourselves. We realised that with Naomi fast growing up that if we were going to do it we needed to get on and do so before she hits secondary school age. Nepal has always had an attraction for us and we have supported a hospital in Nepal financially for over 10 years, but with the ongoing troubles from the Maoists we were unwilling to consider going there with young children. So we managed to arrange a visit to a hospital in North India right on the border with Nepal. During our short stay there we both responded to the obvious need and came away thinking that this was where God would have us be.

We prayed it over for several months then put in motion the process of applying to the organisation that ran the hospital. It was painfully slow and 6 months later we were finally told that there was no opening for us at that hospital at the moment due to a shortage of accommodation for hospital workers. They were going to look into the possibility of placing us in one of their other hospitals. In the meantime I went for what was supposed to be a routine scan of my thyroid to check the size of a benign lump that was going to be removed. The doctor carrying out the scan found another lump – an enlarged lymph node – and told me he thought it was serious. Unfortunately that was just before Christmas, so we had a rather anxious time over the Christmas season whilst waiting for the biopsy result. When the result did come through it was even more worrying – a possible cancer of the lymphatic system. My proposed thyroid operation was brought forward with a view to also taking out this abnormal lymph node and getting a firm diagnosis. We somehow sensed that all would be well, but felt that God was teaching us about trusting Him with our future. We then received an email from a couple in Nepal who have met us when on home furlough in the past. They told us that a plastic surgeon was about to leave one of the hospitals, and asked whether we would consider coming to Nepal instead of India. Simon and I both had an immediate sense that it was this that God had been preparing us for. A couple of days later I had the news that the lymph node was in fact a benign reaction to infection and would need no further treatment. We had learnt that the only safe place to be is in the centre of God’s will, and promptly sent off an application to International Nepal Fellowship.

From there everything has moved very rapidly – a couple of weeks later we had a preliminary interview on our way to Scotland on holiday, followed by more application forms, lots of references and a second interview. We are now formally accepted into membership with International Nepal Fellowship with a view to going to serve in Pokhara for just under 2 years from October. I will be working mainly at Green Pastures Hospital – a mission Hospital originally set up to treat leprosy patients and now expanding it’s remit to provide reconstructive surgery and rehabilitation to patients with disabilities from a number of causes. Simon is spoilt for choice as to what he could do and will probably wait until we are there and he can make a more informed assessment of where his skills would be best used – without him becoming overwhelmed with work. The children will go to an INF school of about 12 children and 2 teachers, following the British system although there may be several nationalities of children there. We start with 6 weeks of language and orientation studies, during which time we are helped to find an apartment to rent and generally find our feet.