This weekend is the Tihar festival of lights and New Year's day on the Nepalese calendar.

During the Tihar festival houses and buildings are decorated with marigold garlands and lights.

The pyramid-shaped mountain behind the ridge is Mt. Everest.

We have now completed our service at the hospital in Banepa and have a few days off before returning home. We just returned from an Everest Express sightseeing flight on Yeti Airlines. We had clear skies and a great view of Everest and several of the other highest mountains in the world! Having visited in May the town of Jericho, the lowest point on earth, it was thrilling to now see the highest point on this beautiful earth and contemplate all that Jesus Christ has created under the direction of our Heavenly Father. Nameste!

Today we completed the final surgeries. In all, we performed 19 surgeries this week. So far all the patients have done very well.

The most prominent peak left of center is Gauri Shankar which is 23,442 feet tall

The Rice Harvest