Monday, March 29, 2010

Christ the Rock

I’m sure I just got into bed when the alarm went off, but Jenn assured me it was 8am! I physically couldn’t wake myself up this morning, but I was excited to be visiting our friends at Christ the Rock for the service this morning. We quickly got ready so we could lie back on our bed for a dose before we were to be picked up between 8.30 and 8.45, but of course this is India and our lift to church arrived at 9.30am, giving Jenn and I an hour to snooze... I’m not sure how wise this was! We were driven to Raj and Vanitha’s and fed some dosai with potatoes for breakfast, before heading upstairs to church.


We had a traditional Indian introduction, presented with gifts and Captain Thacker talked a bit about the trip and also prayed for us before Pastor Raj began his sermon. The service was of course themed on Palm Sunday, Raj read from Matthew 21 and we all made crosses from palm leaves. It suddenly hit me that next Sunday, Easter Sunday, we would be in the Holy Land, and this excited me A LOT! This is partly because we’ll be eating chocolate and sweeties, but mostly because we’ll be there, where it all happened 2000 years ago.



After the service we spent some time with the youth group, sharing about the trip and answering various questions about our experiences so far. Jenn talked about true religion and faith without action. Using the two verses we base the trip on...

“Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us.” – James 1:27

“what’s the use of saying you have faith if you don’t prove it by your actions? That kind of faith cant save anyone” - James 2:14

The youth then shared their roles in the church with us before we closed in prayer.


We headed down to Raj and Vanitha’s for a cold drink and a chance to catch up with some e-mails. It wasn’t long until it was time for our home church, St Andrews, Bo’ness to start, so we tuned in to online streaming and enjoyed watching our friends in the congregation chatting before the service began. This made me a little homesick, and very excited to think we’d be back worshipping together in two weeks!


In the evening we visited the Sunday School, who were enjoying a puppet show. Afterwards Raj and Sharon took us for a bit to eat and we brought Sharon back to our apartment for a catch up. She left pretty early and Jenn and I packed and are now ready for an early night before spending our last day in Channai, last day of this trip anyway!



Laura x


So the intended purpose of the trip to Munna was to visit the tribal school that St Andrews supports, but as Laura mentioned that unfortunately ended up not being possible, so instead Daniel and family wanted to show us some of the local attractions whilst we were there. So we set off early-ish, for a day packed with activities, first stop a local flower garden for some pretty pictures and some oohing and ahhing at the different pretty flowers. Then we headed off for my highlight of the day...an elephant ride! This was both Laura and my second turn at this, but I was like a little girl I was so excited! We were a bit disappointed that the kids couldn’t come on with us as their mum Rose was rightly nervous at the idea, but all the more fun for us! Laura kindly let me go on the front as she was a bit nervous about it all, but then this turned out worse for her as every time we went up a hill she struggled to grip on to stop herself from sliding off! Meanwhile I was up the front squealing with excitement.
Next stop, Laura got her own back and it was time for her to squeal and me to get nervous...we headed for a boat trip. However in the end I quite enjoyed it and it was poor little 2 year old Emerald that spent the whole time wailing crying in fear, with Daniel trying his hardest to console him. I could totally relate, I do not see the big deal about boats, they are a travel sickness sufferer’s worst enemy!
After a fun-filled day we headed back down the mountain, with similar sickness problems as the day before, but I am proud to say I managed to keep all my food down the whole trip! On the way back we hit a lightning storm which was strange, exciting and a little nerve racking all at once, so I dealt with it the best way I could: borrowed Laura’s ipod for some chilled music, got comfy and enjoyed the show! And what a show it was! The whole sky was lighting up and we would drive through flash rain showers, with all the mountains and cool tropical trees as a backdrop it was pretty spectacular!
After a quick pit stop back at Ruth and Abrahams we headed to the bus station for our overnight return bus trip back to Chennai, with our brilliant friend and body guard, Charles. Arriving back into the church around about 5.30am we were shattered and headed straight to our new digs, a rented apartment near the church, to try and catch a couple of hours sleep before the 9.30am service. Lying in at the weekends is slowly becoming a very distant memory! But what incredible new memories we’re making instead!
Jenn xx

Sleep???



So after a bumpy, 8 hour bus journey we were finally in Dindigul, it was 5.30 in the morning so we weren’t quite ‘with it’, Daniel picked us up and took us to a hotel for a few hours sleep. We checked in and headed straight to bed, about ten minutes later there was a power cut and a knock at the door followed shortly after. There was a problem with the electricity in our room so we had to move along the corridor.




Daniel brought Ailsa and Emerald to collect us at 9am to go to Pastor Abraham and Sister Ruth’s for breakfast... this spread could have fed the five thousand! There was porridge, French toast (or Bombay toast as it’s known in India!), sandwiches, dosai, fruit, potatoes, cashew nuts, and much, MUCH more! The kids were sussing us out the whole time, they are getting so big and have the most beautiful eyes and smiles. Rose, Daniel’s wife, reckoned the youngest Emerald wouldn’t remember seeing a white person! Pastor Abraham soon joined us and was in top form sharing his thoughts and sharing stories of his faith experiences.






We spent the rest of the morning in their home before heading to Munnar with Daniel and his family. We had only entered the wildlife reserve a few minutes when we spotted a crowd of tourists with their camera’s out. As we drew close we saw an elephant in the distance. A bit on up the hill we spotted some monkeys, now all we had to see was some tigers!





Jenn started to look a bit peaky and I realised the bumpy, twisty drive up the mountain wasn’t doing anything for her travel sickness, we stopped for a bit of air and continued on up. The kids and Rose were starting to feel it by now, and the kids were both quite sick.




As we got higher and higher the temperature dropped, we stopped to wrap the kids up warm in balaclavas and winter coats. The windows were down and I was loving the cold air blowing in! I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard Jenn pipe up, ‘is there a hospital at the top?’ – she ensures us it was just a general question, but I’m not sure I believe her ;)





We arrived after dark and had a quick rest before heading out for the best dosai in India! I’m now in bed, the 4th bed I’ve been in 17 hours, and ready to rest for a long journey back tomorrow.




Laura x




p.s. Please keep the Tribal School very close in your prayers, we have been unable to visit them as foreign visitors seem to cause problems with the locals, they think they are receiving money and are stealing from them. When challenged the thief’s reply why should they care, they have lots of money from foreigners, which certainly is not the case! This was my favourite place to visit last time I was in India so I was pretty gutted to not get, but I feel worse knowing us being there can cause them so many problems!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

buses with BEDS!!!

Thursday morning we were picked up EARLY!!!! That’s right, not Scottish time, definitely not Indian time, but early! Rushing to throw our things together (which stressed Laura out for the following few hours) we checked out of the YWCA and headed to the church to meet Raj and family. After some yummy lunch and a chat we were invited to go and watch as Sharon and Raj completed her first album of praise songs, which they will hopefully be bringing to Scotland with them on their upcoming trip. We jumped at the chance, and with it being my first time in a recording studio I warmed up my vocal chords just in case there was an emergency and I needed to step in for my debut! Not really, although Raj did insist on Laura, Sharron and I singing together for everyone before we left. It was great watching them making the final changes to some brilliant music, Sharron has such a beautiful voice, but more than that, it was so nice to see her and her dad laughing so much together. They have a really lovely relationship and seem to just have so much fun together no matter what they’re doing, which is nice to watch as it reminded me of my similar relationship with my daddy so many miles away in Scotland.

After the recording was finished we had a chat with Sharron about being a Christian girl growing up in a predominantly Hindu country. According to the Hindu caste system Christian’s are a whole other group of people with no status or worthy of any respect, so being a Christian in this society Sharron had to discover and stick strongly to her morals and opinions from a very young age. Although this must have been tough, part of me couldn’t help but wonder if this was a bit of a lesson for us in the western world, most of us spend our youth and much of adulthood consumed with material issues and other people’s material issues. I wonder if there is a way to direct our youth toward some deeper understanding of the world and their opinions and beliefs without it being too heavy or depressing.

At night time we met Charles at the bus station who had come all the way from Dindigal (which is a bumpy overnight bus journey) to spend the day alone in Chennai, just to meet us to accompany us back to Dindigal...now that is the way to be welcomed somewhere! He showed us onto the sleeper bus which Laura and I were both very excited about because it had full length beds! They were little thin beds and we were sharing a double but even still they were beds...ON A BUS! We giggled at being flung around as the bus dodged, and fell into the many pot holes and bumps in Chennai roads, before settling back for our journey to the country.

Jenn xx

Photos to follow soon!x

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Sunday morning we were collected at the YWCA by brother Franklin who took us to visit the leprosy mission. After a long car journey we turned along a dusty path outside of the local village and arrived at Bethel Town where the leprosy sufferers lived with their families, which is now extending to a second and third generation. We received a very warm welcome and as the bags of rice were unloaded from the car (which we were informed are funded from money donated by St. Andrews church) we were led to some seats just outside their small but beautiful church, where we would be having a small service. Franklin left to gather together the growing group of Christians in the community and as they gathered in front of us the very small children looked extremely unsure of us (I don’t think they get many strangely coloured visitors). Trying to put the children at ease and break the language barrier we remembered we had some balloons in our bag from a previous visit somewhere so I went quickly to collect them and start handing them out.







As we expected the confused faces quickly broke into smiles of delight when the children saw the brightly coloured balloons and they were soon dancing and play fighting each other excitedly! We then shared a little about Soul Touch and our trip so far, and encouraged the community that St. Andrews do still remember and pray for them, and Franklin gave a small message. After the small service we were chatting to the people from the community in broken English, with the assistance of 2 very small, very talented translators, when I was handed a tiny little baby boy who I fell completely in love with. The thing with this situation is that although leprosy is not genetic and the children of the community have not contracted the physical disabilities of their families, the stigma and the stereotyping of this illness has a whole other meaning in a country that has a social caste system.

This system, deriving from Hindu backgrounds, states that you are born into a specific “caste” (similar idea to class in the western world but more specific) and that is you for life. You cannot work your way out of this caste or marry with anyone from a different caste, so if you are born into the lowest caste “the untouchables”, that’s where you will spend the rest of your life. Your caste could well affect your job prospects, despite how intelligent or skilled you are. We have been told that this system is having increasingly less impact and that people are slowly moving away from these ideas, but when you have a beautiful little baby in your arms smiling up at you, you can’t help but think it can’t change fast enough. However the ideas behind this system involve many Gods and supernatural powers which many people have been brought up fearing and so to turn from this strong culture and scary “forces” is a daunting thing to many people. This system allows many to believe they can work within their given boundaries to earn their place in heaven and gives them clear outlines as to what is expected from them, which can be a comfort to most of us. There are however people stepping out of and pushing these boundaries, many Christians included and the recognition of the injustice of this system is a good thing and a sign of hope in itself. After saying our goodbyes and offering and receiving prayers, we got back in the car for the journey home, trying to keep as many mosquitoes out of the car as possible!

On Monday we were collected by Mary Sundaraj. Mary’s husband, Pastor of Mount Zion Church in Chennai, sadly died about 4 years ago suddenly in a motorbike accident. Then tragically about 1 year ago her son John, who had taken over role as pastor, and was also close friend of our church, also died from cancer leaving behind a grieving wife, Jesse, and 1 year old beautiful boy, Benjamin. Mary took us to her home where we were welcomed in by the smiling faces of Jesse, Benjamin and John’s sister in law, and her baby boy Nathanial. We were given a yummy dinner and played with the two boys as Mary told us about the financial struggles they are now facing after the family has lost two of their “bread-winners”, and then after some giggles with the boys and a tour of the lovely house which they are sadly having to leave due to finances, we were struck with an action that smacked us with a mix of shock and humbling power. Before we left the house the ladies gave a donation to soultouch and the work we are doing. I couldn’t believe it. Despite all their financial struggles right now, they gave us more than I’m sure they could afford for us to spend on others and all they asked for in return is prayer. But to them, and a huge lesson to me, is that prayer is indeed priceless. How amazing these women have learnt this through their hard times.

Tuesday we were picked up promptly (which is always strange in India) by Captain Thacker who would be taking us to visit the children at the brand spanking new buildings of Sangita orphanage. On the way we stopped for crayons, paper and some treats for the children, thanks to the kind donations from the night before. We pulled up about an hour or so later to one of Captain Thacker’s friend’s houses. We were welcomed in and as Captain spoke to his friend I was swinging excitedly on the swing-seat in their house sipping yummy lime juice. Next stop was a nursing home called “Amazing love”. We had a quick tour of their new building which was lovely with really nice gardens, a lovely church and around the clock care. Captain joked with us about moving here, but we’re sure he wont be moving anywhere for a good wee while yet! Finally we reached the stunning new grounds of Sangita. They are still in the process of finishing off the buildings, but everything looks incredible! It’s all so well planned, they’ve thought of everything, with everything colour co-ordinated for age groups. They also have huge grounds for sports and the work they do with the widows which is just going to be a huge blessing to everyone. Walking around the site I was breath- taken with how much Sangita has grown from it’s humble beginnings in 1997 which I have only heard about in stories, and must seem to some like distant memories now. We spent some time drawing and playing with the youngest children before travelling home smiling contently with echoes of “aunty, aunty” in our ears.





Wednesday we visited Kennedy School with Mrs Matthew, whose late husband founded the school. We went round as many of the classes as we could fit into the school day teaching songs to the younger pupils and discussing cultural differences and exams with the older children. However, the song “If you’re happy and you know it” sort of lost it’s meaning as the youngest children constantly clapped right throughout the song! After some reasonably successful attempts to explain the 2 claps after each line, we just decided they must just be super happy! Before leaving we were given photo albums to look through of events held in the school where we came across Laura’s smiling face from her visit with the St. Andrews youth group in 2008. Was funny to see they had kept this and I’m sure that when the photo’s were originally taken Laura had no idea she would be looking over them in the very same place 2 years later! We were then given lovely gifts of trophies for our visit, which seemed very unearned but were hugely appreciated and will be displayed proudly in our homes when we return for a visit in a few weeks.

Tomorrow (Thursday) we are off to visit friends of St. Andrews’ Pastor Abraham and Sister Ruth in Dindigal until Monday morning, before we fly out to Israel far too early Tuesday morning (about 1am). Please keep in your thoughts and prayers all the lives of the people we have been honoured enough to visit and also everyone at our home preparing fundraisers for our return on April 8th.

Loadsa love,

Jenn xxx

Indian Stretchy Time...

Arrived in India safe on Tuesday evening, we were met at the airport by Pastor Raj and Captain Thacker. As we were leaving the airport Raj asked, ‘when are you leaving?’... I’m trying not to take that too personally ;) Shortly later we arrived at YWCA, where Sharon and Becky were waiting to greet us. We checked in and were shown to our bedroom, room 208, same room as I’d slept in when I was here in 2008 with the youth team from St Andrews Church. The happy memories came flooding back!


Jenn and I were left to relax that evening and were going to be picked up at 10am the following morning to spend the day with Raj. We had a phone call from Raj about 5 to 10, ‘you’re in India, so 10 o’clock means 11 o’clock’... ah yes India Stretchy Time!


We arrived with Raj around 12 and headed to the Tailoring Class, out came the measuring tape and Jenn and I were fitted for Salwars. The class introduced themselves and Raj asked us to speak a bit about Soul Touch. After that the girls took it in turns to tell us their favourite verses from the bible, and sang to us in Tamil. A couple of the girls shared a bit about their experiences of the tailoring classes, how they enjoyed the fellowship, learning about the bible and of course learning a new skill. Most of the girls come from Muslim and Hindu families. Anyone is allowed on the course free of charge, taking part in bible study is optional but Vanitha serves as a pastor to the girls. All spoke about the peace they felt when coming to the class. We prayed that after the 3 month course the girls would continue to feel at peace and that they would find work using their new skill.


On Friday we were collected in the morning by Maria who works at Shanti’s Clinic, working with the young girls, training them in computer skills in the hope that they will find work in this area. Jenn and I had prepared a session for them on love, using the passage in 1 Corinthians 13, however in the auto (this is an Indian taxi, a motorbike with a trailer type thing on the back for passengers) on the way to the project we felt this was perhaps not the right message for the girls we were going to be working with. We sat in silence for a bit, thinking about how we could change it when Jenn came out with an excellent idea. We had planned a session on self worth for a group of vulnerable young girls while we had been in Sri Lanka, but unfortunately when we arrived at SU to take the programme it had been cancelled. We didn’t have all the resources we had prepared with us but had some of the notes we needed.


We arrived at the project and Maria introduced us to the group, ‘we’re so happy you are here to see us!’ one of the girls said, I already felt quite overwhelmed! We headed upstairs to a bigger hall to play an ice breaker game, and run the session. The game was a huge hit with the girls and we were soon all laughing and feeling very much at ease. We began the session by telling the girls some interesting facts about women, they blink twice as much as men, talk 3 times as much (we’ll have no cheeky comments!)etc... after this we all sat in a circle and discussed the things we liked about being a woman. This was so interesting and quickly turned into a lesson in Indian culture for Jenn and I. The things we enjoyed about being female would not apply in an Indian setting. We talked about the relationships between men and women in India, and also about the relationships between women. We were sad to hear that when an Indian woman is married she leaves her friends and family to be at home. Jenn and I were both aware that the duties of a married woman in India were very different from the UK, but when we thought of the loneliness that these women must experience it touched a nerve... we’ve been away from friends and family for 3 months now, and have missed everyone loads, but we know we are able to send an e-mail or text, and also that we’ll be together again soon.


We talked more with the girls about the value that they put on themselves and each other, and we played another game where each of the girls wrote there name on the top of a sheet of paper, they each passed it to the person on their left and had to write something they liked about the person whose name was at the top of the sheet, the sheet was passed around the circle, repeating the process till it was eventually back at the owner. The girls opened the sheets and huge smiles appeared on their faces, we asked them to share something they were surprised with, and the compliment they liked best. After this the girls turned over the sheet of paper and individually wrote on it what they valued about themselves, I was impressed to witness the screeds they were writing!

After this we played another game, the girls sat with their eyes closed, Jenn selected a couple of the girls and instructed them to touch someone on the shoulder who had shown them kindness, someone who had made them laugh, and so the game went on each of the girls taking turns to touch another’s shoulders.


At the end of the game we returned to the circle, faces beaming! And I read to them from Matthew 10:20-31, and encouraged them that even more than they valued themselves and one another, God valued them, he even knows how many hairs are on their heads! As we looked around the group some of the girls were becoming quite emotional... we felt certain that this programme, although planned weeks in advance, was meant to be used today!


In the afternoon we enjoyed some Domino’s Pizza with the girls and they performed a mock Indian wedding for us. Some of them nipped home to collect some photo albums to show us, one was of a puberty celebration. Jenn and I felt quite mortified of the thought of our parents inviting friends and relatives to our homes at such a sensitive time. But this is very normal to girls in India, and I’m sure they quite look forward to the dressing up and huge party they receive!


We visited Shanti, who was hosting a prayer meeting at home with staff members, sang a little, enjoyed some delicious grape juice, and I took some photo’s while Jenn performed a highland fling!

The following morning we were collected by David Samuel for a tour round Chennai. David is the son of Adolfus, a good friend of Captain Thacker. He took us to the mall, we spent a fair bit of time in a bookshop, which seemed to be torment for Jenn, as she is already struggling to close her rucksack, and is completely in love with most books! We did pick up some postcards before looking in a couple of clothes and jewellery shops and heading for a coffee and a chat.


After lunch David took us to St Thomas’s Church for a look around the church, museum and gift shop. We met Adolfus there and headed back to his house for a drink and a snack while we waited for the sun to set so his daughter, Anita, could take Jenn and I (with our delicate skin) to the beach! Adolfus’s wife, Manilla returned home and made us fresh chapatti’s with Kurma (I think it was Korma) and offered, literally to give us the clothes off her back when I commented on how beautiful her Sari was!


Indian hospitality never ceases to amaze me, it’s good to be back!!!!!

Laura x

Thursday, March 18, 2010

feelin hot hot hot!!

Sri Lanka...I’m very warm blooded, and can often find Scotland too hot; I’m really not a fan of cities full stop, let alone busy cities; and I seem to have a strange ability to pick up dirt that’s anywhere near me and spend the rest of the day feeling disgusting. As we stepped out of the hostel on our first day into busy Colombo in Sri Lanka the extreme heat hit us straight away, the air was filled with dust and our ears were ringing with the constant tooting from the overcrowded road full of cars and tuktuks that looked like they were aiming for you most of the time. People were shouting at each other and tuktuk taxi drivers stopped at us every 2 minutes to try to convince us to pay them lots of money to take us 5 minutes around the corner. As I looked around me and took a deep breath in, filling my lungs with warm dust and spices I knew there and then I was going to absolutely love it! Everything is just so extreme, the heat, the noise, the busyness, but also the kindness and friendliness. Butterflies began dancing excitedly in my stomach as we walked to the Scripture Union Offices to find out what work we would be doing with them during our stay. They had never had volunteers from overseas before and so this was new to them as well.
On arrival we met an amazing woman, Julia, who immediately welcomed us warmly with a kiss on the cheek. We spent the next few hours in the office with Julia and the treasurer Sean discussing projects we could help with and planning our time. It was so incredible as these people who have been working so hard to make contact with, and get involved with these different project were more than happy to trust us completely in running them for the week! After my many prayers for more responsibility and chance for impact we were being handed it on a plate! I was buzzing leaving the office, with ideas for games and activities flying through my mind at lightning speed.
Over the next few days Laura and I spent nights planning group activities and lessons that would be suitable for children of many different age groups and backgrounds. Days were spent doing prep work and laughing on the buses as we clung on for dear life (they seem to be able to fit half a village in a bus in Sri Lanka, most of whom are standing and then the driver likes to add a little excitement by seeming to make the bus jump along the road – kind of like snoop dog) on our way to leading our prepared lessons. We worked with many different groups over the week: a group of teenage girls at a type of boarding school, boys of many ages also at a hostel school, church groups and scripture union outings. I think though for both of us it was Saturday that really shone out.
We woke early to travel on one of the buses of death to a different area in Colombo where we met 6 orphan girls at their lovely home before we headed for the beach with them. Oh my life, these girls were BEAUTIFUL! The 3 older girls were so caring of each other and the younger ones, and the younger girls were just so full of energy and excited to be playing and meeting new people. We spent the morning screaming and laughing in the sea (fully dressed, as we hadn’t quite planned the mayhem), making sand castles and building friendships. I think I was a shark, a life guard, a drowning woman and a climbing pole all in the space of about 3 hours. We came away from dropping the girls home completely soaked, with sand everywhere you could imagine, a little sun burnt, sleepy and late for our next group...but it was SOO worth it!
After a very quick shower we ran along to our next group working with a programme run by the local Methodist church to keep children from all religious backgrounds off the streets. They were such a hyper bunch, flocking us from start to finish, doing our hair, taking photos with my camera, dancing with us, chasing us...and that was out with the games and programme we had for them.
Before we understood the group dynamics Laura and I had planned on singing the children’s song Hallelujah in groups, with each group taking a different part and competing for the loudest, but after the first song our ears were ringing and throats aching from the screaming so we quickly had to move on!
Was so brilliant to work with kids that are so enthusiastic about everything we had for them. Was sad to later find out that in fact 2 of the gorgeous children were members of the homeless family that lived beside the Scripture Union office, but from then on we got lots of excited waves and cries of “aunty, aunty!” when we passed them which was really sweet.
On Sunday we attended the Methodist service in the morning which was good and then were talking at the youth group afterwards. We never could have expected to get as much from it as we did though! The message was being given by one of the youth who had never prepared a message before, and it was incredible! He was discussing the cross and what this really means. A really nice thought he shared was about when Jesus is washing Peter’s feet (John 13) and how the cross is like the bath in this analogy, it has completely cleansed us of sin, but us being human we will sin again and again, but so long as we have our hearts checked and come back to God with it then we just need the dirt washed off our dirty parts (i.e. our feet) and Jesus is happy to do this for us. I think this is a lovely thought.
We spent the afternoon at a children’s group playing games, singing songs and having a shot on their swings! Manori, a gorgeous girl from Scripture Union, travels for about 1 hour or more every week to make sure these kids get some Bible time and games, her passion was so obvious and a huge encouragement. The night was finished off with the local dish “hoppers” which is kind of like a really thin pancake that you eat with curry.
Monday morning began for us at 5am as my dreaded alarm informed us that it was time to get up and meet Julia and her husband at the train station for our day trip to “Kandy”. I was excited to see some of the scenery of Sri Lanka, but my breath was taken away on the train journey up the mountain to Kandy. I was basically climbing out the window trying to get better photos as I just couldn’t capture that kind of beauty. We spent most of the day enjoying being lazy in the sunny Botanic Gardens chatting and reflecting on the past week.

Sri Lanka was such an incredible experience, we are sad to leave it behind. The noise, the dust and the heat slowly became a background blur amidst the intense pulsing heartbeat of the people of Sri Lanka. We were so blessed to have worked with Scripture Union as they are doing some really great things, and more than that the people are incredible. Laura made up a facebook page for them (as I provided essential support from a seat near by) so if you get an invite to their page, I would recommend accepting it. The photos alone are an encouragement to anyone wanting to improve the lives of others.
So as we leave Sri Lanka behind and head to new adventures in India we have a tear in our eye, a warm and fuzzy feeling of good memories and many new relationships that I hope will continue to grow. As I look back I’ll remember the dust, the heat, the spicy food and the shouting in the streets; but I will remember them as part of the environment that produced some of the most incredible people and beautiful children I’ve ever met. The heat is warmth in their culture, the spicy food a memory of the great hospitality, the shouts are friendly and nearly always chased by a smile and the dust...well that’s just life!

Thailand

We arrived at the YWAM office on Bangkok to work with Kings Kids, a project that works with the kids in the slums. We were met by Ek who leads the projects, and he took us for a quick bite to eat while he explained in more detail what Kings Kids do.



In the evening we visited the slums as the team were running English lessons for some of the older kids. We made our way through the slum and found ourselves outside a community hall right in the centre. At the back they had a room with air conditioning for babies, and the front room served classroom. We both sat down as the lesson began, but the younger kids were gathering outside to play. Ek told me I could come out to play with the younger ones while Jenn stayed inside and helped with the lesson. So I did. It was real good fun, the community hall had a roundabout, swings and Ek had brought along some badminton rackets and shuttlecocks for the kids. I had a great time watching them interact, and pushing swings and the roundabout.



After the lesson we headed back to the hostel for worship, some bible readings, testimonies and some teaching time. The evening was great, there were people from all over the world, and from all different church backgrounds, it was so nice to all be worshiping together and for Jenn and I to experience the freeness of it all. The testimony shared was so inspiring, the girl had been a prostitute, and had struggled a lot with her past when she became a Christian, she worried about what others would think of her so was touched when she read the passage that Jesus tells the person without sin to cast the first stone at the adulterer (John 8:7). I was so moved at her openness, it was so clear that she knew how much Jesus loves her!

The following day we were back with the younger kids in the slums, we took them to a nearby park and played games, sang and broke into small groups to make a Chinese lantern. I helped a little before sitting back and watching my small group help one another. One wanted love hearts but couldn’t draw the outline so her friend kindly took time away from her own artwork to help her out, both girls helped the boy in my group with his cutting as he was a little small to do it alone. I was impressed that they didn’t try to do it for him but instead guided his hand while holding his hard still, they all felt a sense of achievement in the end. Wee lesson for me there, I’m often tempted to take over when someone is struggling, but it was clear there is much more to be gained from supporting one another.



In the evening I had planned a skype meeting with my sister so we headed to the YWAM office to use the wireless. Jenn was going to have to wait around the office for a bit while I chatted as we’d decided not to be out alone at night. As we walked into the office a man sitting on the couch greeted us. He didn’t take long to pick up on my broad Scottish accent when I answered, we introduced ourselves, his name was Kevin, we sat down and started to chat, as we shared our stories of how we’d ended up in Bangkok it unravelled that Kevin was on his way back to Canada from Cambodia... This got Jenn’s attention right away, you may have heard her talk about a book called Urban Halo? This book is about a project in Cambodia run by an organisation called Servants Asia. Jenn’s first question was, of course, have you heard of Servants Asia??? She was fairly excited when Kevin answered that was who he was going to be working with in Cambodia, and was in fact friends with the author of Jenn’s book! And was actually on his way home to sell copies of the new book, which he kindly gave to Jenn!

The next day Tum collected us and we headed back to Pastor Mike’s church, Pastor Mike had organised a trip for us to go up country. On the way we stopped off and visited a man name Benjamin and his family. Benjamin had been very unwell a few years before and everyone believed he was going to die, however when he became a Christian people prayed with him and he made a miraculous recovery. We spent a little time talking with him and playing with his granddaughter, then we sang some songs and Pastor Mike read to us from the bible. We visited another man on the way and did the same again. After that we visited a widow who had just recently become a Christian. She had 11 children, we met three of her girls, Ning Ning had bought along pictures for them to colour and they sang to us. The girls were beautiful! This widow was living in a house free of rent, the owner had people interested but he felt that he should let her stay there with her children.




We were finally at our destination. We were spending the evening with Nang and her family, she was also widowed but lived with her mother, son and daughter. We again shared a bible reading and some songs before having dinner. Later on we went out for a walk to see the river and the market.



In the morning we got up early and headed back to the market to pick up breakfast. In the afternoon we visited another market which was 100 years old. We took a boat trip up the river to see a Thai house which was also a hundred years old. The highlight of my day was that I saw a small gator, I’m not sure on the exact name of the creature but it looked like a little crocodile.



We headed home to pack our bags, say goodbyes and head back to Bangkok. On the way home we stopped at Pastor Mike’s friend’s home, they ran a ministry making small phone charms and silk paintings. They took us to visit an old lady that was 103 years old, we sang and read the bible together then she sang us a song and prayed for us.



The following day was Sunday, during the service Pastor Mike asked us to say a bit to the congregation, Jenn and I both thanked them for the kindness they had shown us, and how we’d really felt at home during our stay in Thailand. After that Pastor Mike announced that we would be making stovies the following evening and invited the whole church. ‘No more than 20’ he told me after the service, but I was panicking!

That evening Toey took us for dinner to a Japanese restaurant, I don’t remember the name of the dish but basically you have a pot of hot water in the middle of the table, and they bring you raw veg and meat and you make soup. It was very fascinating! And of course ‘Delicious’.




So after dinner we headed to the shops for ingredients. No carrots, no potatoes and as for sausages... well I still don’t really understand what happened there. We visited another shop and managed to buy everything there (we substituted sausages for mince), Jenn had gathered the items to make a tray bake and we set off home. We arrived back about 10pm and Jenn immediately started on her tray bake... with an audience of about 6 oooohing and aaaaaahing. I don’t know what the Thai’s must think of Scottish cuisine now.

The following day Jenn and I prepared the stovies and helped to set up the church for our guests, one of the ladies, Oy had made a flower arrangement for the centre of the table and had also put some roses in water to decorate the room. It was looking beautiful! Our guests were starting to arrive, we quickly nipped upstairs to grab our tartan blankets and wrapped them round our waists and gathered the ipod and speakers and set up some Alexander Brothers tunes.




I think our guests enjoyed the evening, I’m not so sure about the stovies right enough, one lady ate them with rice, which was very amusing for Jenn and me. I know they enjoyed Jenn’s traybake!!!!! We gave a card with a Scotland flag and a Scottish magnet to them, they were all very fascinated when we told them about Edinburgh Castle and the Forth Rail Bridge, this included a google search for photographs and of course an invite to Scotland anytime!

When we went to bed that night Jenn told me the Tum would be taking us to the market the following day, ‘for breakfast, I think’ Jenn said ‘we’re leaving at 8am’. So we got up early and shoved on some clothes, tied our hair back and grabbed a little money, a camera (just in case), postcards and a HUGE bag of clothes we wanted to send home. Tum asked us before we left if we had our passports, ‘PASSPORTS?’ we asked, ‘eh postcards’ she replied. A little language breakdown! We took a taxi to a small market, left the market crossed the road and walked up the street. We must be going to the post office first then we’ll go back for breakfast I was thinking, but no, we were now at a bus stop. We boarded the bus and were on for a good half hour before getting off at another market. Breakfast must be better here! Again we walked through the market and left, this time we must be going to the post office then heading back to the market! Next thing we were on a boat, Jenn and I started to worry that maybe we did need our passports after all!



After a good hour on the boat we got off, walked through another market, Jenn and I had given up guessing by now, and we found ourselves in front of the palace, it was beautiful. We couldn’t believe the misunderstanding! We took some photographs (all the while Jenn holding the large bag of clothes) the and giggled about the confusion before finally visiting the post office and taking the boat, bus and taxi home.




Left over stovies for dinner that evening, with rice, soup and of course, fried egg! And everyone, all ten of us, piled in the cars to head for the airport. Jenn and I were so touched that so many people came to wave us off, there was as many at Glasgow airport when we left Scotland! Pastor Mike prayed for a safe journey, we took lots of photographs, Oy plaited my hair and we were off. Jenn and I still can’t believe how kind everyone was to us, how well looked after we were in Thailand, and how much we learned about Thai culture! It’s definitely up there on my places to visit!







Laura x