Plans for Asia

As the year ends and another begins, we look to our plans.
I am planning to go to Malaysia and to Indonesia in January.
Last night I had a planning meeting.
I will be teaching at two schools do some pastors' meetings and minister in some of the villages in the jungle.
There is a great openness to spiritual things and the people are very hungry to know God better. It really is a joy to speak to those people. I have been given a keyboard to take with me.

We will also be looking into trying to start some micro businesses to help aleviate the poverty a little bit.

The Latest

So what's been happening?
I just about got over the seminar "Mission among the poor" and flew to Cyprus. I flew together with a friend, John Jupe, who lives in Brussels.
We flew with Lufthansa. I was quite surprised that the service was much better than I remember it being.
John got into a conversation with the person sitting next to him. He was a young officer in the Swedish army. At one point in the conversation after John had asked him, if he was a Christian and had he read the bible and did he know that he was going to hell etc (actually he didn't do it like that, he was very skillful!). Anyway at one point in the conversation, he asked him, if he could guess what he did for a living. He then said, I do the same thing as Bob and pointed to me.
The young officer ran a trained eye over my athletic body and made a guess, "He probably has a sitting down job." he said. Nevermind.
I tried to practice my skill as an aeroplane evangelist, but my neighbour just shrugged his shoulders saying that he didn't understand me as he was Russian. So, I nodded off.

We had a good time in Cyprus and have organised a school of leadership in Limossol and possibly in Nicosia for next year.
I let John preach in the Sri Lankan church. Actually, they said I could go somewhere else as they had already heard me before.
So I went off to the Philippino church, was was excellent.

The journey back home was quite tiring as we journeyed through the night.
Back in Germany, I had a meeting with some people on Monday afternoon to talk about a street children ministry in Uganda.

WE FEED THE WORLD

ESSEN GLOBAL

The most successful Austrian documentary!

We watched it last week. It was quite sickening to see how greed for profits and a sick EU structure helps to kill starving people in the third world. Because we want to feed our cows soya, the Brasilian forest is destroyed and many Brasilians go hungry.

Erwin Wagenhofer seems to have made this film almost single handed.

It appeals to the consumer - its critical about the food industry - but it's the consumer who is challenged to do something. But what?

We talked about the film and had to admit that although we see the dangers and the brutality behind the system, we aren't really prepared to spend more money than necessary for our food.

Hope for Africa

... and what the Christian can do
A book by George Kinoti

Last week I attended a course, "Mission to the poor" at the Akademie für Weltmission in Korntall in Germany. We were given George Kinoti's book to read.
George Kinoti is an African, he is a professor for zooology at the University of Nairobi in Kenya. This little booklet has a sharp cutting edge.
He doesn't seem to have an axe to grind, but does put the blame for much of Africa's misery in the lap of the colonial powers. However he goes on to claim that the problems have been perpetuated by the African mindset. "Independance" wasn't really what it seemed. African countries were just given a longer leash. They are still very much dependant upon the the West.
This is a call for African Christian to stand up and be African but also be all that God wants them to be.

He calls Africans to :

1. GET A VISION OF A PEACEFULA DN PROSPEROUS AFRICA
"The most important first step ist to get a vision of a better Africa... where all the people enjos human dignity, spiritual and moral wllbeing, peache, freedom, justice and material prosperity."

2. TAKE CHARGE OF AFRICA
"We live in a whiteman's world ... this domination enriches the West and impoverishes Africa and other poor nations. African mismanagement of the encomy has played right into the hands of the West who now dictare economic policies and supervise their implementation. ... We (the Afircan peoples) must continually remind ourselves that God has given us the same measure of intellectual, spiritual, moral and physical abilities as He has given other peoples."

3. GET ORGANIZED
"Afircan governments must become competent, efficient, just and free from coruption. And they, and the people as a whole, must become disciplined, making rules and ensuring that tey are kept strictly; saetting goals and making sure they are acieved. Christian have a crucial role to play in bringing about good governance in Africa."

4. FOLLOW THE WHOLE WILL OF GOD
"The greatest challenge facing the church in Africa today, I believe, is how to teach and live by the whole Word of God. What we need is a holistic theology that is God-centred and that treats man and the creation in the integrative manner that Scripture does."

5. MAKE THE CHURCH THE CHRUCH OF JESUS CHRIST IN AFRICA
"The African people everywhere urgently need to know that the Christian God is a God of justice, righteousness and kindness. African Christian need to make this God known through proclamation, by their own lives, and by active participation in the political, social and economic live of their nations. White Christians, too, need to know the God of justice, righteousness and kindness."

A very challenging book, published in Nairobi by the International Bible Society
ISBN 9966-837-61-2

Trip to Africa

i haven't written anything for the last few weeks.

I arrived home form Nepal at the beginning of October and was only home for a week when Elisabeth and I left for Africa. We went to Kenya and then on to Uganda.

We had lots of impression that I am still carrying around with me. Perhaps the greatest of these impressions was of the famine with the Samburu.

We spent a day with them watching food being distributed. What a good job Edward and Fridah Buria are doing.

While we were there, it stated to rain. We just hope the rain has been enough - but not too much - for the fields to yield a good crop and for the animals to find food.

The article below was about our visit with the Samburu, it was published in the local newspaper here.

Hungersnot bei den Samburu

(This was a newspaper article - I only realised it was in German after I posted it!)

Seit nun mehr als einem Jahr herrscht - bedingt durch die Trockenheit - Hungersnot in dem Samburu-Gebiet in Kenia. Das Samburu-Volk, das bekannt geworden ist durch den Film, „Die weisse Massai“ ist ein Hirtenvolk, das im Norden Kenias wohnt. Die Anhänger dieses Volkes sind leicht zu erkennen an ihren farbenfrohen Kleidern.
Das letzte Jahr hat es kaum geregnet. Im Frühjahr wurden die Felder bestellt und der Regen kam. Er war kurz und kam mit solch einer Wucht, dass die Samen aus dem Boden weggeschwemmt wurden. Nun herrscht Hungersnot.
Pastor Robert Hatton war zusammen mit seiner Frau Elisabeth vor kurzem in dem Gebiet und haben mitgemacht bei einer Speisung. Pastor Hatton, vormals Leiter der Philadelphia-Gemeinde in Pfedelbach, hat einen Aufruf gemacht und durfte etwas Hilfe für die Hungenden mitbringen.
Pastor Hatton, der die Verantwortung für die Philadelphia-Gemeinde nach 24jähriger Tätigkeit im März dieses Jahres abgegeben hat, ist der Koordinator für internationale Dienste bei „Forum Leben“, einem überkonfessionellen Dienst, der Kirchengemeinden berät, begleitet und ausbildet. Hatton hält Kontakte zu verschiedenen Teilen der Welt, wo er versucht, neben spiritueller Hilfe auch praktische Hilfe zu leisten.
Er steht seit vielen Jahren in Kontakt zum Leiter von Edfri International, Edward Buria von Meru, Kenia seit vielen Jahren. Buria speist 13000 Menschen, die sonst verhungern würden. Staatliche Hilfe gab es zuletzt im April 2006.
An dem Tag, als das Ehepaar Hatton mit dabei sind, während die Lebensmittel verteilt werden, in dem Dorf Womba, kommen rund 1000 Menschen. Sie setzen sich hin auf den Boden und warten. Viele von ihnen haben einen Fußmarsch von 3 Stunden hinter sich und die meisten Frauen tragen Babys auf dem Rücken. Sie sind geduldig. Die Verteilung der Lebensmittel beginnt. Die Leute sind den Verteiler bekannt. Sie bekommen bestimmten Mengen gemaß ihrer Familiengröße. Es gibt Bohnen, Mais und ein Pulver, das man zu einem Brei kocht für die Kinder.
„Alle zwei Wochen kommen wir hierher und verteilten die Lebensmittel.“ erklärt Edward Buria. „Einmal im Monat gibt es auch Zucker und Kochfett. Hoffentlich regnet es bald.“
Tatächlich während die Hattons dort sind, beginnt es zu regnen. Zunächst nieselt es und dann begann es stärker zu regnen. Die Hattons wurden gelobt und die Samburu bedanken sich, weil sie denken sie haben den Regen mitgebracht.
Gleichzeitig kommt ein Artzt und hält Sprechstunde. An dem Tag hat er bloss 100 Patienten zu versorgen. Am Tag davor in einem anderen Dorf hat er 300 Menschen versorgt.
Edfri International unterhält sechs weitere solcher Ausgabestellen mit ambulatnter Krankenstation.
Der Regen ist gekommen und hoffentlich ist die Hungersnot bald vorbei. Doch bis die Felder reif zur Ernte sind, vergehen noch ein paar Monate und die Menschen werden noch ein paar Mal Hunger verspüren. Robert und Elisabeth Hatton möchten sich weiterhin für die Samburus verwenden und bitten die Bevölkerung, um Spenden für die Hungenden. Wenn die Hungersnot vorbei ist, möchte Edward Buria sich um Strom kümmern für die Artztpraxis und die Schule, die er in Womba errichtet hat. „Es gibt keinen Strom in dem ganzen Dorf! Wir können die Leute nicht richtig untersuchen lassen ohne Strom.“ Beteuert Buria. Das andere Problem ist Wasser. Edward Buria weißt auch, wie er das Problem lösen kann, aber ihm fehlen die Mittel.
Wer helfen möchte, darf Spenden, - sie sind steuerabzugsfähig – auf folgendes Konto bei der Sparkasse Hohenlohe (BLZ 622 515 50) überweisen: 138518 – Konto-Inhaber: Forum Leben. Es wird gebeten, dass die Spender ihre Name und Anschrift auf der Überweisung angeben.
Weiter Information kann erfragt werden unter Tel. Nr. 07942-941117.

And another one

Early Sunday morning , 26th November 2006, Kathy Hatton was born. She weighed 4400 grammes and was 54cm long - that's quite big. She was born at home. Everything went fine, but the midwife who was called, drove into Neuenstein and was met with a diversion. The diversion is so crazy that if you don't know Neuenstein, you will get lost.

The diversion signs take you way out of town and don't even show you the way back. Our daughter, Sarah, who is a nurse, went to John-Mark and Melanie's place as it seemed things were getting serious. She went out to go and find the midwife. During her absence, Katy decided to show up to give them company.

New Grandchild has arrived!

Jeremy Korwin.
Born 02nd November 2006
51cm 3200 gr

The Green Eye of the Little Yellow God

There's a one-eyed yellow idol
To the north of Kathmandu;
There's a little marble cross below the town;
And a brokenhearted woman
Tends the grave of 'Mad' Carew,
While the yellow god for ever gazes down.
He was known as 'Mad CarewBy the subs at Kathmandu,
He was hotter than they felt inclined to tell,
But, for all his foolish pranks,
He was worshipped in the ranks,

And the Colonel's daughter smiled on him as well.
He had loved her all alongWith the passion of the strong,
And that she returned his love was plain to all.
She was nearly twenty-one,
And arrangements were begun
To celebrate her birthday with a ball.

He wrote to ask what present
She would like from 'Mad' Carew;
They met next day as he dismissed a squad:
And jestingly she made pretence
That nothing else would do ...But the green eye of the little yellow god.
On the night before the dance'Mad' Carew seemed in a trance,
And they chaffed himAs they pulled at their cigars,
But for once he failed to smile,
And he sat alone awhile,
Then went out into the night.. beneath the stars.

He returned, before the dawn,
With his shirt and tunic torn,
And a gash across his temples... dripping red.
He was patched up right away,
And he slept all through the day
While the Colonel's daughterWatched beside his bed.
He woke at last and asked herIf she'd send his tunic through.
She brought it and he thanked her with a nod.
He bade her search the pocket,
Saying, 'That's from "Mad" Carew,'
And she found ... the little green eye of the god.
She upbraided poor Carew,In the way that women do,
Although her eyes were strangely hot and wet,
But she would not take the stone,
And Carew was left alone
With the jewel that he'd chanced his life to get.
When the ball was at its height
On that still and tropic night,
She thought of him ... and hastened to his room.
As she crossed the barrack square
She could hear the dreamy air
Of a waltz tune softly stealing thro' the gloom.
His door was open wide,With silver moonlight shining through;
The place was wet and slippery where she trod;
An ugly knife lay buried
In the heart of 'Mad' Carew ...'Twas the vengeance of the little yellow god.
There's a one-eyed yellow idol
To the north of Kathmandu;
There's a little marble cross below the town;
And a brokenhearted womanTends the grave of 'Mad' Carew,
While the yellow god for ever gazes down.

Milton Hayes & Cuthbert Clarke, 1911

Sunday, 1st October 2006

Today was my last day in Nepal. Once I have done my job, I am always anxious to get back home. This time I had no contact with home.
We went downtown quite early this morning. The whole population was celebrating one of the biggest Hindu festivals: Dasain. It had something to do with worship go the goddess Durga (Kali), which is a goddess of death and destruction.
There were two or three days of celebrations, meaning that a lot of shops were closed and traffic was very light. An historic event was that the king wasn’t invited to the opening ceremony, this was the first time in the history of Nepal.
Lots of blood sacrifices were being made in a carnival atmosphere. Long queues formed to go inside the temples to make homage to the various idols and gods, including the Kamari (the living goddess = a little girl).
The whole thing was disgusting!

We met up with Pastor Harari from Nepalganj. He was so happy and grateful, that we had done the seminar at his church. He told us that he people were also very happy.

At about 4pm I began to start my farewells and proceed to the airport. The roads were quite empty of traffic and so I made it to the airport in record time of about 20 minutes. The following security check and airline check-in also were quickly completed. Then the waiting started. Funnily enough that also seemed to pass very quickly and the airplane took off 15 minutes early. Now I begin to concentrate on coming home.

Saturday, 30th September 2006

It was another early start this morning. We got up at 4.15am and took a bus at 5.15. The journey seemed to be quite short, although we didn’t reach Kathmandu until about 10am.
A lot of the journey was a long a road that ran high above a fast flowing river. Once we saw a very high waterfall. The water stream wasn’t very wide but it plunged maybe 50-60m, looking like silver ribbon hanging down the mountain.
As I looked over the nearby hills, the snow-clad Himalayas rose majestically over what had seemed to have very high hills.
After reaching our quarter, we had time to wash and I packed most of my stuff and then we had lunch in a five star hotel.

Friday, 29th September 2006

Early this morning, our friend S left us. He has to be in Kathmandu today and will leave there tomorrow for some more ministry.
I preached once more today, this time I spoke about the eagle in Deuteronomy 32. I feel a new political system might come and wanted to get the people ready for it.
I finished at 11am, but we had to hang around until around 4pm. They gave me their thanks and expressed appreciation for the ministry.
In the evening I declined to eat rice, but spent a long time sharing our experiences.
We are leaving for Kathmandu tomorrow and in less than 48 hours I will be airborne and on my way home.

Thursday, 28th September 2006

The youth conference starts.
On the journey to the venue -it took us an hour- I could see the Himalayas above, far above, what I suppose are the Chitwan Highlands. There is a sense of grandeur about those mountains.
At the conference itself about 350 young people gathered.
The time of worship was very good. I preached with quite a lot of freedom about the glory being restored. I don’t know whether they understood me. As I spoke about applying the blood to obtain forgiveness and through words of knowledge, I mentioned certain things that had to be forgiven. There was a minor breakthrough among the girls as I openly mentioned abuse. The Nepali society is a secret one in which many things is not mentioned.
My afternoon session was a little tiring. I spoke about the baptism in the Spirit. I suppose about 40-50 people came to the front.
After this they had a talent show which the young people really enjoyed.
I was so tired. I went outside and sat down in the shade. I got into a conversation with a man, who it turned out was a Tibetan. He used to be a Buddhist. Now he is working with some people in the hills. If I understood properly, he works among two very primitive tribes.
He had a friend with him who had been a Maoist. This man had a very dramatic testimony of how he was converted.
Although some of the Maoists have become Christians, a number of Christians, including pastors have become Maoists. Many pastors have little education and have been deluded into thinking that Mau-philosophy is an extension of the gospel. 80% of all pastors have had no formal training. Although I don’t see this as absolutely necessary - no trainingg at all is a disaster.

Wednesday, 27th. September 2006

This was a so-called rest day. The day started quite slowly. We didn’t have rice for breakfast. That was a blessing. Lunch came too and it was a noodle soup.
Then we went to visit a children’s home in one of the villages and then went to visit the venue where the meetings place.
I was very surprised to see a vase very similar to one my grandmother hat. My friends assured me that it probably came from China.
After that were went to the Chitwan National Park, to take an elephant safari.
I think I probably rode an elephant as a small box, but can’t remember properly.
Anyway we got into a box on top of the elephant. This didn’t seem to be secure. At one point, I thought we were going to slip off. In the end, we had to get off again and the elephant msn tightened the huge saddle, then things were better.
We proceeded into the real jungle. This was incredible. I thought we were just going for a walk, but we were actually looking for other wildlife. We found some too - a rhino. I had only seen these animals in the zoo. It was amazing. Later we saw a pair of rhino and later some deer. It was said that some 100 Tigers live in that area too. I think I was glad that we didn’t have any such encounters.

Tuesday, 26th September 2006

Morning came all too soon; it was time to get up and leave. The bus was late. When it did come, I thought it was a joke! We had come down in a smart Toyota mini-bus, this was a beat-up old bus, the kind we had seen travelling with people sitting on the top and others clinging on to the sides. This couldn’t possible be our bus, could it? It was!
Thankfully, they put the goats on the roof. The bus was full and we started the long journey to Chitwan. Long the road we saw many accidents, busses were turned over and trucks had lost their load, but we did have a safe journey.
Despite the late start and many delays, we arrived in Chitwan only half an hour late. I realise that I am slowly taking on an Asian mentality.
After getting off the bus, we take a taxi and travel about half an hour. We pass through part of the national park. Signs warn us that rhinos, tigers or giant snakes may cross the road!
Before nightfall we arrive at the children’s home that will he our home for the next few days.
Initially, it’s quite hot and there are insects crawling all over the place. Mosquito’s are few here.
The children put on a welcome show for us.
It soon starts to cool down and in the night, it is even cold.

Monday, 25th September 2006

I had just got to sleep, when the power cut ended! The lights in my room came on and the fan started turning and squeeching. I just got to sleep again and it started raining. And does it rain here!
My room’s roof was made of corrugated iron. The rain thundered down on it.
I was awake this morning at 6am, but it wasn’t until 7,45 that I was able to get into the bathroom (outhouse).

More people came to the seminar today. They counted 140.
Many testified to having received the baptism in the Spirit. We started by having questions and answers. I was amazed at the number of questioned and issues that were of interest.
I continued teaching about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In the afternoon I taught about the importance of giving away what we receive from God.(Elisha`s bones).
We finished off with prophecy and blessing.
Everyone was happy and wanted to know when I am coming back.

Back at my room, I had an encounter with the mouse (or perhaps mice) that are sharing my room with me. The mouse ran up the wall! I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it!
Now is time to pack, as we are leaving for the next place early in the morning.

Sunday, 24th September 2006

The seminar began today. I think that around 100 people attended. They were all leaders. They came from ten churches mostly in the city. During the morning service, I spoke about "RESTORING THE GLORY". I encouraged the people to concentrate themselves by applying the blood of Jesus to their lives. People forgave and received forgiveness. The meetings were very moving.
In the afternoon, I continued to preach about consecration, encouraging the people to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit. The results were similar to the morning. There was a real move of the Spirit, I think the people had a little difficulty cooperating with the Spirit.
More invitations are coming in to come and do some more similar seminars.

Saturday, 23rd September 2006

The Nepal churches meet on Saturday because this is their free day.
It had rained quite heavy in the night so the footpath - about 700m to the main road- was quite muddy. Due to the rain it wasn’t too hot. We each got a bicycle rickshaw, because it was quite a long way to the church. We passed two heavily fortified Army camps on the way.
About 100 people met at church. It is similar to my Indian experiences. They don’t seem to be quite as traditional as the Indians though.
There were some signs of legalism, notably the head covering that the women wore during the prayer.
I preached my old favourite sermon from 2. Tim 1:5-7. There was great freedom and afterwards we prayed with the people. There was a movement of the Spirit, but I don’t know whether anyone received.
In the meanwhile I found out that a number of people did receive the baptism in the Spirit, including Suresh, one of the guys travelling with us.

Friday, 22nd September 2006

My hopes were fulfilled, I slept very well. Today was a time of rest, which was good for me. I was able to reflect on a few things. I also made some notes for my next preach in Germany and of course our trip to Africa.
We are in a village called KOLALPUR which close by to the city of NEPALJUNJ, I think it is the district of Banke.
Apparently, we are very close to the Indian border. In fact before India’s independence this was one of the districts that belonged to India.
It is quite hot and also quite primitive here.
I’m looking forward to our time together.

Thursday, 21st September 2006

Once more we had an early start - this time we left home at 4.45am. We travelled to a bus station and waited for about 30 minutes for bus (it was late). We drove to the next bus stop and the driver realised he had got some wrong passengers with him and was missing others! We had to wait and had a further 30minutes delay. When finally left Kathmandu we started to make good time.
We travelled through spectacular scenery. Magnificent mountains overlooked fast flowing rivers. The flow of the water was complemented by waterfall upon waterfall. There were many curves in the narrow road. It was a blessing for me that I was able to sit in the front. It was also a blessing that the traffic was quite light.
After travelling for about 4 hours, we arrived at a junction and they said the road runs in an East - West direction. Half an hour later we stop for lunch and the driver gives us some good news - we should be at our destination by 4pm, if nothing happens.
The journey begins again and I am happy and relieved that the journey will soon end.
Then something happened!
Suddenly the traffic stopped. After waiting for about 15 minutes we got back into the van. Traffic moved and our driver began to overtake slower vehicles. Everything came to a halt 5km later.
At 6.30 that morning a truck hit a schoolboy on his bike. The lad was dead. His corpse still lay on the ground under a plastic sheet. A pool of blood was visible. Pupils from his school refused to let his body be moved until a solution, as far as compensation was concerned, were found. They had blocked the road and traffic couldn’t pass. We had walked 3km to the scene of the accident and much more traffic was behind us.
The police, of whom there was not a few (20+ officers) did nothing.
After waiting for a few hours excitement went through our camp! The Mau’s has arrived and the problem would be solved within minutes. Could we hope?
Within about 20 minutes we were in the van and rolling again.
After years of terrorising the population, the Maoists are now showing themselves to be benevolent helpers. Their benevolence is bringing results whereas official authorities are struck with inertia.
After a 4-5 hour hold-up, the journey continued.
We eventually reached our destination at about 9pm. We were warmly greeted by our hosts and given a good meal. Power went off at 9.30pm and remained for the rest of the night.
I collapsed in my bed after being up for about 17-18 hours. I closed my eyes hoping for a good night’s sleep.

Wednesday, 20th September 2006

Early in the morning (5am) I left as pillion passenger on a motorcycle. We rode outside the city to a vantage point. From there we hoped to get a view of the Himalayas and especially Mt Everest. There was a slight miscalculation - due to my weight, the motorcycle had difficulty pulling up the hills. We arrived late at our destination. The sun was already up. Everest lay to the East of our vantage point. The highest mountain in the world was visible and we could see it, but a haze hid it from clear view.
However, I could see the Himalayas. As the minutes past and the sun got higher, it looked like those magnificent mountains were growing taller.
The view was breathtaking - not just the mountains, but the green hills and the valley.
We had a good breakfast in a resort hotel.
Too soon we had to leave because we had an appointment at 10.30am.
In the meanwhile traffic has built up on the main road to Kathmandu. My guide and companion, Beki, tells me that if we go the other way, we would arrive at the Tibet/Chinese frontier. My imagination starts to wander to a ministry trip that we could possibly do ...
The state of the road and the heavy traffic doesn’t allow me to dream for long.

It’s hard to believe but we arrive at our destination punctually.
We are at Youth with a Mission base. For the next two hours we minister to the participants of the DTS.

Tuesday, 19th September 2006

This is the second and last day of the seminar. More people were there today - I think probably about 70 people. They were very hungry and there was a great expectation.
We didn’t have the great breakthrough as I expected, but all were touched and some were baptised in the Spirit. They are already talking about me coming again.

Monday, 18th September 2006

The first seminar started today. We are staying about 3-400m away from the church venue.
We got there in plenty of time. Hardly anyone was there. The Mau’s had closed some roads and were forcing people to go to their conference.
Some of the guys didn’t turn up because they couldn’t get in or across the city.
Eventually we started with about 25 people. During the praise and worship and the first part of the seminar the group "swelled" up to about 50 people. Taking into consideration that these people were pastors or leaders, the potential was probably reaching around 1000 Christians. This is a significant work!
I feel burdened for the country and talked about them being the Elijah Generation.
The people were very appreciative of my teaching.
In the afternoon I taught about the baptism in the Spirit. Lots of people felt the touch of the Spirit, but only a few were actually baptised in the Spirit.
We went to a resteraunt for the evening meal. Outside the restaurant, a lamppost was wrapped in a red cloth and a red banner hung over the road. I was told that this was the work of the Mau’s.
They told me that have now moved into Kathmandu and are terrorising the population.
That is very sad.

Sunday, 17th September 2006

Today was a rest day. I was to rest from the long journey. Actually, I was surprised how fit I was.
After lunch Beki came to visit and we talked about the seminar and my stay in Nepal.
Beki told me that he had been to the USA. He had worked and done some evangelism among Nepali immigrants. To the surprise of everyone, Beki returned to Nepal.
In the evening we met an interesting couple, Todd and Helen. They are US missionaries. The have been busy doing research about Nepal. Although they said that their results weren’t accurate -more a good educated guess- they had come to the conclusion that there were a lot less Christians in Nepal than estimated. Their study shows that there are between 200 and 250,000 Christians in the country.
Kathmandu has 330 churches, which is above my knowledge.
They are very pessimistic about the political Situation in the country. They believe the peace agreement, will break in 3-4 weeks. Eventually the Maoists will take over the government.

Saturday, 16th September 2006

The journey from the hotel to the airport was very fast and uneventful.
The scenery was quite interesting. It was very modern and clean, but here and there were patches of undeveloped land that looked very scruffy.
Mountains on the one side mountains suddenly change to what must be the coastal plane.
The flight to Kathmandu took three and a half hours. The aeroplane was late and it took half an hour to get my visa. I thought then that I just needed to pick up my case and go. It took another hour until it came through! I am learning patience.
To my horror, I discovered that Beki had been waiting since 9 o’clock in the morning. I had given him the wrong time.
I’ve been given a very nice place to live in a family. They have two children, boy and girl. The husband is from Nepal and his wife is from Mexico.

I wanted to have a shower at about 7pm. I unpacked my case and hung some stuff up, then I lay down on the bed. I remember thinking that the house was quite noisy; people was chatting and moving around. There are cars and motorbikes passing busily the front of the house. The next thing I knew it was 10.30!

Friday, 15th September 2006

I left home at 4.55am. I needed to get a train from Heilbronn at 5.49am. Sarah starts work at 6am at the hospital and so dropped me off at the station.
I was in plenty of time, which was an unusual feeling!
Arriving at terminal 2 in Frankfurt, I realised that I had made a mistake - my flight wasn’t until 11,30am and I had thought it was 10,30! Still it turned out that I wasn’t too early. It took me 30 minutes to get through security (still 15mins shorter than Stansted, last week).
The aeroplane took off about 45 minutes late.
I haven’t been on Gulf Air for a while. The food is much better than Emirates! The toilets are much roomier. I think there is just a little more legroom too. BUT the in-flight entertainment is terrible!
We landed at about 6,40pm in Bahrain. We didn’t get off the plane but waited for new passengers to get on board before flying on to Muscat.
In the end, we waited for an hour before leaving Bahrain. I got off the plane quickly and went to immigration. Alas, I got into the wrong queue! By the time I got into the right one, it was a long one and a very slow one.
After paying for my visa and getting my passport stamped about 90 minutes had elapsed.
The bit I was worried about -getting a taxi- was very easy and the hotel turned out to be only 10 minutes away.
The room was large clean and comfortable.

Off to Kathmandu

I'm looking forward to my trip to Nepal. I'll be gone for over two weeks.
In various parts of the country, I'll be speaking at seminars for pastors and church leaders. The theme of the seminars is living and ministering in the Holy Spirit. I just want to encourage the people to be a little bolder and believe that God shows up when they step out.
I'm sure it will be a good time.

Blair hit by Lebanon backlash

Blair hit by Lebanon backlash as minister admits ceasefire 'mistake'
The war lasted 34 days. It left 1,393 people dead. Another 5,350 injured. And more than 1,150,000 displaced, of whom 215,413 are still homeless. The damage amounts to more than £2.6bn. Exactly one month after it ended, a Foreign Office minister admits that Tony Blair should have called for a ceasefire.
(From the Independent, 14th September 2006)

Perhaps it's not very popular these days to say this, but I like Tony Blair. Perhaps it's because I don't live in England anymore. European politicians -German politicians- are extremely boring. Tony has charisma. When his back is against the wall, he is a fighter!
Although I like him, I think his foreign policy is too much in line with the USA. I'm not anti-USA but they are way off in their appreciation of the world situation making the threat of terror more acute. It's the USA foreign policy that is the best recruiter for extremists.
And Tony follow this wholeheartedly. I believe that he is sincere, sincerely wrong.
The USA is the strongest ally and basically a guardian of our way of life, but sometimes it's good to criticise our friends.
With a battle for the leadership of the labour party now commencing, opportunists will start distancing themselves from policies - they need to look after their future. At little bit more backbone at the time of events would have been good.
Isarel's attack on Lebanon, while being justified was way out of proportion. My guess is that Hizbollah will determine the next (democratic) government in Lebanon.

The Tiling is all but Finished

Well, we're almost finished!
The tiles have nearly all been stuck to the floor. They aren't all straight but much better than I expected! In the background, you can see the wall that I built too. I must say, I'll glad its finished!
Actually were aren't finished, we have still got to put the grouting in. As I am leaving for Nepal on Friday morning, my sons will finish things off for me. We doing all this because of the new heating system that we are going to have installed. That should be more economic than the one that we have now. It will burn oil much more economically but because we also have the possiblity to burn wood, which we can get at a very low cost, this should make heating quite cheap. We will also have a solar collector put on the roof which, in Summer at least, will provide us with hot water.
With the price of oil being what it is and the liklihood of it not going cheaper, we can't really afford not the change the heating.
Of course we have to pay for the new system.
Good news came for the heating engineer this morning. He can't start until the 25th! That give us another week which will allow the glue to be completly dry before the grouting starts.

Children soldiers

As I am going to Nepal on Friday, everything that is currently in the media about Nepal is an interest to me. Sky News had a special feature today. It was about teenagers who had been aducted by the Maos and forced to be soldiers.
It was a sad story because the boys, some younger than ten years old had been kidnapped and had their childhood stolen. They had learned to use guns, make bombs and kill people.
The report took us to a safe house on the outskirts of Kathmandu and we heard a number of interviews by kids who had managed to get out of the army.
I'm hearing the same things in Sri Lanka, a country that I visit quite often. The Tamil Tigers abduct children and use then as cannon fodder.
On Thursday a German lady who works in Uganda is coming to visit me. She runs a home for kids who have got away from the army. The "Lord's resistance army" is doing the same thing as the Tigers or as the Maos. Sad.
But its no use just sitting around complaining that its dark. Let switch the light on!

Nepal Images

Brain Freeze

Have you ever had the feeling that your brain has frozen over? Incredible. This is my feeling at the moment. I've been able to get myself a few hours free and want to prepare for my trip to Nepal, starting on Friday - alas I can't get any thoughts to paper.
I think I will be speaking at three different venues about "Living and Ministering in the Holy Spirit" - alas not is moving in my mind!
I am looking forward to going to Nepal, but I will look pretty stupid if I don't have anything to say!
I'll go and get something to eat and see how that works out.

It was my birthday, yesterday!

My birthday came and went. We had a very pleasant day. The sun was shining and we were outside in the garden. We started with a barbeque and had coffee and cake in the afternoon.
I don't know how many guests came. We were quite crowded. But as I said the weather was great and we were outside. The children just spread themselves out and they had a good time too.

In the photo on the left, I'm examining a picture that one of my grandchildren had drawn for me. They are sometimes very difficult to decipher.

Anyway, I'll looking forward to my birthday next year.

Today I am putting in some new creramic tiles in the room where our new heating system will be. I've been working on this now for a two months!

I built a new wall - crooked and put in a new floor, people complain about seasickness when they walk across it. Now I'm putting in the tiles - no doubt these will also be crooked. How cares!

Its my birthday tomorrow!

That's actually Joey, one of our grandchildren. His birthday was the last one in the family. He's just gone two years old.
So I'll be 54 tomorrow. I don't think I'm that old, but do have many aches and pains.
There is a lot of movement in the house today as we are having a lot of guests here tomorrow. I think 27 people will be with us for lunch. We managed to get a pig during the week. Sadly the animal was still alive this time last week.
Who knows how many more birthdays we will have? It good to celebrate and look back but its important that we remember the rest of our lives is in front of us. Whatever has happened win the past cannot be changed but we can influence our future. "Don't be a prisoner of your past but be a pioneer of your future."
I hope to make the most of the rest of my life. I am doing that by trying to serve God as best as I can and as best as I know how.

How short is life?

I hadn't heard anything from my friend for a few months. That was nothing out of the ordinary. Carl wouldn't keep in touch, but whenever we met or spoke on the telephone, it was as though we were always together.
It was a shock when I got an email from his wife last weekend saying that he only had a few days left to live. He has in fact died; last Monday morning.
I managed to talk to his wife last night. She is incredibly strong and confident that her husband is with Jesus. That's great because he believed that that's where he would go. He'd been on the way with Jesus for most of his life. I met him more 20 years ago and then he was a church leader, planting a church in a very difficult situation in Austria.
I remember them giving us a bed for the night when we were on our way to Slovenia. Then they moved back to England and we worked together on a number of projects in Eastern Europe and Asia.
As I am currently planning another project in the middle east, I had made a mental note to get in touch with Carl and ask if he would support here too.
I was too late.
The whole thing comes a shock and just reminds me how fragile my life is: here today, gone tomorrow.
It also challenges me to make the most of my life starting NOW!
As I think of my dad dying at 69 and his dad dying at 67 and his dad dying at 57, I realise that I might not have all that much time left.
These are sober thoughts, but nothing is more certain than death.
I have made a quality decision to live out each day to the glory of God and be ready for departure at any time.

My first blog

The photo was taken during a recent visit to Cyprus. It was taken in front of the post office in Nicosia.
Nicosia, the capital city of Cyprus, is claimed to be the last divided city in the world.
We walked over the "green line", that's the border between the Greek and Turkish parts of the city. We are actually in the Turkish part.
We were visiting a number of Sri Lankan churches on the island. We flew over just to encourage them.
They are quite unique churches. They are 80-90% female and most of them only became Christians after they left their home in Sri Lanka.
Our visit seems to have opened a door that will be very interesting to go through. We had the chance to meet many different people. We got to know some Philippinos and Ex-pat British as well as refugees from Lebanon and various other interesting people.
We are in the process of organising something more to go back.