Moving on...

Today was my last day in C.T.S. and tonight is my last sleep here before the team arrive tomorrow afternoon.

I took the time to speak to all the people who I have been involved with these past 2 weeks as i have been made to feel so very welcome in the college and they couldn't have been more hospitable. Apparently I have been one of their 'least troublesome' guests (and the Dr wasn't bad either!!!! :) ) So either we were particularly easy to please or they haven't had very many guests stay!

This last week has been very chilled...in relaxation that is as the temperature continued to soar...that was until today as it has rained all day and the air has been relatively cool...clearly some one knows the Irish are on their way!!

Anyway, I had the opportunity to meet a most wonderful retired Anglican minister from the Church of Ceylon who was an absolute pleasure to talk with. He was able to share from a lifetimes experience of serving in the church and working amongst the Buddhist population so I was able to glean a lot of very interesting and helpful information from him for my research. His wife very generously provided some light refreshments in the form of cookies and King coconut milk. (which I was told has been known to be used in the place of saline if none was available - interesting fact for the day!!!) I'm not quite sure if his final comments to me were prophetic but when talking about what I intended to do after I finished my degree he said something along the lines of...well when you come back to either Sri Lanka, Thailand or...a 3rd country which i cant remember!!...you will now know what to do when you go and live in one of the remote villages!!...hmmmm...we'll see...only God knows that at the minute!!!

Well, the next part of this Big Adventure starts tomorrow when Layasing picks me up from C.T.S. and we head to the airport to pick up the Irish ViM team. (they should all pretty much be in Heathrow by now waiting for their flight here!) Then we head a little in land to Anuradhapura where we will be ministering for the next 2 weeks.

So please pray for them as they travel tonight and as we travel in land tomorrow. Also pray for the people in this college - staff and students as it is a wonderful place sharing God's love, and preparing people to go out and minister to many others.

Im not sure what internet connections will be like where we will be staying so im not sure if i will be able to update this for a while...but sure keep an eye out and we'll see what happens!!


Blessings :)

Surrender...

I had a wonderful experience of worship today.

I think Diyonus, the college caretaker is a little concerned about me being on my own, especially as Derek has now returned to England leaving me in the apartment on my own. So this morning in extremely broken English he asked me if i would like to go to church with him...at least at the time I assumed that was what he was asking!! So i agreed as i had no other arrangements made.

So we set off for a church that I had kind of gathered was pretty close by and it was indeed only a short walk from C.T.S. The sign out the front told me that it was a Dutch Reformed Church of Sri Lanka and that the English service began at 9.00am and that was the service that Diyonus had very thoughtfully brought me for. We went into the grounds and he introduced me to a few people and in chatting we discovered that this week the English service and the Sinhalese service had actually been switched as the English congregation were having an Alpha thanksgiving service. I decided that this was the perfect chance then for me to experience a Sinhalese worship service and tild Diyonus that i would stay for this service rather than come back for the English. So he introduced me briefly to the minister who was preparing to start, then took me to a house that was in the grounds ringing the bell numerous times until someone came to the door. A man cam out and Diyonus introduced me, I assumed this was another minister of the church as each different language congregation appear to thave their own pastor. It turned out in the midst of conversation that he was in fact the President of the Dutch Reformed Church!

So i was guided in to the church and Diyonus tried to get me to sit in one of the front pews but no the Methodist in me kicked in and I headed for the back sitting under a very welcome and cooling fan. Sadly as the service began the electricity cut out, the fans stopped and there was a little reorganisation as song books had to be found because they couldnt use the OHP! It was a wonderful service with A time of lively worship led by 2 young men from the congregation, backed up by a small band consisiting of a piano, guitar, drums and bongo drums. There was then what i could only assume was a time of confession and testimony when many people - all women it has to be said, stood up and spoke briefly.

The pastor, Rev Faber then brought the message, speaking on Hebrews 11:13-16, how we are strangers on this planet and our real home is the one prepared for us in Heaven. He very thoughtfully threw in a few English phrases for my benefit (very like some Sinhalese TV programmes when every now and again you quite randomly catch an English phrase...very amusing!!) to try and summarise his points. I did however catch that he spoke about Michael Jackson at one point, not quite sure how that fit in to what he was saying!! Halfway through I was very grateful when the electricity kicked in once more as it was really starting to get very hot in that little church - even with the slight breeze coming in the door!

All in all it was a wonderful act of worship with lively praise and from what i could tell of the way the preaching was delivered very passionate and so despite the language difference and not always understanding what was happening or being said I could most definitely feel God's presence amongst His people in that little church. For me that is what truly matters God's presence with us ministering to His children in the way they need most. During the service there was one word that kept coming back to me and that was 'surrender'. Surrendering ourselves...myself...to God's moving around me and within me. Letting Him minister to me where i need it most, it may not even be something that I know needs dealt with but He does. So i must surrender myself to Him, make myself vulnerable to His power working and healing within me and make myself available to what He asks of me...no matter what.

Saturday morning shopping...

I feel like such a westerner this morning!!!

A lovely couple called Lallita and Chris took me out this morning. Lallita works in the library here at C.T.S. and was worried that I wasn't leaving the college so offered to take me out today. So I asked her to take me to ODEL which is a big western style department store selling all sorts of things from clothes to books and dvd's, homewares and souvenirs. It was nice just to wander around for a while to see what was on offer and it was full of white people who were clearly tourists.

They then took me to a food court at a local supermarket which had a huge range of food from Asian, to Western, which included Italian and British, and Australian!! Having this opportunity I went for something British!! So a burger and fries it was :) I then felt i could not turn down the offer to try a traditional Sri Lankan dessert - curds and honey, assured that it was just like yogurt. So when it arrived i gave it a go and it was actually not too bad just like a natural yogurt smothered in honey, it was then that Lallita told me it was no normal curds, from a normal cow but rather they were from a Buffalo!! Well sure its something different!! We had some very good conversation over lunch which ranged from their children and grand children to religious issues, thoughts on church and the much debated anti-conversion bill.

So all in all its been a lovely morning with some lovely people...now to relax and enjoy the rest of my saturday afternoon :)

Day number 7 in the C.T.S. apartment...

(you were supposed to imagine that title said in the style of the Big Brother announcer, so please read again if you did not do so the first time!!!)

So yep I have been in Sri Lanka for a week now and it has been a pretty good week.

So what have I been up to since Sunday? Well Monday was a Poya holiday which is a Buddhist full moon holiday...so you are guaranteed at least one ‘bank holiday’ every month...not bad. But I have been told that this used to cause havoc when the poya calendar was followed because there were so many holidays and it was difficukt to follow what day was a holiday and what wasn’t because it wasn’t a set pattern where it was the same day every week or month as it followed the cycle of the moon.

Anyway that meant that the college was closed and very quiet.

Yesterday I took a trip across town by bus as I had to go and sort out a visa extension. I had a great guide and companion in Spurgeon (the college IT guy) who was able to keep me right at all times. But the bus journey was quite the adventure. A great opportunity just to watch city life go by and people watch from the safety of a bus window...it can be really fascinating watching the way people interact and how differently things are done compared to our cultural norms. The process of getting my visa extension was relatively straight forward if somewhat time consuming. You generally find that there are maybe 4 or 5 people you have to see when at home it would be a job for one person.

While I was waiting I had an interesting conversation with a gentleman originally from India, now living in Australia who is a practicing Hindu married to a catholic. Wow! It’s hard to know quite how much you can say to people before you might cross the invisible line or before you might offend but he seemed quite open to what I was telling him about the purpose of my stay in Sri Lanka.

Today I had meetings with two church leaders in Colombo to gather some information for my research project. So I set out in a little tri-shaw...they are so much fun and a very handy way to nip in and out of the traffic but a little bit dicy when you’ve got a huge great bus bearing down on you!! But I had a great driver! It was interesting talking to the Pastor’s and to hear the history and the stories behind the churches and the people, also how they have grown and expanded as they have reached out into the community surrounding them and also as they have felt Gods call to different regions of the island.


A random shot from my tri-shaw as we were speeding along the busy road!!

I was very pleased to be able to make contact with Sugi who was someone I had met the last time I was here in 2000, so I couldn’t come back without trying to contact him. He and his family put me up in their home making me part of the family, when the youth team were working with the Moors Road Methodist congregation. We wrote to each other for a long time and then as happens we fell out of contact. So I was very pleased when Layasing told me that he knew Sugi and would give him my number. So when my phone rang the other day I was very pleasantly surprised to hear that it was Sugi on the other end. He seemed to remember everything that I could have possibly told him about me and my family back then. So I was very happy to hear he was now married and had a son. I really hope to be able to meet up with him before I leave Colombo.

Sugi and I back in 2000!!


Sunset from the apartment.

The sun sets pretty early here and it is usually dark between 6.30 and 7pm so I have been enjoying the coolness of the night air compared to the great heat of the day. It is also gives a chance to be able to enjoy the nightly display of the fireflies dancing through the trees at the end of our balcony...the type of scene that you would just love to be able to capture and share but just isn’t possible. It is a wonderful display of Gods creativity at work once more. Sometimes It’s easy to wonder what is the purpose in something that God has created but if it brings us enjoyment or makes us smile I think that makes our Father smile too and he enjoys watching our wonder at the beauty He made for us to enjoy.

What's your pill??

Sometimes it can be very easy to feel just like P!nk in her song, ‘like a pill’...

I think I’ll get outta here... Where I can run just as fast as I can,
To the middle of nowhere to the middle of my frustrated fears
and I swear you’re just like a pill
stead of making me better you keep making me ill...

There can be so many things that we want to avoid. Things that we don’t want to deal with or don’t want to face up to. Or else we look for the answers in the wrong places and what we think is our ‘pill’ is in fact doing us so much more harm than we can ever imagine. Then we just drop it all and run...anywhere...as far as we can, try to escape, leave it all behind and hope it just disappears.

But there are 2 things we cannot run away from. The first is our own mind, as much as we try to blank it out or where you run to those things will always be there in your mind, it goes with you wherever you go. The second is God. There is no where we can go in all of creation to hide from God, no rock we can hide under that He will not find us...He created it and knows every inch of all creation and He knows every part of us. Including our mind!

So if we are going to run...it should be to God. Only He can satisfy...

No one but You Lord can satisfy the longing in my heart, Nothing I do Lord can take the place of drawing near to You. Only You can fill my deepest longing,
Only You can breath in me new life,
Only You can fill my heart with laughter,
Only You can answer my hearts cry,
Only You...

Father I love You, come satisfy the longing in my heart,
Fill me, overwhelm me, until I know Your love deep in my heart. I long for You, I yearn for You and I’m calling out, I’m crying out for You.

(c) Andy Park

Cry out to Him and let Him come to us as He wants to, let Him fill us with cleansing living waters as He fulfills our every need, our every longing...nothing can take the place of what He can do in our life...if we just let Him in, surrender what we cannot control to His mighty love and grace.

Remembering...

Well i've had a few days to get acclimatised and i'm getting used to the heat(!) humidity(!) and the food.

This morning was the first I have ventured out of the College complex and I was really looking forward to going to church at Kollupitiya Methodist Church as it was one of the churches we had worked with back in 2000. Ivor picked us up shortly after 8.00am and we made our way into the heart of Colombo.

It was great to see areas that were starting to look familiar and I recognised the church straight away. We were welcomed by Rev Duleep Fernando while the Tamil congregation left, as their service is before the English service (and the Sinhalese service is held shortly after the english) then I went off to find a seat.

The worship was led wonderfully by a young woman whom I think was a member of the choir and the Message was brought by Rev Dr Derek Tidball who spoke engagingly on Psalm 103

"Bless the Lord, Oh my soul and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, Oh my soul, and forget not all His benefits..."

I was however a little disappointed by just how traditional and reserved the service was - I found that I have actually no recollection from all those years ago as to what worship was like and was expecting it to be a little more lively, I guess with my most recent overseas experience being in Africa. But none the less it was a wonderful act of worship and as Derek reminded us we are not alone in worshipping but join with congregations across the globe and with the Angels and Arch-angels worshipping around the throne in heaven.

We had a chance to chat for a short time after the service and as per ususal the Irish connections were made...Duleep spoke of Rev George Good and his grand daughter Tara, who was of course on the team with me back in 2000, so we chatted about them and of course Rev Norman Taggart and Rev Stephen Skuce...Methodism really is such a small world! :)

Myself, Derek and David Griffiths, a field worker for CSW were then wisked off by Mano a member of the CTS (college) staff for drinks at the Galle Face hotel before lunch. This is a beautifully grand old colonial building situated right on the coast and it was wonderfully cool sitting chatting in the shade with a fantastic view of the Indian Ocean (I think!!) and the sound of the powerfull waves crashing against the rocks.

David, Mano and Derek by the Beach

The Galle Face Hotel

The hotel is extremely proud of its heritage and has many plagues stating the names of famous people who have stayed and even boasts a small museum containing Prince Phillip's first car!!! I have one memory of the Galle face from my last visit and that was of coming for drinks one evening with the team, and that is of Raymond sitting with a rather large King Coconut with a straw sticking out of it...strange the things you remember!

Mano then took us to the Chinese Dragon Restaurant (the first restaurant we ate out at back in 2000!!) for a wonderful meal.

On the way back to CTS she stopped off at the side of the road to buy some fruit to let us try...sadly i cant remember the name of it. [NB: Just discovered they are called Rambutan and are indeed realted to the Lychee!!]


To me it looked llike one of those odd bouncy ball type things and when you open it you get something that looks like an eyeball!!! But it is very nice indeed, almost like a cross between a grape and a lychee, so very tasty and quite refreshing.

This afternoon I thought I would take some photos of the college so you could see where Im actually talking about...so here they are.

The main college building
Me outside the College Reception

Lou has landed...

So I'm back in Sri Lanka...that makes it sound like I was here just last week - it was in fact 9 years ago which is an absolute age.

I had a smooth easy travelling experience apart from all the waiting around and the unfortunate situation of overweight baggage with BMI which I had to pay for (amazingly the first time i've ever had to pay!) It's so annoying that we have domestic flight weights when we have to fly to England in most cases to get a long haul international flight! Anyway, after 8 1/2 hours of killing time in Heathrow I boarded the plane for another 10 hours of waiting, only in a slightly more confined space! But it was fine and went by relatively quickly although chicken and potatoes for breakfast was slightly odd, why is it that when you travel you seem to eat at the strangest times??

We were greeted in the airport by mask wearing officials ensuring that none of us needed quarantined - very reassuring, but i have to admit i did find myself stopping breathing and turning in the opposite direction anytime anyone near me in the airport sneezed!!...mass paranoia has set in!!

But then the exciting bit...i don't know why I enjoy this so much but I was met by 2 representatives from the Colombo Theological Seminary which I am staying at for the next 2 weeks, holding a sign with my name on it...excellent...one of those things you always see in the movies :) They were very welcoming and made sure I had the most comfortable seat in the taxi nearest the air conditioning!!

At one point in the car on the way through the busy city traffic I realised I hadn't actually stopped smiling since i stepped out of the aeroplane. Yes its hot 30° c when we got off the plane and today was cool!!...humid and sticky but it just feels right :) and that feels good...knowing that you are where you are meant to be and will hopefully be doing what it is I am meant to be doing...and through His strength all things are possible. And as someone shared with me before I left, "even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me" Psalm 139:10

The guest accommodation in the college has only recently been put in place it's not quite finished just yet in that the kitchen area isnt functionable but it is very impressive indeed and my room is just lovely. I do however have a room mate - a tiny little gecko whom I have affectionately named Goliath. He is more than welcome though if he keeps all the other bugs away!! I will introduce him to you all very soon once I can get a picture of him close enough that you can actually see him in!!

Well i think that's all for my first installment now I'm off to bed for a good nights sleep before I try and organise my programme for the next couple of weeks in the morning.