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.
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