Well
this is our news up until about 2nd January.
For some reason or other we haven’t got our act together and sent it on
before today (11th Jan). We
thought about doing an update of it before sending it off into cyber-space but
by the time we did that another few days would probably have elapsed and we
would be still further behind. We will try and be a bit more diligent about our
next update – get it done a bit more quickly and off to Cathie pronto.
Visitors and more visitorsJ.
At
4.45 am on Monday 29th December we sadly said good-bye to Bro Tim and
Sis Ruth Moore from Perth. Tim and Ruth co-ordinate the correspondence Sunday
School and spent just over two weeks here with us (and travelling around about).
Their primary purpose was to meet up with the SS students.
They managed to see most of the 40 or so students during their two-week
visit and they also visited a number of brethren and sisters and contacts.
We
thoroughly enjoyed their company. We
shared quite a few hearty laughs and it was great to have others here to share
our experiences, do the readings with, bounce ideas off, etc.
While we had separate work programs we were able to tie some of our
travels in together and we especially enjoyed sharing time with them and Rajah
and the boys in Nuwara Eliya.
Tim
gave two lovely exhortations while they were here. Ken particularly appreciated the fact that he was able
to sit and listen to two exhorts rather than being the one responsible for
giving them.
But
now we are all alone again. However,
within 24 hours of Tim and Ruth leaving we received an email from Ari and Ange
Pickering who are currently in India for 12 months (on Mission work).
They need to leave India in late February as their visas expire and they
are planning on joining us in SL for two weeks; this will enable them to renew
their Indian visas. So having just said good-bye to Tim and Ruth we are now
looking forward to Ari and Ange’s company in seven weeks or soJ.
We
are again gearing up for the next BTSD (7th January).
Invitations have gone out to 21 people and the program is to
include:
ü
It does
matter what you believe.
ü
Demons
and evil spirits – what are they?
ü
God is
one – Jesus is His Son (workshop)
ü
“Slaying
Giants” – Lessons from David and Goliath
We have
hired a car on two occasions since our return in November.
The first car hire was within a couple of days of our return.
The second car hire was during the last two weeks of December and on this
occasion it meant that Tim and Ruth also benefited as we travelled together on
several occasions.
Once
BTSD is again behind us we’re planning our next car hire and probably the most
extensive visiting program we will have undertaken since returning here in
November. There are a few contacts
who we wish to visit whom we haven’t met before.
They have regularly responded to literature offers over the last 12
months and appear to have a reasonable interest in learning more of the Bible
message so we will make initial visits to these people and then determine if
they will be included on our regular visits program and, if they are able to
come, get an invite to our monthly Bible Truth Study day programme.
In mid-December a prominent Buddhist prelate (the
Venerable Gangodawila Soma Thera) died in Russia while undergoing heart surgery.
Those of you in Oz may have heard about it as he had lived for some years
in Melbourne as a Buddhist missionary. He
was a key figure in Buddhist circles and established a Buddhist centre in Noble
Park (Vic). His death may therefore
have made the news. This chappie
has been one of the most outspoken Buddhist monks against Christian missionaries
(sort of strange isn’t it, given his “mission” to Australia!) and a
vehement supporter of the anti-conversion legislation that is soon to be
considered by the SL government. His death
coincided with a huge amount of publicity that has been generated by the
proposed legislation. Rumour was
spread throughout SL that he didn’t die from heart disease but that Christians
sabotaged the operation. (Not sure
how many Christians work in the cardio-vascular theatres of any of the Russian
hospitals!). His body was
brought back to SL about two weeks ago and an independent autopsy has confirmed
that his death was due to heart disease. The
funeral was a major event in Colombo and in the days leading up to it there were
orange flags and orange bunting draped from one end of SL to the other.
Orange is one of the colours associated with Buddhism.
We were travelling around quite a bit in the week leading up to his
funeral and almost where ever we were during this period (other than inside) we
could always see multiple orange flags and miles upon miles of orange bunting.
The
timing of his death, together with the proposed anti-conversion legislation has
caused quite a bit of unrest across SL.
There have been numerous attacks against Christian places of worship by
Buddhist mobs. We do not feel any
particular threat but at the same time we are cautious about our activities.
We have postponed both an advertising campaign in one of the National
newspapers and the Learn to Read the Bible
Effectively seminar that had been planned for the south side on Colombo over
the first couple of months of 2004. We’ll
have to wait and see what happens with the legislation, wait until the impact of
the death of the vulnerable venerable has abated and then re-appraise the
situation and our activity.
It
is fascinating how humans pervert what might be considered wholesome ideals
(with respect to some teachings of Buddha) or Divine principle, when it comes to
God’s revealed Word, the Bible. Buddha’s
teaching, as the concerned President here keeps emphasizing, was peacefulness
and tolerance. It has been rather
strange therefore to read of mobs of Buddhists vandalising churches and
attacking worshippers. As much so
as the report in the newspaper during the Buddhist monk’s funeral.
Some simpleton decided it would be a good opportunity to hand out some
leaflets. The newspaper
didn’t say of what persuasion he was, but he should have been certified!!
The
reporter who witnessed the event reported in the daily newspaper “a Buddhist
monk had a suspicious character in a head-lock”. “I beg your pardon!” you might say. “Who had who in a headlock?
Who was using physical violence?” Yes, it was the Buddhist monk.
Buddhist funeral attendees then set upon the simple knave and he had the
tripe beaten out of him! But before
we tut-tut! Is there much difference between this perversion and that
which our own western leaders, all devout Christians (sic)….we speak of
course, of Messrs Bush, Blair and Howard, and their actions in blowing the arms
off Iraqi boys? But maybe even closer to home.
How do we each personally
compare with the peaceful and righteous life of the One we profess to serve? How peaceful and God centred are our thoughts, words and
actions? But how sorely this
wonderful planet needs the righteous, peaceful and just reign of God’s beloved
Son. May he soon come!
The
25th December saw the end of the first month of our second year here
in SL (amazing – one month gone already) and we took the first of our monthly
three-day breaks. We had booked a
standard room at one the Colombo 4 star hotels (3 stars by Ozzie standards) for
a three-night stay commencing on 24th December.
When we arrived we were pleased to be told that all the standard rooms
were taken and we had been upgraded to a deluxe room J. It
was certainly a comfortable room but there was nothing extra
special about it. The soft
furnishings were bright and fresh so that was nice.
We spent the three days reading, swimming and sitting by the nice clean
pool (and not having to cook – always a plus as far as D is concernedJ.) Ken had ordered Dennis
Gillett’s new book “May You Know it to be True” and it arrived just in
time for him to take with him. Apparently
it is worth buying—I’m yet to read it!
The
hotel is located in the centre of Colombo and on the beach front so we had a
great view down over Galle Face. Galle
Face is an oblong grassy area which stretches for about 1km along the coast line
and is used heavily for recreation. It
is the favourite spot for the locals for kite flying and often the sky above is
full of hundreds of colourful kites all obediently dancing in unison to the
commands of the wind. We were able
to watch all the people wandering around on the grassy area and the sand and see
the waves, small though they are, breaking on the shore.
Although it is not a spectacular coastal view it was still nice to be
able to overlook the sea and the associated activity.
We
checked in at about 1.00 pm on the 24th and were allocated Room 821.
At 0030 hours (that’s right, 30 minutes after midnight) on 25th
the phone in our room rang. Dorothy
answered and the person on the other end of the line said “Hello.
What is your name?” Dorothy
couldn’t quite believe her ears. The
voice continued “This is Reception. Have
you changed rooms?” It turned
out that the hotel’s computer showed the Chalmers as being in Room 828 and
Room 821 as being empty. The
diligent man at Reception wanted to know who was in this “vacant” room; fair
enough – but at 0030 hours? Fortunately
it was one of the few nights that we were up after midnight.
We also then understood why the poor chappie who had come to collect our
hire car from us at the hotel on the afternoon of the 24th had sat
for two hours waiting for us to answer the phone in our room.
Reception kept telling him we weren’t answering – and they were
right, we certainly were not answering the phone, well not in Room 828.
The
lead up to Christmas this year was quite subdued compared with last year.
Last year there were lots of family groups singing Christmas carols in
their homes; lots of carols being played by the local churches and over the PA
systems around the streets. But
this year we heard very few; even the church bells remained silent.
The unrest caused by the Buddhist community (probably a minority of the
Buddhist community) has been a concern and some church buildings have been
vandalised and/or burnt. Threats
were made that those churches holding Christmas services prior to 25th
December would be targeted. However
there were fire-crackers galore with lots of bangs and whizzes occurring at all
hours of the night and day.
Over Christmas and New Year we’ve been given quite an
array of local treats by the neighbours and from some of the brethren and
sisters. Many of the SL treats are
deep-fried in coconut oil; this results in a “sameness” of flavour. Many of
these treats are also quite stodgy and pretty indigestible; so some will be
discreetly disposed off in the rubbish. Quite
a shame, we both hate throwing food out but we have been given more than we can
eat and these treats do not keep.
However
it really is the thought that counts and it has been lovely to receive these
gifts from our brethren and sisters and from our neighbours who have become our
friendsJ. In fact we know some of our SL neighbours better than we know
many of our Maribyrnong neighbours! Admittedly
living in this quiet, dead-end lane is very different to living on busy Gordon
St and little Enoch and Enosh are quite a conversation starter.
We also happen to stand out in the crowd a wee bit here with our fair
skin; there certainly aren’t any other Aussies living in our lane – but then
come to think of it there aren’t many Aussies living in Gordon St either! J Although we’ve been here for more than a year and the
neighbours are quite used to having us around we still provide a degree of a
novelty that they enjoy.
In
mid-December a very little lady with very little English arrived at the house
asking “is this Bible house?”. “Yes,
come, come” was our response. To
cut a long story short she had travelled (presumably by bus) about 8 kms hoping
to find work with us as a full-time live-in housekeeper. It took quite some time to work this out, as her English was
rather limited and our Sinhala even more so.
But by the time she left we had managed to establish that:
¨
no we
didn’t need a full-time live-in house keeper (namely herself);
¨
no, Ruth
(Moore) isn’t Dorothy’s baby - hope we’re guessing right here and hope
we’re not giving away any secrets but our guess is Ruth is in her late 30’s;
needless to say that when the lady had left Dorothy immediately dashed upstairs
and slathered on yet another layer of rejuvenating moisturiser;
¨
no, we
didn’t know of any fellows between 35 and 41 who might be likely to want to
marry her daughter regardless of how beautiful the daughter is; and
¨
no, we
are not going to show her daughter’s photo to our Ozzie friends on the
off-chance that someone might be interested.
We
returned home from our Colombo three-day holiday mid afternoon on Saturday 27th
and Dorothy got busy finishing a trifle to take to the neighbours next door.
It was Sanjeewa and Inoka’s 6th wedding anniversary (the twins’
dad and mum) and they had invited us in for dinner to celebrate their
anniversary. I (Dorothy)
presumed that it would be a bit of a family/friends party.
I had no idea how many people would be attending so I thought it would be
nice if I made a trifle as our contribution to the meal.
Why trifle? Because you can
make it without turning the oven onJ. I made double quantity just to be sure there would be enough.
As it turned out we were the only ones invited!
Inoka
had made a really yummy Sri Lankan meal and in traditional Sri Lankan style
our hosts served us our dinner and sat and watched us eat; they didn’t eat
until after we left at about 9.30 pm. Dinner
comprised a number of rice and curry dishes (delicious) and a huge crème
caramel - - - so much for needing a double quantity trifle!
So on Sunday Vernon took a big serve home to share with his family, some
was taken over to Sanjeewa and Inoka’s. Tim and
Ruth and ourselves each had a whopping big serve and we’ve been eating it ever
since! The last of it will be eaten
tonight (31st December).
Now
you may be sniggering at the thought of yet another meal of rice and curry but
it was really delicious. I think
I might ask Inoka for some SL cooking lessons J.
Enoch
and Enosh provided much of the entertainment, singing along with Jingle
Bells that they insisted be played over and over again on the DVD, and
eagerly beating their pint size drums at the same time.
2004
As
we’ve reported in previous editions of NN Sri Lankans (and as it happens, Tim
Moore) love fire-crackers.
Tim let a few off while they were here but in comparison to the crackers
on New Year’s Eve Tim’s were pathetic; sorry TimJ. The build up for New Year seems to have commenced in mid
December and it really built to a crescendo on the 31st with an
amazing racket from about 11.30 pm (31 Dec) to 1.00 am (1 Jan).
The noise was as if we were under attack and you could smell the
gunpowder in the air. You would
have thought that one family who live about three houses away were actually
trying to demolish their house. If I’d been standing in their yard I would
have found the explosions quite frightening!
Things become a little quieter after about 1.00 am but there have been
fire works exploding at least every 30 seconds from then (and often more
regularly) ‘til now (11.00 am).
I guess we can’t vouch for the “every 30 seconds component” during
couple of hours when we were asleep but they were definitely a frequent
occurrence right throughout the night. Very
few of the crackers are pretty ones. Occasionally
there will be a shower of colourful sparks lighting up the sky but the vast
majority (99%) are big to very big bangs and whiz noises.
What’s
going to happen in 2004? – no-one knows, perhaps it will bring the return of
Christ. But as Elisabeth said to us
in an email recently; she was looking forward to 2004 as it is the year we’re
coming homeJ!
Post-Script – 12 noon, 1st
January. Hooley-dooley!
The fireworks have just taken off with a vengeance again.
The place has simply erupted in explosions.
As many of the houses/building are built very close together with only
narrow laneways between the shock waves reverberate and intensify the tremors
that can be felt.
The latest household gadget that we have acquired is a
solar powered oven! Tim got to
while he was here and made it using two cardboard boxes (one a little smaller
than the other) some newspaper, alfoil, black spray paint, a pane of glass and a
stick. One box sits inside the
other with newspaper in between for insulation.
The outside of the bigger box is sprayed black.
The inside of the smaller box is lined with alfoil as is the lid of the
larger box. This lid is propped
open with the stick (at approximately a 45-degree angle).
The alfoil lining on it reflects the sunlight into the oven cavity that
has the pane of glass lying across the top of it.
And there you have it – a solar powered oven!
There is no instruction book but we know the oven takes an hour or so to
preheat; the temperature control only has one setting.
Tim experimented by cooking a potato in it and boiling a mug of
water in it however that’s the extent of its use to date.
Tim and Ruth also gave us a Sri Lankan cook-book so now we’ll have
to wait and see what eventuates.
One
of the recently acquired Sri Lankan recipes is for brain omelette (goat). Anyone
interested? Marnie, you’re always
trying out new and interesting recipes. If you’re really nice to us we’ll give you a copy of this
one. Or perhaps you’d prefer the
recipe for plantain (banana skin) chutney.
As Ken says – even the monkeys take the skin off the bananas before
they eat them, so why would we want to make chutney with them? (We’ve since confirmed that the skin is from a particular
type of plantain but we’re still not inspired to go ahead and try the recipe.)
At
home in early December John (Stevenson) entered the waters of baptism and arose
as one of the sons of God. We were
of course sad to miss this, the most important event of John’s life, but it
was lovely to be able to speak with him shortly after. It is our prayer that he, together with all of us, will serve
our Lord faithfully and be blessed with a place in our Father’s kingdom when
Jesus returns. Events like this
really make us feel like we are a long way from home, last year it was Daniel
and Lauren’s wedding that we missedL
.
Some
of you will have seen the creative and beautiful artwork which Suresh (the 13
year old from Nuwara Eliya) gave us in September and which we took home with us.
There were three pictures all made out of painted pencil shavings glued
to paper. One picture is of a vase
of flowers, one of flowers and butterflies and the third a particularly clever
and striking piece – a colourful parrot.
While
we were in Oz both Suresh and his older brother Dhileep (15 years old) won gold
medals for their artwork in a Province wide school competition.
(SL has a number of Provinces like Australia has States and Territories.)
We haven’t seen the pieces of art for which they won the medals –
they haven’t been returned to them as yet.
But while we were in Nuwara Eliya (NE) Tim took some photos of some of
their most recent drawings. The
photos are a bit distorted because of the angle at which they were taken but
have a look at the most recent photos on the web site and you’ll see some more
examples of the work of these artistically talented boys.
We are hoping to have the work of both boys assessed by professional
artists to determine (from a professional’s point of view) what their level of
talent really is and to get some ideas as to what they may be able to do to
develop careers using their artistic talents.
It would be great if they could both find openings that give them
careers with reasonable/good incomes.
When
we visit Raja and the boys (and Pathma before she left for Kuwait) in NE we
usually share an evening meal with them at the guesthouse where we stay.
The reason we eat there is that they serve rice and curry which means
that Raja and the boys can enjoy their meal.
Surprisingly the other little “restaurants” in NE don’t serve rice
and curry in the evening; it’s available at lunchtime but not for dinner!
Tim and Ruth weren’t keen on the idea of another spicy-hot meal so they
bought some Chinese take-away and brought it back to the guesthouse. As it turned out our meal of rice and curry was very mild and
Tim and Ruth had the hottest of hot Chinese “deviled beef” which almost had
their mouths on fire. We all had
quite a laugh at their expense.
The
guesthouse that we stay at when in NE is called Wattles Inn.
In summary, and to put it politely, it is a run
down dump. We choose to stay
there as it is close to Raja and the boys and there is a nice garden where we
can sit during the day. It means
that if the weather’s nice (which it usually is) we can be outside enjoying
the fresh air when Raja and the boys visit.
It is also in the lower price range for accommodation in NE.
NE is a popular destination for both tourists and locals, so there are a
number of very nice (and some swish) hotels/guesthouses.
Each
time we stay at Wattles Inn we decide we are never returning; but we always do.
The sheets and pillowslips are so worn that many of them are see
through and when we were there in September one of the towels we were given was
four old handtowels sewn together! Everything
about it is dilapidated and looks grimy but it is in actual fact reasonably
clean. But the absolute bug-bear of our life when we are there is
the issue of hot water. NE has
quite a cool climate; which means the mornings can be quite chilly.
We pay for a room with hot water but invariably the manager turns the
heating unit off! We’ve argued with him about it ‘til we are blue in the
face and he always tells us that there is hot water – well there isn’t in
our shower, nor was there in Tim and Ruth’s!
We have found out where the switch to the hot water unit is – just
outside the door to Room 16 so now we always ask for this room and keep an ear
out for the switch being turned off. All
we have to do is stick our head out the door and turn it back on – but we
don’t always hear it being turned off so we still have cold showers 50% of the
timeL. Again
on this trip we had an ongoing battle trying to ensure the water unit was
heating. The hot water unit itself
is also in the bathroom of Room 16 so we can keep an eye on the little red light
that shows it’s heating. The unit
holds about 20 litres of water and is supposed to service the whole guesthouse!
Next trip we’re going to take the kettle so we can at least have a warm
bucket wash.
We’ve
checked out alternative accommodation near Rajah and the boys but it is all
worse than Wattles Inn; some of them looked clean but smelt of animals – bleah!
And none of the places we saw had anywhere either inside or outside where
we could sit and chat with them, do the readings and have a memorial meeting.
So we do appreciate some of its qualities!
Well,
that’s it for now.