During the last fortnight we have been busy with the beginning of the responses to our huge mail out which occurred during the first week of December. There have been approximately 85 requests for literature in the last fortnight. One of our objectives has been to ensure that contacts realize that there is now a local and ongoing Christadelphian presence. Keeping in touch with them by letter, e-mail and where possible by telephone, has begun to identify some of the people who may be prospects for future visits. When we return we will maintain this type of contact and hone in too on those who are demonstrating a keen and sustained interest and arrange visits to these people.

We enjoyed another visit to Nuwara Eliya (NE) on 11^th to 13^th December and again spent time with Raja and the children. We had a breaking of bread meeting with Raja and read through James with him on the two days we were there (on the Friday we left NE at about 8.30 am).

We made our second visit to Tyrell and Analyn and enjoyed a lengthy conversation with Analyn and a brief one with Tyrell – we were at their hotel during business hours so of course his time was limited. Analyn is certainly keen to progress her Bible studies and wants to focus on what the Bible teaches rather than what the church says. She is also keen to take a planned approach to her studies recognizing that unless she does so she will not be able to appreciate the full Bible message. Unfortunately for us and for Raja, Tyrell and Analyn moved from NE on Saturday 14^th . Tyrell has a new post in a town named Anuradhapura and they are keen to have the children in the International School at Kandy where they have bought land and hope to build a home. Analyn and the children will travel the 2½ hour car trip to Anuradhapura each weekend so that they can be together as a family on Saturdays and Sundays. This will mean that unfortunately Raja will not have the opportunity to get to know them and maybe work with them and we will have to include Kandy and Anuradhapura on our travels – this will add quite a bit to our travel times when we return to Sri Lanka in February. But our view is they’re worth every minute.

The Learn to Read the Bible Effectively seminar series finished on Sunday. During the last two weeks Ken has given a very brief overview of the Old and New Testaments emphasizing the importance of both rather than the focus that some people give only to the New Testament. We are hopeful that all three of the contacts who have attended the ten week program will take their studies further next year. We will certainly be following them up in February. Two of them live in Negombo so it is easy to stay in contact. However Stanley lives abut 1½ hours away by bus so keeping in touch with him will take a little more planning and effort. But when we return we will consider an advanced series on the Acts of the Apostles focusing on the teachings and practices of the 1^st century Christians as distinct from the perverted and corrupt teachings and practice of today’s Church.

Saw a funny sight about a week ago. I (Dorothy) was heading off to the shops and walking down the nearby roadway which, as it is under reconstruction, doesn’t have much through traffic on it so it’s a fairly quiet road to walk along but very broken up with heaps of potholes. A little way in front of me to my right is a laneway that is hidden by a high concrete wall. A dog came running out of the laneway and took off up the road with its tail clamped very firmly down. It was heading away from me but in the same direction. It was obvious that the dog was not going to stop for anything/anyone. A chap in his lungi (wrap around which covers men from their waist to their knee, like a sarong) was a little way in front of me riding his bicycle. He happily peddled past the laneway on my right (from which the dog had emerged) minding his own business. Just after he had gone past the laneway a cow came charging out of the laneway and my guess is it was chasing the dog which by now was a speck in the distance. This cow really meant business and I don’t know whether it realized it wasn’t going to catch the dog and was so mad it had to do pick on something else or whether it was a case of mistaken identity but the poor chap on the bike became the target. The cow was galloping with her udder bouncing from side to side. The cyclist suddenly become aware of a thundering beast behind him, glanced over his shoulder and realized he was the target. Suddenly his skinny legs were pumping those pedals like they’d never pumped before. He no longer wobbled around avoiding potholes, his direction was as straight as an arrow and the cow fortunately slowly lost ground. The man on his bike disappeared around a corner and the cow followed but I didn’t hear any yells or screams. A minute or two later the cow reappeared and was heading back towards the lane. Her face still looked like thunder and she still had quite a good trot but she was over the worst of it. It was really very funny – though if I’d been the target I wouldn’t have found it funny at all.

It should take us about 7 hours in total to get from Negombo to Nuwara Eliya. But on this occasion we left the house at 5.00 am and arrived in NE at 2.00 pm. One hour fifteen minutes into Colombo by bus and then more than an hour waiting for the NE bus to leave, followed by a 6.5 hour trip to cover the 120 km journey which takes us to a level of 6,400m and, as described in an earlier web entry, into a much cooler climate. Aaugh – what a relief!

Once we leave Colombo behind us the trip is quite scenic. We pass through fields of rice paddies (flat not tiered) and lots of towns for three or four hours and eventually leave the tropics behind us as we slowly grind our way up into the mountains. The mountains are lush, lush green and the ridge lines are quite irregular and spectacular. Amongst all the odd, angular shapes and jagged mountains there is one really big square outcrop sitting on top of the ridge line – this is called Bible Mountain. There are lots of waterfalls which, given the high rainfall, have huge amounts of water tumbling down and are very impressive. As well as the seeming endless tea plantations you also overlook the never ending, often tiered, vegetable gardens running down into the valleys. They are immaculately designed and maintained. They have stone retaining walls and the richness of the soil is evident. We go over many bridges crossing rivers and always look for bathing elephants but haven’t seen any to date. But we do so plenty of the local people either washing themselves – in an extraordinarily modest manner - or their clothes.

It is really quite enjoyable except for the fact that these are not your average Greyhound Pioneer coaches. They are overcrowded with seats so close together that Ken can’t fit his legs in – they have to jut out into the aisle - and the seats are hard; if they recline it is because they are broken. We travel by both public and private buses. When in the non air-conditioned public bus (which stops frequently) we travel with the windows open and we are blown around and have hair coated with diesel fumes (those of us who have hair!); the seats are grubby regardless of whether it is the private or public bus so we get pretty grubby too. By the time we reach our destination we look and feel like rag-a-muffins. On the trip home this time we were in the private bus (they are almost express all the way) and which was so overcrowded. There is no space set aside for luggage, no "boot", no overhead racks, no vacant floor space - so everyone has to nurse their luggage all the way; and they’re all on an overnight trip, or longer, and have luggage which reflects this. Coming home the couple in front of us had a daughter of about 7 or 8 years. They didn’t want to buy a ticket for her so both she and the luggage had to sit on their lap!

There is also the possibility of course that the bus will drop off the edge of the road down the ravines – something we don’t care to think about but when we were here four years ago we saw one truck and one bus which had both had gone over the edge within about 15kms of one another. (Dad, please don’t worry!) The vehicles at times have to edge past one another inch by inch. There is one "u" shaped stone safety barrier which has had a chunk knocked out of it at its convex point. It’s noted that there are tyre marks where this part of the barrier used to be!

So during our trips to Nuwara Eliya we just sit back and relax!!

While at Nuwara Eliya we saw some overheads lines being installed. There were heavy duty wires across the road (not live) and there were two men installing the lines on the power poles – similar height to those we have at home. These poles were newish and made of concrete. One chap was already at the top of one pole but the other man was climbing a second pole; he was just over half way up. He had no safety harness. We don’t know how he got to the half way point but from there on up there are small holes on either side of the pole. He had two rods each held between the big toe and the next toe (one on the left and one on the right) and as he climbed he put the rod held by his left foot into the hole on the left; this formed a bar on which he stood with his left foot and put the weight of his body onto it. He then removed the rod on the other side with his right foot, put it in one notch higher (again maneuvering it with his toes). He would then stand on both bars, loosen the grip of his hands on the pole, grip higher up and start the process all over again. Not quite our cup of tea. And of course once he reached the top he would have had to heave on the heavy weight wires to get them up and connected. Whew.

There are lots of yummy savoury nibbles available and most of them have some chilli powder on them. Both of us enjoy spicy foods so we think these are great … however the packets need to contain a health warning about the consequences of inhaling chilli powder. While enjoying some of these nibbles Dorothy spluttered and some of the chilli powder shot into the nasal passages. Hooley dooley – need we say any more!

Just be glad you don’t! They are shockers – so once again you’ll have to wait. Sorry L

Dorothy could bear it no longer. The humidity and resulting hair frizz were more than she could cope with. The locks are shorter still and will hopefully be much more manageable.

Our plans to head to India are about to be put into action as 2002 draws to an end. Our visas expire at the end of the month so we must leave Sri Lanka. We are heading to India for six weeks – most of which will be busy but some of which, we hope, will be a holiday. Our tentative itinerary is detailed at the end of this entry.

We’re still planning on preparing the Negombo News even though we won’t be in Negombo for the next six weeks! So please, stay tuned. We do LOVE hearing from home and enjoy comments left on the message board and the emails and letters we also receive. Our special thanks to each of you who do make contact.

Those who have been emailing us via the Negombo Christadelphian email address need to be sure to address emails to us at [email protected] until we return on 3^rd February 2003. The emails sent to us via this web site are automatically directed to the hotmail account.

Ken’s first 3 months of the trip are over as are Dorothy’s first two months. We’ve seen a lot, done a lot and have a lot more to do when we return.

The year is drawing to a close and our Lord has not yet returned. We look forward to that event when men will give glory to God in the highest and there will be peace on earth.

The plane which is to take us to India will soon be warming its engines and we must be on board. So for now, "ayubowan Sri Lanka" and "namaste, India!".

20 December Arrive in Madras (Chennai)

22 December Dept Chennai and go to Hyderabad and stay with Tim and Sarah Galbraith Spend Christmas with Tim and Sarah and catch up with some others in Hyderabad.

 30 December Leave Tim and Sarah's go to Moinabad (where the children's home is). End of Year study camp; Ken gives another study (on Daniel) and the Sunday morning exhortation!

3 January 2003 (probably night train) Leave Hyderabad, arrive Bangalore (4th) and stay at the Mission residence for two nights.

6 January Leave Bangalore on the night train and go to Adamali (don't even know exactly where that is other than in the State of Kerala and down south - don't know where we are staying).  Stay there for about 14 days.  Ken leads some studies on James and we spend time with the ecclesia there.

21 January Move on to somewhere "nice" (no idea where) on about for 9/10 days for a break/holiday before heading back to Bangalore.

29/30 January Return to Bangalore

2 February Depart Bangalore for Chennai

3 February Back to Sri Lanka

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