The great joy of being in India again!

For almost 35 years Kevin has visited various parts of India. It is 32 years since I first met the late Pastor K.N. Stephenraj and the brothers and sisters of the Early Apostolic Church. How things have changed in India generally! There are many reasons but most clearly the economy has developed markedly. The reason is partly due to the development of the many telephone call centres offering jobs with significant incomes for many young Indians. Kevin Kamalraj remnded us that while some see the benefit of the rising economy as good, there is a down side in the young being enabled to involve themselves in pursuits that will not help them or their country. Nor does it do anything to close the gap between the rich and the poor!

Our few days here has givn opportunity to enjoy being with some of the brothers and sisters here. We enjoyed a real 'love-feast' where we looked back at where Father has led us and gave thanks an praise for the deep friendship that we know. This is so much a reality that it would not be wrong to mark our reason for the visit on the entry card coming into India as 'visit family and relatives'!

It was also a joy to connect again with the brothers and sisters who meet as a small group of the Church in suburban Chenai. They have moved from a local fellowship where there was strong contol that robbed people of their place of freedom in Jesus. They have been meeting together for quite a few years now and are seasoned believers. They too are a joy to share some time with.

And of course, once again the staff of the Hotel Blue Damond have cared well for us.

Monday evening next we catch a Singapore Airlines 747 for the trip to Sinapore and the a further 8 hour journey to Melbourne and home again!!

The adventure continues...

We were once again, sad when it was time to say 'goodbye' to the Viotti family. Silvio and Dominique drove us to a motel near the Geneva airport . The motel was actually in France yet only a few kilometers from the airport. These dear people are more living evidence that Father is at work in his world transforming and changing his children, enabling us to live in growing intimacy and friendship with him. And that with no training wheels or human support structures to keep us going apart from Jesus himself!

Before they drove away we hugged and felt that we had known each other for many years in stead of six days! Silvio put it this way in an email: “It is true that we didn't know who was coming, but on the other hand, you didn't know where you were going too, what was the expectations of the people you were going to meet. And I'm - we are - so happy to have you in our home. We love you so much, Isn't it great that I feel so much like if you are some remote cousins that all of a sudden came back from Australia to visit us ! You are family ! (Well, I have to say that you are NOT Italian, but you still are a nice bloke, however you spell it) Really we enjoyed your stay...”

We stayed at the motel because our plane left very early n the morning and as with all the security stuff these days we needed to be at the airport about 4.30 am and as the Viotti's live over an hour's drive away it seemed a good idea to us and them!

The motel was a noisy and busy place. There were tradesmen still working upstairs from where we tried to sleep. If that was't enough, the weather had taken a turn upward and the room, built for cold winters was hot, humid and stuffy. That was enough for the night to be a sleepless event. But that's not all! When we have an early call Val wakes every hour or so to check we haven't slept in! We did sleep a little.

Our flight to Frankfurt was quick, comfortable and efficient. The bus transport from the aircraft to the terminal was anything but. We were herded into the coach and then had to wait and wait locked in and with no information about what was happening. We felt a bit like animals but I think we care for animals better than that. In fairness we should say that Frankfurt airport is undergoing massive changes and development and that may explain our two rather negative experiences.

We found our way around this gigantic place to counter number 295 which deals with lost items and a lovely lady came and we retreaved the phone lost on our last adventure in Germany a week before. It was good to see the problem resolved.

The trip to Chennai was uneventful. If you can say that sitting in an old Boeing 747 with more than 300 people, mainly lovely Indians and quite a number with small children and all with lots of carry-on luggage for nearly 9 hour uneventful. But we knew that ahead of us was the moment of truth. Would Val's visa be acceptable in the wrong passport?

With all that build up we made our way through the shining newness of Chennai International airport. We qued at immigaration and made our way wonderingly to the officer. We handed hime the passports and explained the slight problem... he grunted and hit Val's pasport with the stamp of approval and it was over! Val was in! Immigration Officers had changed since Kevin's last visit in November. Gone were the police like uniforms and now in matching civilian attire they did not seem as severe as they had before. Then a brother here told us that he had heard of Australian arriving without a visa being given a 7 day visa at te airport! (Perhaps we should have done that and saved the $140 charged and the two trips to Melbourne... oh well!)

At around 2.00 am we dropped into bed at the dear old Hotel Blue Diamond where we ave often stayed while in Chennai.

Two BIG blessings... in Switzerland

What an extraordinary blessing. The most amazing views and the opportunity to be welcomed into the home of Silvio and Dominique Viotta in beautiful Switzerland. Silvio translated "So you don't want to go to church anymore" into French. They are a wonderful family which we will tell you more of later!

On the way from Finland we changed planes in Frankfurt and in process Kevin dropped a new mobile phone that he had purchased. It's a long story. We had been looking out for a Palm smart phone that would work back in Aus. In the spare moment Kev had been looking around both is shops and on the web. But nothing was found.

While in Ireland, Kev was showing another person the way that ebay operated when he stumbled on a brand new Palm Treo 750, just what was needed for Australia. He was the only person who placed a bid and purchased it for a very low price. When we picked up the phone in the UK we found that it was a brand new unit and had a GPS (navigation aid) with it.

Some where between standing up to leave the plane and halfway along the 3 km walk to the next boarding lounge Kev discovered that the phone was missing! He hurried back but to no avail.

We contacted the lost and found people and they assured us they wold look but as the address and phone number for our hosts was in the phone we could not give a contact number and would have to ring and inquire about their success in finding the phone.

Imagine our delight when we did ring the lost and found office in Frankfurt the next day and discover that the phone had been found and that we could collect it on way back through Frankfurt en route India.

It was just another one of the wonderful things we have seen as we have traveled over these days. All praise to the Lord!

Just a small picture of people and places

John Kennedy - a unique fisherman. He castes his line into the water in his 'back-yard river' and catches a trout for dinner!
The colors of the day in the later evening in York
With Guy and Celia Kennedy outside their home in Martin, near York. (Below) One of the exquisite views across one of the thousands of lakes in Finland. It is the view we enjoyed daily through the time of our stay there.

From Manchester and on to Finland…….

Val sits in the summer cottage in Finland and knits!!

The flight to Finland was very early in the morning, so the night before we stayed one km from the airport. We didn't think when booking, about planes departing and arriving every 20 seconds just above our bed, so that took a little getting used to!!

Arrived in Helsinki safely and were re-united and welcomed warmly by Gunner and his wife, Liisa.. Kev first met Gunner many years ago at a Prayer Counseling Board meeting in the USA. We were driven 200 km to their Summer Cottage near Mikkeli north of Helsinki. A "breath taking" forest setting not unlike our Benloch setting only on the edge of a beautiful lake and of course no gum trees, but silver birch, spruce and pine trees to name a few that we knew.

We discovered that Finland is 80% Forrest and 20% Lakes and once again the first couple of days it rained and stormed – all very unusual for the locals – apparently they hadn't had such weather in more than 20 years! We are getting used to folks saying this – everywhere we have been it seems that the 'weather' hasn't ever been like this, or not for 20 years at least!!

It was again great to have time with these lovely folk. We talked much and shared some of the things that Father had been teaching us. These dear folks were so hospitable – and they looked after us and we had such a lovely time together – they drove us around and showed us lots of their beloved Finland including a spot right on the Russian border.

After a few days there and a delightful 'catch-up' and rest, we then drove back towards Helsinki to stay in their home before we headed off for Switzerland.

Just the day before we left we had lunch with two young ladies in downtown Helsinki, who were part of a group who had moved out of the institutional church and were learning to walk with Father in the fellowship of just a few others. Once again we saw how good it is to see just a little of the things that Father is doing as he takes his church back from the controls of well meaning people.