Monday 6th April Training begins

The team of trainers begin  today.  We thank God for these people, who sacrifice time and finances to invest themselves into the Myanmar people and for the kingdom of God.  All so different, all so lovely, some way past retirement, not "pottering around on the porch of eternity", as John Piper puts it.  Watch this space.  God is moving here in this land of golden temples.

Robyn

Lahu people

 

 Lovely fresh veges in the market.  A couple of traditional bags with pom poms.  The flying elephant from Yangon airlines.  A tribal lady in the market.  I just love the outfit.  This is a beautiful old hotel we stayed in at Kyaineton.  I am well known for my love of tea.  So this is my kind of market.  Those bags are full of all sorts of tea.  One night, there was a mixup with our hotel accommodation.  We were offered a vacant apartment for the  night, so we slept on the floor, and were grateful for somewhere at short notice.  The teacher training begins tomorrow with six Aussies, Harold and Grace    Patsy, Beth, Lynette and Peter, and about 60 trainees.  We also have Lyn and Tanneal doing follow up training in Lashio.  They arrived this  morning at 9.30a.m. and left on the bus at 5 p.m. for an overnight journey.  They will be doing the second round of training with about 11.  David and Stacey Coates are also here assisting us, and we will spend the next few days looking at land, existing international schools, and investigating various approaches.
Robyn

Jamie Oliver, eat your heart out.

We seems to spend lots of time meeting people and making connections.  It is nearly always in a little cafe or some sort of eating establishment.  I couldn't resist sharing just a few things on the menu.
Green chilli pigs colon, Hot and sour pigs colon, Chicken Kung Poo.  I don't think any of these will make onto Master Chef.
Robyn

Yangon, I have no idea what date it is, but it is Sunday

Grahame and I are back in Yangon after a crazy couple of days.  It is Easter Sunday, so the team here are all going off to church this morning.  We are are all from different situations, and joining our brothers and sisters from another culture and tongue praising the one who died for us.  How marvellous to be in the body of Christ.
Friday we had our first experience of an "Airbus".  We boarded in Yangon, flew one hour to Heho, landed for 15 minutes, we had to stay put, while others passengers got out and others got in.  The plane refuelled  then up in the air again for 20  minutes, then landing in Mandalay for 15 minutes, some out and others in; off again for 20 minutes, landing in Titicheleck for 15 minutes, some out others in, the up again to Kiayung Tung for another hour.  Finally it was our time to get out, thank goodness.
Just like catching a bus, only in the air.  It was very exhausting.  We flew over beautiful hills and glorious farmlands.
I know we are proud of our flying kangaroo airline.  But Myannmar have done one better.  Their symbol is a flying elephant.  It gives a new meaning to "thank goodness, cows can't fly"

We connected with some lovely people there are are trusting we will be able to set up a school there to educate the poor.  Illiteracy is 80per cent in that region.  The land there that is available, is on a hill, with low mountains surrounding, and below lots of,rice paddies.  It is cooler there also.  It was worth the "Airbus" experience to meet these lovely people.  The pastor was taking a 9 hour trek on his scooter up into the mountains to care for the churches in that region the next day.  The committed lives these people live is always a challenge for us.  Time to go to church.  More later.   Robyn

Entry 2 April Team Mission

The April team continues, and continues to grow as we welcome arriving members.

Vivienne arrived today to assist Lalima and the staff with training and professional development. Her skills in management and teaching are a resource of immense value here. It is such a wonderful blessing to have folk volunteering their services to grow the ministry in these ways.

***

Today was church day and we enjoyed a great service with the lovely people of HCM. The worship team led a time of singing then Pastor Raju brought a message on interpersonal relationships. His dynamic and animated delivery of his sermon had the congregation in tears, in fits of laughter and deeply pondering the truths of scripture.

Pictured is Pastor Raju in full flight and Jiban (G1) leading singing.

***

More storms thundering through the valley again today. Today's storm was very windy but with very little rain to clean away today's dust. Windows and doors crashed shut throughout the streets and loads of rubbish were lifted and blown all over the place, dumping another thick layer of dust everywhere.

Netra was stuck at the airport collecting additional team members during the storms and came home wet and somewhat frazzled, having been sheltering under iron holding on for dear life while waiting. 

***

So what do you do if you're stuck inside late in the afternoon while the wild weather passes?

Play word association games? No, you play 'game' associated games...Twister of course...No one is sure if their tenderness is from falling over or falling about the place giggling. Either way they had no trouble passing the time till dinner was ready.

***

Nepal showcases people's initiative and willingness to earn a living despite their circumstances. Walking between the guest house and the groceries or catching the taxi back from church you get to see some of the ways the locals etch out an income.

In both of these shots the amount of weight involved is amazing. The poor guys delivering gas on push bikes spend so much time walking the weight up the hills. The gas bottles appear to be around 30kg's each when full!

***

Tonight during discussion time it was decided that we will all rise early in the morning and read in a round through selected passages of scripture to honour Jesus at this Easter remembrance time. We chose this start time to coincide with the approximate time the women would have made their sombre trek to the tomb according to Jewish culture. This will be a wonderful start to prepare us for another busy day. 

We welcome Venus and Simon this evening to the guest house. These guys are educators and school missions coordinators from Hong Kong, looking for possible involvement with Transform the Nations. The Lord is using his saints from all corners of the globe to empower the work being done.

Till next time.

                          

April Team News

Some things never cease to amaze, the mass of cables and mayhem that is strung overhead to carry electricity, telephone and adsl lines in Kathmandu is one of those enigmas. Team member Poppy Parry enthralled by the hive of activity at the top of the ladder needed photographic proof for his friends back home that this sort of network system actually existed

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April team is underway, a special thank you to Gordon and Ruth Harriot (pictured) who have been here for a month setting up computer systems along with some training with the IT teacher at CCS. Ruth as a TESOL teacher has been running IELTS programs with students seeking to train in Indonesia as future CCS teaching staff. Such a massive blessing to the ministry with the potential to change lives, communities and even a nation. 

The weather has seen cool mornings and evenings with mid twenties during the days. It is dry, dusty and heavy smog until this evening, with a thunderstorm rumbling through settling the atmosphere incredibly.

Flying in and then heading off on foot up through the hustle and bustle of Boudha road on into Baht Bathani to restock groceries in readiness for further team members arriving over the coming days we enjoyed a 'returning home' sensation. Being able to love a people group makes all the hard work that much easier.

  

Nepals most photographed baby Nelson is melting hearts each time he toddles in for a visit. For all of those keen to see how much he has grown here he is in a traditional Nepali outfit helping Poppy to show off their new Toppy's. Chatting away endlessly Nelson has a major in cuteness. Clomping around in shoes is another past time he enjoys immensely. 

                                

Please uphold the April team in prayer. Pray for those en route and for those with specialised roles. Remember to pray for the students and children as team members build into their lives.

Till next time.

Wednesday 1 April. Yangon

Here we are in Yangon after  whirlwind past two weeks.  We have been in Brazil for a conference, home for two days and then packed up for two weeks in Yangon and then onto Kathmandu for three weeks.  It is hot here.  Teacher training commences on the 6th.  Six Aussie trainers here and another two in Lashio.  Plus David and Stacey Coates are coming on 4th.  We went straight into a meeting when we arrived, and there will be a series of those happening in the time we are here.  Many exciting possibilities.  But right now, we just want to crawl into bed and try to work out what time zone we are in.
Robyn