Saroj's House

The lady who comes to work in our home in the mornings is called Saroj. We visited her house recently with a Christmas hamper. Her home is fairly typical, and involves about 12 foot square with a cooking corner, and a washing corner.

She, her husband, and one son sleep on one bed, one son sleeps on another thin bed, and one son sleeps on the floor.

It is a very simple life.

Saroj was very excited that we gave her a small Christmas bonus, and bought a new sari to wear to her Christmas service at her Church (she is also a Christian). She wore her new sari today to our house, and was really happy and giggly when she came to the door wearing it. It is quite humbling how small things can make such differences to peoples lives. But it is also quite revealing that the more we have, the more difficult it is to make us happy!

Saroj has a lovely, happy, family. We are very blessed to have her coming to our home.

Church children's Christmas party!

Yep, another Christmas party!

This was a party for our church sunday-school. There was a magician and santa, then a meal, and Alistair had a good time.

Dress to impress!

Thankyou to 4 Australian students who were recently with us; Alison, Bethany, Esther and Jess. They came from a Church in Aus to help at another youth conference in Hyderabad.

They were only with me for one day, but they gave JSK lots of girls dresses that a friend had made, and we were able to get a fair few of them to girl patients on Friday afternoon before Christmas.

So thankyou to the friend, whose name I don't actually know!

Jeevan Sahara Kendra Christmas Do

Well, it is certainly Christmas party season here in Thane, which feels very surreal, as it is still 25 degrees at night, and more than that, we are not being bombarded with "X"mas consumerism constantly.

I still haven't managed to think of a Christmas present for Jo. I'm thinking that maybe I should have told her that the keyboard I got her for her birthday was actually a joint Christmas and birthday present! (do you think I could still pull that off?- her birthday was in May!!). Alternatively, we do have some painters coming to re-docorate our bedroom next week, it was at Jo's request, so could I tell her that's her Christmas present? - to put this in perspective, Jo has already told me that the bike I bought myself is actually my Christmas present!

Anyway...
...About the JSK Christmas party, it was on Saturday, and was a very successful programme. Lots of patient's gave very encouraging and uplifting testimonies, and as I looked round the room, I was struck by the number of patients who had attended our centre very sick over the past year, but that now by the grace of God are doing really well. Many of them would have been dead without the help and support of the team at JSK.

It was quite humbling to share with the people there the story from Luke 17:12-19;

As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!" When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him--and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no-one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."

I shared that Jesus is still working to heal the sick and outcast through the hands of we his servants, and that we all still need to go back to Jesus and say "thank you" for everything he has accomplished in each of our lives.

I also read Psalm 103:2-3;
Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits- who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.

I really felt fulfilled and content at the party. Being here in India is not just about helping others. It is about fulfilling God's good and perfect will for our lives. If we humble ourselves and do as God directs us, that will ultimately bring us more satisfaction than following our own selfish desires.

Lok Christmas party II

Our JSK team did a sketch as part of the programme for the Lok hospital Christmas party on Friday.

We got a bit of a laugh- here you see Shanti dressed up as a local politician! (see Alistair stage right!)

Yours truly also spoke for a few minutes about Jesus being the light of the world.

Lok Christmas Party

It was the Lok Christmas party on Friday.

There was a mix of old and new in the nativity play, with santa meeting Mary and Joseph!

The party was held in the centre of a housing society with lots of highrise flats overlooking the proceedings. This meant that all the inhabitants heard the Christmas message, as well as the party attendees.

It was a really good night, with a free meal as well.

Denise and I also won the "paper dance" game, and so we now have a couple of presents under the tree!

Z's dead baby, Z's dead...

Hey, prize for the first person who can tell me the significance of this set of keys/key-ring! 

On yer bike!

Well, here's a pic at last of the new bike, taken on my mobile by a local shopkeeper next to my work. See how the colour matches my helmet (no-one can accuse me of not being in touch with my feminine side?!) 

New Links

With "blogger beta" it is now much easier to add new links to the template for your website. You can check these out if you feel like it. I'm not sure if the independent cafes site is fully functioning yet. (it is a concept that Jo's brother Chris is toying with).

I really am a convert to blogging, and would recommend you all start doing it! It takes only a short time to set up and manage, and it a good way for people to keep up to date.

Skype is also fabby. I had a beer with my brother on-line last week!

Denyse

Last Wednesday a clinical psychologist from the "brain injuries unit" in Glasgow arrived here in Mumbai. She has taken a 1 year unpaid leave from her work, and is planning to be with us for a few months. You can see her hiding behind Freya here!

She seems like a really nice person. We hope that it will be a great support for Jo her being here. They have both been going into the hospital together a fair bit this week, meeting with consultants etc. They are planning to run some training seminars for the nursing and medical staff further down the line. They may also visit some other hospitals and charities, to see just what sort of service is available here in India, and also to get an idea of the best ways that Denyse can be used effectively during her time here.

As Jo will be a bit busier during these few months, I will be doing a bit more in the way of child-care, especially in the afternoons. Most of my doctoring with patients occurs from 9am-3pm anyway, but I'll be likely to miss some meetings and not be available to do teaching at Lok for a wee while.

Peter Foster's visit

One of the pastors from our home church in Glasgow came to visit us last week. He was going to a wedding in Chennai, and so he took 5 extra days, and came to see us on his way there. He left yesterday. We had a really great time with him, it was so nice to be able to relax and chat with someone quite similar to yourself, from a similar culture, (and with a similar sense of humour).

Unfortunately during his time here he had the audacity of beating me at an Indian game called Carrom (quite like a game of pool, but with draught pieces on a slippery board instead of balls- sort of a pool/air-hockey hybrid). I thankfully had the opportunity for revenge by then narrowly defeating him at the real thing on the pool table we have in our apartment complex "club house", (which also has a small swimming pool and sauna, gym, jacouzzi, table-tennis!)

During Peter's time here we also enjoyed swimming, getting on and off moving trains (when he didn't leave me behind in rush-hour), going to collect my new bike, the bazzars, A tour of Mumbai (including this boat trip round the harbour), and much more.

It was a shame Peter's visit was sooo fleeting, but great to have him to stay, and to get to know him a bit better.

Youth Against Aids

Here ae some photos of the stage at the Youth Against Aids (YAA) day conference we held on Dec. 2nd.

The day was a great success. We had about 400 young folk attend throughout the course of the day, and about 200-250 people there most of the time.

We had hoped for 400 atendees, and so it is nice to meet your targets.

There were 2 really good bands that played, and some people with HIV gave their stories from the stage, which was really brave, and had a really good impact. there were also a couple of really moving plays, and a main speaker. In the afternoon there were 7 different seminars, and I gave one of these on the basics of HIV. I'm not a big fan of public speaking, (even those of you who know me quite well are surprised?!) but the talks went quite well I think.

At theend of the day there was a candle lighting ceremony, and everyone sang, and waved their candles in the air for this. It had gone dark by that time, and so it was a really effective way of creating the right atmosphere. We ended by singing "shine a light in every corner of the world".
 

World AIDS day

Here is a photo of the stall we set up near the train station here in Thane on World AIDS day, which was December the first.


















A lot of people walk along this stretch of road by the lake, and in the course of the day we spoke to hundreds of people, and gave away as many leaflets. Maybe a life will be saved (or even a chain reaction of many lives!- if you prevent one person getting HIV, you also prevent them infecting others, and those others infecting others......)
Thankfully the weather was nice- Well, hey, it is warm and sunny every day after all!

Last year on World AIDS day there was a big procession involving many schools around Thane, and then in the afternoon there was a big Government meeting with lots of media and politicians. This year there was no big event though, but we did what we could to continue to raise awareness.

It was Lynne's last day with us. She is a nurse from Scotland who worked with us for 6 months. She was a very compassionate and caring person, and will be missed. (Hi Lynne if you're reading this!)

Success!

Wayhey, Party on!

I was successful in my bid, and am now the proud owner of a Bajaj CT100!

The bike I put a bid in for was actually a brand new bike basically. It had driven 45km only, and had never actually been registered for road tax or a number-plate. It cost me about 300 pounds, but would have actually been 500 pounds from a garage.

What's more, it was the model I wanted, was the first bike I saw in the warehouse, and is the same colour as my helmet!! When I saw it I felt "that bike is for me", and I was right!

The bid I placed was only about 6 pounds higher than the next bid, so I feel I've had a good day today!

Motorbike madness

Hello all, I currently drive a 16 year old scooter here in India. It was donated to our office by someone who had bought a new bike, and I have basically spent a lot more that it was ever worth getting almost every part of it replaced. However I think it was worth it, as we now have a fairly reliable vehicle.

However, we have a new member of staff who has joinet our team recently, and he hasn't got transport. Therefore I have decided that as I can afford to get a new bike, and he can't, I will buy a new bike soon. Then he will be able to use the scooter.

This photo is of a Bajaj CT 100 Winner of best bike in it's class last year (bottom of the range!). I found out about a garage that houses lots of bikes that have been reclaimed by the banks, and so yesterday I placed a closed bid on a bike there. I will find out in 2-3 days if I have been successful! But anyway, I should have a new bike soon.

US the most "Christian country in the world?

On 26 October, the UN General Assembly’s First Committee (which deals with disarmament and national security) passed a draft resolution requesting the Secretary-General to look into the possibility of creating a comprehensive, legally binding international instrument to control the import, export and transfer of conventional arms.
Co-sponsored by 116 states, the resolution received overwhelming support. Of the 164 states that voted (the delegates of a number of smaller states were absent), 139 were in favour, including Britain and the whole of Europe; 24 abstained, including China, Cuba, India, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, Russia and Somalia; and only one voted against – the United States.
It appears that most of the world would like to control the trade in conventional arms – the assault rifles in the hands of the boy soldiers of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda and the warring militias of Chechnya, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Tonga......
The voting patterns over the last 12 months are revealing. On a resolution on the illicit trade in small arms, 172 countries were in favour, with no abstentions and only the US against. On a resolution towards the elimination of nuclear weapons, 168 were in favour, there were eight abstentions, and four against: Equatorial Guinea, India, North Korea and the US. On a draft resolution on the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty, 175 countries were in favour, there were four abstentions, and two against: North Korea and the US.
Is it naive to ask why the richest and most ‘Christian’ country in the world should go out on a limb and set itself against all that seems right and honourable and Christian in this way? Is it too simplistic to wonder why the US is willing to vote against everyone else and align itself with North Korea?
Not that we can, with integrity, express self-righteous indignation at the voting patterns of our partner in the ‘war on terror’. Even now, the British government is using all its diplomatic skills to back the US in blocking a ban on cluster bombs.

other end of the spectrum

If any of you have the dire straits album 'brother's in arms' play the title track now!

there's a line that goes something like this; "we have just one world....,..... but we live in different ones"

These photos display something of that in our lives, compared with those lives of the people we serve. It's a different world, as you'll see from these photos compared to the photos in the posting below.

The first photo is of a really nice restaurant that we went to with some friends. It is elevated on stilts, with a swimming pool at one end, and a huge fish-pond with 3 foot long catfish (alistair loved those).

The second photo is taken in a kiddies play area in the top storey of a massive shopping centre that has just opened a short drive from us. Again, Freya and Alistair love it! "I want to go to giggles daddy"

a ten pin bowling alley has also just opened only a few hunded yards from our house. You can see Ranjit my friend displaying his skills here.

These Pictures show how well it is possible to live here. There is such a stark contrast between rich and poor.

Until recently in India, that was the end of it (rich and poor), but there is now a booming middle class, that is the cause for all the shopping centres, bowling alleys and the like springing up. There is also a booming housing market, and with the emerging middle class there also comes a lot of jobs for the lower classes in the service industry.

The huge devide between rich and poor seems sooooo wrong, but I believe that if the top end of Indian society improves, with time it will also drag the bottom end up with it. I would love to fast forward a few decades, and see how things have (hopefully) improved. Already there have been big changes since I first came here in 1998.

Home visits

I don't tend to go out on home visits much, as my largeness, and whiteness atttracts a fair amount of attention in the slums in which we mostly operate!

I came across this "bridge" recently, and couldn't resist taking a snap with my phone.

Basically the bridge on the left is so ramshackle and dangerous that people use the pipe as a bridge. I wouldn't fancy it in monsoon, when the surface polished by thousands of feet might get a bit slippy!

The water is filthy and theres a pretty foul reek eminating from the mirky green water!

The 2nd photo gives an idea of the kind of dwelling that many of our patient's families live in. Generally they are actually made of brick, but are usually this size, with a small area for washing in the corner, and no running water or toilet........

......speaking of which, you can see the public toilets behind and to the right of Rahul (who I work with)....
....talking about foul reeks... 

Youth Against Aids

Howdy Partners!

This thread is to give you a bit of information about the fact that we are running a day conference for the youth of Mumbai on the 2nd of December.

There will be 2 bands playing, seminars, a time for testimonies from people living with HIV/AIDS. To finish there will be a time of candle lighting, and the opportunity for the delegates to make a pledge.

JSK, the HIV/AIDS project that I work for, are running the whole thing, and yours truly will be doing one of the seminars on the basics of the illness.

This is the biggest and most exciting project that I've been involved in since I arrived here in India. If it prevents even one person getting HIV then it will be worthwhile.

I'll take my camera, and hopefully update the sight with a few photos as well later.

Chow for now

Anniversary Weekend 2

These photos are all of our anniversary weekend away. I must apologise for the time delay in posting these, and for the lack of chronological order on our blog recently. It's because we have not had internet access. That should change soon. We now have a home phone line! and internet should follow in a week or so!

In the photos you can see the hotel room, complete with red love-heart balloons courtesy of Jo (she's quite romantic really). The craft stall was also in the hotel, where you could watch the man making bangles and decorating notebooks with resin over a small furnace. Quite fascinating if you're into that sort of thing! The last photo is of a walk we did on the Sunday. It was pretty hot, but great to be out and about.

Human Pyramids

This is an image from a recent festival where participant's try to build a human pyramid big enough to smash a pot containing cash overhead.

This year 3 teams from Spain came to take part.

Pots are set up all over India, and teams compete all day.

Adam's sister's trip

Hi, Adam here,

By the way, we still don't have internet at home. I've just taken a few photos to work on my pen-drive, so that they don't go too much out of date!!

I've already told you a little bit about my sister being here, but here is photographic proof!

Inga, Alice, Robert and Andrew all went on an elephant ride while they were travelling in the north of India. Now Alistair says "I want to go an an elephant"!!

For our 6th wedding anniversary we went as a family to a posh hotel nearby. It was for 2 nights and 3 days, and we had a great time. Jo arranged for our room to be filled with red love-heart baloons!!, and she also had the waiter bring out a surprise chocolate cake on the evening of our anniversary!

The hotel was lovely, with great buffet meals, and a water park with some kids slides, that Alistair loved!

The photo you see here is taken at the doorway of the largest temple carved out of the rock in India (I think that's right). You may think "that probably isn't saying a lot"!? However there aer lots of these cave temples in India, and this one was MASSIVE, and very impressive.

It was a hot day, and we had to climb several hundred steps to the temple, so please excuse my sweat marks!!

One Year on........

Hi, Jo here, it’s been a while since I added anything to this blog (mainly because we’ve had no internet access at home since we got back from the UK in July) so now, just over a year since we arrived in India, seems as good a time as any for an update. Our ‘anniversary’ prompted us to do a bit of reflection on the past year. Although it has been hard at times and there is a touch of relief that we did it and survived (!), we are glad we came and glad that we are still here! We’ve learnt so much about the country, the culture, people and language and also about ourselves.

Some highlights:

-Arriving in India, finally, after months of preparation, packing and goodbyes. Coming out of the airport and remembering what we loved about India

-Settling in to our own flat and making it home and, in March, settling into our new, improved flat which has made life so much easier.

-Shopping. Learning how and where to shop and what we could and couldn’t buy.

-The fruit and vegetables, which are fantastic and fantastically cheap. We will struggle to part with our cash when we return to the UK after such luxuries as a box of 24 mangoes for 2.50!

-One month in Mussoorie in Oct/Nov studying Hindi. Walking to ‘school’ everyday looking at the snow-capped Himalayas was something we will never forget. It has been great putting our Hindi into practice and becoming, slowly, more confident. Folk are always pleased, and often surprised when we talk to them in Hindi.

-The animals, which you both love and hate. A trip anywhere generally includes pigs (a family of which live on the rubbish tip in our street), chickens, lots of dogs, a goat or two, cows and the odd elephant thrown in for good measure! For all that I worry about what the children miss out on, experiences like this are unique and great for language development!

-Speaking of language development, Alistair’s expanding Hindi repertoire delights and amuses us. He has really adopted the ‘Indian way’ with the head wobble, hand movements, intonation and ‘Hinglish’ grammar! I love the fact that he and Freya are absorbing a different culture which will hopefully broaden their views of the world and make them more tolerant and versatile in years to come.

-Being out in the early-late evening and experiencing the buzz on the streets as everyone emerges from the heat to buy, sell, play, chat, walk…. Watching the wee man ride ably along on his bike with 20 trays of eggs tied precariously onto to the back, or the 2 men on their scooter carrying a huge pane of glass while chatting on their mobiles.

-Driving! I never thought I would drive a car in India! There is actually a bizarre logic to the chaos once you get used to it and learn never to stop or give way to anything!

-Adam’s family visiting us for Christmas, and New Year’s Eve spent with them in Mumbai. We brought in 2006 in a rooftop restaurant looking out over the harbour with the Gateway of India in full view.

-Freya’s arrival on the 15th January has to be a highlight for all of us. I certainly won’t forget the experience (!). It’s hard to believe that a year ago we were here and she wasn’t when now she is such a part of our family.

-My parent’s coming to visit when Freya was 3 weeks old. It was really special to be able to share our excitement with close family.

-Adam’s sister and friends coming in July/August.

-All the other visitors that we’ve had. It’s as though we’ve got to know more people and more people better by being here than if we’d been in the UK!

-Our anniversary weekend at a posh hotel, complete with big red love heart balloons!

-Of course our work here which you can, if you haven’t already, read about in more detail in previous entries.

I could go on but won’t, except to say that we are looking forward to the next 2 years. Now that we’ve already hit the one year mark, we realize how quickly our time in India will go and want to make the most of our experience and roles here.

Children's work

Many of you are especially interested in the children's work that we do. I guess that children hold a special place in the hearts of most of us. Especially those who are severly disadvantaged in this cruel world by no fault of their own.

The work we do with children is in many ways difficult to pin down, as we really see most of our children in the day to day clinics and visits, and they are seen in with our other patient's mostly, and so it can be difficult to quantify and tie-down.

Currently children do not recieve any HIV/AIDS treatment free from the Government, but that is hopefully going to change. There have been some meetings to discuss setting up government clinics for free medicines and treatment for children, and so all local charities have been asked to compile a list of children with HIV, or who are at risk of contracting HIV.

Thankfully only a small percentage of children born to HIV+ mothers actually have HIV themselves (10-30% depending on circumstances).

Here is a little summary of the children we see

1) JEEVAN SAHARA KENDRA- We currently treat 16 HIV+ children Here in our clinic as our own patients. However we have 40 Children that MAY have HIV, but have not been tested yet. If the children are well, it is often difficult to persuade parents to have them tested.

2) GROWING ORPHAN CONCERN- We also have 4 orphans, but another 16 children with only one HIV positive parent left, and 31 children who have both parents suffering from HIV. Many of these children will become orphans, and there will also be many more as time progresses, and more and more parents die of HIV, leaving healthy HIV- children behind. These children are the future of India. We believe that it is best for children to be with family/relatives where possible, with support if necessary. However sometimes relatives are estranged, or cannot cope. In this circumstance we would like to start a mid-week orphanage, where children stay in an orphanage during the week, but still go back to relatives at the weekend. This project is still only a dream, and not even on paper, but a real desire, and will hopefully come to fruition during my time here in India.

3) PURNATA BHAVAN PATIENTS- Another 14 HIV+ orphans travel from an orphanage 3 hours away to recieve treatment from us. We have been providing this service for 7 months, and when we started, many of the children were on the wrong treatment rom elsewhere.

4) JEEVAN ASHA PATIENTS- A month ago we started treating 55 children who are not HIV+, but attend a pre-school in a local church nearby. They are all from very poor backgrounds. Some may have HIV, but we do not know of any at present.

5) MULUND CHURCH- A nearby suburb has a very motivated house-Church who currently have a small orphanage with 2 of our children, and one of our HIV+ rescued prostitutes acting as warden/mum. 2 of the church members have recently left well paying jobs to seek god's will for their lives, and the Church have a real heart to expand their HIV work.

I hope this gives you some idea of what we are involved in with children. It has actually been quite encouraging for me just to write this out and see all the kids whose lives we are impacting!!

Jo's work

Jo has been doing 2 afternoon's a week in the hospital for a couple of months now, and it is going well. She has had some successes, and some failures- people's expectations are often unrealistic. They don't realize that actually they have to do most of the work, and Jo can't just wave a magic wand or whatever! There is a lady called Denyse coming here in Dec. Jan. to help set up a better service. She runs the Adults with brain injury unit in Glasgow, and Jo is very excited.

I'm perhaps going to babysit a bit more During the time that Denyse is here, so please pray for work not to suffer. It is feasible that we might even have internet at home by then, and that I'll be able to update this blog a bit more easily and frequently, and actually update with some pictures as well! (Actually I'm being a bit facetious, (did a spell-check on that word, and it was correct-WOW!) Although Jo and I have spent many man/woman hours trying to sort out internet with 2 other companies since we returned to India in July, we are now hopeful that the third company should actually have us on-line within a fortnight).

Anyway, your prayers for Jo would be greatly appreciated.

Update on my father

Hello all, thanks for all you support and prayers for my dad. He remains upbeat, hopeful and only a little frustrated with the NHS!

My dad goes to see his consultant again on the 2nd of November for another bowel test. Hopefully his problem will be completely healed as this is what a lot of people are praying for. This is also what I'm praying for, but I know I lack the faith! Maybe if we're all praying, all our little bits of faith will add together and we'll see a miracle happening!!

Even if he needs a section of bowel removed, it seems likely from his reports so far that this will be curative, so all in all we are hopeful. Thanks for your prayers and support at this time,

Lots of love, Adam

Apologies

I would like to apologise in advance for the use of the words "God damned" in the following post. I would like to point out that the actor who blayed BA is now a preacher in America somewhere I believe. So you see God can redeem even cuss mouthed hard men with a bad mohawk hairstyle. I can think of someone I know who also fits that description and is also a committed Christain!

BA halts flights

Jo's brother Steve sent us this recently. I'm old enough to find it really funny. My dad and I used to love watching the A-team together. There was always a means to create weapons of mass destruction at the disposal of the team, but there were never any injuries! Amazing!

I've had a telling off

I would like to apologise for not updating our blog for some time. The reason is that we have only had internet access at home for a very short time since we arrived back from the UK. It has been really frustrating. Hopefully some of you are still checking our blog, and will read this! Recently I was given a telling off by one of my sister's friends, as they had been to visit us, and yet they didn't have a mention! So here goes Andrew....

.... It was really great to have my sister Inga and one of her friends Alice to stay with us for about a month in August. Alistair loves Inga, and is still asking about her fairly frequently. and he still talks about "Inga's room". Two lads from St. Andrews who were wanting to come to India for a "gap month" before starting University were also here at the same time, and so the 4 of them were able to do a bit of travelling together, which was nice for the girls to have some male company on the trains etc. so that they were not hassled at all by Indian men, which unfortunately can happen sometimes (although the majority of Indians are extremely helpful and hospitable to foreigners).

Unfortunately Inga et. al. have now all left, and we miss them all terribly. Andrew and Robert (the lads) were very generous with gifts, including bringing me a bottle of malt whiskey!

I would love to put some up to date photos on the blog as well, but I will need to put these onto a pendrive first. Time will not allow at present as I am at work. Andi and Sheba who work with me have been on a well deserved break this week, and so I am a little busier this week than usual, but enjoying the challenge of being "team leader" in Andi's absence. Things are running smoothly though, and Andi and Sheba are back on Monday, which is great.

Jo and I are fairly likely to return to Mussoorie soon to do some more intensive Hindi language learning, and so we would appreciate your prayers that the planning for this would go smoothly, and that we would also be able to find someone to help with babysitting while we are there, to give us the time to study.

I'll try to post again soon. Sorry once again for my absence, Adam xx

Hard work at times

Please all pray for me to have continued strength at work. I heard today that a 6 year-old orphan boy that we were treating died yesterday. That is the youngest death that I have seen since I arrived at JSK. The deaths of children really affect me sometimes.

What have they done to deserve being born into such terrible circumstances? Every time they come to the centre I try to give them a ballon or a pad and pen, those sorts of things. How futile it seems at times in the face of quite terrible suffering (and death). Andi who runs the project says that he believes this child has now gone to a better place. I balieve that death does give God a chance to deal out some equality. The passage in Matthew 5 commonly known as "the beattitudes" springs to mind. I believe that in death people who have suffered in this life will recieve God's compassion and grace. Children who have had terrible lives will be sons of God, and recieve sooooo much love and comfort in heaven. This makes it easier to say goodbye to these little ones.

I know a lot of Christians are "exclusivists", and believe that all humans must make an active confession of faith in this life to go to heaven. What I believe is that if you do make an active confession of faith, and ask for God's forgiveness, then you are automatically accepted and forgiven, and that you automatically go to heaven. However I believe that everyone else is judged, and that they do not automatically go to hell. This gives me some hope for these children (and also my grandparents). A common question and problem for exclusivists is the question "what about those who have never heard".

In John Ch9 v 41 Jesus says "if you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin"

Jesus also says "it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners". This is why I am in India. There are a lot of sick people here (both physically and spiritually), and I am a Doctor.

I realise that I am not necessarily right about all of this (above). However it does give me hope. In Corinthians 13 it says "Faith, Hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love" (not faith).

New Profile Photo

I hope some of you have noticed our new profile photo, which now also shows Freya.

Exeter

 

Exmouth