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One learns many things

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:56 GMT

This morning at Church Dik was preaching from 2 Kings 4, the widow's cruse. It was an apt message for us because we've just come out of a week which has not been the best of our lives.

Or has it ?

Maybe the worst times are the best. Certainly this last week has taught us lots of things. Firstly we have had to be patient with each other. We've done very well - right up till this morning when things got fraught for a tiny moment. Secondly we've seen how God has helped us through - sending our friend at just the time Pat needed to get Catrin from school, sustaining Pat's health until the rest of us are better (she's not good just now, though), timing everything for us, keeping our spirits up. It's been good to be quieter and slow down together - normally life is an endless rush from one place to another.

Last Sunday evening we sang together :

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
You, who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?

In every condition, in sickness, in health;
In poverty’s vale, or abounding in wealth;
At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea,
As thy days may demand, shall thy strength ever be.

Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.

The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.

Now we're back in circulation, and this evening I am preaching from John 2, the cleansing of the temple.

(We didn't sing this verse :

Even down to old age all My people shall prove
My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;
When grey hairs, or no hairs their temples adorn,
Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.)

Sunday in Cyprus

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:29 GMT

Sunday is still, mostly, a peaceful kind of day in Cyprus. To be sure, we hear church bells ringing fairly early, but they don't go on for too long. We're not close enough to one of the Greek Orthodox Churches to find it disturbing, and we don't hear the services being broadcast as people do who live closer.

Shops are mostly closed - unlike the UK these days - on a Sunday. The bakeries, of course, are open from early to late 363 days of the year (the exceptions being Christmas Day and Greek Easter). There are little periptero stores - sort of like convenience stores combined with newsagents - which are open for a few hours on a Sunday. And, I'm sure, many of the tourist shops are open around the sea-front. But the supermarkets and fruit stores are closed; nobody goes to school; most people have a day off work. The traffic noises are minimal, and the local people relax, hanging out together peacefully.

Richard went to King Malu again this morning. He did wonder if I would like to go down to the marina to meet him for lunch, but after having a migrainey headache yesterday, I thought it best not to go out in the sun. And it's very bright indeed today. I didn't go to any church service, either. Tonight some friends will be here for a light meal; kind of a splinter group from the renegade cell group we now belong to. So I've been pottering: I swept and mopped, and emptied the bins. I've made two loaves of bread in the breadmaker, so far, and am thawing some chicken soup I evidently made last winter, to re-heat. I've made a dip to go with veggies, and will sort out some fruit in a while, and set the table for ten.

I've also managed to sort through the digital photos from September, and am currently uploading them to Kodak Gallery. There must have been some kind of glitch that stopped me doing it on Friday; the site is working fine today. It takes a LONG time to upload forty photos at two or three megabytes each, but I leave the site open in another tab and can continue doing other things at the same time. I just have to make sure I don't accidentally close the tab, and hope that the browser doesn't crash...

So what's this swine 'flu like then ?

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 01:26 GMT

A couple of people have asked :

1) extremely infectious. From 1 case to schools closed in 4 days is pretty good going.

2) different in different people. Gwilym was harder hit with fevers and pains. Catrin had malaise. I had a streaming nose and the worst cough (still there a bit).

3) not that severe for us. Here we are less than a week after onset and we're up and out.

Kids

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:04 GMT

Quote from the neighbour's kid who had taken Joni to play in the plaza the other day:

"We'd picked you a flower, only Joni ate it on the way home".

When not chewing on the flowers in the plaza, he's taken to sitting in the washing basket staring out of the window like some imprisoned little waif.

Zenica Trip...

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:01 GMT

I went to Zenica on Thursday on the train. I got to stay with my good friends Tiffany (who is looking very happily pregnant) and Sladjan on Thursday night. On Friday I hung out with my former team leaders: Max and Liz and then with other friends, Beth and Jeff. At 2, I went to do what I had really come to do (although getting to hang out with friends is a nice part of it!): train people in how to start their own business!

I was asked by Dejana (with her husband, my good friend Mario below) to come and train using the program that I learnt this summer from Laura: They work for LERC in Zenica, an NGO with whom we have a joint sponsor (ie we both have projects that are sponsored by the same organisation: Dorcas Aid International) and because of this we have been doing some seminars and joint activities together. This is another opportunity to strengthen the working relationship between our organisations.The program is a game which is played with three teams competing against each other. Here I am with one of the teams checking the quality of their product (part of the process!):
I ran two modules (Friday night/Saturday morning) now and the other two will be in two weeks time (yip another trip to Zenica in my near future!). In between, the participants are giving a 10KM ($8/R60) loan so they can start their own business. Below are one of the teams in the game with Djemka (right) who also works for LERC.
It was really good to be able to train with this material as it really teaches through experiential learning and it is fun seeing the lights go on. Also, of course, the more I use it the better I will become at it. Also I am teaching the LERC people so they can eventually train by themselves (and I won't have to keep going to Zenica!)