In case you didn’t manage to St. Andrew’s Church on Sunday, here’s a replay of our live link with the team out in India.

I thought I’d add to the blog while waiting for the connection to Bo’ness. It’s now 2.25pm here and we’re waiting to connect with the congregation at Bo’ness over the Internet. We’re planning a conference call ito the service. So while we wait here’s the news to date.

Well I’m glad to report that Stephen and Lauren joined us this morning. Martha went to meet them at the Airport accompanied by Capt.Thacker. I wasn’t allowed to attend incase the same delays happened this weekend. Apparently all the churches were waiting patiently for our arrival and were disappointed when none of us turned up. This week I was on detail to make sure that at least the preacher would turn up. everything went to plan Lauren and Stephen arrived on time and we all proceeded to Christ the Rock Church.

We had a wonderful happy service. Pastor Raj and his daughter along with a drummer led us in worship. We also had some of the youth group dancing and they were joined by some of our group, ably led by Martha. You didn’t know that about Martha did you? She a great wee dancer. I shared the message this morning from Matthew Chapt. 11v 16-17,& 28-30. I talked about the fact that children the world over play street games and fall out with each other when someone doesn’t get their way. Often we play street games with God. he thing is God’s not interested in games he’s looking for people who want to face their problems and find solution. Verses 8-30 speak of that solution.

Here in India daily you see people carrying great burdens on their heads and shoulders. You also see the oxen shackled to a yoke pulling a great heavy cart. Here in verses 28 -30 Jesus suggests that he is able to make a yoke that will make the burden light. It was a message of compassion and comfort asking people to come to Christ with their troubles. After the service more than a dozen people stayed behind asking for prayer and healing. Once again like the people at the Leprosy Colony I was humbled by their faith and longing to encounter God.

I believe we’ve made connection and we are just waiting for the service to begin in Bo’ness. So here’s a picture of Jackie amusing the children while we wait.

Relaxation Comes Naturally

Had a taste of what it would be like to live in the life of luxury, having ‘Beach’ and ‘Evening Sun’ cocktails and just doing what comes naturally to us all.  Getting to see the swimming pool that only the residents were allowed to use.  Lunchtime was really good because we had two kinds of menus that we could choose from, a buffet or A la Carte (which is just a really posh way of saying you get to choose one main meal and that’s your lot). We all chose the buffet one, so when we went into the restaurant there were three different islands….one for appetizers, one for main meals and one for desserts.

It’s really weird though having visited all those deprived slum areas and then coming into this kind of sophisticated atmosphere where everything is laid back and nobody has any cares or worries. Whereas, the people in the deprived areas are spending each day being anxious and also worrying about money, food and somewhere to shelter them.

There was a major storm last night which got us all thinking about the people who live in the slums and the people who just live on the streets altogether.  They won’t have a stable home to help them keep dry and safe.

But from going to a posh hotel from visiting slums containing one bedroom homes which hold up to seven sometimes more, and watching two different types of lifestyles shows me how ignorant people can be about third world countries, and how unappreciative they are when have proper supporting families unlike families in India.

We’re all taking turns of writing the post. later on today Heather will tell you all about our adventures at the beech. Meanwhile I’d like to say how pleased we are that we will be making a live connection with you all tomorrow at church. Let people know so that they can either tune in on the internet of better still attend church. We’ve been really enjoying the set prayers that we took with us. Thanks to you Neil for preparing the sheets. they have been really very useful. We had a bit of a thunder storm last night and it just seemed right that this morning we were praying that God would protect us through the storm. As I write Stephen and Lauren are preparing to fly out of Heathrow in the next few hours. they will be with us early tomorrow morning. I think they will be so excited and and know it will be a bit of a culture shock for them.

This evening we’ve been invited to John Michael’s home for supper and he is looking forward to introducing us all to his new wife. Her name is Jessie. So I’ll sign off now but look out for Heather’s post in the next few hours… Albert

Thursday 27^th July 6pm

There was:-

Beatty teaching the children how to do Silk Painting

Lilias and Rae doing balloon sculpting

Johnny and Albert entertaining on guitar

Indian Dance with some Scottish variation – thanks Mike!

Martha taught some songs with actions

Heather, Liz and Jackie assisted Beatty in foil craft

Then……………….. guess what ….………. We went to a restaurant for an….. Indian arriving back after midnight!!!!

Friday 28^th July 10am

We left after a hearty breakfast of “Indian cuisine”!  and set off for Chengalpattu Mission Field.  This is an outreach of Mount Zion Church (you’ll remember Michael John who came on the World Without Walls training. He is joint Pastor of this church)This is a leper colony where people are ostracised from their local communities.  They live here with their well children and have little contact with the rest of society.  We received a warm welcome and joined them in a time of worship before distributing some rice.

We then headed off for Padappai Orphanage.  This is a self-funded organisation run by Grace and Paul Moses (brother of Peter).  Here they care for 60 orphans from the age of 2 – 5 years.  We were amazed to hear a two-year-old child quote scripture to us in English.  Today we actually witnessed the arrival of four new children. The experience was obviously very traumatic for them, but praise God and thanks to the love and care of the people who serve there, their lives will now become much richer and fuller.

Hi guys,

Im trying to blog for the first time so wish me luck,   today was a most upsetting and uplifting day,   we travelled about one and a half hours on mini bus to a place where Mount Zion church (our partner) provide a room where lepers can come for praise and food,   they feed them about twice a month,  we had a lovely wee service,  Albert was pretty much on fire explaining that God loves you whoever or wherever you are.   I pray that this touched them as they are seen as outcasts in there country.    We were able to shake hands,  which was very humbling.   From there we travelled about another hour to the Sangita Orphanage which is run by Paul and Grace (Shubbas husbands brother),  they are the most lovely and Godly people,   the Lord spoke to them after the tragic death of their daughter to care for orphans and today they have premises which has around 50 kids under the age of five,   they live there,  they feed and care for them,   we went in and the kids were the most well behaved toddlers you have ever seen.     Very well behaved,   they sang us songs and recited scriptures from the bible,  really amazing.    St Andrews crew sang them Our God is a great big God,  then told a story,  and they were mezmerized,  some were starting too fall asleep,   we went for a chennai curry upstairs(which was braw), then back down and they were all sleeping,  on the floor,  25 kids, on theirs side sleeping, boys in one room and girls in another.   It was a day filled with many emotions,  sadness at the plight of the sick and orphaned mixed with emotions of Joy that the Lord has placed people here to help them.     The work that they are doing over here is overwhelming and any support we can give them will be a blessing.    So guys,  you will bugged about India when we get back.   

We journed back and stopped off at the mall which really seemed unappropriate but you guys need pressies.    We have been on the go pretty much most of the time, tomoz is a day of rest,  think we are going to a beach resort.    Such a contrast to today.

Our evening prayers were filled with Thanks to the Lord for the work that is going on around us and for our families back home.

God Bless 

Jackie Bundy          

Hello from Beatty, Mike and Jackie. Today we started our day with an appropriate scripture about Jesus sending his disciples out into the world. Matthew Ch.28.v16. and a beautiful omelette.

Pastor Raj came to collect us and with there being more women than men we had a chance to stop at a lovely Indian Craft shop. Two hours later !!! the men were wilting and it wasn’t the heat!

from there we went to the slum area of chennai where pastor raj supports the women with their sewing classes. he provides them with a very small room with 6 sewing machines and one fan. we were in the room for 15 minutes and you could have fried an egg it was so hot. Pastor raj supplies the material and training, the ladies then make the garments then try and sell them on at the market. for a whole days work they can earn themselves the equivelant of two pounds a day which will manage to feed them for a day. we went  to the christ the rock partner church where we met some of the congregation and got to see where pastor raj lives. after receiving their hospitality we’re returning tonight to have an activity night and eightsome reels in a sauna experience. If we are still alive later we will let you know how it went.

Today was a little bit more relaxing. We visited the internet cafe here earlier on to post onto the blog. We now have a litlle extra time before dinner at 9.00pm, so I’ve taken the advantage to write a little about today.

We had the privelige of visiting Kennedy School and what a welcome we received. Have a look at some of the pictures. This is a Christian School  which is open to all faiths and seeks to give moral guidance to all their students. It is run by one of the pastors i meet last time i was here. Unfortunately Mathew is very ill at this time and everyone is praying for his recovery.  If you are reading this will you please pray for mathew.He has spent a great deal of his time and finances in setting up this school.  It may be that we can develop links with Kenny School and one of our World Without Walls partners. Perhaps even an exchange programme where students could come to Scotland.

After attending the school we were stuck in traffic for what seemed to be hours before we met up with Shanti Davidar. Shanti was over in the UK last year and spent a three month sabbatical working with the Church of Scotland in their Crossreach Social Programme.  Shanti is working on a programme helping women who sell themselves for money. She explained how she has been working closely with these women and that many of them are now in a good and safe place, making real progress in their lives. It was so encouraging to meet some of these women and see the difference that Christ is making in their lives. Afterwards we were treated to lunch by the Davidars and the picture below was taken outside the Club where we dined before returning home today.

The accommodation we live in is fine, but we’ve been having some trouble trying to agree how the bill should be paid. for some reason dollars seems to be the preferred currency. I said the manager of the house,don’t you think it a bit starnge that an Indian wants a Scots man to pay his bill in dollars?  Anyway I think he’ll just have to take what we have a mixture of all three currencies.  This is proving to be a very special trip for us all. Everyone is getting on together and enjoying the whole experience of India. I’m going to try and get Jackie or Johnny or Rae to finish off this part of the blog with their reflections.

It’s Rae here…

One of the things i’ve been struck most with is the amount of deprivation.  Many people live in poor conditions and the streets are full of rubbish.  We’ve seen people washing in the street and people living and working on the streets.  It’s amazing the amount of traffic and people that is in Chennai.  The traffic is very scarey to travel in and i wouldn’t like to drive in it.  When we’ve been going out and about we always have our cameras with us and all the children love having their picture taken and then seeing themselves on the camera, they want their picture taken over and over.

anyway have to go for now, will post again soon

We certainly were a bunch of weary travellers when we arrived at the Stumpers Inn on Monday morning the 23rd around nine o’clock. After getting a shower and having a power nap and some breakfast, we were off out into the busy streets of Chennia to change our currency and do some shopping. After lunch it was back on the road again. Our friend Captain Afred Thacker was an excellent guide taking us a tour of the city and especially connecting with the parts that have a connection with Scotland.One man in particular stands out. His name is John Anderson. Anderson came to India as part of the great missionary movement that was spawned during and leading up to the time of the Disruption. There on a busy Chennai street is a Church standing still open and ministering to the thousands of people who pass by its doors every day. This church is directly across from the High Court. We also visited the Madras Christian College. This again is an institute that was set up by Anderson and for years was supported by the Church of Scotland. It turns out to be one of the foremost educational establishments in India. I had an opportunity to meet the head master of the school. It was quite humbling to hear him speak of the great esteem in which he and his staff hold Scotland and the Kirk. However I was saddened to hear that the college no longer had any living links with the Church of Scotland. After some discussion we agreed that we would try and explore ways in which “ World Without Walls” might facilitate a new link with Chennai and Scotland.

Today we were up bright and early to make our trip to the fishing villages many of the had been affected by the Tsunami which hit the Bay of Bengal in 2004. The particular village we visited was called Pallavercadu. We had the honour of being taken into a Fishing families’ home and being treated as their special guests for the day. This family explained to us the difficulties that they were facing because the back waters where they fish are drying up and they now operate a quota system. This means that their turn as a family to fish comes round twice a month. As you can imagine this has brought their family into great financial difficulty. Four brothers and their wives and families all live together in an extended fishing hamlet. Despite their poverty they were more than happy to share with us their lives today and in truth we were blessed being with them. They showed us how they catch cramb and shrimp and prawns in their nets and then they prepared a meal fit for royality. Our visit was topped by a wonderful boat ride on the back waters taking us to an island where the fresh water of the back waters meets with the Bay of Bengal.

She laughed a lot together and shared songs and enjoyed a marvellous meal together, then we returned to the village. Word was out that we were in town. Many people came out to meet us. The children just loved to have their pictures taken. A day like this makes all we are doing in our World Without walls so important. We couldn’t speak each others language but we could speak the language of faith hope and love.On leaving this village all of us were touched by the sincerity of faith and the deep hunger that these people have to know more about the love of Christ. We also reflected on the obedience of the local Indian Christians, at Mount Zion Church who take the message of the gospel to those in the out laying areas. This gospel starts with a practical concern for their daily needs. It is our prayer that we will be able to talk with more authority about the needs of the fisher folk in India now that we have visited this family.

Here is a picture that says it all. Bored hanging around waiting and waiting and waiting. Now we know how it feels to join the thousands of travellers who find themselves in this postion year in year out. However we’re not dismayed. We’re on a mission and we’re looking forward to it. But we are allowed to be human.