I just hope I don’t forget anything that I wanted to share with you all!! Thursday morning worship was led by the group from Sri Lanka – it was awesome! It was a very charismatic. They didn’t try and be flashy or clever with what they did, it was just a pure expression of love for God! One of the prayers was a cry out to God to Bless us with his Holy Spirit, led by one of the Sri Lankans, but soon people all around the room were joining in with ‘Amens’ and ‘Hallelujahs’. It was beautiful.

Thursdays morning talks were both about sharing faith – first speaker had a wierd view of faith sharing – thinks its all about the words, nothing to do with actions!!? A direct quote from him: “Feeding the hungry, educating the illeterate is not the Gospel. Jesus did not send his disciples out to do these things. I struggle with this view – I can’t see any way to seperate the words we speak and the way we act when sharing our faith. The second speaker had a much more balanced view – she advocated words and actions. She said a lot of great stuff – but I’d like to keep that for its own blog post.

The workshop I went to today was one on faith, development and environment – looking at the relationship between the 3 things and how the Bible approaches them, again I want to give that workshop its own blog post – save for this. During the workshop, the rain got crazy heavy! Suddenly, the rain stopped and the clouds started to clear, slowly unveiling the beauty of the Annapurna range of the Himalayas. I was awestruck. It’s one of the few times I’ve been genuinly moved by a panoramic view. Once I’m back into a decent bandwidth, I’ll share some photos with you all!

The Pakistani group led the worship on Thursday night – was in their native tongue, so I don’t really know what was said, but it sounded beautiful! The shared a video with us about some attacks that Christians there suffered last year. I’ll share that video too once the bandwidth is better! After the Pakistani part of the worship, Vinod invited 2 or 3 of the whole gathering to share a little of how the conference had touched them. I went up first – sharing how this conference, especially the people, have taught me to live more joyously, more passionately, in the moment! I’m not the most…expressive person, I find it really hard to share emotions with others and really hard to dance , unless it’s a ceilidh!

As yesterday was our last day, some of my gupsup group shared our last lunch together – getting to know one another even better and eventually singing our national anthems to each toher – I went with ‘O flower of Scotland’ as I’ve never sung ‘God save the Queen’ have many issues with it, and generally just hate it!

Last night was the most awesome night! Everyone (apart from the UK group) was getting on a bus between 4 and 6am, so many of them decided just to stay up all night. So, the UK team decided to lead them in some community dancing! We did Ceilidh, Punjab, cheesy pop, Metal, Rave – all sorts. It was so incredible, everyone just let go of their inhibitions and got right into enjoying the moment! Even I was getting into it! Getting taught more Pakistani dance moves, leading the Ceilidh dancing, demonstrating cheesy pop songs for folks to take part in! The dancing lasted fomr about 10am until about 3pmish that we stopped. By this point, we were down to the last fathful few, but it was still amazing!

Joanna and I then decided it would be the best idea to stay up to see folks off on their journey at 4am and then to take in the sunrise.

Saying goodbye to everyone was hard. This week has been so amazing, I’ve met so many aweosme people and cultures that my mind is close to blowing! I wish we had longer out here with the people we have met. I’ve barely begun to really get to know people, and all of a sudden we’re going on our own seperate ways again! Thank the Lord for facebook and email! I’m looking forward to keeping in touch with them all, sharing more stories about life in our respective cutlures. I’ve had such an awesome time this week, I’ve loved meeting all these people and finding out about their cultures and how they live out their faith there. Once everyone had left, the hotel had that strange empty feeling that they get when an awesome conference finishes. Once the first few buses left we went to enjoy the sunrise, it was awesome, even better than after the storm yesterday! The skies were so clear that we got a beautiful view of the Annapruna range – it.was.awesome! To see how the mountains towered about the rest of the country, despite being30/40 miles away! Again, once I have the bandwidth I’ll upload some photos.

I have so much more to write, but i’m absolutely exhausted – I haven’t really slept since Thursday morning! So if any of this seems a bit out of place or not making sense – it’s because I’m falling asleep as I wrote this.

Peace out

Today was a little different and we went on the cultural trips – so each group went to visit different projects or cultural things within Pokhara – I went to visit two projects – one called ‘Happy Homes’ which homed children at any age that were struggling in their home lives – to get into the home they had to pass certain criteria. it is funded through different countries – the main being switzerland.

The second project we went to was a child development centre – which was called … which meant ‘Rainbow’ – So really hit home for me (those who don’t know me – (My grandma was a big fan of rainbows!) and this project set up different activities and sports once a week for the children from the area to come play, have fun and learn about God! The building was a little place but had a big area for playing outside and also a hockey pitch – steven would of loved it! (Although it was only just bigger than a badminton court!) So this project was great as very similar to my work – with the younger children they would spend more time doing activities in the project and with the older teenages they would take them out to do things such as climbing and jungle safari.

We then spent some of the afternoon visiting the second biggest lake in Nepal – in Pokhara also – was so gorgeous and the weather is sooooooo warm!! I went on a little boat trip (via big canoes) to the middle of the lake where they had a little temple and more lovely views! And the back to the conference for final sessions!

So a brill day – been thinking way too much and too deeply – so all i want to do right now is be at home! So will hopefully brighten up tomorrow and enjoy the rest of the trip! x

Todays been an interesting day. The morning worship was, as ever, inspiring and heartfelt. I picked up an Bengali phrase during it: He Probha, Amader Prarthons, Groajjho Kuro. Which means: O Lord, Hear our Prayer. At the end of the interecessory prayers, we were all asked to say the Lord’s prayer together, in our mother tongue. That was awesome! 250 people, speaking in who knows how many languages prayer out lud together, just astounding!

Today we were doing our exposure visits – I’d been hoping to visit a rural Nepalese village and a Buddhist monastary. I’d picked up that we each chose which one we would like to do, and then go from there! It turned out, we were going in our gupsup groups to 2 assigned locations. The group I was with went to an HIV Clinic and a local University campus. It could have been really interesting, but our bus driver got lost and stuck a few times, so we ended up with only 10 minutes in each location. Those 10 minutes were very informative though. At the HIV clinic, we only saw 4 rooms and 4 people – but we had no method of communicating other than our limited Nepalese and various hand signals. And those that we met were so far along with the disease that they barely had energy to talk – although they seemed buoyed by the fact that we wanted to speak to them and that we weren’t afraid to go close to them.

The university was interesting – we had a short tour of their natural history museum (lots of butterflies and stuffed birds – and an incredibly evil looking flying squirrel! The university has 16,000 students – which many of the Asians in my group thought was huge. I think it is for Nepal, but I know nothing about other South East Asian educational facilities!

After these visits, we were dropped at the tourist area at the Pokhara lakeside. Our driver dropped us late and way past the intended area, so Pete and I spent most of our time walking instead of on the lake – but it was great to have the chance to wander down the street and not be distracted by a beautiful view!

The bus journey was intense! Aside from getting lost many times, our bus was overcrowded and transformed into a boiler! Even sitting at the window I was roasting – I’ve never been so glad of a cold shower in all my life! Even those from parts of Asia where it is normally really hot are finding the weather here uncomfortably hot – I keep getting told it must be far too hot for me here!!

Found out an interesting part of Christian life here in South Asia. When someone becomes a Christian, they are given a new Christian name. I hadn’ realised this happened and have been confused a few times when people were talking about not being ashamed of their Christian name – but it all makes sense now!

Tonights talk was about the struggle for identity amongst the youth of South Asia. They pretty much face the same kind of issues that youth do in the west – breaking free of the perception of them as a child, breaking free of culture, independence, struggling to define themselves amongst their peers and elders, struggling to define who they are as a person – often relying on lists of what they do to do the defining for them etc etc. As well as they ’shared’ struggles, the issue of identity for youth here is further compounded by caste system, tribal systems, a hangover (real or percieved or both) from the colonial period and the culture shock many experience when moving from rural areas into urban life.

After all this, and dinner, there was time for some cultural sharing – people sharing music and dance from their homelands. It’s awesome to watch, to be a part of. Despite all the language barriers, once the beat gets going, everyone is up on their feet joining in! I have the fun job of being amongst the melee taking photos for SACYN to use in their newsletter or on websites or other publications! Don’t worry though, we are taking part! Tomorrow we’re taching them some Ceilidh moves! We’ll be teaching them the Gay Gordons and the Orcadian Strip the Willow! we didn’t bring any traditional scottish music – so I’ve put a requst on facebook for some to be emailed to me. Failing that, we’ll be using Deacon Blues ‘Real Gone Kid’ for the Gay Gordons and a mixture of Chris Tomlins ‘Let God arise’ and Motorheads ‘Ace of Spades’ for the Strip the Willow!

Today was a good day.  I love the smell of aftersun on hot skin.  The last of the Winter Blues have definitely burned away!

We went on Exposure visits to different groups around Pokhara today.  I visited the Child and Women Empowerment Society, which works with sex workers, migrant workers, trafficked or at risk children and people who are HIV positive.  By the sounds of it, they do a lot of good and much needed work, but they seemed rather short of money and resources.  The government does not appear to view sex workers as a priority, so the work falls to NGOs like the CWES.

After that we went to Pokhara Lakeside, which is the touristy bit by the lake (as if you couldn’t guess).  I went boating with a group of Nepalis.  It was fantastic to actually just get to know people, and being on the lake itself was incredibly beautiful and much cooler than the city.  I didn’t do any shopping – really need to start spending the money I exchanged.

This evening we again had a culture/stories session, which involves people fromn the different countries doing cultural songs and so on.  Ordinarily I’d hate that kind of thing, but the enthusiasm is infectious, and we all had so much fun.  It is especially nice to see groups from India and Pakistan singing, dancing and laughing together.  It’s what this is all about.

We left Kathmandu at 12noon today, and arrived in Pokhara, 200km away, 7 hours later!

The journey to get here is fantastic! surrounded by mountains, lakes, villages, rice fields, so many amazing sights I still can’t compute them all!

For most of the journey, I was hanging out of the window taking photos – not easy on a very windy road with traffic coming at you from all directions and the bus bumping up, down, sideways and varying in speed from 5 – 40km/h! In the past I have been accused (unfairly I think!) of living life too much through the lens – not taking enough time to savour the atmosphere of where I am (which I do constantly!) – today was the first time that I’ve been so blown away by the beauty of a place that my camera has just been hanging loosely in my hand as I gaze in wonder at wants around me!

I had a ball though – and am caked in dust and dirt as a result, totally worth it!

We had Pete’s ipod with some awesome cheesy music to keep us going too – Grease, Macarena, Thundercats…etc etc it was awesome!

The Fulbari resort is awesome! I can’t wait to see it in daylight – especially the surrounding area! Until they found a room for me to stay in, I was hanging out in Suzi and Joanna’s room, spent ages on the balcony listening to the crickets while watching the lightning, the golden crescent moon and the dancing fireflies. It was incredible!

I feel like I have tons to say about today – but I just can’t find the words to describe them! The mountains were incredible – saw some that were at least 5000m high (I think!). So far this trip has broken a few geographical barriers for me – its the highest I’ve ever been on land, the farthest East I’ve ever been and the farthest South I’ve ever been. The road today topped out around 2400 – 2500m, and the whole way there were mountains towering above us! We also got our first experience of rain in Nepal – not quite Monsoon rain, but awesome nonetheless! The drops were huge! Lovely and warm, although some of them were quite sore when they hit you square in the eye!

Today taught me something about myself and photography – for so long now I’ve been focused, in photography, with creating the technically best image that I could, always driving to get better with the equipment – which I still think is important. But some of the photos I took today are far from my technically best, but the part of me they hold, the joy I felt all the way along that road whilst taking them, means that they will rank among my favourites for a long time to come!

I did think it was a shame we had no time to stop along the road – I could spend weeks photographing the people and scenery we whizzed past today!

Looking forward to the conference starting! It’s great meeting some of the people we’ll be sharing the next few days with! Met a guy called Daoud (I think thats how you spell it). He helped me get better the other day by giving me some great advice at the Youth fellowship at Koinoia Patan Church, good to see him again and thank him!

I am so in love with this country!  The journey here was absolutely amazing, with spectacular scenery, and some monsoon rain.  And I didn’t throw up, despite reaching what I affectionately term “the 30-seconds” point – when you know you could, but it could still go either way – and the Imodium worked its intestine-stopping magic, so it was all good.

The bus was late, naturally, or rather it was on Nepal time.  It was meant to arrive at 10/10.30.  At 11ish we headed to a cafe for some tea, and then the bus arrived and we set off properly at about noon.  The hot tea and the bumpy ride and dust made me feel really ill, but I realised I was probably also hungry so I munched some crackers until the sick feeling went away.

The climb out of Kathmandu and the Kathmandu Valley was difficult.  We were told by someone earlier in the week that lots of trucks overheat on the climb and end up blocking the road, and while we weren’t held up too much, I could certainly see why they would break down.  We the switchbacked our way down the other side – magnificent scenery with the terraced fields up the sides of the hills and the view.

The rest of the journey was fairly similar, but not so that you ended up bored of it.  The total time was over 7 hours, including a couple of breaks, but I could have sat through it all again and again and seen something different each time.  I would have needed several showers and changes of clothes to do that, though, as the heat and the humidity made for a sticky trip.  When we got out for lunch we all felt like we had been sitting in a bowl of water.  Warm, sticky water.  Mmm.

As we neared Pokhara, the sky got darker, and then the lightning started.  I couldn’t hear any thunder because of the bus.  Eventually, it started to rain and it got heavier and heavier.  It was the first rain we have seen since getting here, and pretty much the first clouds.  We got into Pokhara (presumable greater Pokhara rather than the city itself), and then took some fairly hairy back streets to the hotel.  It was getting dark by the time we arrived, so after registering, showering, and having dinner there’s no way to tell what the view is like.  We’re going to go for a wander in the grounds, and try to avoid the gorge outside!

Hello! So 200km and 7 hours later we arrived in Pokhara! Woooo – the journey was great – i couldn’t sit still so kept playing around – sitting forwards, sideways, backwards – hehe and I’ve managed to learn a little about photography – love playing with Chris’s camara but can’t quite use it properly yet!!

The journey was brill – a little like the Italian job feel with very bendy corners – but the most amazing views of the hills, valleys, waters, little villages and even the ligthening storms towards Pokhara! The resort here is fantastic – it is soooooo lovely and i feel a little out of place here – but its great we’ve meet so many different people so far and going to meet more which will be good!

Chris enjoyed the journey so much his head was stuck out of the window for most of the journey!! I can’t believe the journey here took so long – but we had such a good time seeing views and chatting to everyone that time flew by and glad to be in Pokhara now! I’ve seen one lizard already! So time to go to bed soon and start afresh the day tomorrow with the start of the South Aisa Chrstian Youth Conference (SACYN) which is titled ‘Cross the Bridge’. So night all – hope everyone back home is well! x

Our final team members John Boyd and Pete Brady arrived today – it’s good to have them with us! We’ll all get to know each other well on the bus journey tomorrow I expect! For this blog, John will be writing in purple and Pete will be blogging on his own blog at the Methodist Church, which you can follow through this link.

We went for a wee wander tonight to see the Rato Machindranath at Pulchowk – a chariot temple that is taken to different places around the city of Patan. It’s a fascinating thing – I made a bit of a cultural mistake by walking round it counter-clockwise instead of clockwise! The locals who were worshipping there seemed quite content for me to sit and take photos of them, some kids were quite persistent that I took their photos!

Tomorrow’s bus journey is expected to be around about 7 hours long – but we’re taking a private bus, not a public bus, so it will be comfier and less chance of animals being on board! but I’m expecting less comfort than megabus!!!!!

I also seem to be getting Suzi and Joanna into photography – Suzi seemed quite surprised that I trusted her enough for her to take the camera to Church when I wasn’t feeling well!

Hi! So today I have been without Chris and Joanna for some of the day – which sucks because we were to go around together but in all I have had a good day!! This morning we visited the Koinonia Patan Church – they hold two services in the morning – the first being 8.00am-10.00am and second which we attended was 10.30am-12.30pm. It was a family service, the christian churches had a bomb scare not long ago and so going into the church we had our bags checked and got a sercurity check – very interesting!! We went into church and men sat on the right and women on the left. The service was great – i didn’t understand much and the bible verse they spoke on didn’t speak to me much either. But the whole atmosphere felt really amazing and homely at the same time – the children were free to run around and be noisy – just like the service ‘Lighthouse’ I help run back home!! They weren’t afraid to pray or speak there mind during prayer times as everyone shouts out – talks, prayers – its wonderful to hear! Why are we sometimes so afraid to do this? So during the talk I had Chris’s Bible on me and so went through it and found some interesting things that really encouraged me as I have been finding it really difficult to come to terms with a battle I seem to be fighting with God at the moment! So all in all – a good day at church!! Unfortuately Chris wasn’t able to join us and that wasn’t good because he would of loved the experience of it! – Maybe next saturday!!

So after church I met a few people and we then went to look around Thamel! The shoping place of Nepal – it was brill – for all those that know me personally you will surprised I only bought one scraf (which my sister Sara will steal! .) and a braclet! Honestly!!!!It was really lovely as I met a lady from the CMS Co-Mission partner (from Hong-Kong to Nepal) called Pokautn – she was lovely and full of great stories!! Thanks to her for looking after us in Thamel!

After shopping we got back to the hotel and not long after our other team members John and Peter arrrived – wooop – yeah!! Was excitng that the rest of our team are here and now all together – which means it must be time for the youth conference now!!! So we went for food – and learnt a little about each other – but like Chris mentioned we have a huge journey tomorrow to Pokara and so more chatting to be done then!! Apparently the journey is long and sometimes scary but has a gorgeous view – we’ll let you know tomorrow evening!

This evening on the way home Chuli had to do some photocoping for her workshop she’ll be taking at the conference so I stopped with her and met the cutest adorable little boy in the whole world!! (Another one for those who know me – yes i always meet either the nicest kids or the strangest people!) So he was called Aadigy and he was 20 months old!! He was the son of the shopkeepers and he was hiding from us and so I poked my head over the side of the counter and he hide again and then i hid and he looked over the counter for me!! Haha hide and seek – was so lovely!! He then ran away to his mum and started hiding behind the door from me and was chuckling so much – I don’t think i will ever forget his laugh!! It was a gorgeous moment – and people are put into your life sometimes for a lifetime, sometimes for a reason and sometimes (like tonight) for a moment!! But it was the most special moment ever!!

So hope alls well back in our homes and thanks for all the support!! Chris is doing alot better now – he doesn’t look white! And pray for Joanna as she has a sore stomach! Godbless <><

Today has been a fascinating day, a fun day, a busy day, a beautiful day!

It has been a touristy day – we went to see some of the major tourist attractions in Nepal – we start meeting some of the local Christians and their projects tomorrow.

We started at Bhaktapur, an ancient city to the east of Kathmandu. the jeep journey there was….interesting? We often complain about potholes in the UK, but we’ve got nothing on the nepalese roads! At one point Joanna actually left the seat because of the force of the bump (back seat passengers do not have the luxury of having a seatbelt!). The city itself is a beautiful place, there a mountains just next to it that tower over it covered in lush green trees, the smell of incense and spices permeates the air. It is a very small, narrow streeted (I know thats not a word!) city, but it doesn’t feel crowded at all! It has a very relaxed atmosphere about the place – when we were having lunch (apparently at an expensive place, but it was only £23 for 5 people to have lunch and drinks!) we all wanted to stay. Try and picture the scene, we on the balcony of the 3rd story of a resturant, there is Hindu music playing from a local shop and the quiet murmur coming from people walking underneath and the occasional truck or bike tooting their horn. To the right of us is a narrow street with some vendors selling their wares in front of a temple, to the left there is a big open square with temples on 2 sides, shops on another and our resturant on another. In front of us their is a street winding its way away from us going deeper into the city. All the building are ‘rustic’ looking – wooden shutters, red tiles, red bricks, and over the top of the far away buildings we can see the foothills of the himalayas. Gorgeous, just gorgeous!

After Bhaktapur, we went to a Hindu crematory on the banks of the Bagmati river. This was an interesting, if slightly strange, visit. Watching families cremate their loved ones as we watch from a distance, ashes being swept into a ‘river’ where little water actually runs – it is blocked by human waste of all kind and mounds of earth that make it more of a stream, and a random cow having a nap under neath the cremation platforms. It was an interesting place though – learning who is allowed to be cremated (pregnant women, children nder 6 months and Holy men are buried rather than cremated). Learning where people come from to be created – bodies are flown in from around the world to be cremated here. It was also interesting to hear their approach to death – they are born naked, so they are cremated naked (wrapped in a cloth) and the see the cremation (or burial) as a giving back of the elements the body is made of to the earth. We met some very friendly Hindu holy men while were there, a very relaxed and reflective group of men!

We also went to the Monkey Temple – we knew it was high up, but didn’t realise that you had to climb 365 steps before you got to the top, not just 365 steps, but 365 very steep steps! The top reminded me of my trip to the Holy Land in November 2008, a religious site covered in Gold plated religious artifacts and the smell of incense being very over-riding. The view from the temple at the top was incredible – a fantastic panoram of the Kathmandu valley and of many high Himalayan foothills – we were scoffed at by Bibin, our guide for the day, for calling them mountains – despite them being 2-3 times the size of the highest mountian in the UK!

We were able to enjoy some Lassi with our dinner, a sweet Banana milk drink – it tastes quite like the yoghurt in this Muller Corner. we also had some Momo, little packets of meat in a lovely pastry case, simply gorgeous!

As those of you who know me would expect, I have been busy documenting our day in photos as well as words. This country is such an incredible place, i haven’t felt this at ease and safe in a city since I was in Jerusalem, it is such a spiritual place – and people are not afraid to talk about spiritual matters! Something we could learn from in Western countries!

One thing that made me laugh today – on the back of many trucks driving on the crazy roads, they have painted the words ‘Good Luck’ on their rear bumper – very fitting I thought……

Hi, Joanna here.  Just a quick message because I’m shattered after such a busy day.  Spoons may have to wait, alas.

As Chris said, today was Bhaktapur, Pashupatinath, and the monkey temple.  Bhaktapur was odd – it was such a quick visit that I didn’t really have time to process what I was seeing.  It is definitely a place that would require a longer trip to fully appreciate.  We went up the first level of what Lonely Planet describes as the highest temple in Nepal.  Sadly we did not have time to visit the naughty elephants temple.

Pashupatinath was frankly weird.  The smell was more smoke than BBQ, but the arm with its fingers burnt off dangling off the pyre was rather offputting.  The Sadhus (holy men) really just sat there and had their pictures taken.  I assume they do holy stuff when the visitors aren’t around!  It was, however, a fascinating glimpse of a side of Hinduism that can’t really be experienced in the UK.

The stairs to Monkey Temple were challenging at time of the afternoon and in that heat, but the view was worth it, even with the dust/smog haze prevening us seeing the Himalayas.  It was definitely interesting to see the Buddhist imagery and architecture.  The monkeys were very used to visitors, so Chris got some lovely photos.

On the way from the restaurant were we had tea back to the hotel, we passed an enormous cart which Bibin said would be dragged through the streets.  Slightly Wickerman-esque to look at, but a pillar rather than a body.  We may go out tomorrow night to see if it and the associated ceremonies/celebrations are still there.

For those of you who are interested in such things, you may be pleased to know that none of us have upset stomachs yet!

Hello! So today was our first day and very busy. The weather was mega hot – which was lovely apart from when your climbing a lot of steps to get to a temple!! Which had monkeys – oh yeah they were so cute!! The old city of Bhaktapur was lovely – why would anyone want to ruin this?? It had a few temples – which seem to be everywhere here in Nepal – but are great to see them!!

At the monkey temple there was a great prayer thing – this rolers were built around the ‘monkey temple’ and people could walk past and role them – apparently whilst saying a prayer and ringing the bell at the end!! Was great – the rolers had lots of patterns and pictures which when rolled looked brill! Also another prayer thing that we have seen is the prayer banners – they have mainly sqaure shaped clothes with prayers on them and they hang them all around – in all temple places and even just hung up in houses – brilliant ideas and look great so maybe be taking them ideas home with me!!

So i will go – you heard most of our days events from Chris and Joanna – but i didn’t really like the crematory – just can’t get me head around the idea!! Anyways thanks for all the prayers! Hugs xx

hey, hey, I am blogging for the first time on Chris blog and I am not sure who in the world is going to read this, but I am on top of world both literally and symbolically.  Chris has given you the highs and the lows of today, but I am still stuck in the crematorium near Kathmandu  by the Bhagmati River.  Seeing all those dead bodies lying in state (according the caste system) got me thinking about how life and death is openly visible here in Asia, whereas we do not talk about death in the UK.  One sad part was that women were not there to mourn the death of their loved one.  Anyway, much more at some point tomorrow – watch out for news about Yeti Airlines!!!

First impressions of Nepal are that it’s such a beautiful place! Even in Kathmandu, the largest city, there is so much green! We’ve yet to get a proper look at the Himalayas (from here its really ‘just’ the foothills). Kathmandu itself is higher than Ben Nevis, so we know that all the mountains we can see are much higher than anything in the UK!

The people here are very friendly, always wanting to help and make sure we are ok – although the driving is a little crazy! Lanes don’t seem to mean anything, I can’t figure out if beeping your horn means ‘Look out’, ‘Get out of my way’, ‘what are you doing’ or something else! They just seem to toot the whole time you’re driving! First bizarre experience on the road was a policeman escorting a cow and calf across the road – we knew cows are sacred here, it’s just a little funny to see them being taken across the road like school kids with a lollipop man!

Today we are going to visit Patan Darwar Square, a Hindu River Crematory and the Monkey Temple in the hills nearby Kathmandu.

All in all, after a good sleep and feed, we are all feeling really good about this trip, it should definetley be an awesome experience!

While we’re here, we’ll all be contributing to the Blog. To avoid confusion of who’s writing what, we’ll be writing in different colours. Chris is in black, Suzi is in Red, Joanna is in Blue and Chuli will be writing in Green.

Peace out

Hi all – Suzi here in pink! Wow – we are here- yeah! So not much else to say that Chris didn’t say. We had such a long journey and was so tired last night – but we start our trips and visiting today – should be good fun. Weather is lovely warm!

Getting of the aeroplane into Kathmandu was lovely and all my memories of India came back! The smells, heat, busy people. We flew over all the mountains which was lovely and from our hotel we can see the mountains on a clear day – so before all the dusty and smokey air! The roads are crazy and people all friendly!

Not much else to say so will speak again soon – hope alls well back in Britain! Hugs xx

We’re all very excited to go out and meet people out there – I’m particularly excited to be able to meet and learn from Christians who love out their faith in a culture that is so different to any I’ve ever experienced. 4 of us were able to meet together a couple of weeks ago at a training weekend down in Oxford – it was good to meet some of the folks I’ll be traveling with!

Before we leave there are still things I need to get done – I’m reading up on Nepal and cross-cultural experiences – using a book given to us by the CMS crew. It’s interesting reading, throws up lots of food for thought. I’ve manage to be prepared enough to have a lot of the things I need to take so I don’t need to worry too much about that side of things!

While we’re away, there are a few ways you can keep tabs on what we are doing, providing we are able to get internet access! I’ll be updating this blog as often as possible, we’ll also be posting updates on the cosyblog and tweeting whenever possible. We’ve also set up a group on Facebook where you can recieve prayer points while we’re away and read updates before, during and after the trip.

It should be an awesome trip – I’m sure we’ll all have a lot to write about while we’re away and when we return, we’ll be doing our best to make sure that the trip is well documented – in writing and in image.

The picture below is of 2/3rds of the team. Once we have a picture of all of us, I shall upload it!

Peace Out

Chris

keep your eyes peeled for more changes, and I’ll keep you updated with whats going on

peace out

Chris

I’m very excited about this opportunity, I can’t deny that I’m almost as excited about the land we’ll be visiting as I am about the chance to meet with young Christians from a context so different from my own. The conference has been set for 2010 so that it can coincide with the centenary of the 1910 Edinburgh Missionary Conference. During our time there, we will stay in Kathmandu and also in Pokhara. While there, as well as participating in the 5 day conference, we will visit local Churches and meet youth leaders, meet with the UN in Kathmandu and visit some missions.

As long as I”m able to recieve a signal on my Blackberry I’ll be tweeting (I’ll find out if there is an ‘official’ hashtag for the event) and blogging about the trip (my blog posts will also appear on the cosyblog, where there will also be people blogging about the Church of Scotland General Assembly at the same time.

As I find out more over the next few weeks I’ll be blogging more about what I”m looking forward to and expecting from the trip.

Peace Out

Chris

I’m expecting this year to be a challenging year, work will be getting busier (in a good way) and I’m looking to push myself to be better at everything I do – being a husband, photography, my job, being a friend. It’s also going to be an exciting year. 2010 marks Linda’s and I being married for 5 years. To celebrate, we’re going on holiday to Canada for 3 weeks in September, which we’re both very excited about! I’m a bit suspicious of ‘New Years Resolutions’, mainly because I’ve never been good at keeping them! But then, usually I’m the only one who knows them so there’s no accountability! So, I thought this would be a good place to air my intentions for the year:

.To be more regular on my Blog, not having 3 month gaps!
.To stick to my 365 photography project
.To push myself in my photography so that I can see a marked improvement between now and the end of the year
.To be a more helpful husband
.To be more assertive – not pushy or nasty, but more sure of myself
.To be better at keeping in touch – I let too many people down last year by being pants at keeping in touch

what are your intentions for the year?