Anyway, let’s focus on Pakistan. If you read my blog regularly, or have dug through the archives, you will have noticed 2 major happenings in my life. The first occured in April, when my Wife and I opened a photography and art business together. The Second occured a month later, in May, when I was accepted onto the Church of Scotland World Mission Council.

So how do these 2 occurences add up to me being in Pakistan?

With Hoskins Gallery I am the photographer, we mostly aim to work in Portraiture and Weddings over the initial start up period of the business, but eventually we want the main focus of the photography side of things to be in Humanitarian Photography. Why? It all started 7 years ago at CLAN gathering. It was prophecied over me that I would servevGod with my hands. When this prophecy was spoken, I had barely picked a camera up before, so that being the service was the last thing on my mind. Rather, I thought, assumed it was all to do with sports – specifically American Football, in a Youth Ministry settibg, that would be the outcome of the prophecy. 7 years, a lot if hurt, pain, determination, soul searcjing and travelling later, I find myself inextricably drawn towards Humanitarian Photography. I love photography, love capturing moments in life that are emotive; love photographing a besutiful sunset or a stunning panorama. On top of this, because of my faith(and by this I mean that my sense is derived from my faith, not that without faith you cannot rail against injustice!), I have a strong sense that there is a lot of injustice and need in the world and I feel called, drawn, motivated – whichever word fits best, to use my passion for and skills in photography to document/ highlight/ advocate for the people in the world affected by these issues.

My being on the CofS World Mission Council allows me to become more educated in, and in turn educate others in, the nature of the need and injustices so many face. It also allows me a place to offer up my photography (and also my social media skills) in order to advance the work of both the World Mission Council and myself in this field.

Whilst we are in Pakistan, we will visit places and projects that will test me like I have never been tested before – photographically, spiritually and mentally. I will meet people (indeed I already have) who have been through unimaginable terror and horror.

One place in particular we will visit where I know I will be stretched is Badin. A town in the Sindh Province that has bedn devestated, again, by flooding this year. I know I will see and meet people in incredibly desperate situations, knowing that there us nothing I can do to help them, except for my job. To document, through photography and recording (writing) their testimony, the story of how they came to be where they are. Hos does that help someone whose home, whose life, has been devestated by flood, disease and starvation I hear yoy ask? Because stories capture peoples attention, their emotions, their compassion. By listeninv to storues told to me and photigraphing those affected, I can bring back raw materials that can be developed into resources to encourage prayer, action, advocacy and many other things.

That is why I’m in Pakistan, that is why I feel so drawn to Humanitarian photography. It is the small differenxe that I can make.

salam-o-alekum

Flights over were fine, the 8 hour wait at Dubai provided time for some uncomfortable sleeping and the security staff at Karachi Airport seemed to be very interested in the fact that I shave my head!

Once we got out if the airport, we were picked up by Johnson – a driver that the Church World Service (CWS) have provided for us here in Karachi. Who then took us to the CWS offices in Karachi, here we met Jennie, Audrey, Shama and many more, who’s names I have already forgotten :-/ At the offices we were given a brief rundown of what they do here, and worldwide. We were also treated to a gorgeous chicken curry and Dahl lunch, after enjoying some sweet chai tea. CWS gave us a brief security briefing for our trip – where to avoid/ what to avoid doing/ what to do in the unlikely event something does happen. In reality it put us, well, me at the least, at ease and confirmed suspicions that Pakistan isn’t as dangerous and unstable as Western media often makes it out to be (thats not to say that some areas aren’t dangerous and unstable or that there is not an inherent fragility about the country). This security briefing also allowed time for questions and some cultural do’s and don’ts!

The people here are all very friendly, which is good given that, being 3 very white westerners in a sea of Asian faces does mean we stick out a wee bit in a crowd! We went to a market this afternoon to get Fiona some culturally appropriate clothes for visiting various projects over the next few days. That was an experience! Jennie, a CWS staffer, came along to help (with what to buy as well as to make sure Fiona wasn’t fleeced!) was amazing! Guiding Fiona away from what were (apparently) Westernised version of the traditional dress, and making sure it was all done at a good price!

I haven’t taken many photos yet – it’s not a great idea for me to walk around the streets with it, advertising my expensive camera as a tempting target for any opportunists around! I have taken a few in the compound we are staying in, but I won’t really get going with it until we start visiting projects.

We were meant to meet the local Bishop tomorrow, unfortunately the volume of work he is dealing with has meant our meeting has been postponed until Friday, not sure what we’ll be doing yet, possibly some cultural learning!

There is so much here that reminds me of Nepal – the sounds, the smells, some of the sights. Its a very colourful place, the buses have to be seen to be believed! Just driving and walking around reminded me of why I love to travel – the new sights, smells, people to listen to and learn from, the new way of life to watch and learn from. Awesome.

I’m looking forward to what else we’ll see and experience on this trip. It’s guaranteed to be a mind altering trip!

Peace Out! (salam-o-alekum: which means “Peace be with You”)

I’ve been interested in the work of this council since I first became aware of its existence in 2000. I suppose it all boils down to the fact that, when I was younger my mind was captured by adventure, explorers like Marco Polo, Livingstone, Captain Scott, Amundsen, Alexander MacKenzie, James Cook, Shackleton, Edmund Hillary, George Vancouver, to name but a few. When I first heard of World Mission, I still had this romanticised idea of exploration and adventure in my head, and World Mission slotted perfectly into that notion of mine beginning 11 years of interest. I’ve since been able to move past that romanticised notion and recognise the work of World Mission for the great, real, work that it is. The Remit of the council is as follows:

The World Mission Council is the channel through which the Church of Scotland responds to the command of Jesus: “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation” (Mark 16:15). We work in countries around the world, usually on the basis of partnership with local churches and institutions, and always with a view to involving church members in Scotland. The cultivation of two-way partnerships between congregations overseas and congregations in Scotland not only creates friendships but expands horizons.

Taking the first steps towards connecting with people in different countries can be the beginning of an exciting and life-changing relationship. Discover challenges people face every day; experience their heart and resilience; share in the joy of giving and receiving.

The Council report is available for download here. I’ll let you read it for yourself, it makes for interesting reading, but I will share with you here the proposed deliverance:

1. Receive the report.
2. Give thanks for the life and witness of Mission Partners who have died, acknowledge with gratitude those who have
completed their period of service overseas, and uphold in prayer all who continue to serve.
3. Urge members of the Church to visit, meet and support the Christian community in the Middle East.
4. Encourage members to pray for the Presbyterian and other churches in Egypt and the work of the Coptic Evangelical
Organisation for Social Services (CEOSS) amongst the least in the society.
5. Encourage members to pray for the witness of the Presbyterian and other Churches in Lebanon and Syria.
6. Commend the Kairos Palestine document to the whole church.
7. Give thanks for Jewish, Christian and Muslim cooperation in upholding the rights of the poor and oppressed in the
Middle East and beyond.
8. Appreciate the work of the Council in developing its Centres to support the Council’s work in the pursuit of justice,
peace and reconciliation.
9. Commend the Council for seeking to engage every member of the Church of Scotland in support of peacemaking
in Israel and Palestine.
10. Give thanks for the renewed co-operation between the Council and congregations of the Church of Scotland with
Christian Aid, and urge all members to support Christian Aid in expressing solidarity with the world church.
11. Thank the Guild for their keen interest and support for the Council’s work around the world.
12. Encourage congregations to join in twinning relationships.
13. Encourage members to offer for service as Mission Partners.
14. Encourage members to volunteer as Ecumenical Accompaniers.
15. Give thanks for the peaceful emergence of South Sudan as a new country and encourage the Council to continue
to support the Christian communities in North and South Sudan.
16. Urge the Government of Pakistan to release and pardon Ms. Asia Bibi and to ensure that she and her family are
protected.
17. Urge the Government of Pakistan to repeal the Blasphemy Law.
18. Urge congregations to be involved in advocacy activities in support of minority Christian communities.
19. Give thanks for the HIV Programme and the work of our partners at home and overseas, and re-commit the Church
of Scotland to playing its part in response to the pandemic.
20. Thank congregations for their enthusiastic support for Souper Sunday and encourage them to continue to support
the HIV Programme in prayer, action and giving.

I don’t want to preempt the debate this afternoon, but I am especially interested to see what might be said on the floor about sections 3, 12, 13 and 17.

My interest in the Council was boosted over the last few years due to 2 trips I was privileged to participate in. In 2008 I was part of a trip to the holy Land with the Mission and Discipleship council, you can read more about it here. Last year I was part of a faithshare visit to Nepal to spend time with the South Asia Christian Youth Network, you can read more about that here. These trips did more than I can vocalise to re-ignite my interest and passion for the work of World Mission. The people I met and the things I saw galvanised something in me, a desire to get more involved and see if I can’t help in someway, to see if i have something worthwhile to offer in this area. I’ve been nominated to join the Council this year, which I’m very excited about, which means I’ll be blogging more about World Mission.

In the meantime, here are 6 blogs from World Mission mission partners around the world:

• Joel Githinji in Nepal http://joelgithinji.blogspot.com
• Colin Johnston in Israel / Palestine http://colinintiberias.blogspot.com
• David & Rebecca Morton in Malawi davidrebeccamorton.wordpress.com
• George Shand in Israel / Palestine http://georgeshand.wordpress.com
• Ida and Keith Waddell in Zambia http://idaandkeith.blogspot.com
• Tabeetha School in Jaffa has a blog at: http://tabeethaschool.blogspot.com

Enjoy the Debate!

Peace Out

The trip really opened my eyes to what my brothers and sisters in Christ face in their daily lives in South East Asia. Some of the stories of the people I met were heart rending, inspirational. It changed my outlook on life, help me see things in perspective. Helped me to start a process of thinking that has fundamentally altered my path in life (more on that in another post!).

Over the next 2 weeks I’ll be marking various points on the trip by posting links to my blog archive for the relevant days from the trip on my facebook and twitter accounts. Please keep an eye out for them and follow along if you’re interested!

One thing that I’ve learned a lot about throughout the course of the year and especially through these trips is photography. Photography is one of my big passions and I got my first DSLR, a Canon 50D, last November. It’ been a very educational year photography wise. I’ve learned a lot in general about photography, and these 3 trips have all acted as catalysts for learning new techniques, better techniques, improving my eye, improving my vision and especially forcing me to ask myself why I love photography and what I want to convey through it.

That question cannot be answered in this post! What I want to share with you just now is 3 collections on my flickr page – the photos from Nepal, Canada and France. I want to share with you all a part of me – and every photo I take is very much a part of me. Some of them are just photos of things/ people that I though to be worth capturing, some of the photos are me trying to say something with my craft/ art. If you have any comments/ criticism/ praise about my photos I would love for you to leave comments, either here or on flickr. I want o get better and can only do that if people offer honest opinions about my photos.

so here are the links to the collections:

Nepal
Canada
France

Peace Out

with all the opportunities there were over there for photography, I was in heaven! I was given many, many chances to push myself in the photography I was doing – trying to capture moods and moments, trying to get the best shots I could with the light available (some of the shots are quite dark because I forgot about my hotshoe flash quite a few times and I’m not a fan of my cameras pop-up flash!

Anyhoo, for the most part, I’m quite chuffed with the shots I got – I’m even more chuffed that I was able to discipline myself to not keep all of them! Over the 2 weeks I (or those who used my camera – Jonny Simpson, Suzi Shortland and Joanna Ramsay) took over 3000 pictures – by cutting out most duplicates and blurred or meaningless shots, I’ve cut that down to around 1200 ‘keepers’.

There is a reason that it has taken almost 2 weeks to get them all online. I shoot pictures on my camera in a format known as ‘RAW’ this means that, instead of uploading my pictures to my computer and puttingt hem online straight away, I take time processing them properly – doing as good a job as I can with them in the digital darkroom. Also, the sheer volume of photos means that it takes a while to get them all up – I’ve been constantly uploading to flickr since Saturday evening – my computer was glad of the rest today!

I’ll be putting a ‘best of’ album on facebook – maybe, and I’ll be adding a page on my website with low-res copies of the ‘best-of’ album. In the meantime, you can view all 1200+ at your leisure by going to my flickr page.

Enjoy!

I was definitely changed by the people I met. Everyone I met over there changed me in some way – some more than others. I’m trying to be an intentionally more joyous person. Years ago, I thought of myself as a really positive person, always looking for the best in people and in situations. Various things that happened in my life have knocked that out of me a wee bit, but I’m done with that. I want to be positive again, and I’m going to be. I can make the choice to be like that – my new friends have taught me that much! There is so much around me that is truly awesome and God-sent, I want to make an effort to see these things and to take the time to wonder at them.

Dancing, I want to keep check on the pride that as often held me back from expressing myself. I don’t want to be embarressed to dance, like I have been in the past. Dancing is such an incredible experience. At the Crossing the Bridge conference, despite all our cultural and societal differences, we were all brought together at many points during the week by the language of dance. Whether it was just shoving some music on and doing our own thing, surrounded by others doing their own thing or learning a dance from another culture. When the music played and we started dancing, all the language and cultural barriers were forgotten and we all just melted into the moment, into the atmosphere of enjoying ourselves and having fun together!

On a more serious note, my faith has been seriously challenged while I’ve been away. I’ve been guilty over the last few years of becoming quite apathetic in my faith, not really putting as much effort or focus into cultivating and feeding it as I should have. I’ve allowed myself to often become sucked into the trap of Church politics – at a local and national level. The people I met, the strength of faith I met in Nepal has really challenged me to climb out of my rut, to stop being so blasé aboutmy faith. In Nepal, I met Christians who live in countries where Christians are persecuted, I met people who live close to villages where Christian homes were burned and a family burned alive, I met people who themselves have suffered for their faith, and through all of this, I saw more passion for God than I ever have at any large Christian event in the UK – including the General Assembly, the National youth Assembly, CLAN gathering and Spring Harvest. There were none of the trappings of the institutional Church that we have here, or they were at least not as pronounced and deified as they are here!

One thing that struck me was the timing of the trip and how that challenged me. Since 2001, at this time of year, I have attended the Church of Scotland General Assembly 6 times as a Youth Rep. It has always been a great experience, meeting other young Christians, being involved in the Church of Scotland at that level, seeing how decisions are made and meeting many of the people working in the Church of Scotland. But it is also a week of religious trappings, of institutional mumbo-jumbo, of pedantics, arguing over individual words and, dare I say it, tension between Christian and Secular living. I thought I would miss not being there this year. I didn’t, not a bit. Hearing the stories I did in Nepal, encountering the people and Churches that I did helped me realised how skewed my focus has so often been in my faith and the outworking of my faith. I have put to much effort and energy into things in the Church that, ultimatly, don’t make that much of a difference, compared to the difference standing firm in your faith in the face of persecution and hatred does. It has not all been in vain, although undoubtedly some of what I have been involved in has been. It’s just been an eye opening experience. I don’t judge myself, or others, for the perspective I worked from, I worked from and with my personal experiences as I knew them. But I am so thankful that I have had the opportunity to have my eys opened and my mind opened to the reality of wat Christians in parts of the world are facing. I’ve always known about the persecuted Church, about Christians who live in fear of attack because of their faith, but knowing about such things is completely different from knowing people who live with such things. I pray I never forget what they taught me about following and serving God.

I can only imagine that over the next few weeks and months, more and more thoughts will pour out of me about this trip, perhaps not always in the most sensible order! Let me thank you all in advance for your prayers, support and encouragement in working through these thoughts.

Peace Out

Anyway, we’re now at Kathmandu airport – waiting to board out first flight to Doha. The last 2 weeks have been awesome, the places we’ve seen, the people we’ve met, the things we’ve experienced! I’m quite sad to be going home – I shall miss this land and the people I’ve met here, but I’m excited to see Linda and be home!!

We don’t have long on this Wifi coupon – so this won’t be a big post, we’ll do more reflecting and writing once we’re home in the UK. Although this trip is ending, the relationships started on this trip are just beginning. I’ll certainly be keeping in touch with many of the people I’ve met on this trip – shall hopefully see them again at some point too! I’m very thankfull to CMS and the Church of Scotland for allowing me this opportunity and I look forward to sharing the stories from the trip and reflecting more upon what I’ve learned and what I’ve exprienced. i’ll be spending time over the next few days doing much writing and sorting through my photos – many of the delegates are waiting to see my photos appear on my website and on flickr!

Anyhoo, I shall pass over to the rest of the gang so that they can share their thoughts on leaving the country…..

Hey all! So last couple of days have been very busy but all good fun!! Our last day at the conference was great – during the workshops and studies I was still meeting new people which was lovely!! So the last nigth ended in a lot of dancing and not much sleep! All was fun and the last morning we had an awesome view of the mountains which was a lovely ending to our time in Pokhara! The journey back to Kathmandu was hot and pretty fast most of the way in a little bus! Until we hit traffic up the mountain road and then sat there for an hour and half!!

The last day and half ended back in Kathmandu and finished with a lovely meal with a great couple we met at the conference and a shop today!! At last i’m back to myself in the shopping world!! Hehe . . so just sat in the airport now and ready to be home!! Will hopefully post something when we’re back home reflecting on the whole journey of Nepal!! Thanks so much for all the support!!

We’re in the airport now, waiting for departure.  In the last few days I’ve gone from the massive low of being ill and being unable to eat enough to have any energy, to the enormous high of spending time with such a fantastic group of people in such amazing surroundings, and back again, several times over.

I have had some of the best experiences of my life.  We spent the last night dancing – more ceilidh dancing, some salsa, some South Indian, some Pakistani (ask Chris for a demonstration!), and then I watched the sunrise over Anna Purna and Fishtail (can’t spell its proper name, don’t have time to check).  I’ve met people who I would have loved to be able to get to know more, and who I hope to keep in touch with.  Now when Pakistan is mentioned on the news I’ll think about Daud teaching Chris to dance, and when I hear about India I’ll remember Sanjay’s laugh.  I’ve had some awful experiences as well – primarily illness related.  But overall the good times have outweighed the bad many times over.

Chris is asking if I’ll be much longer, so I’ll leave it at that.  If I type any more I may start crying anyway.  I blame tiredness entirely, by the way, nothing to do with me being a soppy big moosh!

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

The morning started with one of the country groups leading us in worship – I only caught the end of the session, but the song was beautiful. I don’t know what it means, but I copied the words down:

(mingalabar) x 2 Swe tha har twe myar mingalabar

(mingalabar) x 2 Arr loneku bel mingala lope the notekhon sett par tel.

I’m doing my best to find out what it means – as soon as I know, I’ll post it up here!

I was asked by Adrian to take a group photo of the whole conference today. It didn’t really work – people didn’t turn up on time and so we would take a photo and then another 10 people would turn up! We’re going to try again tomorrow – straight after one of the main sessions so that as many people as possible are in the same place at one time!

Pete and John led a workshop today about Youth Participation – it was interesting, but I don’t want to go into it until I’m back home in the UK and have processed everything – my thoughts on the conference will colour my thoughts on the result of their seminar. It was a good seminar and well run, just the responses need carefully thought about once I figure out more about the context they are coming from!

I’ve been getting on really well with the group from Pakistan – especially Daud, Sehrish, Eric, Mehboob and Raheed. That group is crazy! They love their dancing too!

The talk tonight was interesting – speaker was talking about the dualistic life many Christians seem to lead between their work life and their Christian life. He spent a lot of time and energy encouragin, beseeching us all to not live a double life, but to involve our faith in everything that we do.

He spoke about the protestant work ethic allowing the countries in the west to become rich and prosperous, but at the expense of the faith. That too many people put work before nurturing their faith, that money and riches were the goal, not God. He went on to warn the group to not allow South Asia to fall into the same trap: to make sure that God stayed central as the economies of the countries improved. He said: ‘Our life is not based on a 1 hour weekly Church service, our faith should not be either!’.

He was a very focused, passionate speaker – there were 3 power cuts during his talk and he barely broke stride!

Again tonight, I only caught a part of the worship – one of the delegates was leading the conference in prayer and many people were crying out ‘Hallelujah’ and ‘Amen’ during the prayer – was amazing to hear the passion, to share in it with them. Some folks here have talked about some young people in South Asia only going to Church because they feel it is their duty too, not because they want to worship. After my experience this week, I can’t believe that to be as big a proportion of young people as it is in the west. The passion for worship, for God that the people have shown at this conference is just astounding.  One of the things I’m learning here is that I need to take more joy from life. The young people at this conference are amongst the most joyous people I have ever met! Their faces light up in worship, in conversation, in prayer, in dance, it’s beautiful! My faith is definetley being inspired and strengthened by those that I have met this week!

Tonight was pretty awesome! It was the last of the ‘Cultural experiences’ where different groupd can bring a part of their culture to share. The things that stood out for me were the Pakistanis and the UK folks! The Pakistanis did a couple of songs, then a beautiful dance based around a courting couple. They also did some Pakistani dancing (think Punjabi dancing, very fast and big!). I was taking photos of it (as I do!) when Sehrish, one of my new friends pulled me on stage and insisted that I dance with them. That was an experience! Not being the most confident dancer, I felt very exposed on the stage with them, but figured that I”m here to learn and experience South Asian culture. I certainly wasn’t the greates dancer there (the Pakistanis are awesome dancers!) but they appreciated my efforts! The UK addition was: Joanna and I taught eveyone how to do an Orcadian Strip the Willow  – that went down a storm! Not everyone really understood what they were doing, or got the moves (I was very confused that everyone was struggling with a dance where, to my mind, you just spin you way down a line! But then, I’m very used to the dance!). Everyone who took part loved it though! Chuli also started to teach some Salsa moves – again, not everyone got it, but everyone loved it. At one point some of the people around me asked me to teach them what to do because they couldn’t see Chuli – so I ended up teaching Salsa to 15 of the delegates – not bad given I’ve never really done it before!!

All in all it’s been a really good day, I’ve had a great time, especially tonight! I’ll be taking Linda dancing when I get home – make up for all those years I’ve been to proud and embarressed!

Peace

So today was interesting!! Firstly Joanna, John and Jonny haven’t been too well and so pray for them to get better for our last day at the conference tomorrow!! And journey back to kathmandu sometime friday! Having a great time still though. We went to some of the bible studies today and one we were spoke to about the Gates in Neh! But things they said i didn’t always agree with – soem things are so old and traditional that we get stuck in that way and don’t ever seem to get out of it or better – so how can we possible help out youth to come to church to christ if our tradtions are not suiting the culture and times?? Our foundation should be based on God but with newer traditions or the old ones made to fit all! So interesting – so I just wrote lots about what i wanted answering!

Anyways we got back in our GupSup grouts and was all good chatting about our encounter visitis yesterday – great to talk to people from different nations on how they see things differently from myself!!

We then had the workshops and I went along to John and Pete’s which was really good and showed some of the people in the conference of how we can start to chance ways in our church to get more youth involved!! Was so great to see people inspired!! Although for most of the session i made a new friend – hehe – a little girl from Nepal and she was three and a half – gorgeous!! Well actually i met her on the playground – yes i was playing as a kid myself!! haha – we had a massive group photo and there was a climbing frame so i was jumping/climbing up and back rolling off – she saw me and wanted to climb with me too – so we climbed up and sat on top – was fun!! Her mum was then in the same sworkshop session and so the little girl remembered me and came over and sat with me!! We drew and played with my bag – everything in it came out and back in several times, played with my bangles – got shown how to where them properly she also stole my phone and was properly chatting away on it – hehe soooooo cute!! She drew in my book and was so much fun playing with her – i was made to make time for kids!! Was brill – highlight of my day!! Oh and dancing!!

We had the culture evening tonight and all was good – we were asked to propare something and because we have two Scots – we decided to teach a Scottish dance – we learnt it this afternoon and then i was teaching it this evening!! Haha – the skills of a coach!! Also we did a bit of Salsa with Chuili – was so much fn – i need to learn that dance – lovely!! So a brill evening – very eventful and lots of fun!!!

Anyways thats me off to bed – tired and need to be awake for our last day tomorrow in Pokhara at the conference!! Love to all xxx