Sri Lanka

We are now in Sri Lanka and it is beautiful and green here. It is hot and humid but completely bearable because of the wonderful cooling breeze. We were not uncomfortable at all today while training. I had 10 men, several of whom had not been to our earlier training last year, which made it difficult. I was training with Seth Matthews our Tamil Pathways representative. He does an exceptionally good job training here, as the men were all Tamil. We are doing II Timothy, the same workshop I did in D of the larger nation nearby, so it made it easier for me. The men seem engaged but none had passed the training on yet. So we have some work to do.

Edie had 13 women and a good translator. Progress was slow and steady but the women really enjoyed it. It is so much fun for me to watch Edie engage with the women, most of who cannot speak her language and come from a very different background and culture from her. But she is able to give herself fully to them so easily with such love and happiness. She really draws them in and they are anxious to learn from her. One elderly lady came up to her after the workshop and, through a translator, said she really loved Edie’s voice and asked if Edie could sing a song for her. Edie is not a singer but humbly agreed and sang “Thy Lovingkindness” to her. Then she asked the lady to sing. She sang a very moving and worshipful song, in Tamil to Edie. Edie noticed then that she had no teeth. Edie was very moved by the experience. 

We have had a challenge as our bank has for the second time blocked our ATM card. Now they say I must give a verbal password to get it restarted. I have no idea what that is and the only way to change it is to go “to my branch” in person, which of course is impossible since I am in Sri Lanka. I am calling our bank soon to see if I can do it over the phone. Otherwise, we have no money to pay for the training, etc.

Our meal tonight was a bit meager. The hotel is putting on a wedding or something and the kitchen is too busy so we got “string hoppers” which turned out to be rice noodles in a circular patty, somewhat purple in color and some pea soup kind of something that you put on them. Oh, well, another good way to lose weight.

More to come….

Praise the Lord! After about a half hour, and with my wise wife’s advice, I finally called the Fort Dodge branch of my bank, since the Colorado branch would not answer the phone. They gave me a hint for the password and I finally got it all resolved. We are off now to the ATM. The Lord is good.

Al