Hi there,

Sorry for the delay in updating the blog - the past week has been rather hectic, so there is lots to catch up on!

Last weekend we went up to Penang (an island off the north west coast of peninsular malaysia) to go to the anglican young adults conference.  Rob was giving three talks at the conference, all about the centrality of the gospel.  We were really encouraged to remember that being a Christian is all about trusting in Christ crucified for our sins - it was amazing to think again that Jesus, God's King, came to earth to die an undeserved death to bring forgiveness to whoever trusts in Him.

The journey up to Penang was quite eventful... We had borrowed a car to drive the 5 hour journey.  After a few disagreements with the Sat Nav we negotiated our way out of KL and headed north.  Sadly after about an hour or so on the motorway, the brakes decided that they had had enough... Fortunately we managed to head safely into a service station, and got to experience the Malaysian version of the AA!  This will add to all our list of life experiences, as the car was winched onto a truck, and then we all had to climb into the car to make the journey to a local garage!  Definitely a surreal experience!  A few hours later the car was fixed and we managed to head and arrived, very late and very tired to our hotel in Penang.  Having experienced Malaysian Christian conferences, we are now sure that camping in the Lake District on church weekends away is just not the same!  Our hotel was on a white, sandy beach, kitted out with several dining areas, swimming pool and conference facilities!  All in all a very nice place to spend a weekend!

The rest of the week was spent back in KL, getting involved in everything that was going on.  A particular highlight was going to the refugee schools on Thursday.  Gareth and Nicky were teaching a lesson from Romans chapter 12, thinking about how we should worship God with all of our lives because of the mercy He has shown to us.  It was amazing to see the enthusiasm of the children, even living in such difficult situations.  They were so attentive and eager to learn, it was such a challenge to see how much we take for granted.

On the Saturday night there was also a guest night, where Rob was giving a talk.  There were over 100 people there, and lots of people from St Mary's had brought along friends who wanted to find out about what Christians believe.  The theme of the evening was 'First things first,' thinking about what our priorities in life are.  Rob clearly explained from the Bible that Jesus shows us that we have all failed to live up to God's priorities, and yet if we trust in Jesus we can be restored to right relationship with our Heavenly Father and Creator.  We also had fun playing silly ice breaker games, including a table challenge to build the highest tower out of spaghetti and marshmallows!

Sunday was a jam packed day, as we moved from the 10.30, to the 2pm to the 5pm services at SMACC, with Rob preaching at each one (an exhausting task!)  then we headed to the Myanmar refugee Christian fellowship in the evening, where Paul was preaching, through an interpreter.  They meet in a run down tower block, sitting on the floor crowded in a small room with no air conditioning (so a pretty sweaty affair!)  Yet again as we sang songs (with us attempting to follow the Chin words!) and prayed together and remembered the wonderful future that awaits God's people, it was a real joy to remember that we are all family in Christ.  We all came away so aware of the fragility of this world, and yet the true value and hope that there is in knowing Christ.  As you can imagine, we fell into bed thoroughly exhausted!

Monday came around as a well appreciated day off!  We bravely ventured out in the car again, and headed inland to an elephant sanctuary.  The drive took us through amazing scenery, of dense jungle everywhere.  Even the steep hills and cliffs are covered in thick forest.  Armed with cans of mosquito repellent we arrived at our destination, and spent an amazing few hours 'up close and personal' with elephants!  We got to feed them, ride on them and even swim in the river with the baby elephants having a bath!  Despite the coach load of other tourists that had somehow found their way there, it was a great day out!  It was then topped off by seeing the latest Harry Potter film in the evening - at a bargain 13 ringitts (about £2.50!)

Sorry for the lengthy post - we will try to update a bit more regularly from now on!

Bye for now!

Alice