As we had our breakfast we heard reports of the widespread rioting in London and England, and with our thoughts starting to turn towards returning home we prayed about the situation and discussed various plans should we need them for places to stay overnight once we arrived at Heathrow.
We once again walked to the Haven, and using the materials Sarah had brought and her guidance we led a craft session for some of the women at Sunshine House using fluorescent paper, glue and glitter – which got absolutely everywhere as some women were decorating themselves with it rather than the paper! It was evident to see that everyone had a great time in this session.
One of the Majors working at the Haven looks on at the craft session
After a tea break we went outside to the courtyard for classic balloon games resulting in mayhem and a lot of fun! We then blew up the rest of the balloons and handed them out, and the little girl who had spent a lot of time with us yesterday was delighted with it as we played catch. She was even starting to pick up a few English words and delighted in repeating them! (For my part, I learnt that 'balle' is Sinhalese for 'ball'!)
After playing games in the hot sun we went inside for lunch, some much needed refreshments! We then returned to join in reading and playing with the residents, and generally just show them love. It was probably the hottest that afternoon for all the time we spent in Sri Lanka, at one point in an attempt to keep cool I was embarrassedly being being fanned by three of the women with books!
Doreen had brought a box of chalk with her, and we used this in the courtyard for drawing, writing and hopscotch on the concrete. I surprised myself with an excellent picture of a coconut tree which the kids could instantly recognise!
The next street artist!
Some of the women writing with the chalk
It then came time to leave and say goodbye to everyone at The Haven, and some of the women wanted to collect our signatures so we wrote them small thank you notes. We bought some cola and cake and headed on over to THQ to throw a thank you party for everyone that had contributed to our trip. Unfortunately the Community Capacity Development guys couldn't make it, but we said thanks to Commissioners William and Debra Mockabee (the Chief of Staff and Territorial secretary for Women's Ministries), Captains Sharon and Jason Dannock (the Projects Officer and her husband) and their two children, and Major Nihal Hettiarachchi (who had driven us down to Hikkaduwa) and his wife. William Mockabee informed us that 9 of the 25 people invited to the Salvation Army in Colombo from Hikkaduwa for a few days (including attending the Social Services Sunday Service) had made commitments to Christ – Hallelujah! They told us that they were naturally concerned about revealing this to their Buddhist families, and they remain in my prayers.
After saying our goodbyes we headed back to the Training College to freshen up before heading out one last time in tuk tuks for our final meal together. We had been invited round Sharon and Jason's flat, so we popped in before we left. Being from a western background (Sharon is Canadian and Jason is Australian) they had their flat laid out much as those homes we had left behind, with a large TV, DVDs, shelves full of books etc. It was actually a culture shock after visiting the many people in Sri Lanka with their few possessions, and it really brought home to me the stark differences in our lifestyles. How little do we recognise how fortunate we are with all the things that we have, yet it is never enough as our materialistic culture is always on a trend of chasing more. It is a sad truth that we never seem to be satisfied and grateful with what we have, and yet after this time spent in Sri Lanka you realise how little most of our stuff is really worth. This is something that will definitely stick with me.
Over our meal we discussed our highlights and challenging and emotional times. My highlights were experiencing and seeing the behaviours and actions of the CCD team down in the Hikkaduwa region who had been so welcoming and helpful to us, but in who you could also see the love of Christ in the way they went about their work for the Salvation Army when working for the people we visited. I learnt a lot from them. The most challenging aspect for me was seeing the pictures drawn by children after the Tsunami in the photo museum, as I mentioned in one of my previous posts.
On the way back across town to our waiting beds, we were stopped by the barriers at a railway crossing and warning bells ringing for an approaching train. Our drivers informed us, 'should be about 5 minutes wait', in which time we mainly messed about with cameras taking silly photos. After about 5 minutes, the barriers went up without warning and without sight or sounds of a train! The drivers found this very funny (as did we), exclaiming 'No train!' as we drove on.
Messing about waiting for a train that would never pass...
We rounded off our trip with Sam reading Isaiah 58 v 6-12, followed by a time of prayer. My Bible reading for this day though will be Luke 22 v 24-27 – words from Jesus which have been highlighted by the many wonderful people working for the Salvation Army that we have met, and also are words that we have tried to live out.
“Then they began to argue among themselves about who would be the greatest among them. Jesus told them, “In this world the kings and great men lord it over their people, yet they are called ‘friends of the people.’ But among you it will be different. Those who are the greatest among you should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant. Who is more important, the one who sits at the table or the one who serves? The one who sits at the table, of course. But not here! For I am among you as one who serves.”
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