Worshipping God in Istanbul

Woohoo....now this tigger has arrived in Istanbul

...left London yesterday and flew on Turkish Airlines from London Heathrow to Istanbul...it was a little bouncy along the way but smooth bouncing...still don't like it!Had a lovely ending to my time in London working with the team...finished entering the updated stats on the population, religions, megablocs(different groups of Christians(Protestant, Anglican, Independent, Catholic, etc) and the denoms in the second drafts for the book for about 85 countries or so...finished organizing the China paper files and also made some notes on how to update the stats on the database and in the drafts for the next person who is going to do it...hopefully it will save the team some time in having to explain it all again to someone new! A highlight of my week was seeing the founder of Operation World(Patrick Johnstone) this past week...even have a picture to prove it!

I praise God for this man's hard work over the years to have published such a tool to mobilize the church to pray for the world.It's a great educational tool, to help us pray and mobilize more intelligently!

Another highlight was Jenny's baby shower(Wednesday night) and a wine and cheese for me at Mark & Wania's(Thursday night)! The whole team came and Ann :), it was lots of fun! Thanks Nkosana for bringing Madelaine and Reuben too! It was lovely to see Madelaine again and meet her brother...




After work on Friday was invited for a lovely supper with friends I had made in 06-07 when I was here working on OW last time. Their names are Andy, Sue, Daniel and Theo Drummond. The are lovely...I had the privilege of taking care of Daniel and Theo some evenings during the year I lived here in London while Andy and Sue attended the Alpha marriage course at their church...Daniel was shorter than me then, he's now 6 ft 3 inc! YIKES!Thanks Andy and Sue for a lovely meal of lamb curry and chocolate fondue...the strawberries were great no matter what Daniel says! After supper we had a lovely time hanging out and watching Theo dressed up as superman trying to fly on top of pillows he put in piles in the living room! Sue and I had a lovely chat when she dropped me back to Bulstrode...hopefully they will come to Canada one day soon...


Molly and I finished the evening off at the Royal Standard...


...lovely ending to a lovely 3 weeks with family, and friends doing something I love to do in London...His work!Thank you Lord for giving me the privilege of using my holidays in this way and the many ways you blessed me all the way through it...bless the people working at Bulstrode and the OW team in ways beyond what I could think or imagine...in ways you could only bless them!

Saturday morning came very quickly as I was up till about 2 packing and winding up...Wania had prepared a lovely breakfast for the family, Ann and myself before taking me to Heathrow...she baked these lovely Brazilian bread balls with cheese inside...she will have to fill us in on what they are called through commenting on this blog! And of course my favorite yogurt...Onken with mango, papaya and passion fruit! It's so nice to have friends who know what you like...I started with this yogurt and ended with it too! Thanks Mark, Wania , Jen and Abe...you ROCK!

Got to the airport in no time even though it was a long weekend in Britain.
I was glad to not be rushed...hung out at the airport until my flight boarded...it was a very full flight and a big plane 9 seats across...sat with a lovely Turkish young adult, she is an Engineer,from Istanbul, she was so helpful. Many people thought I am Turkish, so kept speaking to me in Turkish, when I came on the plane the staff kept greeting me and I didn't know what they were saying...the funny thing is because my new friend had a little blondy brown hair they would speak to her in English first until she spoke in Turkish with them...we had a good laugh about this...she filled me in on what they were saying Hosgeldiniz( the s has a squiggle on the bottom and sounds like at "sh") it means Welcome...they use it lots in Turkey...at her own initiative she also spoke with me about Ramadan explaining that it was ok for her to eat on the plane during the fast because she was flying, as she does practice it...she was so friendly and even gave me her email...I hope to keep in touch and hopefully we will meet again one day...she is in my prayers...God bless my new friend!



Harry was at the Ataturk(First President of Turkey) Airport in Istanbul to meet me...it was lovely to see a familiar face...had no problems at the airport...thank you Lord! We made our way back from the airport to Harry, Joy and David's home by taking Habas(the s has a squiggle and it sounds like "sh"), and then we took the Kadikoy sea bus called Hizli (the i actually have no dot and it sounds like a short i, then we took a regular city bus called otobus(but the u has two dots and sounds like a double o, kind of). It was lovely to see Joy and David and the family nicely settled in a nice apartment...there are about 9 -10 apartment buildings in their site(sounds like city but means block of apartments). There is a lovely playground where we had a walk after our evening meal of Bi Bim Bap, which is a Korean meal of rice, meat, finely chopped veggies, sesame oil and chili paste....mmmmmmmmm good!
Not only does the site have a playground but it has outdoor workout equipment...will have to take a picture and add to the blog....tooo cool...you can workout while the kids play in the park....very smart!

This morning has been my highlight so far...thank you Lord for giving me a Sunday in Istanbul! I have included a picture of the worship service I attended this morning with my friends as well as a video of the worship time in song sung in both English and Turkish...hope you enjoy it...it's at the very top of this post...it was sooooooooo lovely...and the nations were present...met a Sri Lankan married to a Turk, Romanians, Americans, Koreans, British, Canadians, it was lovely...a small gathering but a lively gathering...and the message was on how Christ has come to heal our wounds...may He bring healing and wholeness in each of our lives for His Glory! I met a couple that my friends Jen and Abe know from their church in London...Jess and I'm forgetting her husbands name at this time...but that was cool as I didn't even know about them til I met them...they say hi Jen and Abe, I was able to share pictures from the baby shower...she was so happy to see them and see how beautiful you look pregnant! The Lord knows how to encourage His family! Thank you Lord for the church in Turkey may You cause it to flourish!

We went through a food market....


after the service and had a lovely fish meal(leverek - sea bass)with some bread, calamari, tomato, cucumber and onion salad(with pomegranate sauce),helva for dessert,spicy turnip juice and my first turkish coffee.....mmmmmmmmm good!




Now we are chillin' on the Lord's day at home...it is a whopping 28C at the moment in Istanbul...but there is a lovely breeze coming through the apartment...Joy is on the couch listening to a sermon in Korean, Harry is reading a book I brought him, and David is fast asleep

...and I am still wired from the Turkish coffee I had!LOL!

It's great for blogging! Now to add more pictures as I laugh hysterically and I blame the coffee for this high! Bouncing right along...more later...have a great day...this is the day that the Lord has made we will rejoice and be glad in it!

Last Weeks in London

Operation World Team
from left to right( back)
Jason(Cdn - Author), Peter(UKer), Molly Wall(American), Nkosana(Uker), Tony(Uker)
from left to right (front)
Lisa(American), ME, Jen(Korean American)

This is my last week in London...it's really gone by fast...here's an account of my bouncing around over the past week...

Sunday August 16th Tony and Sylvia Woodward picked me up at 8:30 am to take me to All Souls Langham in London for the 9:30 service...it was excellent...Hugh Palmer spoke on "The Other Lord's Prayer"...it was not what I was expecting...the Scripture was Matthew 9:35-38...if you go to the All Souls Langham website you can listen to it as the sermons are all on line...Tony is a member of the Operation World Team...he's the one with "crown of glory" in the picture! After the service, my cousin Atul, picked me up and took me to Croydon, where I was able to visit both of my Dad's brothers and families...not all of my cousins but spoke with two on the phone, Arti and Amit...saw Uncle Tao, Aunty Kanta, Sheetal,Aunty Sureka,Uncle Mecho, Atul and family. Atul brought me back to Bulstrode by 11:30pm...it was a long but good day! Atul you ROCK! Love you tonnes but Jesus loves you a zillion tonnes more!

Monday August 17th
Went to chapel and worked all day in the Operation World office, went to an Aerobics class in the evening with my friend Wania, worked out hard, and then to Sainsbury, the local supermarket,picked up some cheese and lovely french wine.

Tuesday August 18th
Ran with Molly at 6:30, went to Chapel prayed for Afghanistan election and Yemen, and then worked til noon at which time, my cousin, Sandhya, came with her son, Rohaan, and my Aunty Davinder. Took them for Thai food at the Thai Rack. We had a lovely time....Rohaan is sooooo cute! Worked for the rest of the day and then went to Wania and Mark's for a BBQ with their home group...a lovely group of brothers and sisters in the Lord! They have been praying for Alysha as well...thank you!

Wednesday August 19th was the hottest day since I arrived a day filled with more work on OW...ran in the am, but didn't make it to Chapel...and picnic lunch consisting of pizza, salad, cherries(including pit spitting contest) with the team in the gardens...after work in the evening went to a conditioning class at Chalfont leisure centre with Jen and Abe...it was a good workout...hard workout...but good. Molly took Wania and I to Slough Tesco for some shopping...I got all the fixins' to prepare an Indian meal for the team on Friday night

Thursday August 20th skipped running but went to Chapel...Traugott shared on the Bamar people in Myanmar...good learning...then off to work we went...Molly and I decided to run to Chalfont leisure centre after work, then do the conditioning class, then eat fish and chips(mmmmmmm good), and then walk home...I then proceeded to chop up a zillion onions in prep to make chicken curry on Friday night...it was a late night...but productive day overall...oh yeah and made a chutney recipe my Aunty Kanta taught me...it's tomatoes, red pepper, onion, green chillies, mint sauce and salt blended together, it's great with pakoras or gatia or matia or whatever you'd like to eat it with, she likes it on toast!

Friday August 21st skipped chapel, which was disappointing as Betty from Canada who is now in Russia shared, heard she did a great job! Sorry I missed out! The team meets on Friday for prayer. Jason uses the time to find out where people are at in their work and then provide some direction, it's an opportunity for the team to share how things are going and then to pray together, I have really enjoyed these times together. The team are moving right along and more people are coming in the near future....Praise God...what an answer to prayer! I have been so encouraged to see God's Faithfulness over the past 3 years to this project...it is definitely His work! I worked til about 3ish and then I disappeared in the kitchen to make chicken curry, vegetable sabzi, raita, roti, rice, chutney, gulabjamans(they were ready made), etc for the team and Andrew K. friend from my last time at Bulstrode, he inherited Jen and my vehicle! Oh yeah and Wania, Mark, Lydia and Daniel came too! Everyone seemed to enjoy the meal, and survived my cooking! Thanks Lord for answering my prayers as I browned those onions, that took forever! Good time had by all and I didn't have to do wash up...thanks team!

Aunty Manju(Mom's sister) and Uncle Ashok came to pick me up promptly and off I went to Harpenden, with some chutney in hand to share with them! Had a good evening watching two episodes of BBC's "The Street". Thought provoking English drama series...only 6 shows...worthwhile checking out!
Also enjoyed a glass of Rose and Bendick Ginger chocolate, and some 60's music...very nice night!

Saturday August 22nd Happy Anniversary Dami and Raj in Hamilton,Ontario, oh yeah forgot to mention that I met your friends Phil and Nancy Wood on Thursday and had lunch with them...it was soooooooo sweet! Got a picture too! They were so appreciative of your friendship in their lives and I know you are too! What a blessing for me to meet them...they promised to give you hugs from me when they see you next make sure you get those hugs! Well, I'll bounce back to my day in London after that little jaunt back to Canada...hang in there, the week's almost over...
left Harpenden at 8:30 am to visit Pembroke Lodge in Richmond Park, Neel, Miranda, Roo and Leo came too. Had a lovely visit in the park and then went to Neel and Miranda's for a delicious, healthy lunch....it was soooooo pleasant to hang out with them! Then Aunty and Uncle took me back to Bulstrode in time for Uncle Raji(Mom's brother) and Aunty Prem to pick me for a family BBQ at my cousin Sunil's place...lovely time had by all....met loads of people....tooooo many to mention...got home at midnight or so....thanks Aunty Manju, Uncle Ashok, Uncle Raji and Aunty Prem for making my visit so memorable once again! I LOVE YOU soooooo much but JESUS loves you even more! You ROCK!

Sunday August 23rd Tony and Sylvia Woodward back to Bulstrode to pick me up for the late service at All Souls Langham, this time, so I got to sleep in a bit! woohoo! Excellent message on Paul's prayer for the Philippians 1:9-11 by Rico Tice...check it out on their website...all about "Growing in Love", I needed to hear that one! Spent the day wandering the tubes and streets of London...Convent Garden, Green Park, Leicester Square, Piccadily Circus, Baker Street, Marleybone, and then back Gerrards Cross by train...sat with two bloakes, one who spent the day in the Pub watching Football, not too happy that Tottenham Spurs won and the other who spent the day watching England and Australia play cricket...England won! Yup it was a culturally good day in the UK!

Well, it's Tuesday now...didn't run yesterday or today, skipped chapel yesterday, worked all day, did laundry in the evening, skipped running today, OW Team did chapel today it was excellent, then I worked in the office on my own as the team went to Milton Keynes to talk with the Publisher on format for the inside of the new Operation World book! Woohoo! Very exciting! Most exciting part of my day was meeting two faithful servants of God...Noel Gibson, he's in his 80's now and served the Lord in India for many years and Patrick Johnstone, the man God has used to create Operation World...if he didn't obey I wouldn't have the privilege of being here and helping out with the next edition! He just popped in what a pleasant surprise...thank you Lord!

In closing I would like to share this with you, I read it this morning in my Quiet Time...I was very challenged by the Lord through Oswald Chambers once again...My Utmost for His Highest...bouncing off to bed now...will add more pictures at a later date...God bless...signing out a tired tigger...woohoo...

August 25, 2009

Sacrifice and Friendship
I have called you friends . . . —John 15:15

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We will never know the joy of self-sacrifice until we surrender in every detail of our lives. Yet self-surrender is the most difficult thing for us to do. We make it conditional by saying, "I’ll surrender if . . . !" Or we approach it by saying, "I suppose I have to devote my life to God." We will never find the joy of self-sacrifice in either of these ways.

But as soon as we do totally surrender, abandoning ourselves to Jesus, the Holy Spirit gives us a taste of His joy. The ultimate goal of self-sacrifice is to lay down our lives for our Friend (see John 15:13-14 ). When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, our greatest desire is to lay down our lives for Jesus. Yet the thought of self-sacrifice never even crosses our minds, because sacrifice is the Holy Spirit’s ultimate expression of love.

Our Lord is our example of a life of self-sacrifice, and He perfectly exemplified Psalm 40:8, "I delight to do Your will, O my God . . . ." He endured tremendous personal sacrifice, yet with overflowing joy. Have I ever yielded myself in absolute submission to Jesus Christ? If He is not the One to whom I am looking for direction and guidance, then there is no benefit in my sacrifice. But when my sacrifice is made with my eyes focused on Him, slowly but surely His molding influence becomes evident in my life (see Hebrews 12:1-2 ).

Beware of letting your natural desires hinder your walk in love before God. One of the cruelest ways to kill natural love is through the rejection that results from having built the love on natural desires. But the one true desire of a saint is the Lord Jesus. Love for God is not something sentimental or emotional— for a saint to love as God loves is the most practical thing imaginable.

"I have called you friends. . . ." Our friendship with Jesus is based on the new life He created in us, which has no resemblance or attraction to our old life but only to the life of God. It is a life that is completely humble, pure, and devoted to God.

Bouncing around the World....

Monday the 10th, I arrived in the OW Office for my holidays...woohoo....and some holiday it is turning out to be...within just 4 days I have visited 21 countries and spent some time in China to boot! I am helping with updating the stats that are currently in the drafts based on the new UN data on world population, country by country,which comes out every two years...I am actually enjoying it as I am being reminded of the population of various countries and obviously learning the population of MOST countries in the world (as if I knew them all!). I am also learning the makeup of the religions in each country and the Christians...when the Access data base is working/chugging away at doing the Country Summary Report, I then work on China! I have my work cut out for me...I'm working on organizing and summarizing the data that has been collected over the past 4 years on China...it is quite fascinating...one of the coolest things I read so far is that there is Bible College that has 200 places in China and 60 new places are open every year and there is fierce competition for the 60 new spaces...I later learned that there are around 240-250 Bible Colleges in China and all have similar problems! Pretty cool and very different from where I come from which is sad :(

My days are like this:
6:30 am Running with Molly ( OW Team Member from the States)
7:00 am Shower
8:00 am QTWJ(let's see how many of you can figure this one out!)
8:30 am Chapel
9:00 am Begin Bouncing from country to country
1:00 pm LUNCH
2:00 pm Back to bouncing....
5:15 pm Tea Time
and back to bouncing in the evenings or chillin', haven't spent too many evenings in the office, tonight is my first one...(Thursday August 13th)...but I hope to do more as I really want to finish these jobs before I go...if anyone thinks of it you could pray that that would be the case!

Tonight I went grocery shopping and I was so excited to find lime and coriander pappadams...I have missed them sooooooo much since I moved home!

I also picked up my favorite yogurt in the whole wide world it's Oncken Mango ,Papaya and Passion Fruit sooooooooooo good! Thanks Jen and Abe for picking up some for me to tie me over til now! BTW Jen and Abe Lo are friends of mine from when I was here in 06-07...yes Jen is the one that came to Potugal...I'm not sure if I mentioned this already but it's worth repeating if I didn't...when I arrived here at Bulstrode, Abe picked us up from the airport and he went out, I'm thinking at Jen's suggestion, and picked up flowers, a card, chocolates, water, cookies for me! It was so nice and I've been enjoying & sharing them, I might add, all week...then they gave me my yogurt and they had some rice crisps and oranges in their too....thanks sooooo much!

And Wania and Mark they've equipped me with a phone card and a mobile...thanks Mark and Wania....

Not only that but these two couples have opened their homes to me big time thank you so much...I feel so much at home here!

This week it was also wonderful to catch up with Jason(our fearless leader!) he has a new gig which I can't go into but it involves food, really good food and his friends sometimes benefit from this gig and enjoy a free meal, a really good meal...thanks Jason!

And then there's Molly I share space with Molly and she is wonderful, this morning she did chapel and she did an AMAZING job on presenting prayer needs for Northern India...way to go Molly...I even learned a few things...Molly is also my running partner...but she is on her way to Sweden this weekend...she'll be joining me again on Tuesday...

Regarding running I have ran every morning since I arrived...the first on my own...and the last 3 with Molly and one day Anna joined us too!

OK ladies I'm have done 6 and 1's and today we did 7's and 1's however, it is hillier here! I do miss my running group...I hope they are reading this blog! There is a horse field here that we often run in! The first day I was scared of the horses...there are many and they were running too...so I ran away...the second day I ran through...thanks to Molly!

That's all for now...trust all is well with you...week 2 is coming to an end very soon and then only 3 more to go...woohoo!

Live, Love and Laugh in Lisbon

Woohooo my friends finally arrived later on Thursday evening, it was sooooooo good to see them...it had been two years since the last time we were together...Wania is Brasilian and Jen is Korean American...they both left their hubbies(& in Wania's case, two children) to spend a weekend with this tigger! Woohoo! Instead of bbqing cause it was too dark to light the coal bbq we went to the mall, mall's here are open til very late, some til midnight...and their food courts are like restaurants in a food court area..so we chose a Brasilian one...it was very good and the meal was costed by weight...we ate lots..and then did the late night catch up chatting time...it was good...much love and laughter...the next morning we took our time getting up except for Wania...she was on family time...with the internal clock of a mother...it was a good thing we all had our own rooms! We arose to another beautiful day in Lisbon, the sun was shining and the sky was blue...we had breakfast and headed for the beach....Estoril was our stop...it was a hot day at the beach...stayed from about 11-3 enough time to get burnt! oops! This tigger did bounce in the water...literally bounce it was not really warm, in fact it was cold, but we sooned warmed up lying on the beach...the scenery around the beach was beautiful...Lisbon has old castles on the sea and these narrow walk outs where some people will be fishing or just hanging out on the rocks...we had a picnic lunch and later finally had our bbq by the poolside...it was a lovely relaxing day of just hanging out...later in the evening we went for sha(tea) and coffee...i had this tea that was a special blend called "The Perfect World"....it was soooooooo soothing and great just before bed...the most special part of my day was being able to share my heart with my friends...I knew they had wisdom but grew to appreciate their wisdom even more as we chatted about love and relationships...I am thankful to the Lord for friends with such good marriages...and pray that He would continue to strengthen and protect them....

Next day...more of the beach after breakfast....it was a windier day....the first place we chose was quite open and then we found this beautiful spot by a huge rock that shaded us from the wind but not the sun....more burning happened....and we put sunscreen on...honestly! We finished our foodstuffs and then while Jen rested a bit, Wania and I went on a bit of a mission to get our pregnant friend some protein while she rested...driving in Lisbon was an adventure...their are many dead end streets and one way....we got hung up a couple of times where we had to back up to let other cars go by...roads are very narrow...Wania did an excellent job driving on the right side of the street...only a couple of times did I have to say to her to move over...that's not bad! lol

Saturday evening we met Paulo by Jeronimo Monastery but not til after I had a McDonald cheeseburger....this tigger bounces every time she sees McDonald's ....I know it's hard to believe but I can't help it! Upon Paulo's recommendation we had these pastries with a kind of custard pudding inside a very flaky pastry shell, that you put cinnamon and icing sugar on top...check it out at this website http://www.pasteisdebelem.pt/ ...they were delicious! Soooooooooooooooooooooooooo good!

After eating them we walked around a bit and then headed for old Lisbon for pictures of the city from a high point in the city and then to Colombo a very big mall...over 400 stores...yikes....we bounced through that one! Woo hoo...then we went to Paulo's parents for a very late home made Brasilian supper...10:30pm...Paulo's sister made most of the meal....it was huge and every thing was soooo tasty...thanks Paulo's family! For the food but most of all for the Fellowhip in Christ! Our last night in Lisbon was very special!

Sunday our final day... once again a beautiful sunny day...we had some time to sit at the pool and soak in more sun and then headed to the airport...everything went smoothly...and we arrived in London early! On the flight I met another Paulo, he was nineteen and was holidaying in Madeiro where he was stung/burnt by a jelly fish...his hand looked so sore but he said it didnt hurt anymore the first 3 days were really bad...I thought of my sister at this point as she warned me, after having watched a documentary on jelly fish...not to swim in the ocean because of jelly fish!
Thanks Kavita...but I still went in...thankful to the Lord nothing happened!

It's late and the bounce has subsided for this tigger....more tomorrow on entry to London...back at Bulstrode and the best of all...back to OW....woohoo...until then...woohoo! ttyl

To market to market we go....

It´s another beautiful day...had breakfast...your typical European breakfast...wonderful bread, cheese, meat, yogurt - passion fruit and peach - tasted like pudding! Great coffee and some juice, thinking it was mango! Then went off to the market....local market....lots of stuff, clothes for all shapes and sizes, shoes, purses, shoes, sunglasses, shoes...going back soon...didn´t get too the food part except for one stand...bought some fresh red grapes...the size of golf balls...and nectarines...2 kilos of each for 3.50 euros...pretty good deal!

Back from my second trip to the market and the mall (grocery store)...the food market was so full of wonderful smells and flavors...tasted some cheeses and purchased a couple of chunks...have no clue what they are but they are good...everyone speaks Portuguese and no English but somehow we manage to do business...that´s fascinating! I also got some fresh bread, cucumber and tomato and skewers to bbq this evening...picked up coals,etc for the bbq from the grocery store which is literally only a block from where I´m staying...oh yeah...don´t tell Jen and Wania but my main reason for going to the market was to pick up flowers and chocolate for their room...bought about 2 dozen Gerbers for each of them...they were less than $5 each bunch! WOW! When I came back from the market, I prepared the flowers and put them in their rooms with other little surprises! Can´t wait til they arrive! I´m so glad their coming...this bouncy tigger needs people! I did manage to enjoy a meal of bread, cheese, fresh tomato and cucumber(unbelievably sweet!) and water on my own...been trying to eat healthy...had a great salad at Frankfurt airport on my way...it was filled with yummy nuts...anywho...tiggers tend to bounce even in their writing....sorry if it bothers you all I can say is you´ll just have to deal with it...cause it ain´t gonna change..unless I marry an Editor...woohoo!

Back to the food market...will have to put pictures on...there was dried fish...lots of fresh veggies...lots of homemade breads/buns, and olives...I´m kicking myself for not picking up some of the olives...but I did take pictures...not sure why I didn´t pick up any!








I love fresh food markets...the only thing that was hard for me was at this market there were some beggars...you have to understand for a person with the gift of mercy this is a hard thing...I so much wanted to give this one girl who asked me for money, some, but for some reason I wasn´t free to and I usually never hesitate, however I have stopped giving to panhandlers in Saskatoon since the commercials on panhandling have discouraged it...back to this girl...she kept asking but in Portuguese and she had something that she was giving out but again i t was in Potuguese but I couldn´t read it, and because I didn´t understand and there was noone to help me understand, I hesitated. I offered to buy her some food but she didn´t accept,not sure if she understood me...since that time, I have prayed for her and for forgiveness, if I wasn´t obedient to the Lord...and can keep on bouncing cause Christ has set me free! One of my prayers in life is for discernment...need to keep seeking Him for that...want to be obedient to what He is asking of me...

Anyway...the rest of my day was quite restful...laid in the sun, went in the pool and began a book called " A Heart like His" so far so good...it´s about David...that´s King David who had a heart like His...looking forward to more...

but now this tigger needs to bounce along as my friends should be arriving anytime now...and I need to get ready for them....woohoo...more later...love anj

This tigger has bounced into Lisbon...

.... and is happy to report that she´s is still bouncing in a good way....woohoo...at some points I literally mean bounced into Lisbon...ok let me explain...this is what the last 24 hours has been like...flew out of Saskatoon as per scheduled(only flight that left on time, I might add) barely landed in TO at 16:30 (Tuesday Aug 4th), ok I´m exaggerating a biy, but it was lightning and we were grounded on the tarmac for over 3 hours because the ground crews were not allowed out on the tarmac due to the lightning! I must admit I was happy to be on the ground longer than I was scheduled since the sky was looking omnious. I was a little concerned about my connection...but that was a bit"duh" on my part...if they were grounding arriving flights then flights weren´t leaving either!

While on the tarmac in the plane, I called my friend Karen at Sick Kids,and she also informed me that there were tornado warnings in Guelph so I was even more happy to be on the ground! A little update on Alysha(Karen & Mark´s daughter at Sick Kids) I had a lovely chat with her, she was watching tv and feeling pretty good. Her parents inform me that her white blood cell counts steadily improve, the docs are carefully monitoring her organs as there have been some issues most recently with her liver. Thanks to all who have been praying,for them, keep remembering them as the Spirit leads you.

Anyway, back to my last 24 hours, when we finally got off the plane in TO, it was a rather interesting experience atmosphere at Pearson, glad I wasn´t working there...it was rather chaotic...my flight was leaving within the hour...so I started making my way to the gate...I just want to note here that between TO and Frankfurt I have had my run for the day... so ladies I didn´t miss Tuesday run, I just did it by just walking rather briskly to my gates at two International airports in our world! After a good jaunt at Pearson, I finally got to my gate and met this very HOT man in line...he intensely works out at some new fad in TO. I forget what it´s called but noticed the name of something on his t-shirt and asked him about it, it´s like really intense circuit training...I proceeded to tell him, trying, of course, my best to impress him, about my triathalons(ok mini tri) and 10kms runs...it was fun! Unfortunately we didn´t sit anywhere near each other so that was the last I saw of him! I´m sure he wasn´t too disappointed...nor was I as he kind of came across like he knew he was HOT which kinda spoils things! All this to say, finally made it on the flight and away we bounced and this is where we literally bounced, I was not a very happy tigger...I´m thankful I hardly ate anything cause it probably would have bounced right out of my system...when the plane dropped suddenly and everyone on board let out a nervous noise...is when my crying out(of course, in my heart not out loud) to the Lord bumped up a notch or two! Needless to say I didn´t really enjoy my meal on the plance. A couple of ways the Lord kept me sane was knowing that the weather forecast for Frankfurt was very good and he seated me next to a South Asian believer from Mississauga, Sam, who is doing his Masters in Biomedical Engineering and is involved with Campus for Christ. We had lovely chats throughout the flight...God bless you Sam...hope you made it to India ok... The flight eventually calmed down in terms of the turbulence...but we did have a medical emergency which delayed things even further at Frankfurt as Paramedics came on the flight to take the passenger off, before any of us could leave the aircraft. That was a first for me! One of the docs who helped was from Liberia now practicing in USA and he filled us in a bit on the status of the patient, who was now stable,on the bus ride from the plane to the airport!

Needless to say I totally missed my connection to Lisbon, but this Star Alliance thing is amazing...they had me on the next available flight and I didn´t even lose my luggage! I boarded at 13:30 on TAP Airlines in Frankfurt(first time flying TAP) Wed, August 5th sat between two very interesting gentlemen, one is a Dutch banker working in London, very interesting Bloake, and the other worked in Saudi Arabia and knew very little English so limited conversation took place. The flight was relatively smooth...there was a little bouncing...but I was so glad to know that the Dutch man(who I might add, was rather hot as well) hated flying too!

And voila here I am in Lisbon, Portugal, I´ve wanted to come here since 1999, 10 years later...finally I´ve arrived and it is beautiful...the sun is shining, the palm trees are waving a bit in the breeze, there are beaches after beaches and lots of people on the beaches...Luis Martens picked me up from the airport and we had a lovely drive to Abla... which i might add is a wonderful place to stay...Karla McMurray greeted me and took me to my room and filled me in on everything here and shared a bit of her journey with Jesus with me which was very precious and my room is wonderful...once I figure out how to put pictures on this thing you too can see just how wonderful it is....well enough of this blogging...I have my new bikini on and am going to sit by the pool and read a book for a while as the sun will be going down soon...and off to the market tomorrow...thanks for all your prayers...I couldn´t have remained sane otherwise...the verse that the Holy Spirit kept bringing to mind was the one in Timothy which emphasizes the truth that God has not given me a spirit of fear but of power, love and sound mind...thanks again... more later...love ya...Anj

Thanks everyone who is praying for me...that means sooooooo much...will keep you posted along the way...bye for now