Joak fixes the blog!!! 6th October 2005

Hi you gems

As I still cannot delete the old blogs, which are repeats, I may ask you to type in http://FlissPurpleheartforBurma.blogspot.com so I only have the ones I want in there. However a friend from California who is married to Judith who used to teach at school years ago is dropping in on Wednesday so I may yet sort it out!! He is the mysterious John O from previous blogs so well done John for sorting out the problem and being very patient with teacherish Fliss!! Halos will be dispensed soon!!

I am amazed that people I have never met are reading my blogs and if you are want to comment on the blog ok, if you are bored out of your tree by the blog then feel free to say that, BUT if you are TRYING TO SELL me stuff please do not leave a comment. I AM NOT INTERESTED AND I FEEL SURE YOUR integrity will not allow you carry on leaving information on credit cards, etc. You are probably GREAT people but NO MORE. There are more important things in life AND HOPE you get this message!!! Maybe it is automatically generated from companies so I will look into this! You can all see I am still new to all this tech stuff.

At the moment I am reading 8 books including one by the girl who was in the most famous Vietnam photograph of all time who was burned by napalm. She lives in Canada and is a Christian. The other book that has reduced me to tears is by Jane and Mike Tomlinson called "The Luxury of Time"She had cancer, was told there was nothing they could do and then she goes on to run marathons!! Awesome courage, both Jane and her husband Mike are refreshingly honest and if anyone knows them who reads this ( I will probably write to them) tell them THANKYOU.

I am also reading Billy Graham's autobiography which is also fantastic. What humility. How God has used him and in the course of his life he has walked with integrity and humility conscious of his frailty. Another great quote is by Hudson Taylor founder of the China Inland Mission ( now OMF) who said " God looked round for someone small to do his work and he found me". When HT went to CHina in 1865 there were no churches. When he died about 45 years later there were 611 churches and 20.000 Christians and each month I get information about the amazing sacrifices the Chinese Christians are making and how much the church is growing. Awesome courage and risking everything for Him. It is interesting that in countries where people are tortured,killed, imprisoned for being Christians, family taken away, etc the question of God and suffering never arises. It only really arises in the West. I wonder what that says!!!!

The Christian lawyers breakfast was enjoyable as they were really friendly and praying in the chapel at Lincoln in Fields was great . If anyone reading this is in the legal profession, is based near LIF and can go along and support then I would urge you to do so. The cafe does great toast and coffee and both the coffee and peanut butter are wonderful.

The Archbishop of Canterbury came to Soul Survivor on Sunday for the morning and evening services and tea at 5 pm. What a fantastic guy, what humility. It was brilliant to have him with us, his voice is incredible (!! he should do talking books) and the way he integrated with people was wonderful. I felt choked as we prayed for him and not sure what that was all about. He spoke about in the silence God expands us and I have ordered the CD so can listen to him again. I will read his book again which is called Open to Judgement. I did ask him for his autograph to put in the book ( I know it is daft at 46!!). Now I have Mother Teresa's, Desmond Tutus and his.

I wonder how all you fantastic friends are who are reading this blog, old students and anyone else who happens to come across it. On Tuesday I went to the Britain-Burma Society at the Royal School of Medicine in Chandos Place. It was very enjoyable and everyone was very friendly. I also met 3 Burmese students and John from SOAS who used to teach Burmese and by all accounts was an excellent teacher.

I have also seen a French film called The Chorus and the music was a big hit in France when it came out. It is a definite feel good film and I enjoyed it at the end of a cultural day in London with the wife of the new youth worker of Soul Survivor and a £3 lunch at the International in St Martin's near the church - bargain!!

My next task is to get images from web that I can legally add to the blog otherwise it is tedious with all writing.
So where are the wine recommendations from you wine buffs? I tried Wither Hills recently which I really liked.
Much love of course
Fliss xx