Last day and counting

Last day and counting in this amazing city and what a stunning time we have had out here......

We have spent time laughing, crying, getting massively frustrated, building better friendships, understanding more about 'culture', helping people, encouraging people, supporting people, challenging people, seeing sights we never would have dreamt of, experiencing smells and sounds we have never experienced before and seeing all our lives change.

We have watched our kids grow and develop in ways we could never have expected, our family has gone through things that would make your eyes water. At the same time we have had more coffee and ice cream than in the last 10 years in the UK (when we have felt a bit 'western sick') and yet, at the same time, survived for a week on bread and rice and water (at Avalanche).

What an unreal time! Very little sickness - home or stomach, one minor accident, buget worked well (we have ended giving too much away but if that is a crime - we are gulty!). Our home has been a sanctuary for us in a way that has made it all (just that bit more) bearable at times.

There is much, much, much more we could tell you about. Maybe will if you give us the chance when we get home??

Thank you all for all your support, love, comments on the blog, e mails and phone calls etc We could not have got through it without them. You are wonderful people and we have felt well loved and supported....

Thanks to all those who gave so generously to people out here. We were given a total of £1145 to give away and gave £1230. I can give you the details if you want but some examples are you have built a house, saved a family from having their house repossessed, helped to setting a business up, helped to build a sports hall for HIV orphans & bought sports equipment for them, bought a (much needed) laptop for the Fishermen Trust and totally furnished the office they work from now and generally given to dozens (yes dozens) of people out here who have next to nothing. Yep, a little goes a hell of a long way out here...

Massive thanks to my 'big brown bear' - that's what the kids call Raj. We made a massive commitment/covenant to each other a number of years back and various things have tested out this friendship to the max but nothing has dented it yet. I have never experienced friendship like it....

Raj has put up with all sorts from me and had me push him, challenege him, encourage him and generally chase his tail to get into the potential that God has for him and the Trust here.

Those of you that know me know that I can be a bit of a bully at times so for Raj to have put up with that for 3.5 months deserves a huge tribute.

And finally, and I know not all of you who read our blog believe in God, but we do (as hard as that is at times!) and we just want to pay a kind of tribute to Him.

From the first days, when we had the initial dream to come, until now, we can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that God has provided for us in ways we could never have imagined. Many of you will never know some of the miracles (and I don't use that word lightly) we have seen before we came and since we have been out here. Unreal!! So big 'Ta's' to the big 'G'!

Doing this blog has been fun and hard work. It has been a good discipline and a great permanent reminder of our time here. The comments that I have had back from you guys too has made doing the blog worthwhile.

I can't work out how I feel. I know I haven't thought of work more than twice in the whole time here. Very weird for me! I feel very numb when I think of home - can't quite process my thoughts to get to the stage of knowing how I feel really. I have no doubt we will enjoy every moment when we return but at the same time, just going to 2/3 slums again yesterday, I still live with the frustration (it feels more like pain at times) of on the one hand living how I live and where I live and yet having the eyes and images of the people I have spent time again with out here (from the streets, slums and villages), haunt me.

I do not understand why? Just becasue of where I was born, I have ended up a bloke with a lovely family with a good income, house, job and 2 cars and a good lifestyle. So please tell me why that is fair when kids I have been over the last 3 1/2 mon ths with have ended up in the gutter (literally), getting sick by the day due to infected water and bad food, with a Dad that (3/4 of whom) have drinking/violence issues and (many) parents who would rather the kiddie help at home than get an education. Please tell me why that is? And if you or I really don't have an answer (and please don't give me any cheesy ones!), then please let me/us continue to serve these beautiful people as long as the gap between the 'have's' and 'have nots' just gets a little shorter??

Must go now. Plane in a few hours!! I really don't think I will keep this blogging lark up when I go home as I won't have time or the amazing array of things to tell you. In many (most?) ways, life is just not as interesting at home I guess BUT it is home, and it's where we belong. Of that we know.....

Love Dave, Sarah, Es and Josh xx