Chris and kris in India 23

This month
Comments from Kris.
A look at our garden. We may have a plan!
Plans for a party.
My Bit
A big decision 
and whatever else comes along.


What sort of Christian are you? or me, or any of us?
This month I seem to be cheating, but two pieces have really made me think, of my self and of my spiritual life, neither are written by me although I do wish I could claim they were!
This first piece by Stephen Mattson, it began a train of thought in my head, how we as Christians think of the Bible and how non Christians see us as Christians, I hope it makes you think as well.

Much of Westernized Christianity’s recent decline has been blamed on the failure of churches and denominations to adapt to modern times — either becoming irrelevant or, contrarily, becoming too commercialized and “fake,” creating a superficial form of faith that drives parishioners away from institutionalized religion.

Lost in the conversation is a much deeper issue, one that revolves around losing confidence in the Bible.

For years churches have glossed over, rationalized, and provided shallow answers to thorny Biblical problems that are no longer being ignored — and it’s becoming harder to defend texts that appear contradictory and culturally irrelevant.

When you consider that the Bible was written by more than 40 separate authors and compiled from thousands of manuscripts, in different languages, over hundreds of years, from a variety of locations around the world, with little collaboration, and ultimately interpreted into hundreds of translations — there are bound to be ambiguities.

Given the endless array of unique components that went into its construction, the Bible is extremely complex in origin yet miraculously consistent in theme. But eventually, followers of Christ must wrestle with the fact that the Bible isn’t as neat as we want it to be.

Through academic study, apologetics, and theological training, Christians can put to rest many apparent biblical contradictions such as conflicting dates, times, and descriptions. But the most serious contradictions aren’t specifically textual — they’re ideological.

Even if you believe Scripture is inspired by God — as I do — there are major theological and philosophical hurdles that must be overcome. Oftentimes, there are no easy answers.

But Christians often cherry-pick the Bible, ripping the most inspirational and lovely verses out of context and plastering them on Facebook walls, Twitter feeds, and Tumblr pages. Very little attention is given to the darker verses, the stories that are sad, depressing, and horrendously ugly.

For example, how can we reconcile the loving person of Christ with the violent God of the Old Testament? How can God forgive the sins of the world yet kill a man for simply trying to stabilize the Ark of the Covenant (2 Sam. 6)? How can an unchanging God preach to us about loving our enemies yet facilitate the destruction of entire people groups — including children (Deut. 7:1-2; 20: 16-18)?

In modern marriage ceremonies, we use the Bible to recite verses about love and commitment, but some of the most “righteous” characters throughout scripture were polygamous (Gen. 16), adulterers (2 Sam. 11), and even performed incest (Gen. 38). In fact, hardly any examples of what we would now consider “godly” marriage can be found within the Bible.

We’re instructed to follow Christ’s example of being forgiving, patient, and kind, yet God immediately kills Lot’s wife for simply “looking back” at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:26). A few chapters later God kills a man named Onan for failing to impregnate his dead brother’s wife (Genesis 38).

These stories are hard to explain, and they strike at the very center of our spirituality. As Christians, we are faced with a Bible that teaches us that God is seemingly peaceful and violent, caring and cold, kind and cruel, graceful and legalistic, patient and intolerant, forgiving and vengeful, good and bad.

Furthermore, biblical accounts that are filled with miracles, supernatural events, and unexplainable phenomenon directly contradict with our modern understanding of science and reason, pushing us to question the overall reliability of the Bible’s content. Can we trust something that is so unbelievable?

The old-fashioned traditions and customs of the Bible don’t just appear to contradict themselves, they radically contradict today’s culture and society and widely accepted morals.

Ultimately, all of these biblical issues force Christians to ask some huge questions: Is God real? Is God good? Is God relevant?

For years, Christians have resorted to using the Old vs. New Covenant as an explanation for the seemingly dramatic contradictions in God’s character. But to the average person — and Christian — this reasoning (no matter how legitimate it may be) often sounds foolish and confusing and unsatisfying.

In the end, rationalizing the violent and gruesome images of the Old Testament sounds like a bad excuse, where illogical and confusing theological antidotes are used as a failed effort at trying to save God’s reputation.

Is an intricate knowledge of biblical Jewish culture and history, combined with a fluent grasp of Hebrew, an expansive knowledge of scripture, a conviction that the Bible still applies to today’s world, and the belief in the supernatural all required to understand biblical contradictions? Maybe.

We often treat the Bible as an all-or-nothing decision, where we entirely accept or completely reject it. Many people totally discredit the Bible simply because they struggle with just a few contradictions. Will you?

To make matters worse, many people discard Christianity because Christians contradict the message of the Gospel itself. Instead of following Christ’s example of service, sacrifice, and love, we’re guilty of being hypocrites — hating, hurting, ignoring, and exploiting those around us.

The hard truth is that there are no simple solutions to these contradictions, and finding resolutions may require lots of time, energy, and work, but God desires that we try. Our faith is a journey filled with doubt, struggles, and trials. We may never find a satisfactory answer to our biggest questions, but that’s OK.

Throughout Jesus’ ministry, He continually admonished those who were the most certain about their faith — the Pharisees. They thought they knew everything and had all the answers. Ironically, the people who were the most unsure and desperate were the ones that Jesus used to change the world. Certainty and confidence don’t necessarily equate to holiness and righteousness. We must accept the Bible in its entirety instead of avoiding the hardest parts and embrace the idea that our faith will exist within the tension of these difficult dilemmas.

Stephen Mattson has contributed for Relevant Magazine and the Burnside Writer's Collective, and studied Youth Ministry at the Moody Bible Institute. He is now on staff at Northwestern College in St. Paul, Minn.

And now this (taken from a post by Andrew Grant).

"Himself" - A.B. Simpson (1843-1919) 
As you read this try to put yourself into a 19th century mindset, Sit back in your favourite chair, let the candles flicker and forget the pc,tv,mo and just read. You may like to print it if that helps you, these words that span time deserve to be properly reflected upon as you read.. Read and think as you go of the society he is speaking of, its a bit long by our standards but worth the time and effort.

I wish to speak to you about Jesus, and Jesus only. I often hear people say, "I wish I could get hold of Divine Healing but I cannot." Sometimes they say, "I have got it." If I ask them, "What have you got?" the answer is sometimes, "I have got the blessing"; sometimes it is, "I have got the theory"; sometimes it is, "I have got the healing"; sometimes, "I have got the sanctification." But I thank God we have been taught that it is not the blessing, it is not the healing, it is not the sanctification, it is not the thing, it is not the "it" that you want, but it is something better. It is "the Christ"; it is Himself. How often that comes out in His Word - Himself "took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses", Himself "bare our sins in his own body on the tree"! It is the person of Jesus Christ we want. Plenty of people get the idea and do not get anything out of it. They get it into their head, into their conscience and into their will; but somehow they do not get Him into their life and spirit, because they have only that which is the outward expression and symbol of the spiritual reality. I once saw a picture of the Constitution of the United States, very skillfully engraved in copper plate, so that when you looked at it closely it was nothing more than a piece of writing, but when you looked at it at a distance it was the face of George Washington. The face shone out in the shading of the letters at a little distance and I saw the person, not the words, nor the ideas; and I thought, "That is the way to look at the Scriptures and understand the thoughts of God, to see in them the face of love, shining through and through; not ideas, nor doctrines, but Jesus Himself as the Life and Source and sustaining Presence of all our life."

I prayed a long time to get sanctified, and sometimes I thought I had it. On one occasion I felt something, and I held on with a desperate grip for fear I should lose it, and kept awake the whole night fearing it would go, and, of course, it went with the next sensation and the next mood. Of course I lost it because I did not hold on to Him. I had been taking a little water from the reservoir when I might have all the time received from Him fullness through the open channels. I went to meetings and heard people speak of joy. I even thought I had the joy but I did not keep it because I had not Himself as my joy. At last He said to me - oh so tenderly - "My child, just take Me, and let Me be in you the constant supply of all this, Myself." And when at last I got my eyes off my sanctification, and my experience of it, and just placed them on the Christ in me, I found, instead of an experience, the Christ larger than the moment's need, the Christ that had all that I should ever need who was given to me at once, and for ever! And when I thus saw Him it was such rest; it was all right, and right for ever. For I had not only what I could hold that little hour, but also in Him, all that I should need the next and the next and so on, until sometimes I get a glimpse of what it will be a million years afterwards, when we shall "shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of our Father" (Matt. 13:43), and have "all the fullness of God."

And so I thought the healing would be an "it" too, that the Lord would take me like the old run-down clock, wind me up and set me going like a machine. It is not thus at all. I found it was Himself coming in instead and giving me what I needed at the moment. I wanted to have a great stock so that I could feel rich; a great store laid up for many years so that I would not be dependent upon Him the next day; but He never gave me such a store. I never had more holiness or healing at one time than I needed for that hour. He said: "My child, you must come to Me for the next breath because I love you so dearly I want you to come all the time. If I gave you a great supply, you would do without Me and would not come to Me so often; now you have to come to Me every second, and lie on My breast every moment." He gave me a great fortune, placed thousands and millions at my credit, but He gave a cheque-book with this one condition, "You never can draw more than you need at the time." Every time a cheque was wanted, however, there was the name of Jesus upon it, and so it brought more glory to Him, kept His name before the heavenly world and God was glorified in His Son.

I had to learn to take from Him my spiritual life every second, to breathe Himself in as I breathed, and breathe myself out. So, moment by moment for the spirit, and moment by moment for the body, we must receive. You say, "Is not that a terrible bondage, to be always on the strain?" What, on the strain with one you love, your dearest Friend? Oh, no! It comes so naturally, so spontaneously, so like a fountain, without consciousness, without effort, for true life is always easy, and overflowing.

And now, thank God, I have Him, not only what I have room for but that which I have not room for, but for which I shall have room, moment by moment, as I go on into the eternity before me. I am like the little bottle in the sea, as full as it will hold. The bottle is in the sea and the sea is in the bottle; so I am in Christ and Christ is in me. But besides that bottleful in the sea there is a whole ocean beyond; the difference is that the bottle has to be filled over again, every day, evermore.

Now the question for each of us is not, "What think you of Bethshan, and what think you of divine healing?" but "What think you of Christ?" There came a time when there was a little thing between me and Christ. I express it by a little conversation with a friend who said, "You were healed by faith." "Oh, no," I said, "I was healed by Christ." What is the difference? There is a great difference. There came a time when even faith seemed to come between me and Jesus. I thought I should have to work up the faith so I laboured to get the faith. At last I thought I had it; that if I put my whole weight upon it, it would hold. I said, when I thought I had got the faith, "Heal me." I was trusting in myself, in my own heart, in my own faith. I was asking the Lord to do something for me because of something in me, not because of something in Him. So the Lord allowed the devil to try my faith, and the devil devoured it like a roaring lion, and I found myself so broken down that I did not think I had any faith. God allowed it to be taken away until I felt I had none. And then God seemed to speak to me so sweetly, saying, "Never mind, my child, you have nothing. But I am perfect Power, I am perfect Love, I am Faith, I am your Life, I am the preparation for the blessing, and then I am the Blessing, too. I am all within and all without, and all for ever." It is just having "Faith in God" (Mark 11:22). "And the life I now live in the flesh, I live," not by faith on the Son of God, but "by the faith of the Son of God" (Gal. 2:20). That is it. It is not your faith; you have no faith in you, any more than you have life or anything else in you. You have nothing but emptiness and vacuity, and you must be just openness and readiness to take Him to do all. You have to take His faith as well as His life and healing, and have simply to say, "I live by the faith of the Son of God." My faith is not worth anything. If I had to pray for anyone, I would not depend upon my faith at all. I would say, "Here, Lord, am I. If you want me to be the channel of blessing to this one just breathe into me all that I need." It is simply Christ, Christ alone.

Now, is your body yielded to Christ for Him thus to dwell and work in you? The Lord Jesus Christ has a body as well as you, only it is perfect; it is the body, not of a man, but of the Son of man. Have you considered why He is called the Son of man? The Son of man means that Jesus Christ is the one typical, comprehensive, universal, all-inclusive Man. Jesus is the one man that contains in Himself all that man ought to be, all that man needs to have. It is all in Christ. All the fullness of the Godhead and the fullness of a perfect manhood has been embodied in Christ, and He stands now as the summing-up of all that man needs. His spirit is all that your spirit needs, and He just gives us Himself. His body possesses all that your body needs. He has a heart beating with the strength that your heart needs. He has organs and functions redundant with life, not for Himself, but for humanity. He does not need strength for Himself. The energy which enabled Him to rise and ascend from the tomb, above all the forces of nature, was not for Himself. That marvellous body belongs to your body. You are a member of His body. Your heart has a right to draw from His heart all that it needs. Your physical life has a right to draw from His physical life its support and strength, and so it is not you, but it is just the precious life of the Son of God. Will you take Him thus today, and then you will not be merely healed, but you will have a new life for all you need, a flood of life that will sweep disease away, and then remain a fountain of life for all your future need. Oh, take Him in His fullness.

It seems to me as if I might just bring you a little talisman today, as if God had given me a little secret for everyone here and said to me, "Go and tell them, if they will take it, it will be a talisman of power wherever they go, and it will carry them through difficulty, danger, fear, life, death, eternity." If I could stand on this platform and say, "I have received from heaven a secret of wealth and success which God will give freely, through my hand, to everybody who will take it," I am sure you would need a larger hall for the people who would come. But, dear friends, I show you in His Word a truth which is more precious. The Apostle Paul tells us that there is a secret, a great secret which was hidden from ages and from generations (Col. 1:26), which the world was seeking after in vain, which wise men from the East hoped they might find, and God says it "is now made manifest to his saints"; and Paul went through the world just to tell it to those that were able to receive it; and that simple secret is just this "Christ in you the hope of glory."

The word "mystery" means secret; this is the great secret. And I tell you today, nay, I can give you, if you will take it from Him, not from me, I can give you a secret which has been to me, oh, so wonderful! Years ago I came to Him burdened with guilt and fear; I tried that simple secret and it took away all my fear and sin. Years passed on and I found sin overcoming me and my temptations too strong for me. I came to Him a second time and He whispered to me, "Christ in you," and I had victory, rest and blessing.

Then the body broke away in every sort of way. I had always worked hard and from the age of fourteen I studied and laboured and spared no strength. I took charge of a large congregation at the age of twenty-one. I broke down utterly half a dozen times and at my last constitution was worn out. Many times I feared I should drop dead in my pulpit. I could not ascend any height without a sense of suffocation because of a broken-down heart and exhausted nervous system. I heard of the Lord's healing but I struggled against it. I was afraid of it. I had been taught in theological seminaries that the age of the supernatural was past and I could not go back from my early training. My head was in my way but at last when I was brought to attend "the funeral of my dogmatics," (as Mr. Schrenck says), the Lord whispered to me the little secret, "Christ in you"; and from that hour I received Him for my body as I had done for my soul. I was made so strong and well that work has been a perfect delight. For years I have spent my summer holiday in the hot city of New York, preaching and working amongst the masses, as I never did before; besides the work of our Home and College and an immense mass of library work and much besides. But the Lord did not merely remove my sufferings. It was more than simple healing. He so gave me Himself that I lost the painful consciousness of physical organs. That is the best of the health He gives. I thank the Lord that He keeps me from all morbid, physical consciousness and a body that is the object of anxious care, and gives a simple life that is a delight and a service for the Master, that is a rest and joy.

Then, again, I had a poor sort of a mind, heavy and cumbrous, that did not think or work quickly. I wanted to write and speak for Christ and to have a ready memory, so as to have the little knowledge I had gained always under command. I went to Christ about it, and asked if He had anything for me in this way. He replied, "Yes, my child, I am made unto you Wisdom." I was always making mistakes, which I regretted, and then thinking I would not make them again; but when He said that He would be my wisdom, that we may have the mind of Christ, that He could cast down imaginations and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ, that He could make the brain and head right, then I took Him for all that. And since then I have been kept free from this mental disability, and work has been rest. I used to write two sermons a week, and it took me three days to complete one. But now, in connection with my literary work, I have numberless pages of matter to write constantly besides the conduct of very many meetings a week, and all is delightfully easy to me. The Lord has helped me mentally, and I know He is the Saviour of our mind as well as our spirit.

Well, then, I had an irresolute will. I asked, "Cannot you be a will to me?" He said, "Yes, my child, it is God who worketh in you to will and to do." Then He made me to learn how and when to be firm, and how and when to yield. Many people have a decided will but they do not know how to hold on just at the proper moment. So, too, I came to Him for power for His work and all the resources for His service, and He has not failed me.

And so I would say, if this precious little secret of "Christ in you," will help you, you may have it. May you make better use of it than I! I feel I have only begun to learn how well it works. Take it and go on working it out, through time and eternity - Christ for all, grace for grace, from strength to strength, from glory to glory, from this time forth and even for evermore.

I will now leave you for a while to digest the above, I fancy I will be at it for some time. God Bless.

Party

It would seem we have started a tradition, those of you who have been reading a while will remember we did this last year but on our Anniversary. We have had so many unexpected expenses this year what with me being so ill and one or two 'life' surprises that we decided not to have one.

Then we thought about why we are here, why we live where we do, all the misconceptions about Christians we have swept away, all the friends we have made.

Last year we had High to low caste Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Atheists all here all mixing and meeting each other on what we have always made clear is OUR ground OUR rules, ALL will be welcomed and treated the same as any other.

Many friends didn't believe it would happen, 'there will be problems', we served pure Veggie food and banned alcohol and everyone came and enjoyed the experience. 

So decision changed, we will also be having a bouncy castle again as that kept all the kids busy all night and allowed the adults to relax together. It was a wonderful sight to see all castes, religions throwing themselves off the top of the castle to 'bong' as they hit the bottom. Some had never seen such a thing, all the kids on the colony turned up to look (its not done to join in) but we insisted to the guy running it that ALL children were welcome, after that it looked like a bouncy flood of happy kids. And we both believe we broke a few social barriers or at least bent them a little.

Its nice to have some money in the bank to be able to do this, its even nicer when you are in debt, cant afford it but do it anyway!

You worship Mammon (Money) or God. We have often said God has given us sufficient.

We have for obvious reasons blocked out the address

                                          Front and rear of the invites, Rear enlarged as writing is quite small, all the cooking is on site and served fresh cooked. As last year we have to arrange tables and chairs yet but the bouncy castle is booked.

Here comes another few extra pounds................photo's next month.


Garden.

100degF today, everything suffers this time of year but we persevere. Oh Lord I thank you for our Air Con. Weeks and weeks without rain, heavy occasional storms that do more harm than good, dust, and heat. Did I mention that Rajasthan is a Desert State?...............

On our roof we now have MELONS....second attempt looking good so far, 'Hughie'  (centre) short for Humongous is now the size of a tennis ball!

Cool breeze and a cold beer in the evening

Peppers

Bigger Peppers!

Our baby Papya tree

Cactus corner

Gets lots of white trumpet shaped
flowers then these golf ball sized,
Dodgy conkers!

Newly planted with what we think
maybe 'wandering Jew'?

with lots of care flowers still
here, water a daily job

Red Cabbage

English Cabbage

White (ball) cabbage

back garden awaiting the
Rotavator and compost to mix in

The herb garden still looking lovely
we have to get planting again soon

Pot on the doorstep 4' 6"

We are so blessed to be here.

We are thinking about a 'cool house' air conditioned by evaporator and shaded, misters to keep the humidity up and help keep the temp down, all done with as close to zero power as we can enclosing the side garden completely and turning it into a climate controlled poly house. Solar power and recycled waste water from the house showers sinks etc but not the loos, we think that's a step too far at the moment!, as near as we can get to zero running costs. If we can get the temp down 10degC (or more) it would make a huge difference to our growing season and the crops we could grow.

 We hope to extend Winter by several months next year (Winter is the main growing season), and perhaps, just perhaps have all year around tomatoes! The garden shade has proved we can grow in summer but a Cool-house is a much bigger project! Two pics of the back garden ready for post monsoon.                                                      


Comments from Kris

Firstly hello to everyone, this last month for me has been up and down emotionally, I am going through some hormonal changes and alas no it is not the Menopause although I am of that age.
I am 55 years old for those who do not know, and celebrated my birthday earlier this month, normally I do not go in for celebrating birthdays for myself.
However my darling husband and lots of friends from the bike club had other ideas, I had had a busy day making phone calls chasing things up as you have to in India, and sat down to relax with Chris in the evening, we were expecting a friend to arrive to drop his motorbike off for Chris to look at but other than that we were going to watch a movie.
It got to about 10 pm and I said to Chris that I was surprised our friend had not arrived, must have been late from work which is not uncommon for him. Then I heard it, a very very loud sound of a Royal Enfield Bullet Motorcycles, they have a very distinctive sound and can't be mistaken for anything else.
As I was tired I said to Chris do you mind if I wait till he comes in before I get up, not the normal way to greet people here in India. but Chris insisted I stay where I was and he went outside closing the door which was unusual.
Our friend came in so I got up to say hi and Chris followed closely behind shutting the door but not putting the catch on. It was then that the door opened and a huge stream of friends came in wishing me Happy Birthday, hence the reason I thought the bike sounded loud there were several parked on our driveway. They brought me a beautiful Chocolate Cake without cream as I am lactose intolerant, and had a firework type candle for me to blow out. Sang me 'happy birthday'. We all had some cake and Chris did the traditional Indian thing of covering my face in cake before feeding some to me, he even managed to get some up my nose ughh. The living room was full of happy friends and a couple of children it was such a surprise and yes Chris knew all about it. Thank you to you all once again you are such a blessing and pleasure to be around. Not sure what the neighbours thought but it made my day.

 




Then on the 14th May I did the unthinkable, we were at a friends house and they mentioned our anniversary I said yes its 14th May and Chris said yes today,                 I FORGOT, not the date but that it was in fact the 14th that day, so sorry Chris but I won't forget next year. He got lots of brownie points and everyone assumed wrongly that he was the one to forget but no it was definitely me. Chris took me out with a couple of friends for a lovely meal, it was our idea to share the evening with friends it just seemed the right thing to do and it was great. I had the best vegetable lasagne I have ever had in my life and that includes the one I had on my honeymoon in Rome. It was a new restaurant in the city called Zucchinni it is an Indo/Italian restaurant with great ambience and lovely food, we enjoyed it so much we are using them to cater for our party next month.
Chris now has a get out of jail card for not forgetting our anniversary he can cash it in whenever he likes. (Please all note that last sentence,Chris) YEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW


It has been a tough week or so for me with pain control, all I can say is that whenever I have had a bad episode like this which has lasted some time I normally see some healing take place sometime afterwards. I am of course hopeful that this will be the case this time but I do not take it for granted, it is all in God's hands and his will for my life and of that I accept.

I was very challenged and encouraged by Chris's piece earlier in the blog by A B Simpson. In particular because I do not want to labour the point or bore you, the piece which says "And so I thought the healing would be and "it"too, that the Lord would take me like the old run-down clock, wind me up and set me going like a machine. It was not thus at all. Like Simpson states I found that the Lord gives me enough for the moment, the day, the occasion just what I need not to stock me up to make me not need him. For me it is to be aware that it is through his Grace I am receiving my healing, the strength and all I need to get through each day, but I have to be reliant upon him not as I have been doing recently which is relying on myself.
For sometime I had forgotten what it was to be fully reliant upon God, and let Jesus steer my boat, I was trying to do it my way and praying to him to do just that. No wonder some of my prayers were not answered my attitude was wrong, Chris and I have a saying we had it before coming out to India and it stands just as firmly now if not more than it did then, We are paddling the boat but it is Jesus who is doing the Steering. Long may we remember this and continue to put our faith, hope and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

A Decision Made.
We have enjoyed our last two years in India immensely, some downs but mostly ups, it has been a wonderful experience and are so impressed by the  work PMF are doing to empower women and help in rural communities, its hard to explain the simple day to day difficulties encountered with almost everything you do. Money is of course the big problem, to give us funds for R&D now that we cannot contribute ourselves to funding our projects makes it very hard for PMF and ourselves because we must clear the £2000 we still owe for medical care when I was so ill. Our vision  to develop a method of water purification that is cheap to build and costs nothing to run........ This we now have but PMF cannot afford to pay for the scale of introduction within the city (+10k area or so) or the publicity it will need to become a part of many Indian Homes.We are passionate about this as we believe that 4000 dead children and babies every summer just in Rajasthan due to dehydration caused by diarrhoea from drinking infected water must be stopped and we now have the means to begin this huge task.
We have been using the method for at least three months now as our only drinking water, the supply comes from a test well that shows high levels of infection from human waste (Poo). After treatment none. (Tested by Kris) Drunk by friends!
The old aircraft designers were required to be part of the first test flight of their design, we applied the same principle, no diarrhoea or stomach infections since we began. Kris has all the test data etc but most important we KNOW it works. Cost, to build the solar unit and the filter that doubles as a funnel to filter the water as it is pored into the bottles so it is clear for solar disinfection £3.50 per unit. Yes. To give safe, clean water from almost any source, to save babies lives, £3.50 for a family unit that will produce 11 litres a day if required.!
So to the decision. The Indian government wont allow us to transfer to another NGO 'in country' so we have to leave and reapply for work visas to take jobs we have already been offered upon the expiry of our current contract with PMF, all in all about its going to cost us £2500, what a waste of money that we could do so much good with here.
To be fair though we could have not had the party but it seemed to us to show our faith in our return, what is an annual party if it isn't annual? Its number two in what we believe will be many.
On the bright side see you all about mid Oct. Please turn up the C-heating.......................!) 104degF today. When we leave it will be cooler, down to maybe 90degF. For the metrics among you that is, 42degC and
about 31degC. England in Oct/Nov/Dec...............what are we doing!!!!!!
Well on that note we will leave you,
God Bless you all

Chris and Kris

Chris and Kris in India 22

This Month, late........sorry had a lot on.



My bit. 
Sorry it is so long but shorten it as I may I cannot reduce it further.......

Food, glorious food.

Ok, let me be quite clear about something before you read this.

I believe we all have the right to make informed choices about our diet. If your faith forbids the consumption of meat so be it, Jains will even say that to dig potato’s causes harm to life as it kills the micro-organisms growing in the soil.

If you look on the internet you will find hundreds of different viewpoints from the Jain to fully carnivorous extolled as the only true way to be fit and healthy. Eat monkey brains for a healthier life is perhaps my least favourite.

However, all too often the vegetarians among us make outlandish claims for not eating meat. Cancer risks, fats, etc etc which they fail in the majority of cases to support with solid scientific evidence.

I do not wish to continue the ongoing debate here as some will never change their dietary habits irrespective of the evidence for or against their particular choice. What I want to do here is let a little light in on the subject without adding my personal bias so that YOU can make a rational choice.

I do urge you to do your own research and consider FACTS before making radical changes to your diet, changes that may well do you more harm than good.

Don’t pollute your body with smoke, cut down on caffeine (Coffee, Tea, Energy boost drinks), alcohol in excess, and water containing fluoride and/or heavy metals. Start with this before making changes to dietary choices seems to be the advice from all sides.

Please understand I am not advocating a meat eating lifestyle all I am doing is saying ‘you choose’ but make your choice to suit you based on evidence that can be verified by science. There's a lot of unsupported propaganda out there.

The articles below will all  be called wrong in their assertions by some depending on any choices they have already made, if so, if that is what you believe then that’s fine, it’s your choice but please don’t just skip it because you are biased, read what I believe is a truthful and scientifically verifiable summery of our choices.

This first article supports meat eating, later we will look at a full veggie diet, Vegan and the latest idea the Raw diet.

(Kris Gunners is a well-known nutritionist and blogger, he supports meat eating and personal fitness, and he has a medical background and gives evidence here to support his views)

Welcome to AuthorityNutrition.com – a site that helps people make informed decisions about their health based on the best scientific evidence available .October 8, 2013 | by Kris Gunnars |

“In the past few decades, meat has been blamed for all sorts of Western diseases.

But we've been eating meat for a long time and blaming new health problems on old foods doesn't make much sense.

The truth is… unprocessed, naturally fed meat is extremely healthy.

Here are evidence-based health reasons to eat meat (and be proud of it).

1. We Have Been Designed by Evolution to Eat Meat and Other Animal Foods

Throughout evolution, humans and pre-humans have been eating meat

Our digestive systems are well equipped to make full use of the healthy fats, proteins and nutrients found in animal foods.

The truth is that humans are omnivores, despite what some vegan proponents would have you believe. We function best eating BOTH animals and plants Humans have much shorter digestive systems than herbivores and don’t have the specialized organs to digest cellulose, the main fibre in plants. Humans also have canines, with big brains, opposing thumbs and the ability to make tools to hunt. Meat was one of the reasons humans were able to evolve such large, elaborate brain. Some of the earliest evidence shows that our pre-human ancestors were eating meat as early as 1.5 million years ago.

Bottom Line: Humans and pre-humans have been designed by evolution to consume and make full use of the important nutrients found in animal foods.

2. Meat is Incredibly Nutritious

High quality, unprocessed meat is among the most nutritious foods in the world.

A 100 gram portion (3.5 ounces) of raw ground beef contains large amounts of Vitamin B12, B3 (Niacin), B6, Iron, Zinc, Selenium and plenty of other vitamins and minerals (5).

Vitamin B12 is particularly important because it cannot be gotten in ANY amount from plants. Studies show that out of vegans who don’t supplement with B12, 92%are deficient in this critical nutrient

Unprocessed meat is also loaded with healthy fats, but meat from grass-fed animals contains up to 5 times as much Omega-3 as meat from grain-fed animals.

But the nutrient composition of meat goes way beyond all the macro- and micro nutrients that we are all familiar with.

There is also a plethora of important lesser-known nutrients in meat that cannot be gotten from plants. These nutrients are crucial for optimal function of the body:

·         Creatine forms an energy reserve in the muscles and brain and is found only in animal foods. Vegetarians are deficient in creatine, leading to reduced physical and mental performance.

·         Carnosine functions as a powerful anti-oxidant and provides protection against many degenerative processes. Carnosine is only found in animal foods

·         DHA and EPA are the active forms of Omega-3 in the human body and found primarily in animal foods. The body is inefficient at converting ALA (the plant form of Omega-3) to the active forms

This is really just the tip of the iceberg. There are an immense amount of important trace nutrients in both plants and animals, some of which science has yet to uncover.

Bottom Line: Meat is highly nutritious and there are many nutrients in there that cannot be gotten in any amount from plants.

3. Meat Doesn't Raise Your Risk of Cardiovascular Disease or Diabetes

There are many claims about meat being able to contribute to serious diseases like cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

The main reason for these claims is that meat is high in saturated fat.

However, this myth has actually been debunked quite thoroughly in recent years.

Studies now show that saturated fat in the diet doesn't raise the “bad” cholesterol in the blood and is not in any way associated with heart disease

In a massive study from Harvard that looked at data from 20 studies with a total of 1,218,380 individuals, they found no association between unprocessed red meat, cardiovascular disease and diabetes

The EPIC study from Europe didn't find any association either and this study included almost 450 thousand people

However, both of these studies found a significantly increased risk for processed meat.

If you want to avoid chronic disease, then it makes sense to avoid processed meat as much as possible. But unprocessed red meat is perfectly healthy.

Bottom Line: There is no evidence that unprocessed meat contributes to cardiovascular disease or diabetes.

4. Meat Contains High Quality Protein, Which is Crucial for the Function of Muscles and Bones

Proteins are like long strings of amino acids that are linked together and folded into complex shapes.

There are about 9 amino acids that we cannot produce and must get from the diet.

In this regard, animal proteins are excellent… they contain all the amino acids that we need, while most plant proteins have a suboptimal amino acid profile

Not surprisingly, consumption of animal protein is associated with increased muscle mass and people who eat an omnivorous diet have more muscle than people eating a vegetarian diet

Studies also show that vegetarians have much lower testosterone levels than their meat-eating counterparts. Low testosterone is associated with reduced strength, less muscle mass, more fat gain, depression and reduced self-esteem

Another thing that protein is important for is bone health. The studies show that consumption of protein, especially animal protein, is associated with increased bone density in old age and a lower risk of fractures

If you want to gain (or maintain) muscle, as well as prevent osteoporosis and fractures in old age, then animal protein should be a regular part of your diet.

Bottom Line: Consumption of animal protein leads to increased muscle mass and bone density. Vegetarians have lower testosterone and less muscle mass than their meat-eating counterparts.

5. There is Only a Very Weak Correlation With Cancer, Which May be Due to Overcooking, NOT the Meat Itself

There are some studies showing a link between red meat consumption and cancer

However, all of these studies are so-called observational studies, which tend to be unreliable.

These studies often make the mistake of pooling together processed and unprocessed meats, which is unacceptable because the two have vastly different effects.

While it is true that processed meat strongly correlates with increased cancer risk, the same is NOT true for unprocessed red meat.

In so-called meta-analyses, which are studies that analyse the data from many studies at the same time, the link between red meat and cancer is found to be very weak

These studies only find a very small increase in risk for men, and zero increase for women

That being said, it is possible that the way meat is cooked can have an effect, because carcinogens can form when meat is cooked excessively

For this reason, it is important to use gentler cooking methods and cut away all burnt or charred pieces.

Bottom Line: The association between unprocessed red meat and cancer has been vastly exaggerated, but overcooking meat may have adverse effects.

6. There Are No Proven Health Benefits to Avoiding Meat

Despite all the propaganda, there is no actual evidence that avoiding meat leads to health benefits.

True… there are observational studies showing that vegetarians have a lower risk of several diseases

However, these results are fully explained by the fact that vegetarians are more health conscious overall and more likely to exercise, less likely to smoke, etc.

When vegetarians are compared to meat eaters that are also health conscious, no difference is found

It is also important to note that most vegetarian and vegan diets DO recommend that people eat unprocessed, whole foods and avoid added sugars, refined grains and trans fats.

If vegetarian diets really have health benefits, then this is the true reason, NOT the fact that they eliminate perfectly healthy animal foods.”

Now, before I am accused of bias, this next article will perhaps balance the ‘scale’ of this piece, at least I hope I won’t be seen as ‘vegan bashing’ I am as I hope you know by now a great supporter of free choice (In all things as long as that choice causes no harm to others) but I do also believe that to make a rational choice you must research for yourself, not just listen to other people’s opinions no matter how well intentioned.

Freelee the Banana Girl credits extreme fruit diet

·         NETWORK WRITERS

·         NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA

·         APRIL 12, 2014 6:45AM

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Feeling fit and strong ... Freelee’s diet is not low on calories, seeing her consume between 2000 and 5000 calories per day, yet remain slender.

YOUTUBE sensation and diet ‘guru’ Freelee the Banana Girl is causing a stir with her raw vegan diet.

Freelee’s extreme diet usually consists of ‘mono meals’, made up of a single fruit, such as two entire pineapples in a sitting or five mangoes, two litres of orange juice or as many as 20 bananas at a time.

The low-processed and high-carbohydrate diet is not low on calories, with Freelee consuming between 2000 and 5000 calories per day, yet remaining slender.

A similar regime made headlines and drew criticism recently when fellow Australia Loni Jane Anthony announced she had maintained her diet throughout a pregnancy.

Freelee says she remains ‘raw until four’, the Daily Mail reports, eating no cooked or heated food until the afternoon. Then, she usually still sticks to her mono meals, sometimes baking several kilograms of potatoes in the oven.

Freelee says she has suffered from eating disorders in the past and that her raw food diet resulted in a significant weight loss, of around 20 kilograms, as well as clearing up her skin and increasing her energy and metabolism. Her slight physique is often the subject of negative comments but has not prevented her acquiring 166,000 subscribers to her YouTube channel.

Several dieticians have spoken of the dangers of eliminating entire food groups and raised concern about eating an excess of bananas, which are high in potassium and in great quantities can be hard on both the heart and the kidneys, which need to process the excess. Freelee says she has suffered from eating disorders in the past and that her raw food diet resulted in a significant weight loss, of around 20 kilograms.

In one video, Freelee shows how she can consume more than 50 bananas in a single day, starting with a 20-banana smoothie for breakfast, 10 for lunch and another 20 for dinner. Freelee says: “You don’t have to eat this many bananas — I’m just trying to show you that you have to eat big to be lean.

“There are so many people out there saying restrict your calories to lose weight but it’s not true.”

“There are some benefits to the diet,” British Dietetic Association spokesperson, Aisling Pigott told the Daily Mail. “For example, a well-balanced vegan diet can be extremely healthy if managed correctly, however all vegans should pay particular attention to their iron and calcium intake in addition to a Vitamin B12 supplement.”

This from the American Heart Foundation.

Updated:Mar 19,2014

What is a vegetarian diet?

Some people follow a "vegetarian" diet, but there's no single vegetarian eating pattern. The vegan or total vegetarian diet includes only foods from plants: fruits, vegetables, legumes (dried beans and peas), grains, seeds and nuts. The lactovegetarian diet includes plant foods plus cheese and other dairy products. The ovo-lactovegetarian(or lacto-ovovegetarian) diet also includes eggs. Semi-vegetarians don't eat red meat but include chicken and fish with plant foods, dairy products and eggs.

Are vegetarian diets healthful?

Most vegetarian diets are low in or devoid of animal products. They’re also usually lower than nonvegetarian diets in total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol. Many studies have shown that vegetarians seem to have a lower risk of obesity, coronary heart disease (which causes heart attack), high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus and some forms of cancer. 

Vegetarian diets can be healthful and nutritionally sound if they’re carefully planned to include essential nutrients. However, a vegetarian diet can be unhealthy if it contains too many calories and/or saturated fat and not enough important nutrients.

What are the nutrients to consider in a vegetarian diet?

• Protein: You don't need to eat foods from animals to have enough protein in your diet. Plant proteins alone can provide enough of the essential and non-essential amino acids, as long as sources of dietary protein are varied and caloric intake is high enough to meet energy needs.
   
• Whole grains, legumes, vegetables, seeds and nuts all contain both essential and non-essential amino acids. You don't need to consciously combine these foods ("complementary proteins") within a given meal.
• Soy protein has been shown to be equal to proteins of animal origin. It can be your sole protein source if you choose.
   
• Iron: Vegetarians may have a greater risk of iron deficiency than non vegetarians. The richest sources of iron are red meat, liver and egg yolk -- all high in cholesterol. However, dried beans, spinach, enriched products, brewer's yeast and dried fruits are all good plant sources of iron.
   
• Vitamin B-12: This comes naturally only from animal sources. Vegans need a reliable source of vitamin B-12. It can be found in some fortified (not enriched) breakfast cereals, fortified soy beverages, some brands of nutritional (brewer's) yeast and other foods (check the labels), as well as vitamin supplements.
   
• Vitamin D: Vegans should have a reliable source of vitamin D. Vegans who don’t get much sunlight may need a supplement.
   
• Calcium: Studies show that vegetarians absorb and retain more calcium from foods than non vegetarians do. Vegetable greens such as spinach, kale and broccoli, and some legumes and soy bean products, are good sources of calcium from plants.
   
• Zinc: Zinc is needed for growth and development. Good plant sources include grains, nuts and legumes. Shellfish are an excellent source of zinc. Take care to select supplements containing no more than 15-18 mg zinc. Supplements containing 50 mg or more may lower HDL ("good") cholesterol in some people.

And finally (at last some are saying!) From

'Live Science'

On your road to good health, the raw vegan diet would likely be a U-turn. If you are already vegan or vegetarian, you have nothing to gain and much to lose by going totally or even mostly raw. Even doctors who prescribe and live by a vegan diet caution their patients against attempting a raw diet.

The reason? You would greatly reduce the types of foods you can eat. And you would do so in vain, because most of the raw vegan principles are based on misconceptions about human nutrition, and work counter to good health. 

This article addresses five such principles that are either half true or completely false.

What is raw vegan ism?

First, a primer: Raw vegan ism is a plant-based diet that involves no cooking. No food is heated above 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius). Foods are eaten fresh, dehydrated with low heat or fermented.

A core tenet of the diet is that heating food above 104 degrees not only diminishes its nutrients, but also makes the food toxic and less digestible. In raw vegan parlance, cooking is killing. Many raw vegans speak of "live" foods versus "dead" foods, and they aren't talking about sushi, so fresh it still wiggles.

Live or uncooked foods are said to be filled with vital life energy. In this way, raw veganism is an extension of the vegan appreciation for animal welfare, with the added spirituality of a life force, called chi or prana. Dead or cooked foods are said to be depleted of their life energy, as well as most of their nutrients.

Juicing and blending "green smoothies" often are key elements of this diet.

Now for the misconceptions:

Misconception #1: Cooking destroys nutrients

Sure, raw foods can be nutritious. But cooking breaks apart fibres and cellular walls to release nutrients that otherwise would be unavailable from the same raw food. Cooking tomatoes, for example, increases by five-fold the bio availability of the antioxidant lycopene. Similarly, cooking carrots makes the beta-carotene they contain more available for the body to absorb. Soups are full of nutrients that would not be available in a pot of raw carrots, onions, parsnips and potatoes. 

Cooking can also reduce certain chemicals in a vegetable that inhibit the absorption of minerals, including important minerals like zinc, iron, calcium and magnesium. Cooking spinach makes more iron and calcium available from its leaves, for example.

Admittedly, some nutrients are lost in cooking, such as vitamin C and certain B vitamins. But "plants are so excess in nutrients that even this breakdown is insignificant in practical terms," said John McDougall, creator of the McDougall Program, a vegan-friendly, starch-based diet.

And by eating both raw and cooked foods, "you get the best of both worlds," said Jennifer Nelson, director of clinical dietetics at the Mayo Clinic and associate professor of nutrition at the Mayo Medical School in Rochester, Minn.

Overcooking and charring can be a problem. Boiling the life out of greens will indeed reduce the nutrient load. And charring meats and vegetables creates cancer-causing chemicals. The solution, however, is not to stop all cooking, but rather to steam, lightly sauté or stir-fry vegetables, and to make more soups.

Fermenting or juicing raw foods also can make some nutrients more available, but that shouldn't deter from the fact that cooking is an ancient craft that makes some foods more digestible and nutritious.

As for the concept of life energy in raw food, this is a spiritual belief beyond the realm of science, so debating its benefit, let alone existence, would be futile.

Misconception #2: Cooking destroys enzymes

This one is absolutely true, but it doesn't matter. Yes, heat destroys enzymes. But humans make their own digestive enzymes to break down large food molecules into smaller ones.

The raw-enzyme logic itself breaks down when you consider that most humans cook food and that most humans are digesting that food reasonably well.

Ironically for the raw vegan, most of the plant enzymes in raw food get destroyed anyway in the acid of the human gut. Only a few make it to the small intestine. Fermented foods such as sauerkraut can carry enzymes into the gut. Their contribution to digestion is not zero, but it does appear to be minimal. "I know of no importance of plant enzymes in human digestion," said McDougall.

The enzyme theory for raw foods dates back to Edward Howell, a physician who published a book on enzymes in the 1940s, primarily citing research from the 1920s and 30s. We now know, however, that almost all nutrients are absorbed in the small intestine and that digestion at that stage relies almost entirely on human-generated bile and pancreatic enzymes.

A corollary myth is that humans have a finite number of enzymes and that, once they are used up, these enzymes are gone. This idea, too, was hatched by Howell. But where would this packet of enzymes reside? Howell never said. But in reality, humans make new enzymes throughout their lifetimes.

Misconception #3: Raw foods are detoxifying

Dietary detoxification is an alternative medicine concept with little scientific credibility. Usually, two organs are cited as needing detoxification: the liver and the colon. In reality, toxins can accumulate anywhere in the body, particularly in fat and fatty tissue, but also in proteins and bone.

The colon is surprisingly low in toxins, however. As for the liver, the confusion is that this organ "filters" toxins and must therefore, the reasoning goes, be loaded with toxins. But the liver is more of a chemical-processing plant than a filter; it breaks down toxins as they pass through. That is, the liver doesn't have extra toxins by virtue of it being the body's natural toxin-neutraliser. [Wishful Thinking: 6 'Magic Bullet' Cures That Don't Exist] (I have left in this link...Chris)

Another argument is that burning fat — in this case, on a raw vegan diet — would release toxins from the body. But fat cells don't burn up, as if into ashes, liberating their contents. Fats cells merely get bigger or smaller, depending on the amount of fat within the cell that's used.

It is unclear how much of a toxin, if any, would be set free if the fat molecule it is attached to is burned. The toxin is now free to attach to other fat molecules. If it does mobilize with other recently liberated toxins, in the case of extreme starvation, then the toxin could become toxic and overwhelm the liver.

In short, there are no foods or herbs that can magically bind and pull toxins from your blood or organs. The same would be true for cows or for any "vegan" animals that accumulate toxins in their fat; they don't cleanse themselves with their raw, plant-based diet.

At best, detoxification schemes (juicing, fasting) can help by virtue of not placing more toxins in our body for a day or two. And a healthful, plant-rich diet with plenty of water can, in general, help your liver and kidneys process and remove toxins more effectively, 

Misconception #4: Raw veganism is healthful

Healthfulness when eating a raw, vegan diet is a challenge; it's not inherent. Many on the diet do lose weight by consuming fewer calories. But weight loss should not be the ultimate goal.

The most apparent problems are nutritional deficiencies, particularly for vitamins B12 and D, selenium, zinc, iron and two omega-3 fatty acids, DHA and EPA. Without taking supplements in pill form, it would be very difficult (and, for B12, impossible) to obtain a sufficient amount of these nutrients from raw, plant-based foods.

Also, without access to a variety of foods year-round that can be eaten raw, one tends to rely on single-food sources.

"The problem with the raw food diet is where do you get your energy food?" asked Caldwell Esselstyn of the Cleveland Clinic, the doctor who convinced Bill Clinton to adopt a plant-based diet. "You get it from pouring down nuts," he said, and these are high in fat and not healthful when eaten in excess.

If it's not nuts, then it's bananas, which are healthful perhaps at a level of one or two per day, but not when providing the majority of your calories. Some people on a raw food diet rely so much on fruit that their teeth begin to erode: from acids in the fruits that wear down the tooth enamel, from sugar promoting decay, from dried fruit (another raw vegan staple) sticking to the teeth and further promoting decay, and from a general mineral deficiency.

The raw diet could be more healthful than the so-called S.A.D. ("standard American diet") of processed foods. But there is no evidence that, even given the resources to prepare a variety of raw foods daily, the raw vegan diet would be more healthful than the plant-based diets promoted by McDougall or Esselstyn, or than the diets that allow modest amounts of animal products.

Vegans would have to ask themselves what the added benefit would be from going raw if the raw diet offers no additional moral satisfaction, other than a reduced use of cooking fuel.

Misconception #5: Raw-only foods are natural

"No other animal cooks food," many a raw vegan has stated. One can just as well say that no other animal combines their kale and clover with tropical bananas in a high-speed blender to make the foods more palatable and digestible. Or, that no other animal plays chess.

Judging what is natural is a slippery slope. Humans around the world live to relatively similar ages on a multitude of different diets. Most of the reasonable diets that consist of grains, vegetables and meats will get you to at least age 70 if an accident or infectious disease doesn't kill you first. A traditional, animal-based diet eaten by natives of Siberia is just as natural as a traditional diet eaten by unnamed tribes in the Amazon.

That said, no known human culture has ever attempted to survive solely on raw plant foods. It is the raw-only diet that is unnatural, because it is impossible to survive on this diet without modern conveniences such as refrigerators, storage devices and easy access to packaged foods — such as the aforementioned shelled nuts.

In fact, a child raised on a raw, vegan diet without proper supplementation would likely develop severe neurological and growth problems due to a lack of vitamin B12 and other nutrients. Adults who have eaten animal products for more than 20 years, by contrast, have the benefit of relying on bodily stores of certain key nutrients.

In a natural setting, without electricity, anyone located outside of a narrow belt of land near the equators, which have year-round growth potential, would need to dedicate their entire day to growing, gathering, preserving and storing food. Even around the tropics, where vegetation is plentiful, humans have been cooking as long as humans have been human — at least 200,000 years and likely longer in our hominid form.

Most scientists are in agreement that a combination of, first, eating meat and then cooking food enabled the development of the human brain. Cooking in particular opened up a new world of calories and nutrients. The human brain, after all, requires a lot of energy. 

Our raw-vegan cousin, the gorilla, has three times the body size of humans, but one-third the brain cells; it grew muscular on plants, but not smarter. According to a study published in October 2012, the gorilla would have needed to eat raw plants for more than 12 hours a day to consume enough calories to evolve a human like brain.

This myth busting is not intended to belittle the much-maligned raw vegan, but rather to inform rawists of the realities of this challenging diet.

 The only changes I have made to the above articles is to remove the pictures from them.

Conclusion.

On the whole I have problems with all viewpoints and what has been said here but I repeat, it is your choice, whatever you choose I think the most telling point made is that we need meat or we have to use supplements (especially for B12) or we will not be able to sustain a healthy life style over the long term and will in fact cause damage to our bodies by neglecting this vitamin, damage that doesn't show up for years. Regardless of dietary choices it is vital to your health, as is regular exercise. 

Kris and I choose to be omnivores, about 10% of our diet is meat carefully cooked, and the rest is veggies fish, eggs, rice and Dahl (lentils and chick pea). It does help that Indian Veg dishes are full of taste and wonderful flavours. If we chose to become vegetarian it would be very easy here. Fresh fruit and veggies available all year, at least 50% of all restaurants are Vegi, often on the sign it says either 'Full Vegi' or 'Non Vegi', to be vegetarian is normal here, although it is different to the west in that there are few Vegans.

What has become clear to us over the last eighteen months or so is how you cook your food (Veg or Meat) and exercise is the key to a healthy life. 
Fresh fruit and whole grains are good for you, loads of vitamins and anti-oxidants. We here at home try to grow (organically) as much of our own food as we can, we have a freezer full of our own veggies and have planted fruit trees and bushes for future crops. If we could we would even keep chickens for their eggs, maybe in the future. . We try to live a healthy life style but we do not argue that one way is better than any other, your diet is your choice but whatever you choose it has to be part of your decision to live a healthy lifestyle.

Our personal belief is that as humans we developed to eat both meat and some of the veg and fruit available on this earth. We are not built for a pure veggie diet, hence the need for supplements to prevent long term deficiencies if we exclude meat from our diet. If you doubt for one second the VITAL need the human body has for b12 please Google it, I was amazed and it was this discovery that in part led me to write this piece.

Because of a recent illness I have been unable to exercise properly and have become overweight (Ok I will tell the truth….MORE overweight). Before anyone says go for walks, ride a bicycle etc I will point out that the temperature here today is 96degF in the shade, not jogging weather!

Kris and I have therefore decided to buy a home multi gym and install it in our bedroom that has air con so we can establish a meaningful exercise program that suits our age and isn't dependent on the climate, in conjunction with a healthy balanced diet of veggies and meat with careful cooking to keep the vitamins in both the meat and veg is our chosen way.

So where are we, well that’s your choice, Meat Veggie Vegan, Raw, all extreme diets, all touted as being the most healthy.  You choose, its your life. We already have.

SODIS

A field trial begins soon funded by PMF to gauge reaction to the idea in the villages. Other outlets are from people who are agreeing to support us by either collecting bottles, funds or finding needy people who are drinking contaminated water. 
Several villages in our area have expressed interest in us supplying units to them. Kris has contacted local churches were we can speak to gain help and much more importantly publicity for this scheme, some of the business people in Udaipur are interested in sponsoring us and local support is growing.
All we need now is a promised article in the Times of India and we will be set to go. Just now we are 'on hold' waiting for the trial dates from PMF before we can really get it out and we hope rolling in Udaipur.
We have been in contact with 'SANDEC' (Department of water and Sanitation in Developing Countries) and 'EAWAG' Swiss Federal Institute of Environmental Science and Technology who will support our efforts. 
Its getting closer, now we are in the 'what have we forgotten phase' but we have put our trust in god and are just going for it!

Garden

We had two days of rain storms with hail at times, some damage to our crops but all in all ok. We may lose the melons on the roof, badly chilled and soaked and the 2nd tomato crop up there is a goner.
Now the bad news, we have lost our bee's. Our fault it seems they got too hot where we placed the hive and decided to leave. When we looked carefully at the combs some had actually melted! In the shade its 102degF now.
Our roses have been lovely until now but the rain has given us green grass, silver linings and all that aside we got away with a lot less damage than some of the local farmers who have seen while fields of crops smashed flat and destroyed.

White bits are hail.

Those white bits are hail stones in mid Summer,
rain at this time is unheard of but hail is unknown here until
this year. We had some at the end of the monsoon that caused
chaos on the roads, but this is a first.

Comments from Kris

As Chris has already mentioned we had a couple of days of heavy monsoon like rain and hailstones, whilst not good for crops at this time of year I do confess that it was great to stand in it even if for a short time and yes I got soaked but it was so very refreshing, just to get cool after the blistering heat of summer. This year Chris and I appear to be coping much better with the high temperatures; mind you we are taking a more sensible approach and not working outdoors in the midday sun. Unfortunately there are still those who have no choice but to work in the heat of the day, I count myself fortunate that I have a choice. Yes it was very sad to have lost our girls (honey bees), but I am hoping we can try again and this time we will give them more shade and be more aware of their needs.

Well the insect life here in India definitely seems to have it in for Chris, a couple of days ago he was stung between his toes by a hornet and his foot immediately swelled up, thank goodness for antihistamine tablets, cream and ice which all helped. It was in the bedroom and must have flown in to avoid the heavy rain and hail, we unfortunately did not see it on the floor as it happened just after Chris got out of bed when he went to look out the window early one morning. I know how painful they are I was stung on the sole of my foot a month or so ago when I got out of the swimming pool and walked stupidly barefoot on the grass.  

We went to a local resort about 9Kms away from our home with friends and there 2 young children, it has a natural waterfall all year round it is called Aarambagh Resort. If ever you get to Udaipur it is certainly worth a visit. In the summer the waterfall is quite gentle, but we have also seen it just after monsoon and it was pretty impressive to see. It was a lovely few hours where I watched Chris playing with our friends children in the water near the waterfall; it was fascinating to see them together. Little Samuel was so engrossed and amazed at the water and the fish; he especially enjoyed picking out all the leaves and showing them to Chris

      

We have put some pictures here of Chris and the kids. It is set in its own grounds there is a play area for children from a tree house, swings, slides and see-saw all to enjoy and yes I have been down the slide and swung on the swing in the past. It was at Aarambagh that I saw my very first red dragonfly it was so very beautiful. It was an enjoyable time and to see the look on little Noah’s face when told by Chris if I swim will you, Noah said yes not expecting Chris to launch himself into the water without much warning, a sight to behold, but I did not get it on camera alas. I am now practising with a new Camera that is easier for me to manage and I am really enjoying the experience but still making mistakes but getting better the more I use it. It is a great portable little Canon power shot that Chris gave me. I was very moved that he gave it to me as I know how much it meant to him, but now it is mine I feel more confident in using it less nervous if you know what I mean. I still love my other camera but it is a bit heavy for me to use on a regular basis I will keep that for when I want to do art photos. It is great that Chris is again riding his beloved Royal Enfield Desert Storm Bullet, I really enjoy riding pillion and the new seat that Chris designed and modified for me is a great improvement on the seat I had initially. Part of the suspension is made up of tennis balls which squish up and down to give me comfort. This is the only Bullet with its own balls so to speak, other riders seem quite impressed with Chris’s ingenuity and have admired many of the modifications he has made to his motorcycle. We have yet to go out on a long ride, but that will come soon as Chris feels able to do so, he will still need to wear a lumbar support for protection of his kidneys as any jarring across country will cause pain and damage to his kidneys which are still vulnerable since he had the multi organ failure, so he is being very sensible about this.  Whilst I missed riding pillion with Chris is was much harder for him to have his motorcycle sitting outside and being unable to ride it for so long. I don’t think I will ever be able to understand how difficult this must have been for Chris who has been a lifelong biker; the only comparison I could make is the frustration I felt when I could not go out for walks when I was physically disabled. I have to remind myself how much things have changed since I came out to India. I have lost weight for which I am truly grateful and much more active now, whilst I still have pain I can now walk without aids and I intend to get fit with our home gym and some swimming. God has done such a healing work in my life and I am waiting for that healing to be completed, as usual I want everything yesterday. But I cannot express how much I owe to God for the healing he has begun which allowed me to get my knees replaced and I can now walk a reasonable distance, I do get tired and still have aches and pains but people who never saw me at my worst cannot believe it was so, but I continue to testify to Gods glory as it was his healing that has got me on my way back to mobility and fitness. For the locals most think it is not good that I have lost so much weight as it tends to be the plumper woman, who is seen as desirable and attractive to men. Luckily I don’t want to attract men’s attention in that way so I am safe.

I saw a car about the size of a Suzuki Swift driving along with the cab of a HGV van sitting on top of it sideways you could hardly see the car underneath, it was being transported but for the life of me I cannot figure out how the driver of the car got in or out of it. It did cause chaos as it took up most of the road and was going mega slow; I never thought I would see that but alas did not have my camera on me.

I am still using my scooter a lot and it is amazing how much I can pack in and around it to carry back home, I am getting very Indian in this respect. I carry wood, shopping and just about anything else I can fit on it in between. Chris has treated me to some new wing mirrors for my scooter that have built in speakers brilliant. I am pretty well known in several shops and at the local market so they know I am not a tourist, I just need to practice and improve my spoken Hindi, but practice make perfect just don’t hang on waiting I am a slow learner. So cello probably spelt wrong but never mind it is phonetic which means lets go I will end for now and if I think of anything else will add it on the end.

I was in the bank today an internationally well-known one which I won’t name for obvious reasons. I could not believe it there were wads of notes high denominations bunched and labelled just sitting on the top of a table behind the tellers counter (which had glass in front of it), I needed changed so the teller got up went behind her to a suitcase on the floor which was unzipped but closed and took out some bags of coins, the case also contained wads of paper money. It amazes me the security guard outside does have a rifle but it was propped against the wall several feet away. In other banks I have seen money just put on the floor next to the teller or put in an ordinary drawer. I still get amazed by how things are out here, but I hope I never stop being amazed. 

This is Chris's foot just after the hornet stung him between his toes and yes it did become more swollen.

The round white balls on the ground are actually hailstones and yes they do hurt when they hit you.

Chris took this photo of the hailstorm that suddenly hit Udaipur without warning, it was impressive.

 This Water Buffalo was making a quick and fast escape looking for shelter from the falling ice. 

This lawn water sprinkler was on order for 6 weeks,from the local garden shop. However it was worth the wait, it saves time and is very effective at watering the lawn and the borders of the garden. We plan to use them in other parts of the garden to simplify watering and make our life easier. One of our neighbours was fascinated at how it worked and how effective it is.

 Believe it or not we had heavy rain and hailstones just after getting the sprinkler above that we had waited six weeks for!, look at our drive here it is flooded with water just like in the monsoon. But as it does not rain every day we will get our money's worth out of the sprinkler system.

                                                                                                   

That is all for this blog hope it finds you well

Take care and God Bless

Love Chris and Kris