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