A painting in the Kardjhali Church of God (Bulgaria) sanctuary. There are complementary paintings of nail-pierced hands on either side. I have never before been in a modern church that does as well at the visual elements of worship.


Thank you all for your support and interest in my travels. I am now back home and settling into a routine. The trip was excellent overall, despite the stomach ailments. Some highlights:
a) Back in Pakistan - simply seeing the places where we had lived and worked, knowing that we had a positive impact on people's lives there.
b) Experiencing the post-Christian world of Wales. Approximately half a percent of the people are actively involved in church. And yet one hundred years ago the Welsh revivals were world reknowned.
c) Sitting in a small Gypsy village, worshipping with new believers, including some teenage boys who were fully engaged in all that was happening.
d) Confirming that I want to be at EMM. April had been a frustrating month and I was doing some questioning but I know that this is where I want to be.
e) Getting vision for departmental restructuring and direction. Picking up a focus on development has been difficult but I think there is a good way through now.

So again, thanks for your interest and prayers.

Jon UB

Somewhere over the Atlantic

Keith and I are travelling home. Yay! It is a crowded Airbus with limited entertainment but a new feature is quite exciting. Internet access, for a price, is now available on Lufthansa. The way it is set up Keith and I can share the cost and benefit, and they gave a introductory offer, so it is almost affordable. But then, with my internet addiction, I can justify most things.

We had a good few days in Bulgaria. The last day and half were spent in Sofia, and that was a treat. There is so much history and culture. Lots to see. Today, May 24, is a national holiday to celebrate the creators of the Cyrillic language, They were two Bulgarian priests from the 9th century. The previous Soviet government tried to repress the knowledge that the two were priests and invented the language to promote the Bible but there have been recent discoveries proving it. Exciting for some of the church leaders.

Bulgaria is an interesting mix of Orthodox (traditional), Protestant (almost everything else that is Christian) and Muslim (especially coming strong from Turkey - seemingly wanting to take over.

Our time was spent with a couple who are there exploring whether or not EMM should have a presence in Bulgaria. It seems apparent at this point that we should. The question now is how, and where. There is a Christian newspaper that needs support and this may be a good entry point for us. I am excited about that and hope that my department can be involved in its work.

My battery is dying so I must go for now. I will try to post some pictures later. Soon this journey will be over. Hallelujah.

Images from the Kardjali Church of God
(and yes, I have used at least three different spellings for Kurdjali -now four - and I have seen all of them on public signs)

First, the cross at the front of the church, at night.
Second, the centre dome, in part designed to fit with the dominant Orthodox style
Third, Keith and Hari (the local pastor) just outside the circular sanctuary.
Fourth, Lamar and Pat, inside the sanctuary; there is much natural light.

СЛАВА НА БОГА! (Slava na boga)
Praise the Lord!

I may have mispelled this, but it is close to the common greeting when entering or exiting church in Bulgaria.

Keith and I arrived in Sofia Saturday afternoon and after a four hour drive, interrupted by a meal at an excellent roadside restaurant called Happy's, we were in Kardzjhali. We are staying with Pat and Lamar Myers in their apartment. It is a soviet-style place, but remarkable well maintained and spacious. It always surprises me how similar these apartments are no matter where in the former USSR one goes.

This morning Keith preached in the local Church of God congregation. The building is brand new and I hope to have some pictures up soon showing it off. It is beautiful. The pastor couple are artists and the church shows this heart. Paintings everywhere and wonderful architecture in a remarkably simple structure.

We went to a nearby village in the afternoon, visiting a small group of Roma (gypsy) believers. I was struck by the number of young people who are involved.

This evening was an adventure. We had another service at the local church and another group from the US were to come. They came late but made up for it with energy and volume. Their main leader spoke loudly and with great passion about the promises of God. It was over the top for me, and for the rest of us. It was also a challenge for the extremely talented translator as the speaker used a myriad of idioms and American expressions that simply were not translatable. It was hard for me to sit through. Keith taught me a new phrase today while we listened and that is MGR "More grace required". This is important for me, and a point of weakness.

Tomorrow we go to the Arts Centre, and meet with the staff of a newspaper, Spiritual Light, that Hari and Penka (the main pastoral/artist couple here) have created. Unfortunately the newspaper ran out of funds at the end of last year and they are looking for financial support. It appears to be a remarkable paper, with strong interest throughout Bulgaria, among Christians of all stripes, Muslims, and non-believers. The paper tries to have something for everyone and appears to have broad appeal. It may be a project for which I look to raise support back in the US.

We heard today about a place called Perperikon, quite close by, where Alexander the Great received a vision/prophecy that he would rule the world. They are right in the middle of excavating it and there is much to see. We may go there on Tuesday morning but Lamar recently had knee surgery and that is understandably slowing him down.

by the way, I am working on Lamar's computer at present because despite the presence of a dsl line we have not been able to get my or Keith's computer to connect. This also explains the lack of pictures at present. I will bring some over tomorrow.

So Keith is waiting for a chance to write his family and I should go to bed. It has been a long day.

The race is on!

One of the other highlights of this week has been playing with the kids, and watching Richard (EMM's President) and Jewel play with them. Traveling with them allows one to see Richard and Jewel in a whole new light. And it is a lot of fun. So I am offering a few pictures to show this side of travel.
First, a wheelbarrow race between Dylan and Cerys, with Richard and Jewel (or Pilchard and George as Brenin calls them.)
Next a too dark photo of Jewel showing Richard how to fold a paper airplane. He soon remembered and was joining in.
Next it was Richard trying to learn how to play RoadRacer on a GameBoy. Fun to watch.
The final two are of Richard and then Keith with Brenin, Alan and Carol's youngest. He is two and a half and such a delight. Lots of energy and a great many words.

Tomorrow Keith and I travel to Bulgaria. We leave at 4 am and arrive in Khardjali at about 8pm. Long, exhausting day.

I don't expect internet to be quite as convenient while there, so this may be the last post for a while.

What, is it raining again?

This is a wet, dreary country. I am including a picture I took on a walk up the hill behind Alan and Carol Wert's house. It wasn't raining during the hour walk, which was great. It did rain before and after. But despite the rain, or perhaps because of it, it is a beautiful country. The yellow on the hills is Gorse. For those who have read Winnie the Pooh, you will be familiar with the gorse-bush. It is lovely on the hill and nasty to touch. Very prickly.

There is a Roman road up on this hill, with some of the stone still remaining. Amazing to think that there are stones here that could have been laid over 1600 years ago. The empire was huge.

Our time here has been quite valuable. The Werts came 7 years ago to Ynysybwl, Wales, which is a small village (pop.5000) thirty minutes north of Cardiff. Cardiff is about three hours west of London just over the bridge into Wales.

The Werts have invested a great deal of energy into the local community, and their three children (Dylan 7, Cerys 5, and Brenin 2.5) are at least as Welsh as they are American. It is fun to hear their accents compared to their parents. The relationships are strong here and now Alan and Carol are starting to explore what it would mean to plant a church here. It was not part of the original mandate so they have been unsure on how far to push forward, particularly because the form they envision is so different than when is here.

They see a house church, or a household church, not dissimiliar to what is happening in Sheffield with the Crowded House. We met with one of the founders of that group a few days ago to glean what we could from their experience. (Oh, and yes, the group was named after the band.)

The 'churches' are quite devoid of religious trappings, and the teaching times are highly dialogical. The majority of the people involved are nonchurched.

The culture here is quite postmodern, with a strong reaction to church by some, and a complete ignorance of all things religious by many. A short illustration: A local group was presenting the Christmas story in a local public school when a young boy, about 10, came up and said I have two questions.

Why haven't I heard this story before? And, why did they name him after a swear?

There is a whole different level of religious ignorance (not knowing) here than in Canada or the US. Over the past week we have met a wide range of Welsh and English church leaders, some Anabaptist and some not.

One of the highlights was meeting with Stuart Murray Williams. He is heavily involved with the Anabaptist Network and a urban church planting organization, Urban Expressions. He has his finger on the pulse of most things Anabaptist in England, and perhaps all of the UK.

They are some exciting things about to happen in Wales because of the long term commitment of Alan and Carol and their posture of humility and desire for relationship.

In London for a night

Wow, amazing how good a hot shower and five straight hours of sleep feels. I think I am slowly coming out of this illness and the comfortable surroundings of the London Mennonite Centre is a great place to be. I had never been here before and it is quite lovely. An large older building, set among stately trees, with a significant garden for meditation and reflection at the back, it is an oasis after the hot, very dusty climes of northern Pakistan.

Speaking of which, we drove through a nasty dust storm on the way to Islamabad on Sunday. I really didn't have a sense of the changing weather patterns when I was there in December. It didn't rain at all then, but as it was just coming off its wet season, everything was dusty but bearable. Now, after a few weeks of 100 F plus weather, the smallest wind kicks up huge clouds, and this storm was no small wind.

Well Sunday was the day we managed to meet Mr. Munawar. It was good to see him again. He is a very welcoming, gracious, ebullient man. He is quick to laugh, but I wouldn't want to cross him too strongly either. He came up from Mansehra, his temporary home, to meet us and show us his land. There has been a lot of changes since we left, with two of his houses being completed leveled and the third one close to it. The picture is of him showing us where his main house was. It must have been beautiful. It is hard to tell but he has a wry grin on his face, telling us about what was. Perhaps he is depressed in private but it really appears that he has simply accepted what has happened and works to make the best of it for everyone around him, not just himself. He is heavily involved in the reconstruction plans and later showed us where the new Balakot is to be built. About 35 kms away from its current location. A monumental undertaking, with the plan to build 10,000 homes over the next 2-3 years and move everyone. But in the meantime people also have to live in their current location. Some have moved, like Munawar and his family, but most cannot. So he is also working to find ways to help those people create more permanent living arrangements. It is a huge task.

One of the highlights was seeing a wheat field that Melvin Nissley, one of our December participants, planted. It was growing beautiful and was soon to be harvested. It was growing almost as well as the Cannabis growing 'wild' next to it. The wheat will certainly be a blessing to the people.

After a good conversation and tour, we all headed back to Mansehra, dropped Mr. Munawar off, and headed on to Islamabad. Loren was going to pick him up the next evening and head on to Peshawar to meet with Ali Gohar. Loren was also hoping to connect with Sen. Soomro on Monday but I don't know if that worked out.

After three more hours of aggressive driving, Loren and I collapsed into our hotel room. We both snoozed at alternative times and neither felt motivated to go out for food. So we skipped supper again, hoping our stomachs would finally settle. I got up at about 5:30am to get to the airport on time for my 8:30 flight. The hurdles and lines one goes through to leave this country are legion. Everything is a challenge, but maybe more notable b/c of my current state.

As I was waiting in the lounge for the plane I noted a 'western-looking' woman reading Freakonomics, a book I have been interested in, and so I asked her about it. Turns out she is a fairly major photo-journalist, having done stories for the UN and NY Times, based in Nairobi. She, Evelyn Hockstein, was in Pakistan exploring the state of women after the earthquake. IThe status of women around the world is of particular focus (pun?) for her. We were able to talk for a while, and I could give the standard response to "what exactly is a mennonite?" and talk about our work in Kenya. She went to school in Philly and still had family in the area but like most really couldn't distinguish between Mennonites and Amish. Regardless, it was good to chat with someone while we waited.

Other than almost missing my plane, I seem to keep losing track of time while waiting and working on the computer, the flight was mostly uneventful. The best way to fly. But I don't know if I will ever return to Pakistan, as my work here is done, and that makes me sad. Oh well, on to new countries, new challenges.

For some reason I didn't post this on Monday night and it is now Friday morning so I will post this and then start another note about my time in England/Wales.

Pictures:
Of Loren at the Kabul Restaurant. There were 18 kebabs, I had six, we left nothing on the table, you do the math.


Of Faisal Masjid (Mosque)





Of Marukh

Of the toilet and shower at Bugna

Short layover in Dubai

it is noon on Monday. There is free wireless in the airport. A lovely thing. I have another 90 minutes or so until my flight and thought I would try to update everyone.

The most frustrating news is that both Loren and I have been sick for the last two days. Both of us caught some Pakistani version of Montezuma's revenge and it has limited our enthusiasm for travel and conversation. I ate sparingly this morning on the flight for the first time since Saturday lunch. Oh well. For both of us it is the first time getting really sick while travelling so we have blessed so far. Keep us in your prayers, particularly Loren as he will be travelling for five hours this afternoon to go up to Peshawar. He will be travelling with Mr Munawar, our gracious host in Balakot back in December and meeting with Ali Gohar, one of the founders of JustPeace.

Over the past few days we got to see much of BUgna and the surrounding area. We trekked up to one of the houses where our group cleared rubble and were greeted quite warmly. We also saw the local school and the place where HDF plans to build a girls' school. At present the girls have to go to school with the boys and because the culture's gender concerns many girls are kept at home and not allowed to go to school.

Another highlight was meeting the HDF Bugna director Mujtabar's wife, Mahrukh. She is a wonderful woman, full of life. We had fun sitting together encouraging her to practice her English. It was the first time that I had the opportunity to sit with a Pakistani woman and talk with her.

Overall, the meetings in Bugna were quite promising. Mujtabar is interested in having some short term teams come and has already arranged from possible lodging. While we were there in December the team built a septic tank, toilet and shower for the field hospital. HDF is now interested in duplicating that for the homes in the area. As the government begins to rebuild homes HDF will attempt to come alongside and build these tanks and toilets. It is a way to contribute to the reconstruction without getting to entwined with the government process.

Other big news for HDF is that they have to move the hospital and offices. The man who had donated the land wants it back and so within a month or two the whole establishment will move down the hill to Babar's land. This may be a good thing in the long run, as the location is a bit more sheltered, Babar is committed to community development, and it may be a way to get the villages more invested. It does mean the septic tank and toilet, as well as the stairs, will be less effective. Oh well, they have been well used for the past five months.

Loren felt quite positive about the meetings and sees some real possibilities for short term work. The area could use female medical workers and male construction workers, along with other people. The biggest challenge facing us these days is recruitment of personnel. There are many open doors here, I hope we can walk through them.

I am off to London tonight, staying at the London Mennonite Centre, and then to Wales tomorrow. Hopefully this stomach thing will have worked its way out by then.

Soon leaving Islamabad

It is quarter to noon on Friday, the holy day, and we are at an internet cafe. It says 100 mbps but it doesn't appear to be working that quickly. Wouldn't be an issue if the cafe wasn't closing at noon. Hopefully I will get my e-mail by then.

Yesterday afternoon, we went to the Faisal Mosque. Massive building, incredible marble, fascinating design elements. If I remember correctly, it was build in the early 70s and it shows. The carpet is light blue, with blue green tile on the walls and a huge 'modern' gold chandelier. It reminded us of a 70s mega church, without the pews of course. I guess sacred space architecture gets its inspiration from similar places regardless of the geography.

One must walk barefoot throughout the mosque and on a 100 degree I was looking for the white tile in the shade. My feet are wimpy.

After our tour we went back to the hotel, went shopping for culturally appropriate (and cooler) attire and I found a Mother's Day present for Lori. We went for supper at about 9 back to a place I went when I was here last. The Kabul Grill. A wonderful place to eat open air bbq'ed kebabs. Absolutely mouth watering. I highly recommended it, so if you are ever in Islamabad...

More window shopping after supper, then some ice cream and found some cheap movies on dvd. Should I confess this on-line? We bought a couple, including Mission Impossible 3, which just came out in the theatres last weekend. It had Russian subtitles but decent quality. An ok movie but probably not worth staying up until 2 for. I then woke up at 4:30 am and couldn't sleep. Jet lag is a pain.

The cafe is shutting down so I am stopping now. Peace.

p.s. If I get a chance I will post some pictures of the restaurant and the mosque.