"As we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. " Nelson Mandela

HI Folks!

John and I are doing wonderfully here! I hope no one has been concerned about our safety! It's just that we hit the ground running about 9 am each day and get back to our home away from home about 10:30 or 11:00 pm.... it's all just been fascinating and beautiful to be a part of and I wouldn't want to miss anything we've done but it doesn't give me any time for journaling! It's 11:35 pm here and now I'm just starting to write! I'm going to skip yesterday which was filled with wonderful site seeing in fabulous historic places.. one highlight was the palace that was built for the queen that the Taj Mahal was built for .. the Taj Mahal is her tomb and this palace was built specially for her... but she died before she could ever live there.. after the birth of her 14th child. There are huge staircases for the royal entourage riding elephants to enter the courtyards, large pools with fountains with specially built platforms in the middle for the musicians and dancing girls to perform, a mirror and precious stone encrusted pavilions, specially built streams of rose scented water feeding into the pools and fountains. All this built up high above the city to enable fresh breezes to waft through the marble screens all hand carved like filigree or lace to allow the breeze to blow through. From that a contrast with the old market with donkey and horse carts, tiny stalls with people crafting all kinds of items, conical shaped piles of fresh spices, nuts and dates, beautiful oranges in great heaping piles, giant red carrots (that they make into a fabulous dessert!), look up above and ancient crumbling beautiful wood work around windows and balconies and hundreds of strands of electrical wire all in a tangle.. Live chickens, sheep and goats. fabulously colored and mirrored and beaded shawls and fabrics.....look down at your feet and there is mud and sludge and bits and pieces of life strewn about........ so that was just a tiny view of yesterday!!

Many of you have been concerned about our safety so I wanted to describe our living situation.. We are staying on the Forman Christian College campus in a home that is used for visiting faculty. I'm guessing it might have been built maybe in the 1960's or so.... the faculty housing is lined up in a row with tall brick walls all around them... creates a courtyard effect in the front with a green steel gate large enough to drive a car through. In the back there is a high, high brick wall probably 10 or 12 feet high. There are decorative iron grates over all of the windows and the screened porch. No one is getting in here! Forgot to mention that the entire college campus is surrounded by those same high brick walls with guards manning the front gate that have a little mirrored gizmo on a stick to check for bombs under your car when you come in. Plus guards stationed through out the campus. Back to the house.... it reminds me of squarish building blocks stacked up... flat roof, yellow paint that is kind of mildewy, five rooms and two bathrooms, the floors are concrete, the ceilings must be 15 ft high. The bathrooms are interesting.... the shower is just placed along one wall so you just stand in the room and turn on the water.. so there is no tiled part at the bottom to catch the water as it goes down the drain.. so the effect is that you are washing the floor every time you take a shower....You're provided with a squeege to push the water on towards the drain... a pretty efficient way to do things I think! Oh, another interesting thing is that the electric power goes off at least once a day and sometimes twice a day... and sometimes the gas goes off too. So far it's not really been a problem as we have flashlights and eventually it comes back on.. sometimes it might be off for hours at a time with no warning.

When we traveled to the old city and the market, we are told that if strangers approach us and ask us where we're from, we're to say from Canada.. the big joke is that we decided to say we're from Southern Canada.. the deep south of Canada.. or maybe we're from Northern Mexico! So far, no one has asked us. We are the only white faces in the market and so we do attract a lot of attention, I smile at the women and girls and cast my eyes down when near the men. Yesterday we had six Pakistani men walking with us. Four of them were former Forman students all devout Muslims in their 20's so were great fun to be with! They position themselves in the front, along the sides of us and in the back... they're very careful with us and so appreciative that we've come to visit them here.

The other security measure and also respect measure is that we are dressing in the traditional Shalwar Kameeze or at least some long tops with a scarf draped over our shoulders and fronts. The women dress just beautifully! The fabrics are all the brightest exotic colors with beautiful embroidery, sequins, mirrors and every kind of sparkle and spangle you can imagine! You do see burkas from time to time but most are in these very elegant Shalwar Kameeze - long knee length tunic, loose pants and a coordinating scarf. Women are not required to cover their heads except in the Mosque.

This morning we attended church at the largest Presbyterian Church in Lahore.. I was surprised to learn that there are several Presbyterian Churches here! The Pakistani pastor received his masters and doctoral degree from the seminary in Louiville, Kentucky so is much in demand for his training... I was stunned to find that the church is surrounded by more of those 12 ft high brick walls. You pull up to the large steel front gate and on either side are two men with AK 47 rifles.. they're there to guard the congregation.. they look at us and open the gate and we drive into the church compound. It's a large beautiful church built of a pink sandstone type brick. We park and begin to walk up to the church steps... I look to my left and there is a guard standing on the top of a ladder holding an AK-47 and peering over the top of the wall. That's his station and he stays there the entire time we're in church. Far to the right, I see another guard with another rifle peering over the side of the wall on the other side of the church. I was shocked and saddened to realize it was necessary for us to have that kind of protection as a minority in the country. The pastor here has made some amazing progress in reaching out to the Muslims in the community. He now has large events for the families in the neighborhood and invites all the Muslims... the first time he tried it, he had about 35 attend and only the men. Now he'll have 500 Muslims attend and bring their families. This is not any kind of attempt to convert Muslims, it is only to get to know them.

The youth choir is made up of about 20 people accompanied by a harmonium, tabla drums and a keyboard. The hauntingly beautiful sounds of singing and instruments included the words of Psalm 4 set to music..... the words and the sounds and the experience of the edge of violence brought tears to my eyes.

Psalm 4

1. Answer me when I call to you, O my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; be merciful to me and hear my prayer. 2. How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame? How long will you love delusions and seek false gods? 3. Know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself; the Lord will hear when you call to him. 4. In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent. 5. Offer right sacrifices and trust in the Lord. 6. Many are asking, "Who can show us any good?" Let the light of your face shine upon us, Oh Lord. 7. You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound. 8. I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, Oh Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Before we left home, John asked one of the residents of Florida Presbyterian Homes about what her purpose had been when she was a missionary to Pakistan for many, many years. I don't have this as an exact quote, but Mary said that their goal was to help Christians be good Christians, to help Muslims be good Muslims and to provide opportunity for the two groups to know each other and to work side by side..... it seems that Forman has done exactly that.... they very often provide the only place that Christians and Muslims can work side by side and become friends. Although it is a Christian College, the majority of the students are Muslim of a wide variety of sects.. they are provided a Mosque and a Chapel for prayers. Nothing but respect for others is allowed.

I have to stop now.. It's 12:30 am and we're helping with student assessments in the morning and have to be at our assigned spot at 8:30 am for training.

Special message to the former missionaries to Pakistan! Everywhere we go people ask about you all and remember you here! Mary we've met several of Carl's former students and they speak of him with such reverence! He must have been an amazing professor! Rowena we had dinner with Jeanie and Winslow Albert. (I hope I have the names straight). Jeanie spoke of square dancing with you and Winslow spoke of his fondness for Bob! We met a man at church today who opened his wallet and showed us a folded up yellowing piece of paper that was a receipt for a bicycle that he had bought from Bob. Charlie many have spoken so fondly and kindly of you! You all made such a difference in the lives of these people and countless others.

There is just so much to say but I can't keep my eyes open!

love to all!

jean

PS... many, many thanks for the comments from home that I've gotten! It really means a lot to me to hear from you!!