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John Bloor Relicensed as Reader 10 October 2009 (2KB)

John Bloor  relicensed as a Reader in the Church of England
on Saturday 10th October in Rochester Cathedral.  Licensed to
St. Mark’s Church with special interest in St. Mary's Island Church.

John & Sally (4KB)

John (4KB)

John & Sally John

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Uganda Team Pix 2009 (3KB) Uganda Team Pix 2009 (4KB) Uganda Team Pix 2009 (4KB)
Uganda Team Pix 2009 (4KB)

Uganda Team Pix

Uganda Team Pix 2009 (3KB)

The Team: Wayne Hickmott; Trevor Towers; Pauline Jackson; Lesley Boast; Chris Pinner; Bernie Pinner; Anne Maillardet; Mike Haslam & Gary Atkins.

To find out more please click here  (pdf file 94KB)

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Mothering Sunday 2009 (2KB)

23rd March 2009

Our interpretation of The Wedding @ Cana

The Wedding @ Cana in Galilee (5KB) The Wedding @ Cana in Galilee (5KB) The Wedding @ Cana in Galilee (5KB) The Wedding @ Cana in Galilee (5KB)

The Wedding @ Cana in Galilee (4KB)

The Wedding @ Cana in Galilee (3KB)

The Wedding @ Cana in Galilee (4KB)

The Wedding @ Cana in Galilee (3KB)

Well, we arrived in church and were welcomed by Chris (P)  to a wedding.  As you know, weddings need cakes, flowers and table decorations etc..  There were three lines of tables.

The Wedding @ Cana in Galilee (4KB) The Wedding @ Cana in Galilee (5KB) The Wedding @ Cana in Galilee (4KB) The Wedding @ Cana in Galilee (5KB) The Wedding @ Cana in Galilee (5KB) The Wedding @ Cana in Galilee (5KB) The Wedding @ Cana in Galilee (5KB)

The first line were tasked with decorating the cakes.  The second line were making the flower arrangements and the third table were making the name cards for the guests.

The Wedding @ Cana in Galilee (5KB) The Wedding @ Cana in Galilee (5KB) The Wedding @ Cana in Galilee (5KB) The Wedding @ Cana in Galilee (5KB) The Wedding @ Cana in Galilee (3KB) The Wedding @ Cana in Galilee (3KB) The Wedding @ Cana in Galilee (3KB) The Wedding @ Cana in Galilee (3KB)

Eventually, the tables were laid and and the guests were then awaiting the bride and groom.

Please click here for John B's
Mothering Sunday talk in pdf format
(47KB) and virus free
  The Wedding @ Cana in Galilee (4KB) The Wedding @ Cana in Galilee (4KB)      
The arrival of the bride and groom.  The rest of the wedding is on video.  Please see below.
NB.  I did video the wedding, its ten minutes long and 816Mb's in size.  I will try and edit it into smaller clips for you to download soon from here. 
If anyone would like to download the whole movie please let me know. 

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Bernie (one of our leaders)  writes:    

In November 2008 I returned to BUFUKHULA in Eastern Uganda as a one man team with Food for the Hungry (FH).   FH are doing a fantastic job of working with the local communities and the church to develop villages that have nothing. In five years Bufukhula has seen a church, clinic and thriving school rise up as well as building up relationships and a real sense of community. This village is everything you could hope, friendly people, sunny climate with rainfall that is a joy to experience and is now collected in tanks installed by the Exodus team from St Marks Church, Gillingham, in 2006. That same year the villages dug a trench to lay a water pipe which is available for times of emergency.

The reason for the visit was to give the staff in the Mbale office some basic computer training and to speak to the church leaders in the village. My host for the two weeks was Moses Mwalye who, along with his staff, became good friends of mine. Each day started with prayer and bible study but from there on anything could happen and often did.
The computer training was fun. There was a great sense of achievement as the team went from zilch to being able to do basic word processing and using excel. The reward for me was just a tremendous joy as I watched people like Banana Man (Paul) get to trips with a computer for the first time and then at the end of the visit to watch him teaching others.

My time with church leaders was a bit daunting but I soon relaxed when they welcomed me and patiently listened even though I was about an hour or more late starting, it is known as African time. The first half day was about church unity. The following day only about half the people returned, was I that bad......sadly one of the women of the village had died overnight and the people had gone to attend the funeral.
What was great was to see one group of villagers providing tea and peanuts for refreshments as a response to what I had said the previous day.

The third day with the leaders didn't happen. I was taken to a nearby village to witness a meeting concerning their clinic. Not a meeting I thought. Again we arrived at 10:30 for a 10:00 meeting which in fact started at 13:30. We sat under a tree, the traditional introductions were made, an agenda drawn up and then business started. It was great to see the villagers taking responsibility for their on decisions. They decided to open the clinic in a weeks time and even offered donations to get some basic medicine. I was shown around the clinic and introduced to staff at the local school.

I spent time doing home visits in the village and handing over gifts to some of the children sponsored by families at St Marks and St Mary's Island Church. This was fun. Banana Man and myself soon had a game of pretending that the other had the gift, we finally handed over the goodies and watched the children open them. Its amazing how thankful they were for pencils, note books and a t-shirt. Their families joined us and expressed their gratitude for the support they were getting.

I have failed to mention that most days involved a ride as a passenger on the back of Banana Mans bike. A first it was a bit scary but as the days passed it became an adventure of how many times we would have a near miss on the roads or drop the bike navigating the dirt tracks after the rain. Several days we left late and got caught in the 'showers' but this was an advantage as most of the traffic pulled over as they couldn't see where they were going. We couldn't but relied on the fact that everyone else had moved over.
This does not really do justice to the two weeks. The sights and smells of Mbale at night, like kind invitations to visit the homes of the FH staff where I was treated like a king, and the simple fun of living among people who had little but were grateful for all they had.

I will always remember Abram the night guard. Same age as me I found out. He didn't speak a lot of English but what a privilege to see him give thanks to God when I gave him a cup of tea for his breakfast. Above all this was my dearest memory of the visit, that God was central to all they did, they were thankful for each moment of the day and for all of Gods gifts around them. I look forward to returning because its here in a hidden part of eastern Uganda that I first learnt what it really means to rely on God for all that I need. May God continue to bless my brothers and sisters in Uganda.

BUFUKHULA 2008 (5KB) BUFUKHULA 2008 (5KB) BUFUKHULA 2008 (4KB) BUFUKHULA 2008 (4KB) BUFUKHULA 2008 (5KB) BUFUKHULA 2008 (5KB) BUFUKHULA 2008 (5KB) BUFUKHULA 2008 (5KB)

The photos above show the parachute given in 2007, Soloman - a Muslim who is amazed at what is happening in the village, some of the guys training, the bike, a few home visits,
a year 2 class at the school, the school under a tree and I cannot read my writing for the last one.

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This page was last updated 12/10/2009

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