Missionary Paul Bennison reports on God’s incredible provision during his recent trip to Colombia….

If I’d been on my own, I’d have been loath to report this, but there were 4 of us from the UK, and two very dear friend Colombian pastors.  We’d been ministering in Buenaventura, on the coast.  On a good day, in daylight, it’s a 3 hour journey across an ‘interesting’ Andes mountain pass (!): two lanes, incredible bends and steep drops, many trucks and buses… not a road you want to drive at night!  Which is exactly what we found ourselves doing on the return to Cali!

Not only that, as we were about to leave at 10.30pm, an Andean thunder storm, with typical tropical rains, began.  We were already looking at a 4 hour journey,  now more likely to be 5+ hours.  You could hardly see out of the windscreen, even with the lights on high beam and the wipers flat out.  The roads become like rivers in an instant in such rain.

After one hour of this I was sitting in the back, beating myself up over why I have no problem in saying to sickness ‘Get out!’ or ‘Be healed in the Name of Jesus!’, but had a problem with saying ‘Peace be still!’…. so I decided to try and beat my mental battle by saying just that.  Within moments the storm seemed to move away from the car – we could still see it, hear it, and see the rain, but it had moved away from us!

At 12.20am, we were getting out of the car at our apartment block in Cali…. it took just 50 minutes to drive what should have taken over 4 hours!  It took some time to sink in: not only did God quieten the storm around us, but we know we missed large chunks of the journey home, or reaching landmarks much, much quicker than we should have done.  Maybe this is nothing unusual for you: perhaps being transported is more common than I know, but I have to confess it is the first time I recall it ever happening to me.

Moreover, the rain began again with its relentless hostility within 10 minutes of our getting back into Cali.  I’m now looking forward to missing out on some long haul airline flights, and just arriving in different countries!  It does happen – I just would like the air miles, too!!!

Paul Bennison is an itinerant missionary who regularly sees God’s miraculous provision in his ministry, particularly in healing.  You can read more about his exciting adventures in many countries at www.paulbennison.com

This week Gill Gouthwaite reflects on her multi-cultural childhood in Brazil…

Growing up an MK is marvellous.  It’s a gift of many facets.  Some of the facets are bright and clear; others are, well, a bit hazier…

I was born into three countries, to parents of different nationalities.  We lived in Brazil. Where we lived it got so hot that if we parked the car in the sun we couldn’t touch the seatbelt handles without burning ourselves.  When it rained I’d be soaked to the skin in 20 seconds if I couldn’t find shelter.

It was great being an MK though, because it helped me appreciate my life in ways that would have been very difficult if I’d been brought up monocultural, or indeed if I’d had less awareness of my own fortunate position in the world.

There are five of us children – all girls, all blonde.  When we met anyone new they always loved us.  ‘Five?’ they’d say, ‘All girls? They’re so cute/sweet/adorable/such darlings/like dolls!’  They’d gently stroke our heads.  Then, as they caught a glimpse of my father, they’d remember that none of us would grow up to carry on the family name.  The astonishment they expressed reflected both the improbability of having five fair-haired children of the same gender, and a touch of horrified compassion for my heir-less parents.  The reaction was simultaneously flattering and insulting.

Now that self-effacing Britishness has entered my bones, it’s embarrassing to admit how great it was to grow up being automatically popular, even though I knew it was because of where I came from.  Of course, returning to Britain, where I had to explain that missionary parents did not go from house to house with tracts (very often), was a bit of a culture shock.  The difference in the way people treat you without reference to anything you’ve actually done does make clearer the passing quality of human praise.  Humbling.

The most beautiful aspect of my childhood, if I had to choose, would have to be insight.  As an MK I got entry into very different worlds, from the very poorest people and churches to the wide diversity of (always richer and better-educated, though not always particularly more content) churches in the UK where our mission was based, to the world of expatriates abroad, which I’m afraid I was always a little disparaging of… so how much real insight I got from that I can’t say!

I think that being exposed from early childhood to very different cultural expectations has given me a greater generosity towards those who see things differently from the way I do, and when someone does something to upset me it makes me look first for a source of miscommunication rather than assuming that they see things the same way I do.  Looking for common ground with people from all sorts of different backgrounds blossoms into a richness of life, relationship and experience which is what I value most about my upbringing.

Gill and her four sisters all have different perspectives on their childhood as MKs.  Gill is going to be a regular contributor to this website, reflecting on the blessings and challenges of such an upbringing, celebrating life and commiserating with those who are still struggling to adapt, often many years later.  We hope this will form the focus of an MK discussion, so if you’d like to join in the chat, please use the comments box. If you’d like to talk confidentially about your experiences, email mk@syzygy.org.uk

September sees the first ever state visit of a Pope to Britain.  Yes, I know the previous Pope visited, but that was a ‘private’ visit – the visit of a spiritual leader to his church.  But on this occasion, Benedict XVI was invited by Queen Elizabeth and comes in his capacity as head of state of the Vatican.

He arrives in Edinburgh on 16th September, where there will be an official reception for him in the grounds of Holyrood House, hosted by the Queen.  The Pope will later hold an open-air mass in Glasgow before flying to London, where he will meet the Prime Minister and the Archbishop of Canterbury, and will celebrate evening prayer in Westminster Abbey before holding a vigil in Hyde Park.

Arguably the most significant event of the visit will be an open-air mass in Birmingham where Cardinal John Henry Newman will be beatified.  The prominent 19th century Anglican priest joined the Roman Catholic church in 1847 and became a leading figure in the Oratory movement, founding the English-speaking world’s first oratory in Birmingham. Cardinal Newman became eligible to be beatified (which means he will be referred to as ‘the blessed’ Cardinal Newman) following the Vatican’s confirmation earlier this year that the inexplicable recovery of a Massachusetts man from a spinal disorder was attributable to the intercessory intervention of Newman.  A further miracle, which is already under investigation, will need to be confirmed before the Cardinal can be recognised as a Saint.

Cardinal Newman, from a painting by John Everett Millais

Cardinal Newman’s beatification is not without controversy, since for many years there have been suggestions that he was gay.  Although there is no direct evidence of this, it is true that he shared a home with a male companion for many years, and the two were buried in the same grave.  An attempted excavation of Newman’s remains in 2008, to move them to the Oratory in direct contravention of his instructions, was condemned as ‘moral vandalism’ by gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, who suggested that the church was attempting to hide embarrassing evidence.

The Pope’s visit also takes place against a background of muddle and overspend which has been an embarrassment to the team organising the visit, and the high cost of security, which falls to the UK government as this is a state visit.  Moreover, there continue to be ongoing rumbles of concern that, while still a cardinal, the Pope was involved in (or at least complicit in) the cover-up of cases of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests.  Whether this is true is not certain, but what appears clear is that the Pope is personally greatly pained by these accusations.  There is no indication yet that the Pope will have any contact with victims, or make any statement of apology or regret.

It is to be hoped that his visit will bring great encouragement to the many millions of Roman Catholics in Britain, and will lead to effective dialogue with the protestant churches.

More details can be found at the visit’s website http://www.thepapalvisit.org.uk/

You may have seen in the news over the last few weeks a lot of chatter from Saudi Arabia (and lately India) regarding the use of BlackBerry mobile phone handsets in their respective countries.  The question has to be asked, why does the Saudi government feel it necessary to consider tighter controls on the use of BlackBerrys?  It all boils down to privacy.

Research in Motion’s (RIM) BlackBerrys, much like any modern smartphone, can send and receive emails.  Unlike other devices (the iPhone for example) when a a BlackBerry retrieves email, it is not retrieving them directly from the email provider, instead the BlackBerry is obtaining its new email from the BlackBerry server.  This has the advantage of taking less time, as the emails can be compressed, taking up less space, and therefore taking less time to send. It all so allows RIM to offer other services direct to the handset, like calendar and instant messaging. Anyone who has used a BlackBerry will attest to the fact that this is a great idea, offering speed and rich functionality.

In order to provide an enterprise-level service for its corporate customers, RIM has to ensure that all the emails and other data stored on its BlackBerry servers is secure.  To do this, they encrypt it, and this is what the Saudi and other governments have an issue with.  With the data encrypted, they can’t look at it.

What does this mean for you?

The short answer is, not a lot. Although from September 1st RIM are allowing the Saudi and other governments a limited amount of access to its secure data, this does not mean that you are being ‘snooped’ on.  The government cannot see the full text of your emails or audio recordings of your phone calls.  Although it is not known exactly what level of access governments have, it is reasonable to assume that at most they are able to audit the send/receive trail of emails, nothing more.  In a recent press release RIM commented that “RIM cannot accommodate any request for a copy of a customer’s encryption key, since at no time does RIM, or any wireless network operator or any third party, ever possess a copy of the key.  This means that customers of the BlackBerry enterprise solution can maintain confidence in the integrity of the security architecture without fear of compromise.”  In essence, even if RIM wanted to give governments full access to your email and IM logs, they cant.  You’re safe.

What can I do to protect myself?

First, you will want to back up your phone’s data, and wipe the handset of all your personal information, if you lose your phone.  I recommend Lookout Mobile Security by Lookout : http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/8469

It’s available for BlackBerry, and Android and can be obtained from the App Store on the device.   Lookout securely creates a backup of your data (stored on Lookout’s US servers).  This allows you to restore your email, contacts, and other information if you get a new handset.   Lookout also allows you to locate your phone, and remotely wipe it of all your data if you so chose.  This renders it useless to any would be thief.

iPhone users opt for the $99 per year .Mac service, that offers similar functions.

Next month, tips on how you can secure yourself online, while using your laptop/desktop.

Adam Brown, Technical Advisor