Paphos

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Just spent the most glorious 3 days in a little seaside town called paphos. This is where Paul visited on one of his missionary journeys, and today we stopped by the church, with the supposed pillar that he was chained to and whipped!

Acts 13:6-12

Paul and Barnabas preached the gospel to mainly to Jews while they crossed the island from east to west. Finally they arrived to Paphos. Paphos was the capital city of Roman rule in Cyprus and the center of the worship for Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty. The city had evil reputation for laxity of morals.

In Paphos Paul and Barnabas met Roman Proconsul, Sergius Paulos who wanted to hear the word of God. A sorcerer called Elymas wanted to turn him away from his faith. But Paul blinded him temporally. Witnessing to what happened to Elymas, Sergius Paulos believed. From this point on Saul used this Roman name Paul.


Lindsay and Flynn have been wonderful and so extravagantly generous with not only their resources but also their time. This morning while lindsay was finishing her Scuba Dive course, I had a lovely dive at a site called White River where there are as many as 35 swim throughs and little nooks and crannies to get oneself and your equipment stuck in! really good!

Yesterday, a friend and i hired canoes and decided to view the coast from the sea-side! the med sea is fascinating - with such a varied bottom composition - rocks, caves, big holes etc, and all so clear... really beautiful. We headed into the wind to start, so on the way home, we tried, and eventually succeeded in standing up in the canoe to form a sort of sail, and then using the paddle to guide and help our canoes along - gondala style!

The feel in Paphos is dreamlike - people walking lazily around, dressed in cosies and sarongs, little streetside vendors selling suntan cream and hats, and hoards of roadside cafe's and icecream stalls! I wonder what paul would've found when he arrived.... certainly wouldnt have been greeted with italian icecream! During lunch, we even had 2 pink pelicans walk past - the biggest bird i've ever seen after the ostrich - would make a super christmas roast!

Coral Bay is truely exquisite, set right on the coast with a private beach and even a small working fishing harbour. There are small islands which offered a welcome rest to the "want-to-be" mermaid as I realised how unfit I have got! The water is crystal clear, and so many different shades of blue. Sadly there doesn't seem to be lots of wildlife under these beautiful waters, but its gorgeous to look at on the top. Hope to sqeeze anouther dive before leaving cyprus!

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