Blogs from Trivandrum, Kerala, India, Asia - page 8

Hey everyone, Ben here! We only have a day and a half left. Tomorrow is a full day of a Kerala wide meeting called the Gladiator Meeting. It's for youth and singles who have the desire to go on mission trips and church plantings. It should awesome! Christy and Lucy have been amazingly hospitable and my favorite little girl in the whole world is here and growing like weed!!! Her name is Valentina and she holds a special place in my heart. We are at Christy and Lucy's house right now and Damon has again made a delicious meal that has encouraged the disciples of Trivandrum. I definitely want everyone else to write so I'll split. Love you all!!! Ben hey yall chef damon strikes back!!! we just finished up eating dinner and everone was encouraged ... read more

So the last month at the Ashram was pretty tough going.....ya know....we had to share a room, get up early, be completely silent during all meals, stick to a schedule, no electricity during the peak of 40 degrees etc etc.... So, to make up for that 'tough life' and everything we'd learnt about non-posessiveness, non-attachment and simple living...... Arrival at Manaltheeram Resort, Kerala ........ We had been dreaming of beaches, waves, lush forests, fresh coconut juice and palm trees...and that's exactly what we got! Our first stop in Kerala was at another Ayurveda Resort, 'Dr Franklins', but soon discovered that it wasn't quite up to what we had invisioned! For starters, it wasn't by the beach! So we took a walk a bit further down the street and stumbled across Manaltheeram...5 star! We chatted to ... read more

Notre silence s’explique par A) une viree au Sri Lanka et B) une escapade dans les poumons de l’action spirituelle de l’Inde (lire : un ashram). Le Sri Lanka d’abord. L’ile est un veritable festin pour les sens.Si ce n’etait pas des tensions interethniques qui rendent l’avenir du pays (et des voyageurs qui s’y trouvent) incertain, nous vous sommerions de partir immediatement a la decouverte de ce petit bout de terre tout vert et luxuriant qui traine a la pointe de l’Inde comme une parure ala cheville d’un geant ; une emeraude echouee aux confluents de la mer arabe et de la baie du Bengale. Et il n’y a pas que le climat politique qui est chaud. A califourchon sur l’equateur, le soleil nous donne l’impression d’evoluer dans une rotisserie. Les curry nous font l’effet ... read more

Did that make you curious? I didnt know what else to call it but we spent all day at the biggest gathering of women in the world - it's in the Guiness book of records and everything! We read about it last week in the paper. Bob being a festival photographer was determined to go and I, being a woman, couldnt possibly miss out on something that sounded so crazy - 2 million women (as it turned out) would descend on the town of Trivandrum and cook offerings to a mythical deity. 2 million women! can you imagine? well neither could we so we decided to try and get the train down the day before. We thought it would be pretty packed but when we got to the platform it seemd rather fine. There were a ... read more

Greetings from Amritashram, Lela and I arrived at the ashram in Kollum on the 19th and I don't know where to begin. The ashram at the moment has about two thousand people in it. It is run on volunteer work with many "old-timers" supervising. Today I served food. Split pea soup was my job. I did the butter as well. The ashram has 3 different food centers. The Indian food is free, and the western cafes are paid, but very inexpensive. There are about 300 westerners here at the moment. The whole ashram is the headquarters for Amma. She's incredible. She's nicknamed "the hugging guru" and will hug all of the guests that are staying here in one day. When there are a lot of people here (8000) she may sit for upto 24 hours in ... read more