He phoned me at half past six UK time, they're five hours ahead of us, so it's midday for him pretty much, and he sends his greetings to as well. He has fond memories of fellowship with you here at Holywell. I've just returned from Sri Lanka, it's the end of generally this year, came back early February. So I've got some fresh news for you, encouraging news I hope, which will stimulate your prayerful interest. I'm also quite happy to take questions at the end of this presentation. I'll do my best to answer those questions. I'm not an expert in all these things, but I have some understanding, particularly with the current situation in Sri Lanka with the economic situation they find there themselves. So, let's see if the technology works. And it does, excellent. So the work is broken into two halves. Lanka Evangelical Churches is the spiritual side of our work. So that's supporting pastors, evangelists, book translation, which we're heavily involved with, good reform books into Tamil. Sun School Works, supporting new buildings in Sri Lanka. Care Sri Lanka, UK registered charity, that is the practical, the social aspect of our ministry. And both those aspects will be incorporated in this presentation tonight. So this is the island of Sri Lanka. Can you all see that okay, can you? Approximately the same size as the island of Ireland, which is not too far from here. And the population, I always say about 22 million, but due to the situation in Sri Lanka, that has dropped considerably as many people are fleeing the country due to the economic situation. In January alone, 700 doctors left Sri Lanka. They've gone to Europe. Canada, Australia, because they're not getting their funding, they're not being paid their wages. Many schools have been closed, teachers aren't being paid as well. So there's a lot of problems in Sri Lanka. I've got a friend of mine, he's 29 years old, he's a very outgoing young man, he's a lecturer at a university in Sri Lanka. 70% of his friends of his age group, young people, have left Sri Lanka. to study abroad and to escape from the deprivation they're experiencing at the moment. Many people there are just surviving on one meal a day. Many people there can't afford medicine. You can't get medicine if you can afford it. There's a lack of medicines coming into the country. There's a lack of diesel and petrol. That's all on ration. We'll see some of that through his presentation tonight. So it's not too far from Tamil Nadu, it's on the tip of India, the Pollock Strait here which leads up to Jaffna. So we travelled from Colombo up to Trincomalee and then we had a weeks conference in Trinco, then we moved cross-country to visit some churches on the coast here, up to Jaffna, then we came down the East Coast, back to Sri Lanka, went down to Batticaloa, then into the central hill country. So all that being presented to you tonight, very quickly, let's give you an overview of what we achieved. Sri Lanka, as you know, is a beautiful country. It was a major tourist destination. That has been impacted by the pandemic. People aren't going to Sri Lanka because of the pandemic and also because of the lack of electricity. Many people aren't going there because particularly young people are bloggers and have their travel blogs. They don't have that regular connection, so many young people are boycotting Sri Lanka at the present moment, so that's impacted upon the economy. No tourists, very few. Past years, the industry's had improved, but it's declined again. And there's beautiful scenery. The elephants, and if you're into bird watching, There's beautiful birds in that country, and many people used to go for these particular scenes to experience. So the current situation in Sri Lanka is that they have a new president. This is the new president of Sri Lanka. He was the prime minister for Marinda Rajapaksa, who was president. He was the prime minister during the bombings at Easter. three years ago, four years ago. Clyde Mowry interviewed him on the BBC, and he said, surely you must have known that these bombings were imminent. He turned around and said to Clyde Mowry, I've been kept out of the loop. He wasn't informed. So there was intelligence that these bombings were probably going to happen, but this man who was the Prime Minister had no inclination of that at all. He's not liked by the people of Sri Lanka, He's a slippery character, they tell me. You've got to be careful what I say. And so, he's very unpopular. They are hoping to have elections, local elections in March. Yeah, this month. It's March now, isn't it? And possibly presidential elections later this year. Problem is, they have no paper. They have no ink to produce the forms, et cetera, the ballots. You're shaking your heads in disbelief, aren't you? This is how severe the economic situation is in Sri Lanka. It's really impacted on every aspect of society and their life. He hopes that Sri Lanka will be back to its normal condition within two years. I think that's a big hope. We can pray that would be so. because those people are impacted by the situation there in Sri Lanka. It's a beautiful country, but it's a nation of darkness. And wherever you go, particularly now, there are blackouts twice a day, early in the morning and in the evening, two-hour blackouts. At the end of last year, they were 12 to 18-hour blackouts. So again, that's impacted on education, on industry, employment, and many children are suffering. So many people will be using these kerosene lamps tonight as they work and do their homework. So a big fire hazard for many people. It's constituted as a Buddhist nation, so when they gained independence in 1948, if I remember correctly, from the British government, it was constituted as a Buddhist nation, and Sinhala was the language which was to be used in all government departments. That impacted upon the Tamils, who can't speak Sinhala, it's a different culture, different religion, everything about these two people groups are totally different. So that single act was part of the problem of the civil war between Samuel Tigers and the government of Sri Lanka. So it's a Buddhist nation. Wherever you go, you see a Buddhist temple, you see Buddhist monks. It's also a very strong Hindu nation, and it's a very religious nation. They celebrate Christmas. I was in Sri Lanka in 2021, and they were playing carols in the airport. It's quite remarkable. And all Colombo was decorated for Christmas. So they are very religious, but even though they're true gods, they worship idols and false gods. So our mission through Lanka Church is to bring the gospel to these benighted people. Another part of the problem in Sri Lanka, that Godfrey Raja Paxta, when he was president, end of last year, He wanted Sri Lanka to go green, to be organic. So they banned all artificial fertilizers. Again, in the Farmer's Weekly magazine, which a friend gave me, the headline was, if you want to go organic, this will be the consequences. Look at Sri Lanka. Their production of rice has dropped 50%. They used to be self-sufficient, now they've got to import it from abroad. That impacts, again, on the day workers. There's not that much work in the fields to bring in the harvest, to plough, to scatter the seed. So there's this continual impact upon the people of Sri Lanka. Diesel is very short. It's rationed at the moment. You need a smartphone with a QR code so they know how much you have received per month. You think it's bad here? Count your blessings one by one. So, Sri Lanka's been hit by several things. Fertiliser impacted, COVID impacted, mismanagement in government impacted the people of Sri Lanka. And that is what they face today. Last week, prices of electricity went up 60%. 60%. So it's becoming unaffordable for many families, particularly the poor, those with whom we work with. At the end of last year, this was queuing up at a petrol station. These are motorbikes, and it's just like bees around a honeypot. Thankfully, those scenes have passed now. This was the only queue I saw when I was in Sri Lanka for two and a half weeks. Some petrol stations are open with no queues. This particular station was in a district called Mutu. It's quite a rural district, so obviously a shortage there. But if you have a bullet cart, you don't need diesel and you don't need petrol. And I saw many bullet carts. I even see them in convoys as well. So there are ways around these problems and these issues. I know some of you sponsor children. We thank you for that. That's a real help to many children. This is a particular girl we actually sponsored through our ladies' meeting. And we have, oh, you can't quite see this one. We're sponsoring 150 girls and boys at the present moment in Sri Lanka. We are funding 10 preschools in Sri Lanka with 272 children. We are supporting 10 after-school tuition classes for 390 students. So that's for children who've been to school, but they need help with their homework. Some of their parents can't read or write, so it's an important aspect of our work and ministry. We have a baby food program for 2,850 children. So children are getting one meal a day through Keshavanka. We're supporting 192 widows. That's in the 52 churches which are under the umbrella of Lenka Evangelical Fellowship Churches. We just started a sponsor program for widows, and Sister in Bordock has taken on that program. If you're interested in sponsoring a widow, speak to me afterwards. And we've been providing 4,550 families with food relief. These figures make my eyes water sometimes, thinking of the responsibility which has been laid upon us through this situation. But we can say that God has been good. You read that in that psalm there. God is good. He is merciful. And he is providing for the needs of his people. So the first week in Sri Lanka, we had a workers' conference. That was a week of study. So all the pastors and the bishops will come to Trincomalee, and they will stay on the compound, and there'll be lectures from the morning to the afternoon. There'll be a rest time, lectures in the evening. And this year, we had a brother from America. Brother Russ has been to Sri Lanka the second time now, and he came to teach in the Bible college there. Problems the pastors face, difficulties with church discipline was an issue which was raised several times in the lectures. And again, it was a very profitable time for the pastors and for the evangelists to hear perspective from another continent and to share the word of God with them, to encourage them. A lot of question and answer sessions as well which were very helpful. And the whole week was a blessed time. These are, Some of the senior pastors, so Sri Lanka churches are made up of 52 churches under the umbrella, but these elders represent certain districts in Sri Lanka, and they are the committee who come to be the vice-pastor, to give them counsel, and to help one another in the ministry and the workings of the church there. So do pray for these brothers. We've got Pastor Samakum here. He's the only Singhalese pastor we've had in the fellowship for many years. But by his God's grace, we've accepted four of the new Singhalese churches to the work. So that's really encouraging. And do pray that there be harmony between them. Because the war was between Singhalese and Tamils, basically. I'll be all one in Christ. And we want to show that to the world and particularly to the people of Sri Lanka. I've done a lot of this while I was there, different families. This is Kumar and his wife, his youngest daughter, his middle son. This is sister Vani, part of Jake Ant's wife. Went to pay them a visit. Kumar and the family lost their eldest son about four weeks before we went to Sri Lanka. He was run over by a motorbike in Trinco, and it's been really devastating for them as a family. So we went there to comfort, to share the word of God with them, to pray with them, and that's part of the work, expected work, particularly when you go to visit these families. young girl here, I've known her since she was one week old. Now she's going to leave the family home, she's going to Bataclan to study as a teacher. So she's lost one son through an accident, his youngest daughter is just going to go about a three-hour journey from their home. And their son here, he's leaving Sri Lanka to study in France. So do pray for them as a family, for Kumar and his family here. Pray for their studies, pray for their safekeeping, and pray that God will give them much comfort. Everywhere in Sri Lanka, you're being watched. There's always eyes watching you. Everyone knows what you're doing. I received a report when I got back home, and there are things in there which I, I knew I did, which I thought no one else could see, but they were incorporated into that report. So everybody knows everything in Sri Lanka. There's no secrets. That's village life. Even in this country, my father lives in a village, and everyone knows each other's business. But even more so there in Sri Lanka. A few years ago, we baptized this brother here. He's an ex-Tamil tiger. driving a lorry, the Sri Lankan forces, Air Force, bombed the vehicle. He was severely disabled. And for many years, he asked Pastor Jaycan, I wanna be baptized, I wanna be baptized. And Pastor kept postponing it, saying, you're not fit, you're not able. And then his friend said, we will take him into the sea with his wheelchair, and he'd be baptized. What a tremendous day that was. He came out of the water. He said to a friend of mine, I'm now ready to die. I'm now ready to die. I've made my confession of faith. And we haven't seen him for several years. And it was a joy to meet him again. He's fully disabled. This is his home. This is his bed in the open side here. Kesh Rankin provided a ramp. so he can shower and for toilet facilities. And we've also provided a little shop for him where he can run a business. And so that's all through Care Sri Lanka. So he's not just receiving money, he's receiving a kickstart for a business so he can run a business. And there's a joy to see that after all those years. That's one very practical aspect of the Ministry of Care Sri Lanka. And the business is doing well. He's supporting himself and his mother and his father. We visited many poor families again while we were there. This brother here has got a growth on his throat, needs medical attention. We again discussed help we could give to him and his family through Care Sri Lanka. This is the family home. It's just made from jungle material, and it's very basic, and it's very uncomfortable, and these are three of his children. So these are the conditions that your brothers and sisters are living in. These are not the rule, but they do exist, and again, through Keshe, I think we're sponsoring these children, and we're helping with the education of the school tuition. The lady on the right is Pushparani. She's the account manager at Six Mile Post, the head office. This is one of the girls, again, who's been sponsored with help through that program. In this district in South Muthu, there are several small churches, house churches scattered around, and we've been looking to buy some land, and this brother here led us one afternoon in the pouring rain. to this plot of land which has been abandoned, which was abandoned during the war time, and it's up for sale, so we're making inquiries if it's possible for us to buy the land. Once we've bought the land, can we get permission to build a church there? So again, that's something else you can pray for, please. During our stay, as always, you always visit the preschools, and we visited two preschools this particular morning. And again, these are schools which we run through Keserenka. They are schools which are mainly for Hindu children, but they give us an inroad to bring the gospel to these children. We support one preschool, which is a Muslim school. And again, we can bring the gospel to these children. A year or so ago, we had a meeting, and it's just children and Muslim women listening to the word of God. And these preschools give us that inroad into a village where we can have that freedom, that liberty to preach the Lord Jesus Christ, the true God, the way of salvation. So we support these groups, we support these young people. They learn three languages, already taught, They're learning English, Tamil, and Sinhalese. And they're very happy to recite their English to you. The ABC, they sing you choruses in English. It's quite remarkable. Children in Sri Lanka, they love education. From the small ones to the older ones. This is over, education is the way out of poverty. If you don't work, you don't eat. There's no social services in Sri Lanka. So they want to be educated and to get good jobs and to support themselves and their families. This lady here is headmaster of a local school. She's been very supportive of the work of Claire Schelenker over many years. And she introduced us to the staff of this particular preschool and the new headmaster of our old school. So again, these are inroads into new areas where we can bring the gospel of the Lord Jesus. Another preschool we visited. Muslim children, attentive. So the seed has been sown, and we would covet your prayers, that seed would come to fruition, bring fruit to the glory of God. Muslim children, the adults, mothers and fathers, they know the true God. So a number of preschools we are supporting. Again, we covet your prayers for these schools. Emphasize again that important aspect of the ministry and work of KS Sri Lanka. These are local officials, this is the local head of the preschool, a division in Trincomalee, and some of our staff, Pushpamali, goes on these visitations for the preschools, and local elders from Tamil Government Church. So we're getting involved with the local people, bringing the gospel to them. When Pastor Jacan started his ministry 32 years ago, he went to a village called Tamagama, which was a Telugu gypsy village. They were nomadic people. They would settle for a few months, then move on, and they'd do a circuit of three different areas of Sri Lanka. This man here on the left was very anti-Christian, very anti-the gospel, and he started a campaign against Pastor Jacan. He set up posters around the village. Pastor Jaycant's photo on it. Beware of this man. He's collecting your children's eyes. Harvesting children's eyes. And that was a campaign of hatred against Pastor Jaycant. This man was captured by the Tamil Tigers during the war time. Who went to petition his release? Pastor Jaycant. And this man is still a Hindu. but he's more favorable to the Christian work and to the Christian cause. He's seen the good that the gospel's brought to his district and to the villages in that district. Pray for him that God will open his eyes to a true God. Again, while in Sri Lanka, we had lots of meetings with the brothers discussing their problems and issues. There have been problems in Sri Lanka. One church is split, and that's been a real cause of concern over the last two years. So it's not all rosy there in Sri Lanka. There are problems, because we are human, aren't we? And it doesn't matter the color of your skin. We still have the same heart, which is desperately wicked. And there are people there who are seeking to undermine the work there in Sri Lanka. So do pray for unity. Pray for peace amongst the brethren. And this is just one particular meeting, trying to thrash out some issues that this particular little church was experiencing. So at the end of the first week, we had the workers' conference, then we done a tour up on the east and west coast of Sri Lanka and up to Jaffna. We left very early one morning, went to this little church here. This is Brother Chippenham. This is in the Vanya district, north central of Sri Lanka. an early morning prayer meeting, privileged to share the word of God with them, and so attentive, attentive to the word of God is remarkable. And to keep emphasizing that, even with children, that there's this hunger and thirst for God's word, and to be together, and to worship together. And they don't have options. They're only small pockets of small churches in Sri Lanka. They're not several churches in your village or in your town that you can choose to go to. Some people make long and hard journeys to go to a place of worship. And this couple do exactly that. They walk four miles. They go to church. They get off the bus at the main road. to go up this small track up to a small fellowship, and they walk four miles, and they walk back four miles, and they do that to be with God's people. Do you find it hard to come to church? Do you think, oh, it's a bit too cold tonight, it's a bit too wet, too windy, and you're coming in your car? Again, these people humble me. I've seen an old lady blind walking down a mountainside track with a stick. Why? To go to church. Because she knows the importance of meeting together with God's people. So these people challenge me. And sometimes, I don't feel like going out sometimes. I'm an elder of a church, and I've got Bible study to do, and I think, I'm tired. But you got to, and when you've done it, what a blessing to be amongst the Lord's people. Chitra said to us, we had a program, and he said, I want you to come and meet A few families I met with, I met a lady in hospital, and she said she was a Christian. There was a church in their village, but it closed, and she invited children to come to her house, and they started this small house fellowship. And these were just some of the people, again, very early in the morning. Others was out working or away. Wonderful testimony. In the darkness, in the jungle, in the woods, A little light, a little gospel light. And again, a real privilege to be with them. Through Keserenka, we've been setting up projects. We've got small poultry farms. This lady here has some goats which she breeds and sells at market. She's got one goat here sold in called Martha. The one behind is called Mary. And this one here is called Beautiful. And so I use that as an illustration of the good shepherd, as he went out looking for that lost sheep. And I'm sure he had a name for that sheep. And as he called out that name, I was able to incorporate beautiful into that narrative of Jesus looking for the lost sheep. So again, it's a little project sponsored through Care Sri Lanka. So we went up further north to Mana, which is a little island just off the mainland of Sri Lanka. And we went to a church there. Last time I was here was again, several years ago, when Dr. Pope of Malaysia opened this church. And again, mainly women here and children. We were late due to children's new program. But they sat there waiting for us. And they waited. One, two and a half hours. Most people here have gone home by then. Again, it gives you an indication of their desire to meet and hear the word of God. Then from there, we went back down to a little village called Nakatuda. This is the first church I visited in Sri Lanka, my first trip ever in 2004. They're celebrating their 25th anniversary this year. Small fishing village, very poor, but again, enthusiastic for the gospel. Enthusiastic to tell of Christ to her friends and to their neighbors. They have no pastor. They have no elders. They have no deacons. But yet God has kept them as a people. So the situations that we find here, they also have in Sri Lanka. It's a big problem to find men who are gifted and able to pass the churches and to be deacons and to be elders. I know that's a problem in our country. I visit many churches. There's very few men who have been gifted to lead and direct God's people. It's the same there. So you can have sympathy, empathy with these people. You know their problems. You experience them yourself. As you pray for yourselves, pray for them also. From Manabee we went to New Compound. It's a small church and these are brothers from the North. of Sri Lanka, Jaffna, Nakatudra on the west, and Kalapadu on the east, and Malachibu, again coming together, discussing issues like communion. We haven't had communion for six months, some of these churches said. We have no pastor, no one gifted to lead in that particular service. We have problems and we need solutions to them, so we had quite an open and frank, conversation, discussion, how to overcome those problems, and a solution was found. So they are articulate, they're passionate, and again, cover your prayers for them. From the Northwest, we went to the hill country, went to a new church, right over here, it's not a very good picture, sorry about that. He's a Sinhalese evangelist. He's a tinker. I said, ah, just like John Bunyan. And he knew who John Bunyan was. So I was encouraged to know that. And this is where a small church meets. And how about that from a background for your church building? Look upon God's creation. And again, we share their issues and problems and encouragements. He goes out, produces his own tracts. and he distributes those to his friends and neighbors and from businesses around his area, making Christ known in the ways that he's able to do. So these are brothers from Hill Country, quite a large town called Matale in the Central Highlands. So again, cover your prayers for them. We went to Apatilli and All these wonderful children, quite amazing. And again, they were as good as gold as I opened the scriptures to them and I was called upon to share the word of God with them. And just a blessed time to be with so many children. Do you remember those days? Some of you older generation will remember the days when our churches were full and Sunday schools were full of children. The Lord is blessing many children there in Sri Lanka. So, this is a pastor from Hapitilli, this is a new brother we're working with now, he's from the Hill Country, and we've seen these new brothers coming into the fellowship for support and for help, and particularly for government issues which are thrown at the churches from time to time. So it's a new church I visited, a place called Uri, which is a tea estate. Lots of children again, very holy in the morning. We gave them breakfast and it was their holiday time. They went away very happy. They sang some nice songs in English. We taught them some choruses also in English. For about an hour and a half, just blessed fellowship with children. We're doing that to instruct these men here that it's not just adults, it's children that are important as well. Because children are the church of tomorrow. And we want them to come down to children's level and to speak to them the grace of God. Another new church we visited. It's a very small church, but a single-each church, which has just come into the fellowship. And brother visited early morning, took us to this secondary work he's planted in someone's hopes, a little house church. This is his main church that was built by the Church of the Nazarenes in America. They've handed all the properties and all the ministry over to the individual pastors. They pulled all funding from the churches there. And so some of these churches come to be with us through Lankan churches. So again, Sunday morning, quite an affluent church for Sri Lankan standards, but a real joy to be with God's people. To one side, they have a home there for the elderly, for elderly women. They have three women there who are being cared for by the pastor's sister. And these poor souls here, They don't go out. It's very limited recreation. It's a pretty poor situation for these dear ladies. That's saying we've got to invest in the coming days, by God's grace, to bring some more help, relief, some more equipment to help these ladies in the coming days. We have a Singley's pastor who has a work amongst the Veda people. The Veda people are the aboriginal people of Sri Lanka. They live in the jungles. They're like the aboriginals of Australia. And there's a particular brother here, invited Pastor Jekant and Samakul to his home. You can see it's pretty basic, but there's a work amongst his people. I haven't seen it. I'm quite excited about that. So God willing, if I go again later this year, I'll be able to meet with these brothers and to share with them. So we value your prayers for this people group, pretty much unreached people group. And it's a real opportunity for the gospel. This is Pastor Sam Rakoum and his church. He's been a pastor on his compound Since I've known him since 2004, some years ago, started to build a church on his compound. Buddhist monks complained about it, started to build a temple in front of it, so we get to see his work. And he still meets under a tree after all these years, faithfully gathering people together to praise our God. Most of our works is mainly among village people. We have one or two works in larger towns and cities. This is a city down towards Batticaloa on the east coast of Sri Lanka. Very strong Muslim area. The shops aren't shut because of the economic situation. They're shut because it's Friday. Friday is a holy day. You don't do business on Friday. So again, we can see how far we as a nation have neglected the commands and precepts of our God. Again, an example to us. I had the privilege of meeting my long friend for many years, Santa Cuma here. He doesn't look at all well. He's lost a lot of weight, and that's because His son and daughter were killed in those bombings at Easter. So again, it's a privilege to see him, to give our sympathy toward him and his family. And again, we covet your prayers for him. He's still missing his son and daughter, and we pray that he'll be much helped by God. Widows Program. Like I say, we're supporting many widows. These are some of those, particularly these we've been helping. This lady's quite young. But these ones here, these are dear souls. We gave them some time ago a solar Bible. It's like a little size smartphone. It's got the word of God from Genesis to Revelation. And they have a little business, they sell trinkets and bracelets and bangles. And they go house to house, they go with their little solar Bible, listen to what God's word says to us this morning. And they use that as a means of outreach. I may have shared that story with you before, but they're still doing it. They're faithful, and they're doing what they can. And God is helping them and blessing them. Again, some more of our children, We had some baptisms while I was there. These are a group which were taken down from a little village called Nina Kelly in the middle of nowhere on the East Coast. a church bus and we brought many people down to the seaside and then we heard testimonies. This particular day there was 10 people baptized, seven from Nina Kelly and a few from some other smaller villages. What a wonderful opportunity. to hear what God has done in these young people's lives, and older people as well, as the church comes together to give thanks to God, to bring praises to Him, and just to experience God's grace through them. What a privilege. And that is the mission of our work. This is the mission of Kher Sholankar, to bring help and aid, but through that, to bring the gospel, And through the teaching and preaching of the word of God, through the literature, supply for Sunday schools, and for pastors to study, leads to this. Men and women confessing the Lord Jesus as their savior. We had three baptism services that particular week. Again, God is building his church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Despite the opposition, despite all that the enemy does, God is building, and we are truly thankful. Normally at the end of a baptism service, they all come together, they have a meal together, and then there's a short service, preaching the word of God again, and then those who've been baptized will receive a Bible. They can't afford a Bible. It's a month's wages. And in the situation it is now, it's beyond their reach. So we gave all those who were baptized the word of God so they can read it, feed upon it, These two young lads came up to Pastor and said to him, we're not going home until you give us a Bible. And we gave him a Bible. So pray as they read that, God will speak to their hearts that by God's grace, they may be the future church there in Sri Lanka. There's a lot more I could say, but I don't want to wear you. We need to pray. As soon as we've seen tonight, I need to pray for your situation here as well. But before we do that, any questions? How is the animosity between the Tamils and the Sinai? They don't fellowship with one another basically because they can't understand each other's language. They're completely different languages. Singhalese culture is different to Tamil culture. I've been to a conference some years ago where I was preaching in English and it was combined Tamil and Singhalese. conference, and it had to be translated from English to Tamil, and then to Sinhalese. This takes a long time. So, there is fellowship amongst them, particularly amongst the evangelists and pastors at the conferences, but in the main, there's not much fellowship between them, because of that language barrier. Pastor Jenkins says, it's a bit like English and French, we don't want to learn each other's language. That's part of the problem. But, you know, the new generation, they're learning Sinhalese. So, God willing, that will change in the future. There will be more interaction between them. I've seen Sinhalese and Tamils together. It's quite remarkable, considering their history and the civil war. The gospel does bring people together. Is the government policy still the same concerning the organic? You know, this green policy, it's still ongoing. It's still ongoing. It's still ongoing, but also if you wanted to buy it, it's so expensive. Someone was telling me that they can't, many people, the poor farmers can't afford the sacks to put the rice in. They're telling me it's not worth their while to invest in production of rice because of the cost and outlay and what you're going to get back from it. So that green policy is still there. That's cultural tradition. You always take your shoes off. As you're going into a church? Into a church, someone's home, into a temple. Yep, you can't wear your shoes. Because you're bringing the dirt from the road into your home. I mean, it's a bit like Moses. Take your shoes off your feet. We've got a young lad in my church. He takes his shoes off and comes into church. But yes, that's cultural. You never bare your feet to somebody. When you sit down cross-legged, that's an insult. It's all funny little. I did see somebody wearing a pair of socks though. Yeah, he's wearing socks because of the mosquitoes. The mosquitoes tend to go for your ankles. It's very uncomfortable. How much training do the pastors get there now? So when the pandemic hit, we couldn't go to Sri Lanka, so we started Zoom meetings. So every month, there are two days, so next Tuesday and Wednesday, first Tuesday and Wednesday of each month, there are Zoom conferences. So some brothers from America are involved with that, some English pastors, Dr. Poh from Malaysia will come on Zoom as well. So we get two days each month. And then three times a year, they'll come together and study a six mile post. And they really invite a pastor from England or from America to come and teach them. So they get a lot of training. It's important. They need to grapple with the doctrines of grace and reformed worship. We've produced a new hymn book. It's in Tamil and English. which was produced with the help of Chris Laws from the METTAB. So they use that over there. Do you think with the current situation the civil war might break out back out again? No chance. There'd be a ship of a type What we are seeing is that mass exodus of young people and the educated people leaving Sri Lanka. That happened during the wartime. They fled the country. And we're just seeing it through the economic situation now. There's no heart for war, which is good. No desire for war. They need to come together as a people and work together as a people. Where do they actually flee to? Are most of them going to the mainland, to India? Some go to India, but the majority go to Europe. Australia, Canada, large Tamil populations. Are many Christians from the country, or are many other churches leaving, or is it mainly A lot of young people obviously. A lot of young people who say they want a better future. They see no future in Sri Lanka. Even out of the churches as well? The people we work with are too poor to leave. Again, the same with the war. They were so poor they couldn't leave. They had to stay. But if you've got money, you can leave Sri Lanka. But they're curing up with the passport office. It's a three-day queue just to get application forms. So it's a brain drain, a ponderation. So the male population there is still, if you know, because of the Civil War, a lot of the men were killed in that. A lot of men were killed during the war, yeah, but a lot of men have gone abroad to work. So a lot of work on sites in Saudi Arabia, et cetera. Arab Emirates states, they would go to Malaysia to work on big building projects. So many families, you know, been separated. Husbands are abroad. Many wives go abroad to work as housemates as well. That's a big pool of families. It brings disharmony. Men don't come back. Men don't send their money to support their families. They're comfortable abroad. That's a big problem. Do the larger cities have hospitals? Pardon? Do the larger cities have hospitals? They do have hospitals, yeah. So they would have nursing training then? They have nursing training, yes. Asked that Jaycan's wife is a qualified nurse. She used to train nurses in Trinco. But again, hospitals in Asia are not like hospitals in the UK. I've been to some pretty poor hospitals. I visited a friend of mine who's had a cataract operation and they had a In the war, the beds were cheap to draw, there was just barely room to pass between each bed, and a bit of plastic outside of the door, and the other side was a building site, and all the dust was coming in, and yeah, it's not good. But they do have, Colombo have very good hospitals, but they're private. The village hospitals are very poor, the doctors don't turn up, the nurses don't turn up. You can sit there all day and not see anybody. That's because there's no wages to pay them. No wages. My friend said to me, he's a veteran of college, I hope I'm gonna get paid at the end of the month. Just uncertain. In terms of evangelism, are the people over there quite open to the gospel? Or is there a lot of opposition? There is a lot of opposition. But you know, the Lord opens people's hearts, doesn't he? And if people have a hunger for the true God, God will lead them to people like my children. He's gone to hospital. And he strikes up a conversation with a lady, turns out to be a Christian, and she writes him back to her village. It's those personal contacts, those personal intimate relationships and conversations which open the gospel. And, you know, it's being open, being bold to share your faith with these people. We're a bit hesitant, aren't we, to share our faith. But in there, they're quite open. As I said at the beginning, it's a very religious country. Buddhists and Hindus and Catholics all come together and celebrate different festivals all together, all mixed up. So it's a very spiritual nation. So that's why you need to pray for the gospel and for gospel workers to go out there and to proclaim the truth. So again, with the preschools, it's a wonderful opportunity, and with the off-school tradition, to teach these children Christian things, to bring the gospel to a village which will be shut to us. And that's what God is doing. He's opening doors for us to bring the gospel. What sort of percentage is Christian, and what sort of percentage in the country? 0.9%. 22 million people, and in that 0.9%, you've got prosperity, you've got extreme charismatic, you've got Brethrenism, Methodism, it's all there. You don't mix Catholicism in that as well? Yeah, yeah, it's all mixed in, that figure. Catholicism in 0.9%? Yeah, yeah. Catholic church is very big in Sri Lanka, particularly up in the northwest in Malad district, it's a very strong Catholic 0.1, 0.2%? Even less. Even less. So how is the financial situation? I mean, you've seen Gideon and Jamaica, CareJamaica, they rely on donations normally. Do they get any reciprocal from any other? We rely upon the Lord, we rely upon the Lord's people. We don't talk about money, as you asked the question, we don't push that side of the work. I really do believe that when God speaks to hearts, he moves people to give. I don't need to bring pressure. Someone said to me, about my photos. Why don't you show us pictures of poor children in absolute poverty in dirty clothes, et cetera? I said, I could do that, but we're not here to manipulate people. Just a Lord who moves the heart. And for me it's quite exciting because suddenly I get a check come through the post for Kieszerenka and I think, wow. Wow, it's just amazing. Just out of the blue. God has laid something on someone's heart. It fuels me to see what God can do. God has kept this work for 32 years. We've had problems, we have difficulties, we have criticism, we have opposition from here and over there, but God is blessed. How many large cities are there? Large cities? The largest city is Colombo. I don't know the population. Then you've got, that is the main, that's the largest city in Sri Lanka. You've got some, Trinco's not large. It's about the size of Brighton, I guess. Colombo's the major city. So do we have a university standard? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. A lot of people study engineering. They come abroad, doctors and nurses, get good jobs abroad. It's a good standard of education in Sri Lanka. It's really good. Is there any sort of agenda question? No, I wouldn't even dream of it. It's abomination. They wouldn't even. One man went to Sri Lanka, I've read this in the news, he had a tattoo of Buddha on his arm. Immigration sent him back. That's strict. If you're caught in, and young couples, you can see this, you go to, candy, botanical gardens, or other public spaces, you see young people under umbrellas, they're caught in, you get arrested for that in Sri Lanka. So, the things we see being taught to our children, no chance. Any aid from our country? Because you know what Britain's been like with some of the African countries. I don't know. I know David Cameron promised a lot of help for the widows who'd lost family members. He made lots of big promises to them and came back and did nothing. I think we've done well tonight on questions. I think that's probably the most I've had for a long time. I hope that's been informative and stimulate you to pray.