back in seattle
so the visa problem has come to an end. there is a resolution. it requires me returning to seattle long enough to obtain an entry visa. so i leave today, the 26th of march at 2100 sri lanka time and arrive the 27th of march in seattle at 1330 pacific coast time. i'm home until the 11th of april if all goes as planned. if my visa is not secured then i will have to delay my trip longer, which i hope doesnt happen.
so to all of you in seattle. family, friends, those that want to be friends i will be home soon. i do not have a phone number any more as i cancelled my woeful verizonwireless connection. they are terrible by the way, so no one use them. if you want to get ahold of me for coffee, dinner, chit-chat, or some good ol' fun you'll have to email me or call my hot sister. for those of you that dont know it, use my email.
look forward to seeing as many of you as i can in the next two weeks. i will be busy cuz i'm going to be spending a lot of time with my sis, bro and this girl named sara. pretty sweet! gotta run cuz my plane is boarding...ciao
adventures of sigiriya
***content not appropriate for all ages***
one of the many pools where the king watched his 500 wives bath, with sigriya rock in the background. these are 5th century ruins of an ancient kingdom in sri lanka. the kings winter palace was on top of the rock and it is a historical landmark and a huge tourist attraction in the country. it is also only one hour out of the way from the road i take between the capital and trinco.
climbing my way to the top...if you look closely you will see no photoshop or special camera techniques were used to take this picture...i was free climbing cuz i didnt have my gear with me ;)
on top of sigiriya rock. jonathan, his japanese friend yasu and myself. overlooking the kandy range in central sri lanka and the king's pool below us.
a view of below...300 meters below...the king's gardens and pool you can only see half of them and they continue into the trees, the whole compound is surrounded by a moat. notice the tiny dots which are people walking along the main pathway.
some of the king's wives. also, one of most famous archeological finds in sri lanka. painted halfway up the rock in a secret hallway.
my personal hero on this adventure. tourist you gotta luv em...just look at the roll on that shirt, fabulous.
on top of the world...well not really...just inside of the kings ancient bedroom. thats what the lil tourist guide said according to the experts they call archeologists. they figure that out some how even though its 5th century ruins.
warning, do not attempt this stunt at home. we did not actually throw anything off, we're not that rebellious. we wish...although after we got down i was about 10 meters from a couple of rocks that were thrown off by some lil punks. good thing they werent closer otherwise i would have given them a lil piece of my...think about. 300 meters + gravity + falling rock + hitting someone = serious damage! we werent to happy. ironically we were the ones that took this pic one hour ealier.
on the way down from the top. we didnt climb down cuz it would have taken to long. *cough* i mean we didnt want the other tourist to feel bad. one thing i did like was the rusty railings. sri lanka standard for safety. i wonder if those are 5th century artifacts? you better not be woozy with heights either cuz if you go over that rail then its a looong drop to the bottom. i'm glad they have weight restrictions on that thing too...oh wait, its sri lanka i forgot. good thing we ran before breakfast and had that super huge climb earlier.
well this was jonathan's, yasu's and mine adventure. the adventure called sigiriya rock. see sri lanka is rad! anyone wanna come visit....
the weekend
a picture of a couple of my closer friends in sri lanka. jonathan - works for mission to the world, his japanese friend yasu; meredith and katie - ACTION project team members; and gabby marcus - OM and ADT volunenteer. we are at barefoot, a restaurant in the capital that has live music every sunday. good place to sit and talk. i dont know who the dude in the background is but he's pretty chill so we thought we'd include him in the picture anyway.
i obviously dont get something
at the best ice cream shop in sri lanka, Illgelato, they make the best sorbet there. if you cant tell katie hates her picture being taken and everyone was taking her picture. i had a really funny one of her on my phone that she is trying to delete.
really wierd pic of me but thats ok cuz katie is attacking me. eventually i gave in and took the picture off my phone. the next one i'm going to post online for everyone to see. no mercy katie so you better be aware. ;)
what happens when you surprise me with a picture...of course i'm not mad...there was just a really bright flash that i happened to look at and couldnt see a thing after that for 5 min. katie still in defiance over picture taking. i wonder why
high speed
one of my favorite things about being back in sri lanka is dial-up internet! i connected today at an all time high speed of 12.6 Kbps. ok so if i'm lucky i can connect at 33 Kbps and when i'm in Colombo our office has a form of high speed but it crashed half of the time. otherwise i've got sub 20 speeds. technology hasnt quite progressed as fast as it has in the west. i'm still amazed to find in a remote village north of the small town i live in an internet cafe. they only have solar power up there and run the internet off of a sms based cell phone coverage. the antenna is on top of a 30 ft bamboo pole. only in the third world. i'll have to send a picture of this place. its epic.
so i love all of ur pix but sometimes it takes 5 minutes to load the google search page. i'll put up pix when i'm back in the head office and since i work on the west coast and its on the east coast that might only be once every other week. the organization, alliance development trust, wants me to manage projects on both coast which will mean i get to have a mobile office. in the back of a van. fun times...super sport rally! i've got to go to bed...have to leave tomorrow. peace.
visa trouble
a week and a half into my trip in sri lanka and i've already run into problems with the government. it sounds a lil bit crazier when i put it that way. so dont get excited everyone...there was a lil oversight in my hasty (yet three month delayed) return to sri lanka. i was suppose to enter the country on an entry visa. the problem was that i entered on a tourist visa. when immigration time comes and i have to renew my visa for a working/permanent visa, only the entry visa can transfer...meaning that my tourist visa isnt valid and i have to leave the country and start over. this is the problem that i am faced with.
we were currently trying to pull some strings and get around the law the legal way. if that works. it is a third world country and the people you know and the amount of money you are willing to pay can help determine what laws can or cant be bent. i didnt feel comfortable compromising the reason why i was here or the testimony of the Christian organization...although they were saying i could go ahead and pull longer strings. so i've decided to leave the country and re-enter once ADT has their documentation in order. this should take a couple days, possibly a week.
here is what i need prayer for. at the moment i dont believe i need to return to my country of origin. if that is the case then it would really hurt me financially. i would have to raise enough for another ticket which sets me back $1600. right now i can just leave the country. what i would like to do, Lord willing, would be to go to thailand and bangladesh with my friend Jonathan. there is a pastor's conference in bangladesh and we'd visit some ministry sites. this would be awesome because it would allow me to do ministry while i wait for my visa to get processed. otherwise i'd have to go to the maldives or something and do a surf trip. :) thats the second option. i'm praying that the Lord opens the door to bangladesh. a number of things have to happen. i'd have to first be able to afford the trip which will probably cost in the end, close to $500. with support being low it might be tight. then i'd have to get a visa for bangladesh which takes five days to process. all this would have to be done by the 25th of this month which is when i need to leave the country. so if you could pray for this situation i would be very thankful.
its been great cuz its allowed me to rest in the presence of our Lord. its an unexpected expense that has come up and i know He will provide for my every need. the trip to india or the maldives might be cheaper but i would love the oportunity to go on the ministry trip and partcipate in a pastor's training and then have a chance to visit ministry sites with Jon. fun times... we'll see what God does
back in sri lanka for '06
many of you know by now that i'm back in sri lanka. its offical...i'm back for the rest of '06 unless some unfortunate circumstance forces me to leave the country. its been great to get back to the warm humid climate, i'm one of the few people who enjoy it, and the adjustment hasnt been that bad. besides the fact that many people here have noted how white i have become.
favorite comment by anyone so far. this came from a pastor that works down south. he was talking about how it was good to have me back but something was different. he said: "Ben you have changed, you look like a boiled prawn." classic
gotta luv it. its great to be back with the people and to get my hands dirty again. although i've been involved in mostly meetings and assessments up to this point. soon i'll be able to get to the field and get to work with the guys.
thanks for the covering of prayer. it is a great encouragement because there are many projects and issues way out of my ability and control. God bless you all and let me know what i can be praying for all of you.
picture in a mirror - the boiled prawn
some advice my uncle gave me
so i talked with my uncle john before i left cali. he told me an interesting quote. i have to say i didnt think him to be quite the romantic that he was. here is some of his wisdom and knowledge that he imparted on me. thanks uncle john. ;)
love is like an ember...distance is like the wind; it either kills it or makes it a wildfire
go figure. so i get to be in sri lanka for the next 10 months...
cali pix - part 2
dessert at the little door
great spot for dates
ghetty knoll picnic
my view
two fast...too furious
