The Parish Church Of St Luke, 30 Eardley Road, Sevenoaks, Kent. TN13 1XT  Tel 01732 743045  Charity Reg. No:- 1127331 CMS News from the Clouston family Link Letter No 8 - September 2010 Dear Praying Friends,  A tough couple of months: We have had a tough couple of months!  In June, both Kitty  and Eric caught Dengue fever (a nasty, mosquito-borne disease), Kitty hated being stuck  in a hospital bed with a drip stuck in her arm!  Eric hated taking twice as long as Kitty to  recover!  But the Bangalore Baptist Hospital did a great job of looking after us, and we  recovered fully after two or three weeks.  It was lovely that, quite apart from the friendly  chaplains, even the nurses obviously see their work as Christian service - one nurse was  happily chatting with Kitty about how to pray.  Most of the patients are Hindus and it was  great to discover that, as they have come to a mission hospital, most are quite happy  while they are there to hear a bit about Jesus.  Moving house: We also ended up having to move house, but only a mile away so it is still  possible to keep in touch with people who we know well. But the sad part is that  relationships with neighbours of different faith backgrounds take a long time to develop;  Rhena was just beginning to have significant conversation with several people who will  now be hard to see.  Kitty and Sam also miss the street-dogs! We can still easily get to our church, CSI Kothanur.  After enjoying helping at our church's  vacation Bible School, Rhena has now joined the regular team which runs the weekly  Sunday School - and is delighted to be leading the same group of teenage girls we  mentioned in our last link letter. Graduating students: At the end of July,TAFTEE held a couple of large graduation  ceremonies, each with more than 300 students graduating.  One was in Kanyakumari,  Tamil Nadu, the other was here in Bangalore, so we were all able to be there.  Among the  graduates for the degree-level programme ("Bachelor of Theological Studies") were a  couple from our church, Mr Peter and Mrs Indira.  They have supposedly 'retired', but they  are certainly keeping busy; a week after their graduation it was 'Mission Sunday', and they  were commissioned by our church as overseers of a new outreach project in the area  where they live, in the villages beyond Kathanur.  A (Kannada-language) home group has  already started there.  We do pray for that group to grow and develop.   As well as working in the TAFTEE office, Eric has spent his spare time helping to  proofread a new two-volume history of the church in India (particularly the Church of South  India), 'We began at Tranquebar' (published by ISPCK).  Dr Joseph Muthuraj, Professor of  UTC (United Theological College, Bangalore), has spent seven years doing the research  for it, finding lots of fascinating details about how missionaries from different  denominations and different European countries worked together, and how Indian church  leadership developed - and he raises some challenging questions about leadership today!  Eric has found it a joy to work with him. Kitty and Sam: Kitty longs to climb trees, but can't because many of them are covered in  termites.  Sam loves to play cricket, but only gets a chance to when Eric is home and they  can start a game in the street (it is usually not long before others join in - whether or not  we can find a language we both know!)  So, after a long summer break, Kitty and Sam  have been pleased to get back to school and see more of their friends.   We thank God for:  • Kitty and Eric recovering fully from Dengue fever - and for all the practical support  we received here in India, and encouragement and prayers from friends near and  far. • Our local church, CSI Kothanur; for the friendship and encouragement we receive  there; and for Rhena's opportunity to help with Sunday School.  • Eric's opportunity to proofread for Prof Joseph; and that volume one of his book 'We  began in Tranquebar' has already been printed and is selling well.  • The friendships we have made in the neighbourhood around our old house - there  are Muslims there but, as it happens, it has been mainly Hindus who we have got to  know. Please pray:  • For us to settle in our new neighbourhood - to be able to make friends here, and to  be able to keep building our relationships with friends in our old neighbourhood.  • For Eric, interviewing some of TAFTEE's tutors and students; to be able to learn  from them, to be an encouragement to them and to produce helpful publicity  material.  • That 'We began in Tranquebar', Vol 2 will be finished on schedule in September and  once published will help the church here to understand both its roots in history and  the challenges it faces today. • For the new outreach initiative, in the village area beyond our church (CSI  Kothanur), to be fruitful, and especially for Mr Peter and Mrs Indira, as they oversee  it. Thank you for your support, encouragement and prayers.  Solar power!  Our new flat has solar panels for heating water - very environmentally  friendly, and electricity bills should be low, because that is the only 'hot' water we get.   Trouble is, August is fairly cold and cloudy, so the water only gets warm, and is cold again  by morning.  But we can't complain - every day we see workers on the building sites  washing in buckets of completely cold water!  Yours in His service Eric, Rhena, Kitty and Samuel CMS - Mission Update April 2011 ‘Tea with The Cloustons' As you will recall the congregation of St. Luke's Parish Church provide prayer and  financial support to the Clouston family in their work via CMS.  As the link person with them and CMS on behalf of St. Luke's I have maintained a good  relationship from the beginning, so they have always had an open invitation for me to 'pop  in for tea' when I am next in their area. A couple of weekends ago I was indeed in their  area and I had tea with them.  Now the term 'popping in' is one of those English expressions, which really can hide rather  complicated rational and active purpose than is obvious in its simplicity. We do love to play  with our words we English, much to the bafflement of many a foreigner, we are the  masters of understatement, innuendo and a whole lot more, but we know what we mean  don't we?  I am saying this because the Clouston family live in Bangalore, South India. So 'popping in  for tea' was a little more complicated than if they lived in the Sevenoaks area. I happened  to be on my way to Andhra Pradesh, to a village called Kirlampudi to attend an AGM of a  charitable trust as a Trustee, so it was an opportune time for me to visit Eric & Rhena,  Kitty & Sam. I arrived in Bangalore on Saturday on the 2nd of April, (a historic day in the history of  India, the Vicar might know why) being met by Eric & Kitty at the airport and driving back  to the TAFTEE office in Kacharakanhalli district. They live in a pleasant apartment above  the office. TAFTEE provides a successful home study bible education program up to  degree level, it has been well used in may other parts of the world and began in South  America in the 1960's. The program is translated into many different local languages. Eric  gave me a copy in English and Telugu, which is the main language of the part of India  where I work.  The Cloustons are in fine fettle, they have been in Bangalore for just over two years or so  and are due to return on furlough this year, as this is a requirement of working with CMS.  They have a good network of friends in the area; Rhena is Indian and therefore has  relatives in the area also. Kitty & Sam are doing well at school and also have their own  friends, although Sam still does not get on very well with spicy foods. (Well you either do  or you don't, not everyone's cup of tea is it?). We had some very good fellowship and  prayer time together, positive and helpful discussions about various aspects of ministry  and mission, a very precious time. The work of TAFTEE is impressive and it enables  people who would not normally be able to achieve the level of theological education they  aspire to. They appreciated the kind greetings and the cards sent to them on behalf of St.  Luke's and in particular the hand drawn cards sent to Kitty & Sam by our own Sunday  school group.  Now to the day of history; 2nd of April India beats Sri-lanka at cricket! It is surprising how  sport can unify a nation, and in particular such a diverse country and in some parts divided  nation as India. On Saturday evening we visited relatives of Rhena in their home some  miles outside Bangalore for a meal and get together. On arrival everyone there was glued  to the TV watching the match live, you could hear other families in their homes nearby  also watching and cheering. This was about 5 pm. We left to go back to the Clouston's  home a few hours later, match still in progress, but very close. I needed to go to bed and  sleep. Rhena said "don't worry, you will know who won the match by the fireworks,  probably around 11 pm."  Well true to her word, around 11 pm I was awoken by shouts of jubilation and suddenly as  if co-ordinated some 2 million plus Indian families lit their fireworks at the same time, it  was 'loud'. Now fire work lighting in India is not like ours where we daintily light one after  the other, they buy several boxes, tie each box of fireworks together add some sort of  fuse, light it and run as fast as possible to a 'safe' distance! There was an old ex army  chap next door who decided to play his bugle, but I think had too much local hooch, and  could hardly get a wheezy 'parp' which on each attempt at a note just died off in a rather  asthmatic manner. I think he slept where he fell after that. All good fun.  Sunday I attended Kothanur Church of South India with the Cloustons, which is after the  Anglican style of communion & worship, although my note was it is nearer the Lutheran  order of service and later Eric said that is true as the Lutherans had a strong historical  relationship in that area.I left on the Monday morning flying north via Chennai.  All agreed that it was a good visit & the tea was enjoyable.  They appreciate our prayers very much and ask us to continue to pray for them; for Eric in  his work with TAFTEE, for Rhena as she continues to quietly but effectively share the  gospel with her non-Christian neighbours and contacts. For Kitty and Sam as they attend  the International school coping with life in India as children. For their preparations & plans  to return to the U.K. for their furlough period.  Martin Fryatt.