I landed at Heathrow in the early hours of 5th January to be welcomed with a layer of snow on the ground...and I have to admit that I loved it! One thing I miss the most living in Thailand is the dramatic change of seasons, so I wasn't dissapointed. My colleague Wesley Robinson arrived from the US just last week and since then our feet don't seem to have touched the ground.
The Change for Burma! UK speaking tour officially star
ted yesterday at my home church in Addlestone, Surrey. It was great to be back home sharing information about Partners and Burma as well as more personal news on how my life has been for the past couple of years. It never ceases to amaze me how much the plight of the people of Burma touches people's hearts and we were so encouraged by the response of those who heard what we had to say. It certainly helped us to look forward with excitement for the next few weeks.
Today we were in London, on the first of three days of meetings with MP's, Government offices and other people of influence.
We were so happy to meet and spend some time with Zoya Phan from the Burma Campaign UK, whose father Padoh Mahn Shah was assassinated on the Thai/Burma border last year. She is an amazingly brave and dedicated young woman passionate about her people and their freedom. During our time we were invited to speak at a future meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Democracy for Burma...an exciting prospect indeed.
Our day ended with a meeting with John Bercow MP who has worked on behalf of the people of Burma by raising the situation in questions and debates in Parliament. He was able to offer us some great advice for future meetings as well as putting forward a funding proposal for cross border emergency relief on our behalf to the Secretary of State for International Development, Douglas Alexander.
Please do remember us in your prayers over the coming days and weeks as we continue to be a voice for those in Burma who daily face suffering we cannot even begin to imagine. May God bless you.