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Gap-Year Globe Trotters: More kindness than we could ever repay

My name is Jeff Wannell (on the right, swigging pop) and Matt Coren is my trusty travelling companion and good friend of eight years.

We met on holiday at Devon Christian Youth Camps way back in the year of '95 and our mutual love for Jesus, table tennis and fascination with 16-year-old girls (our age at the time!) meshed us a tight relationship that has stood the hardest of rigours. Now 23, having both graduated and matured, some things still remain; our faith, our passion for ping pong and travel. At the age of 16-17 we spent many a night sitting together praying and dreaming about being missionaries to far-off lands like Africa, Fiji and Ulan Bator, wherever that might have been. So, with adventure in our hearts, Matt and I set off to the far and distant lands of Plymouth and Cardiff, respectively, for college, and for at least five years the dream did not materialise, that is until now.

Circumstance has arranged it such that we have been given the time and resources to embark on a journey that takes us around the world. It is a gap year (or five months) with a difference. The difference is that we want Jesus to be the Author, Director and Navigator of it. Our dream is to visit Christian organisations and individuals the world over, to see, perceive and get involved. In return, we hope to develop and share a global mentality of what God is doing, move from our comfortable Christianity and develop a faith with real teeth.

We are looking to God to provide us with the contacts and therefore our agenda is purposefully open.

At the time of writing we have arrived in Thailand, having seen the wonders of North India and Nepal, the hustle and bustle of Delhi, the Ganges at dawn, the wonder of the Taj Mahal, trekked in the Himalayas, visited a leprosy clinic, been adopted by a Nepalese family and shared God's message with a church in Kathmandu.

'Templed out!'

Highlights so far? Well, here's one. After getting stuck in Varanasi waiting for the general strike in Nepal to lift, on our last day we took a bit of personal space. Matt was pretty much 'templed out' as I jumped into the back of a rickshaw to check out the 'birthplace of Buddhism'. As I was a bit nervous of venturing off with some dodgy taxi driver I prayed first for a decent bloke -sure enough I got one. Now those who've been to India might appreciate this more than those who haven't. But basically what happens is the taxi trip itself is preceded by a long and often arduous ordeal in fixing the price of the trip. This normally starts with the driver asking for enough money to pay off his mortgage and put his family of six through university. You then start your pitch somewhere below where you want to end, and watch as his face contorts as though you were draining him of blood, putting his children out of home, etc., etc.

But you get the idea; this guy just agreed the normal price straight away. He also told me that there were hidden costs when you got to the temples often not mentioned in the local tourist guides. This counter-culture behaviour continued as we chatted. He told me of all the scams, tricks and usual pitfalls to the traveller and took me on little detours at his own cost. He even paid for my admission to the museum - a 'drop your bacon sandwich in surprise' moment for myself. I found out his name was Stephen or Kailash, that he became a Christian after being a drunk, bag snatcher and generally unpleasant character some 18 years before. Now he has worked himself out of the streets into a rudimentary home, had kids and sent one off to Bible school in South India. He invited Matt and I back to his house for a meal. It was a two-roomed tin roofed house lit by a single hanging light bulb, devoid of furniture save for a double bed and chest of drawers. We sat cross legged on the floor listening to his four remaining children sing us Sunday school songs as we devoured a simple but tasty meal. It was one of those unforgettable experiences money could not buy. We left aware that we had received more in the kindness he'd shown us than we could ever repay.

For a fuller picture of what this entailed please read next month's article as we unpackage more of the experience and adventure that God is taking us on. Our one request is that you pray for us and the people that we meet, as you share in our travels, and we will be eternally grateful.

Regards, Jeff and Matt