Obama - man of controversy

I am well aware that President Barack Obama is not popular in many circles. Many questions arise. Some ask - Is he a Moslem? Others question his conversion to Christianity, or if he did convert then what type of Christianity did he convert to - Black Liberation Theology?

Well, I want answers to some of these questions too! There is a book I am reading at the moment - The FAITH of Barack Obama by Stephen Mansfield .....

.... and I hope to share some thoughts from it in future blogs.

I also hope to get my hands on some other books, and I will share about them in future blogs.

But I want to say one thing that is very important to the purpose of my book. I am not endorsing the policies of President Barack Obama. Instead I am looking at the amazing miracle that has happened to bring him into the White House. I say miracle because a few years ago it would seem impossible that an African-American like him could become President. If something is impossible then it takes a miracle to make it happen. As Jesus said , "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."    (Matthew 19:26 NIV)

And those of  you who think “It is terrible what  Barack Obama is doing to America” need to remember that not all of God’s mighty acts were nice. Think of the plagues that He sent to Egypt, and they were certainly miracles. See what God spoke through His prophet Jeremiah - Gather up your belongings to leave the land, you who live under siege. (18)  For this is what the LORD says: "At this time I will hurl out those who live in this land; I will bring distress on them so that they may be captured."  (Jeremiah 10:17-18 NIV) and worse still - Therefore the LORD Almighty says this: "Because you have not listened to my words, (9)  I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon," declares the LORD, "and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin. ....   (Jeremiah 25:8-9 NIV). If God can raise a man like Nebuchadnezzar and call him His servant then  He can certainly raise up man like Barack Obama. And perhaps all the bad things that Barack Obama is doing will help Americans turn more to the Lord. Let’s hope so! And pray for us in Britain too, I think we are probably in more dire need of turning to the Lord than the Americans are.

YWAM Hong Kong .....

I’m back in England now,  and back at my job at Tesco.

I had a great time in Hong Kong. On my last day I did a little shopping, and then at the Airport I met my old friend Kawuma from Uganda.

He tracked me down and phoned me at my hotel and we were able to arrange things so I could meet him at the Airport for coffee. He is now doing a lot in Tanzania. Praise God, there a lot of things that God is doing in the world!

As I mentioned in my last blog I had a good time with Joe and Nancy at YWAM Hong Kong. They would love you to join them. Here is a link to their web-site :-

YWAM Hong Kong

And here is information of their Christmas Outreach...

So why not E-mail Joe or Nancy at ywam@uofn.org.hk if you want to join them for the outreach, but you had better do it right away as it is about to start! Or you may wish to do a Discipleship Training School, I know that many of my readers have already done one and would testify that it is a life changing experience.

As I said, I had a good chat with Joe and Nancy and I am well aware that there are many American people who do not like or approve of Barack Obama.  Joe and Nancy were interested in my project and encouraged me, but it was also good to have their input as well as others who have e-mailed me. So I will try to address these issues in my next blog.

Arrived safely in Hong Kong.

I’m in Hong Kong now! I nearly didn’t make it to Myanmar (Burma) because my flight to Singapore some got cancelled, but I managed to buy another ticket with a different airline and make my connection in Singapore to get the flight to Myanmar. My adventures there are for another time, but I arrived in Hong Kong safely on Saturday 21st November. In Hong Kong my ID worked like a dream. It's certainly not out of date. I went through the automatic gate by putting the card into the machine much as you would a bank ATM or an entrance gate to a train. The gate opened and seconds and then all that was needed was a thumbprint and I was into Hong Kong. Oh that all things could be that easy!

Yesterday I went to St.Andrews in Nathan Road, my old church.

I saw the sign saying the service was at 11:00 am. It was about 10:00 am. So I thought I just have time to pop into McDonald’s (which is next door to the church) for breakfast.  I was just approaching McDonald’s when I heard a voice call out “Jimmy”. It was Stephen! He said the service time had changed for this Sunday as they had special service at 10:00 am. It was God’s perfect timing that he saw me! So we had a wonderful service with lots of information about St.Andrews plans for redevelopment. It seems that all the churches I know are having building programmes! After the service was a church barbecue, and then I spent the day with Stephen and his family. We had really good fellowship and shared about many things. Another day in Hong Kong tomorrow, so more news then. I’m typing this in McDonald’s over breakfast. I may have missed my breakfast yesterday, but I got it today and free WiFi connection to the Internet that I have missed so much in other places.

Here’s the latest. The free  WiFi connection at McDonald’s has some conditions, they want to know your e-mail address and your mobile phone no. Of course I don’t have a mobile phone here in Hong Kong so it won’t work for me. So here’s a tip - get your mobile phone unlocked before the trip and you can get a SIM card for about £10- at the Hong Kong Airport. So if you are travelling meeting friends it could be quite useful. And you could use McDonald’s 20 minutes of free WiFi per day as well!

Right now I am at the YWAM Base at Shui Tau Tsuen, Kam Tin in the New Territories of Hong Kong. They have an Internet connection they are letting me use. I have a nice chat with Nancy, and Joe is here. Nancy has invited me to dinner so I will meet Joe then.

Picture of Nancy Vallese  &  Joe Rystrom (Base Leaders) 

 &  Me by the 50th Anniversary YWAM Banner

It was quite a challenge to find their place after a few years, but I did and I found the old tree that they have here.  It's worth coming all the way out here just to see it.

Nancy has been telling me all about their YWAM Base  here. They have 41 staff here, and quite a few different nationalities, so they have grown quite a bit since I was here. They run 3 different Discipleship Training Schools, one focused on “Compassion”, one on China, and one on Performing Arts. They also run FEET, Far East Evangelism Teams, and quite a few other ministries as well.

Nancy, like many  was intrigued by my Obama book project. Pray she and none of you well be disappointed by the result.

With Steve & Detty in Indonesia

Eventually I  managed to get my flight to Jakarta. Wonderful Victor was there to pick me up at the airport thanks to the blessings of e-mail communications! And what a joy to see Steve and Detty.

Steve  took me to see their new church building....

As you can see, it's nearly completed. In December they will have a special Christmas concert in the new building, and they are full of faith that it will be ready on time.

And in February they will have their official grand opening.

I had a great time  Steve and Detty, and did a puppet drama in both their Indonesian and English Children's Church. Due to the much shortened stay I was not able to see Obama's School, but I will be back in February for their grand opening so there should be another opportunity then. Oh, and I just missed Barack  Obama himself who had just left Indonesia when I arrived!

Grounded in Sydney !

My flight has been delayed by an Ash Cloud over Indonesia. It has been rescheduled to Friday so I should be able to leave for Jakarta later today.We need to pray for Steve and Detty in all of this as it will have really disrupted their plans for my activities with them. I have been in touch withem and they are very understanding. These things happen in life, in fact friends in Asford will remember when Pastors David and Joyce Lamb got stuck in Hong Kong due to an Ash Cloud over Iceland!




At least this has given me the opportunity to see Sydney! It had been an impossibly short time in the original programme.

My Burmese friend had asked me to meet up with her friend in Sydney. I had great difficulty, trying toi phone her mobile from a public phone box and struggling with the hotel internet. So we tried and then found it to be too difficult and so cancelled our meeting. What a disappointment. Then the flight delay came up. So I tried to get in touch again and this time we were able to fix up a meeting on Thursday. What a joy to meet up with this sweet Burmese lady doing her masters at the University of Technology Sydney. Her husband and baby are in Singapore so it is quite a sacrfice for her to be here, but she has a scholarship and an opportunity that could not be turned down. Do pray for these intelligent students from third world countries like Burma who face many obstacles to gain the qualifications that many of us take for granted.


So I got to go up the Sydney Tower ...

and see the Sydney Opera House.

Next Stop Jakarta and Steve And Detty.....

Obama's Flat in Poki Street

This has been the highlight of the tour. Although it was expensive it was nice to hire a car and cruise around at a slow speed along the sunny Hawaiian streets.

I coped with driving on the right, and thanks to the GPS Satellite Navigation I did not get lost, but I would never have found my way there without it.

After visiting the Lutheran Church that Obama had attended I went in hunt of his house in Poki Street. This address is the famous one that his school friends remember visiting. And Poki Street is just around the corner from  the Lutheran Church. I walked up and down in search of 1839. At first I was convinced it must have been bulldozed to make room for an extra car park for the church. I saw some flats next to the car park, so I thought "I bet he lived in a flat rather like one of those, I will take  picture to get an idea of the sort of place he lived in.

Then I walked closer and I thought I saw the number, rather faded I think you will agree :-

Well, they didn't  bulldoze it after all! They can't  bulldoze it now! I was thrilled, I'd found the place where Barack Obama had lived as a child in Hawaii! Not a house but a flat in a simple seventies style block

.

I took this photo and then as I approached the flats a girl was coming down the stairs. 

"Is this the place where Barack Obama lived?" I asked.

"Yes, it is, as far as we can tell he lived in No.9 on the top floor, where we are living now."

"O wow! could I like inside?"

"Would you like to? You'd be most welcome. You can see his humble origins!"

"Oh thanks! Wow! Have lots of people been to see his place?"

"You are the first one!"

Talk about humble origins! Talk about Poki Street.... it was a poki, poky (!) flat! But I encouraged the girls living there that it had a nice relaxed holiday atmosphere. However it was small, a single living area with kitchenette at one end. probably only two bedrooms. Of course I didn't want to invade the girls privacy but they  were happy for me to come in and I only took photos with their permission. And here's one they took of me sitting on their sofa. 

To think, if I had been a few minutes later I would have missed them and never seen inside. 

"I don't think it's been remodelled since the day he lived in it!"

Certainly the sink and the cooker looked seventies style. This was probably the very worktop that Barack's mother prepared his sandwiches! There are more pictures but you'll have to buy my book to see them!

When you see the school with it's 74 acres of manicured lawns and beautiful buildings, and you see this small humble flat you can only begin to guess the sacrifices that his family of modest means must have made in order to send Barack to one of the most prestigious schools in the world! Thanks to them he is where he is now. 

ObamaLand !

Today was the day I did my "ObamaLand" tour! It was the most fruitful, but also the most expensive as I had hired a car in order to get to the places where he had lived. I paid extra for a GPS Satellite Navigation aid and I am glad I did, I would never have found my way there otherwise.

So I typed in the address of his school and off we went! It was my first time driving in America, and my first time driving an automatic car. Also there were various uncertainties about the insurance so I didn't want any accident! But Hawaii is not New York or Chicago, everyone here drives slowly and they're all very courteous and understanding, and the roads are not too crowded (especially on a Sunday) so it all went fine.

I got to my destination (according to the GPS) and started looking for a place to park. All the side streets seemed full. I turned back onto the main road and was driving along when I saw the school. Actually I thought I saw the name of the school in big letters on a sign, but later walking around I found there was no sign. Was I seeing in the Spirit? Anyway just after spotting the school I saw a place to park, and it was just outside the school.

Once in the grounds I met an elderly couple and then a very friendly security man in a buggy who gave me a lift in his buggy! He said as it was Sunday and all the classrooms were locked I could wander anywhere I wanted to....

The more I saw of Punahou School (although I didn't get round all of it's 74 acre campus) the more I realised what a sacrifice his mother and grandparents must have made to afford to send Barack to such a grand school.

As I was leaving the campus I saw people going into a church across the road so I went in too. It turned out to be a Catholic Church, but the Spirit was there and we even sang one of those "fisherfolk" spirit-filled songs as well as some others that were uplifting.

Then I walked around seeing two places where Barack briefly lived, and then I looked in my book and headed off to his church and the famous Poki Street address. I found the church, took some photos from the road.

Then I went round to what looked like the entrance. There were two ladies coming out. Could I take some photos inside the church? Unfortunately I was too late, the church was already locked up, and they needed to go to another appointment. Never mind, so I took a couple more from outside and then I noticed the priest coming to the entrance. Could I take some photos inside the church? He was delighted to show me round, I had just caught him in time! ....

But if you want to here a miracle of “being just in time” wait till you hear about the Poki Street experience!
I've written a lot for today. And there's an early start tomorrow with nothing to report except another flight, so I'll tell you about  the "Poki Street experience" then!