Greetings from Sri Lanka and welcome to our second quarterly Newsletter.

We are now truly settled into our new home here at the Theological College of Lanka. The rainy season continues and we are thankful for the few sunny days that allow us to dry our washing. The soil at TCL is a red clay that gets waterlogged easily - the path to our bungalow is engaged with rather than simply traversed.

Life at TCL is interesting and varied. We share fully in the life of the college: worship, fellowship groups, invigilating exam, interest groups! James has joined the Ecology group and Rosemary the Inter Faith one. There always seems to be some sort of imminent event to surprise us. This could be a Sinhala Cultural Evening, the guest of honour of which was the monk who had taught Buddhism at TCL for many years, a Nursery Open Day attended by parents from the local village, or a seminar about the Gwangju uprising in Korea given by a student who attended a conference there. We are getting to know Rosemary’s eight Faculty colleagues, the library, office and ground staff and the thirty one students and their families. In all there are about 100 people living on the campus. We are blessed by having the other Methodist Mission Partner in Sri Lanka Maggie as the TCL librarian.

Rosemary’s teaching load has grown. She now shares in the teaching of Denominational Studies (i.e. Methodism) and also teaches music theory to a keen group of students. Her students will shortly sit their exams in the New Testament from the Pastoral Epistles to the Book of Revelation. Rosemary enjoyed setting the exam questions but, because the students will write their answers in Sinhala or Tamil, their answers will have to be translated for her to mark them. Rosemary is also preparing an intensive week long post-graduate course on the history and literature of the New Testament for January, a module of the part-time BD (Bachelor of Divinity) course attended by clergy from all over Sri Lanka. Next term Rosemary will also share in the teaching of the Life and Ministry of the Old Testament Prophets.

Rosemary takes a special interest in the women students (only three at present) and recently drove two to their fieldwork assignment at the Women’s Development Centre an hour away. This is a home for young women who have been abused, and their children. On the same day we visited an organic farm where the college has placed field work students in the past. The farm is a fair trade farm and promotes organic agriculture throughout Sri Lanka.

James continues to support the computer network. No food, drink or shoes are allowed in the clean new computer room, and doors must be closed. One quiet afternoon a rat poked its nose round the door, and another day a snake entered the same building looking for some warmth on a cold day (or maybe a rat for lunch). Inside one computer James found some gecko droppings. Result: a motherboard sent for repairs.

In January James will be appointed College Administrator with responsibility for the office and grounds staff. Buildings, water, power and security will all be for him to worry about. To help prepare, he has been surveying the water system which needs some investment. He is also looking into ways to enhance the learning of English. In addition, the Methodist Church President has asked James to provide some support for some Tsunami rehabilitation projects in the East. He has learned that he has passed his MSc in Poverty Reduction and Development Management.

We have inherited responsibility for the Basil Jackson Theological Society, named after the founding Principal of the college. This involves organising seminars and showing films on a Friday night. So far we’ve shown Toy Story, The Miracle Maker and Babette’s Feast. Seminars are to come. Indeed Dr Elizabeth Harris from the UK is to lead the first one in 2006.

TCL is an ecumenical college in a country where Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and Islam are all present in force. In our explorations we try to include all these dimensions. For example, we attended the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Roman Catholic National Seminary – a beautiful early morning, open air service attended by a cardinal, the Minister for Christian Affairs and the Minister for Post and Telecommunications. (The latter attended because a special stamp was issued that day.) Rosemary was the only female priest amongst hundreds of male ones.

We have also attended Baptist and Anglican services, and Rosemary recently shared in the leadership of a Quiet Day for St. Paul’s Church, Kandy in a beautiful retreat centre high up in tea country.

Some of you will be interested to know that James has been asked to join the Building Committee at our Church in Kandy! Pictures on the website.

We have visited Buddhist Temples both ancient and new. Within walking distance are three 700 year old temples deep within the lush countryside. We also came across a mysterious hermitage when walking in the protected forest called Udawatekkelle above Kandy.

The longest journey either of us has undertaken so far was a visit to the Eastern coast to see the Tsunami work being funded by St. Paul’s Church in Kandy. In November James accompanied the curate, Rev. Paul Watson, and a small group from the church. Paul and his wife Ina are mission partners sponsored by the Church Missionary Society (CMS). It took about six hours to get to the small fishing village (Vakarai) in the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam) controlled area to the north of Batticaloa. There were numerous police checkpoints and an LTTE one on the way. When we arrived we drove along a road parallel to the lagoon and about 200 metres away from it. Between the lagoon and the road nearly every building had been flattened, only the concrete floors remaining. The trees were all standing. There was a boat in one of the trees. On the other side of the road a new hospital had huge chunks missing. St. Paul’s is funding a new community centre and is providing ten fishing boats and nets. Their budgeting has been undermined by the increased price of labour which is affecting labour availability and rates elsewhere. International NGOs can afford the labour charges but local NGOs struggle. Also, speculation has inflated land prices by several times.

You will probably have heard the news about the Presidential election here in Sri Lanka. The college closed its doors for three and half days to allow students and staff to travel to their constituencies, cast their votes, sit out the following "curfew" day and then return to TCL. The campaign and polling day itself were relatively peaceful. We accompanied the Principal and his wife to the polling station in Kiribathkimbura. See website. However, in the north and east the LTTE, by the threat of violence, scared the electorate away from the polls. In one large town, Kilinochi, only one person voted. The result of the LTTE’s enforced boycott is that the candidate who is most anti-LTTE and who is yoked to some extreme Sinhalese parties became the President – by the slimmest of margins. The irony is that he, Mr. Rajapakse, stood firmly on the basis of a unitary state (as opposed to a federal state) and yet needed the separatists to boycott the poll for him to win.

We have heard recently that friends we made last year in Selly Oak (Kate and Walley Kohn from the Baptist College, now in Nepal) are visiting us for Christmas and the New Year. Our first visitors! Very exciting!

For us it does not yet feel like Advent but Christmas cards have been arriving here for a while now! We do thank all who have written to us since we have been here. We end by sending you our best wishes for Christmas and the New Year. Spending Christmas in a different country and culture and climate enables us to understand the message of the Incarnation in a fresh way. Here the tsunami asked deep questions of all faith communities. The Christian churches learnt in a new and often practical way that the light still shines in the darkness and has not been extinguished.

Rev’d Rosemary Fletcher and James Rowley Theological College of Lanka Nandana Uyana, Pilimatalawa, Sri Lanka

There are more photos on our website :www.rosemaryandjames.methodistchurch.co.uk

You can find out more about TCL from its website: www.tclsl.org

Please consider the following prayer points: