I was put in charge of these...

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Paul, Lydia, Philippi and a few tears

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We got up before the sun rose. The apostle Paul and Philippi beckoned and we wanted to make the most of the cool of the morning. It was 20C when we left. This was the view from our apartment as the sun made its daily appearance. We arrived at 8am, the opening time for the ancient site, only no one seemed to have told anyone there! It only took a few minutes and we were the first in. Number 1 on the map was the acropolis, so we took advantage of the hill being in shadow and started to climb. We were told that there was a zig zag path up, but it was badly signposted and we couldn't find it, so we made our own way up over boulders and loose rocks - how hard can it be? Very. My fit bit (I call it my fat bot) didn't know what had hit it and it started buzzing at me every few minutes as some new target had been reached. It was tough going but with a bit of 'push me pull you' we made it, glad of the shade of the Byzantine fort, a cool breeze and a bottle of water. ...
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Michael Nhonya - or is it Eddie Murphy?

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My host for most of the last 3 weeks has been Michael, the General Secretary of the Baptist Convention of Tanzania (BCT), a collective of about 1,500 Baptist churches. He is a quite extraordinary Christian and someone I have grown to love and hugely respect. He is a doppelganger for Eddie Murphy, but twice as much fun! Through long journeys (here he is eating his beloved sumaki/fish, tilapia, while driving) and the sharing of stories and many meals together, we have become friends - kindred spirits! His story will amaze you. Here I am with his family as I took them out for a thank you supper on my last night at the old New Dodoma Hotel. Born into an Anglican Christian family, Michael's father was a natural evangelist and church planter - around 20 in his life thus far. The Anglicans made what he considered an unreasonable demand on him, so he became a Baptist (Hallelujah!) and he continued his work for God. Having lost his mother at an early age, Michael became a troub...
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James Bond, a nun's prayer and St Barbara

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I've been singing 'For your eyes only' all afternoon but have only been repaid with some rather strange looks. For those who can remember, the James Bond film (Roger Moore), For your eyes only, concluded on top of this astonishing Holy Trinity rock monastery, one of the amazing meteora of central Greece. The view from the top is stunning. Our little apartment is at the base of the nearest cliff. The Satnav told me we were 600 metres away but that it was going to take 6.3km to get there! We weren't going to do some Roger Moore type rock climbing so we drove, but at 36C it was still a challenge because you have to walk down before you climb up. I can feel a sermon coming on... The wall paintings are typically orthodox and cover every inch of the chapel's walls (no photos allowed, though one visitor showed amazing disrespect by taking photos in spite of being repeatedly asked not to do so). However, in one of the old, no longer used, monk's cells there we...
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