Trevor and Linda Galpin - Ministering the love of the Father - TLG Mins (US) Inc

For the last month we have been enjoying a huge slice of American pie. Two days in Oceanside close to San Diego, a week near Nashville, Tennessee, two weeks in Virginia and a week in North Carolina. What a joy it has been!  So much good ol' southern hospitality, so much genuine warmth and so much fun.  We have explored Civil War battlefields; Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown, the first place settled in 1607. We have seen the USS Reagan in San Diego harbour, the worlds biggest aircraft carrier; been to CBN, the huge centre of Pat Robinson's Christian Broadcasting Network; walked in snow in Tennessee; shopped for designer shirts in a thrift store (what bargains I found); watched woodpeckers in the Smokey Mountains near Pigeon Forge. The list goes on and on. We have met many people who are passionate about their country. It has been such a joy to stay in homes of people who have just poured out their hearts in caring and affection. We love the America we ...

For some time I have fancied myself as an expert on the delights of affogatos, well, affogati to be technically correct. An affogato is delightful Italian beverage made by taking a scoop of very rich, preferably homemade, vanilla ice cream placing it in a white coffee cup and then slowly pouring a perfectly prepared espresso, with a creamy froth, all over the ice cream. The Italian word affogato literally means drowned. The end result is a delectable taste experience that personally gives me a huge amount of pleasure. Here in Taupo a cafe has opened up called Kaffee Eis that features, along with a very good selection of antipodean coffee offerings such as flat whites, short blacks and long blacks, classic Italian drinks such as cappuccino and of course affogato. The added bonus is the ice cream counter which specialises in a selection of really good homemade ice cream.  Well the combination has proved a winner. They do a roaring trade not least from the Galpins whe...

It never ceases to amaze me that Christmas in the southern hemisphere is so northern. Walking through a shopping mall in Auckland is an odd experience if you have lived most of your life in the north. The shops look like European/British ones, carols and Christmas songs play, Santa and vague references to Jesus being born are everywhere. People seem to be dreaming of a white Christmas but would be very shocked if it happened here in New Zealand.  More astonishing was a recent visit to a Mega Mall in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a Muslim country where the Christmas shopping bonanza was even more pronounced, with the tanoy music being much louder and more overtly Christian.  To hear the strains of "Hail the heaven born Prince of Peace" being belted out, as burka clad ladies and Saudi shoppers all in black, poured over Gucci shoes and Chanel perfume, was very unusual. Charles Wesley would have been amazed. A Muslim friend didn't seem at all concerned by the Christian emphasis...

I don't know why I was surprised when we got up-graded but it was twice in one day. We pitched up at Changi Airport in Singapore to catch our 8 hours flight to Brisbane and lo and behold we were upgraded to business class. Thank you Father, what it is to have an influential Father who likes to surprise his children! We got access to the business class lounge with amazing food to keep us going as well where the staff just were so keen to help and serve us. We got on the plane and tried not to look like a couple of kids trying out all the buttons and gadgets like the massage buttons on the seat. I could get used to this. Then we arrived at Brisbane and go to collect the cheapest car on the rental stand and lo and behold we were up graded to a very classy Holden Cruse with leather seats etc etc. How cool is that. I suppose we should be learning through this that our Father delights in us being delighted by these little treats. At the end of a long and very fulfilling 3 month trip a...

The Malaysians have a particular like of abbreviation in the names of places. Today we are in KL going to JB via PJ and so on. It works fine mostly but why some and not others? Doesn't matter really. It makes you sound like a know all if you say "Oh we spent the week in KL and are going to JB for the weekend." Anyway we have spent a week in Kuala Lumpur which has been fun. We have met and made friends with a number of the locals, Nick Wu and Martin Duke, both pastors of local churches in PJ (Handy to be able to abbreviate this one because I am not sure how you spell the P bit, I think it is Petaling Jaya ). The shopping here is world class according to Linda. KL or is PJ boasts S E Asia's biggest shopping Mall. It is huge. I left Linda doing a bit of shopping while I went off the the movies for 3 hours to watch 2012. This is the latest Hollywood version of the end of the world etc. It never ceases to amaze how easy it is to wipe out 6 billion people and s...