Hello everyone - Stuart here, because Naomi is busy packing. We've been back a week - a very busy week - and we're preparing for the start of the Big Adventure tomorrow afternoon.

As soon as we got back from Uganda, we were sucked into the vortex of Starship Discovery, the Summer Special holiday club of which Claire and I are co-leaders. Claire does all the programme and content (with a suggestion or two from me) and does all the up-front leadership stuff, and I do the organising, personnel recruitment and behind-the-scenes stuff. Naomi and Ami are the on-stage dancers to all the songs, and I have been the scriptwriter and director of the dramas for each day. Naomi has been in charge of the youngest group (4s-5s) with two other helpers, and Ami has been co-leading an older group (8s-9s).

In addition, I have been involved in the dramas, playing Buzz Lightyear in a skit of Toy Story called True Story, along with two other men playing Woody and Mr. Potato Head. The outfits have been outstanding, even if the quality of the acting or the script haven't... We have had a great week, which has been very fruitful as far as ministry to the local children is concerned. We've had about 90 children each day.

After five mornings' manic activity and five afternoons and evenings preparing for the next day, we are all exhausted - but tomorrow is the climax when we hold a celebration of the whole week to which parents and friends as well as the usual congregation are invited - so it's on with the Buzz costume once again (and Claire's silver space costume and the girls' dancing outfits) - Church is definitely not stereo-typed or boring round here.

Then, after the celebration, the picnic, the bouncy castle and the clearing-up, we are off to Newcastle airport for the first leg of the Big Adventure - the 1750 flight to Heathrow Terminal 5, at which we transfer to terminal 3 for the 2200 flight to Delhi and our bags probably start their journey to the Falklands. We land in Delhi on Monday morning and swap planes to fly the 1 ½ hours journey to Kathmandu in Nepal, arriving at 2.45pm local time. Nepal though is 6 hours ahead of the UK so it won't actually be as arduous a journey as it sounds. We should, hopefully, be able to continue the blog from Nepal. We are staying in Kathmandu in the home of a family who are linked with Cullercoats Methodist Church as our "Mission Partners", whom we have met over here on several occasions, so we should have a great time.

Bye for now,

Stuart