Yesterday we were taken to Cape Greco beach, at the East of the island, by some colleagues who have been here for some years. We took a fairly slow route there so we could see something of the island. First we stopped at Ayia Napa, a resort that's popular (or rather, infamous!) for night-life and teenage clubbing, during the summer. It's fairly peaceful now, however, and we looked at the harbour. We also drove a little way into the mountains to see the Moufflon - a rather shy animal that's quite rare now, and protected by law. We did manage to spot a couple of them in the distance.
Finally we drove on to the most beautiful cove - well worth the drive - and had a picnic. The boys built sandcastles, and we relaxed in the sunshine.
It was around 25C. Despite feeling somewhat homesick, I could appreciate that Cyprus was a good place to be. In the morning I had received an email from someone in the UK telling me they had just had the first frost of the season, and one from a friend in Colorado Springs, telling us they'd just had 24 inches of snow!
We visited the Larnaca Community Church today, with some colleagues. It's quite small, an oldish looking church building with pews and a nice grassed area around most of it.
Richard introduced us, as they always get new people to say hello. I can't say I was very impressed: the preacher (a visiting one) said some rather odd things, and the music was a bit dull. We'd been told there was a lively music group there, but learned today that it was mostly teenagers who have now left to go to college in the UK.
There was a piano at the front, but I didn't know all the songs. They were old Baptist ones, we were told. The pew was remarkably uncomfortable too, and it seemed so hot. It doesn't have air conditioning. The boys went out to Sunday School - Daniel reluctantly, Tim enthusiastically. Tim had a great time but Daniel got upset because he was put in a group of 8-11s which he felt was very babyish. However they were understanding and helpful, and let him go into the teenage group, supposedly 12+ (though he's only just 11) and he said that wasn't too bad.
We're planning to visit the other three English-speaking churches locally - one Anglican, one charismatic, one Reformed Presbyterian (whatever that means!) but decided we'd go to each for at least two weeks. It doesn't seem quite fair to make a judgement based on just one week, particularly when there was a visiting preacher.
We did have one bit of excitement: a colleague phoned to say that an elderly lady in the Anglican church is moving from a large old house to a small flat, and wants to sell her piano. She asked if we were interested. A piano was one thing we'd worried about, so the boys can continue playing. In fact they'd asked our church back in Birmingham to pray about us getting one.
We went to see the lady, who was delightful. We were worried that the piano might be worn out, or untunable, but it was a lovely one - old, and in need of tuning, but all the notes work and Richard thinks it will be fine. What's more, the lady told us that it's her niece's piano, and she's willing to LEND it to us for a couple of years - so it won't even cost anything!
We said we'd have to let our church friends know that their prayers were answered... and perhaps we should ask them to pray for table and chairs and beds as well! But as it happened, this lady had two very nice single beds that she wanted to sell us, so as we'd paid nothing for the piano, and she wasn't asking a huge amount, we decided to have those too.
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