Monday, 23 December 2019
Sunday, 9 December 2018
CHRISTMAS 2018
Once again it’s
Christmastime.
It’s that time of the year when those who
believe in Jesus commemorate the time when God entered into the experiences of
humankind by becoming human in the person of Jesus. His birth was miraculous,
but He lived a normal life with good times and bad times, joys and sorrows as
His lot. It was humiliating enough for God to become human, but Jesus went
further so that the final years of His ministry were full of humiliation and
rejection. Still, we celebrate all this because they are the evidence of how
much God loved us and how much He was willing to do to bring redemption to us.
Read more about this by clicking this link: https://pastorkuru.blogspot.com/2018/12/arrival-on-earth.html
Since Christmas comes at
the end of the year, Roshini and I like to look back on the year, and want to
share with you all the other reasons God gave both of us to be grateful.
This year again we had the
joy of receiving friends from Lucknow visiting us. You could see who they were by clicking this link: https://www.scribd.com/document/395283895/They-came-they-saw-they-conquered-with-love
For our part, we went to Ernakulam to apply for visas to visit
UK and stayed with our friends Miriam and Babu; went to Bangalore and got to see my mother’s only sister, and my mother’s
sister-in-law, and almost all of my first cousins on my father’s side, at Romla
and her late husband Joekuttychayan’s home, who gave me a home right after my
father’s death so that I could start college, and Rita and Renu, whose parents (father’s
younger brother and wife) opened their home to me for a whole year while I was
doing some theological research. Smrithi, whom we looked after while a student
in Lucknow, wasn’t there, but her brother Manu did the honours taking us to see
my aunts and my cousin Shamla, who was recovering after being seriously ill.
After that we went to Madras (no, we
didn’t go to C____) for our visas for the US and stayed with Roshini’s brother
Appu and wife Usha. (If interested, you can see pictures of our travels by clicking this link: https://kururoshini.blogspot.com/2018/04/cochin-bangalore-and-madras.html)
The highlight of the year was
visiting Elishba, Joe, Sophie and Zach
in Sheffield, UK, and Ishaaq, Jess,
Priya, Alisha and Juliet in Seattle. In the US, we also visited Roshini’s sister
Chachy and family (making Roshini the first sibling to visit Chachy) and my
sister Sheila, whom I had not seen since 2000, and Roshini from 1986. (If
interested, you can see pictures of our travels by clicking this link: https://www.scribd.com/document/389933428/Our-Longest-Holiday-Ever)
After we got back from our
international travels, we went first to Mamalassery,
to see Roshini’s sister Dinchechy and family who had been flooded out of their
home during the Kerala Floods, and later on with cousin Satish and wife Rani to
see our older cousin Georchayan and wife Mollykochamma in Mallapally, as Georchayan has been doing poorly.
Apart from getting
opportunities to preach at the services in Christ Church, I also get to speak
at various special functions. I have also continued to keep up with my writing
for Light of Life and Christian Trends and lately for AIM (the
official organ of the Evangelical Fellowship of India, which I used to write
for in earlier years).
The big thing in ministry
is that Roshini and I have started a Bible study at home. The group was 15
people strong, but a few dropped out because of their personal situations. The
average attendance is now 8. We’re studying the Sermon on the Mount.
Just before we were to
travel internationally, we had a bit of a scare, but it turned out to be a
false alarm for Roshini. I have also had a year without any major health
troubles, though for the last few weeks I have been battling a nagging back
pain, waiting for full healing to come.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year full of the grace of our Lord, and the wonders of His love.
Love,
Roshini & Pastor Kuru/Suresh
Achen
Saturday, 24 December 2016
Christmas 2016
It’s Christmastime
again. Not just any holiday, but one to celebrate the fact that the Lord Jesus
came into our world, lived as a human, gave Himself completely so that all people
could experience salvation from sin and be reconciled to God as their loving,
heavenly Father. And that is why Roshini and I want to wish you a Merry
Christmas of getting into a relationship with the Lord Jesus and staying
connected with Him through submission to His lordship.
It’s been a roller coaster year for Roshini and me. We did
start the year at the top and after plummeting down, we are ending the year on
a high.
The year began with a trip to Jaisalmer, a desert town in
Rajasthan. We’ve been to the hills, and down to the seaside, and for the first
time we went to a desert.
Jaisalmer is famous for its “living fort”. There are homes and shops and hotels.
We went there to
attend our “American granddaughter” Nicole’s wedding. (Our friend Dianne, mother
of our friend Michelle, had long ago designated us stand-in grandparents when
she saw that we got on famously with her grandchildren Nicole and Josiah).
The wedding was a theme event—set in the desert dunes,
with camels and maids and men as though from the pages of The Arabian Nights.
Bride’s dad Matt
bringing her to the
dune where the wedding took place
From Jaisalmer we
went to Udaipur for a month to teach at the Filadelfia Bible College. Both of
us enjoyed being among the students there. We had a really fantastic time.
When we finished at Udaipur, en route to Lucknow, we
spent a few hours with Aru (who adopted us as “second parents”), Prateek and
their daughter Alexis. The little one happily climbed into my lap when I told
her that I had seen her and carried her when she was just a baby.
In February, Geetu (another who has regarded me as her
father from the time she was a young schoolgirl) and Gary came with their twins
to Grace Bible Church and wanted me to dedicate Zoya and Noah.
Smrithi, who was
like our daughter while studying the National Law University in Lucknow, came
for her convocation.
In March Roshini’s dear college mates Bhagi and Madhu
came for a visit.
We went to see our
friends Jenny (who stayed with us as a bride-to-be), Roy and their daughter
Lulu
And then we plunged
from the heights of our rollercoaster ride into a big trough. First, friends
who were supposed to buy our house informed us that they wouldn’t be able to go
ahead because they couldn’t get a bank loan.
In March, I discovered a little painful hard lump behind
my right ear, which had to be removed surgically when it didn’t respond to
antibiotic medication. Within days a palpable lump came up on my neck and when
a needle biopsy was done it pointed to a cancerous condition. And so, in April
we went to Madras and stayed with Roshini’s brother Appu and his wife Usha to
continue investigations at the Apollo Speciality Hospital.
The doc asked me to return after six months to review my
condition. We despaired that with the sale of the house not having gone
through, whether we would be able to sell our house at its market value.
Incredibly, the Lord enabled us to sell the house for its market value, get all
the money in white, and move to Trivandrum in a matter of 48 days from the time
we connected with our prospective buyer.
Right after this high we plunged to the ultimate pit of
our roller coaster ride. After 42 years of life and work in Lucknow, we had to
leave. Worst of all we were leaving behind our church family of Grace BibleChurch—a small, intimate fellowship that we were part of for 19 years.
We were led to our new home by the Lord sending a family
from Trivandrum to worship and fellowship with us at Grace Bible Church. Suby
and Joe told us about the house and connected us with Rachel and Lyju who
wanted to sell it (http://kururoshini.blogspot.in/2016/10/for-last-time.html).
In Octaober, Appu and Usha came
to see our home and took us for a little holiday to a backwaters resort at
Poovar. 
After that Roshini’s
aunt Monichechy, Uncle Chachen and wife also came for a visit.
As the year ends we
have got back to the top of our roller coaster. Elishba, Joe, Sophie and Zach
arrived first and then Ishaaq, Jess, Priya, Alisha and Juliet. The last time we
were together as a complete family was at Christmastime in 2010 after Priya and
Sophie were born that year. Roshini and I have seen both families separately at
various times, and Ishaaq has seen Elishba and family when work took him from
Australia to Europe. All of us are meeting Zach for the very first time, while
Elishba and Jess and all the girls have not seen each other since 2010. So this
is a very special time for us as a family.
Monday, 31 August 2015
FAREWELL FROM THE FACULTY OF ISABELLA THOBURN COLLEGE
From May 15th onwards Roshini has been enjoying the life of a retiree. She has enjoyed not having to go to college daily. She has been delighted with having all the time to do things that she wanted to, like reading, listening to devotional messages, watching TV, spending time with friends.
Then on August 18th Roshini was given a farewell by the faculty of the Isabella Thoburn College.
Two teachers Rachna and Radhika came to pick her up to take her to the college.
Rachna is very fond of her and has been most supportive during the transitional period before Roshini retired.
The farewell party started with some singing
A special address was prepared for the occasion to recall Roshini’s services in the college: she was responsible for upgrading the syllabus and bringing the department at par with Home Science departments in other universities, served as Acting Principal twice during the absence of earlier principals, took evening vespers for the hostels which were attended by about 150 girls…
Then some teachers spoke of their recollections of her interactions in the college
Principal Dr Prakash spoke last recalling that Roshini had had an influence In her life from the time she had attended Sunday School at Lalbagh Methodist Church during the time Roshini had been the Sunday School Superintendent. She also said that her own exposure to the college had come when Roshini had been the first to invite her to the evening vespers at the college. Dr Prakash acknowledged her closeness to Roshini and family, and made mention of admiring Roshini’s husband as a Christian writer in India, and had written reviews for a couple of his books.
After that it was time to party
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