Emmanuel Jal

Recently, at Hillsong London, T and some friends heard the testimony of a former child soldier from Sudan - Emmanuel Jal.

Jal had been a child soldier for five years, from the age of seven or eight. During his time as a child soldier he was forced to commit unspeakable acts, as he fought for the rebel army in Sudan's civil war.

In order to recover from his time as a 'Child Warrior', he poured himself into music, and as a result, delivers some of the most powerful music you will ever hear. Jal was seen performing at Mandela's 90th birthday, and is heard in a few episodes of E.R. and the movie, 'Blood Diamond'.

His story was extremely sad and, simultaneously, very powerful. Visit his website to learn more about him and his personal plight to build a school in the Sudanese town he grew up in.

http://www.emmanueljal.org/

Now it's time for the good stuff...

A list of things that Traveller and hubbie have been up to over the last week or so...

1. Hubbie got a great job working in the finance industry doing computer stuff- he is very happy

2. Traveller and Hubbie moved in to their new flat - with the help of lovely brother + wife

3. T's brother ran in Asics Half-Marathon and wooped it up :)

4. Hubbie's brother, Jord came to visit (and is still visiting) - sleeping on our very cosy floor

5. Traveller, Hubbie, and Jord went to their first west end musical - Lord of the Rings! (Phenomenal set, costumes, props - little lacking in some of the acting, songs and script).

6. T finally got to experience the Gordon Ramsay Gastro-pub, along with hubbie, Jord, T's brother and his wife.

7. The London Flu has (finally) gone!

8. The plans have started for the first European holiday...

9. Saw a great chick flick - 'Definitely, Maybe'. Traveller loves her flick chick compliant hubbie ;)

10. Traveller (without hubbie) did some serious shopping on Oxford St. with a flatmate and has decided she really loves London shopping - yay Topshop, Zara etc!

11. Hubbie found out that one of our flatmates loves 'Settlers of Catan' (our fav boardgame) and so we played it with a few of our flatties over a Sunday lunch.

12. Went to our first London church (we know - it's been way too long!) - Hillsong London was awesome! Great music, excellent speaker and great location - The Dominion Theatre.

13. Went to the Australian Film Festival at the Barbican and saw a great movie (this is not the group consensus - as it was one of those movies that didn't really end). It was called 'Monkey Puzzle' and was set in the Blue Mountains.

14. Traveller went for her first proper run (with new headphones) and ran 4k's around the track - not bad for a Sunday! It's only the beginning....

15. And now for Hubbie's most exciting event - H went to watch a mixed martial arts/UFC tournament called 'Cage Rage' :). He was very excited about this event, and in his excitement got chatting to another attendee whom he sat next to on the tube. The man told Nathan that he might have a better ticket for him, so they swapped numbers. Long story short, Nathan ended up going from a 25 pound ticket, to a 200 pound ticket, sitting amongst London's C-grade celebrities! He was most chuffed!

Well, that's all the news for now. Traveller and hubbie send much love... xxxx





Traveller's brother is in the orange shirt - this is right near the finish line. He ran his first half marathon in 1 hour and 37 minutes - not bad!



















T's brother after finishing - they wrap the gold foil around the runners after the race to keep them warm..