Tomorrow I have to sacrifice myself and head to the sunshine of Sydney, New South Wales, to help lead an emergency training course for officers of Australia and New Zealand.
As is our norm, the training materials were carefully packed up and dispatched in advance by FedEx.
This morning we had a panic call from our local organisers reporting that Australian customs had impounded our packing boxes. The message said something about food stuff.
We thought about the contents and realised we had packed some small packets of Maltesers (we give them out as prizes) and assumed these must be the problem. The FedEx agent said he would confirm the problem and call us back.
Imagine our surprise this morning when he said, 'the problem is with the soup, soap and salvation!'
I should explain, we start our training by exploring Booth's motto and what this means to us in terms of practical service and ministry. To illustrate it, we take a small packet of soup mix, a bar of soap and a small wooden cross.
It turns out that the soup beaches import regulations for food stuff, the soap might possibly contain illegal substances and taking wood into Australia is forbidden.
So our 'soup, soap and salvation' has been put into quarantine - we can collect it again on our way out!
What would William Booth say about that?
1 comment:
Hello,
When I started reading your blog I thought it must be the mars bars (thats what you had in Kenya anyway) it did make me laugh though to realise it was the Soap, Soup, Salvation. William Booth will not be happy,
Hope your having good time.
xxx
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