The narrow road

Refresh My Soul is a blog created by Angela, an American Baptist, as a platform for her random thoughts. In this post, she blogs about her recent visit to Malta:

A land filled with beautiful cathedrals. There is a 98% Roman Catholic presence on the island. These churches are the most beautiful I have seen. Each township has one and they are the center of all city business. The problem is that most of them are so steeped in tradition that the building or statues they are dedicated to are more important than a personal relationship with Jesus Christ..

..This is an interesting picture of the roads. They really are this narrow everywhere. Very crazy compared to what I am used to. Plus they drive on the opposite side of the road. The bus drivers were the most scary. Man, I am praising God we made it. When you can light a cigarette, make change, print a ticket, and drive all at the same time on these narrow roads I think you have arrived! :) I kept thinking of the Scripture Narrow is the road that leads to life and Wide is the road that leads to destruction. Help these precious people find the narrow road Lord..

..Here is a beautiful shot of the bay. Also somewhere over there is a movie studio. They filmed Count of Monti Cristo and Gladiator among others here. It is so beautiful. The whole island. Love the rich history and people. They really are hospitable like the Bible described in the days of Paul's stay...

Religous but lost

Ken Duggan, Senior Pastor Dallas Bay Church, Hixson, TN who blogs here, has just been to Malta to work on a 5 year agreement with Maltese missionaries. In this post he says that the Maltese are "very religous but lost":

..It has been a few days since I returned with 4 others from Malta. Malta seems to be one of those places everyone has heard of they just don't seem to remember where or why. It has a tremendously interesting history going back thousands of years. There is the oldest free-standing temple in the world on the island that pre-dates Stonehenge by 1,000 years. While there my team attended a festival where the church was celebrating its 600 year anniversary. If you ever saw the movie "Gladiator" it was filmed on Malta. The Grand Harbor is the deepest natural harbor in the world where Allied ships sailed into during WWII..

..The people go so far as to celebrate the sinless life and ascension of Saint Mary, the mother of Jesus. She is so revered our team rejoiced whenever we saw a statue of Jesus higher on the side ot the church than Mary. Some cathedrals were almost devoid of pictures of Jesus while they were filled with icons of Mary. They refer to her as the "Queen of Heaven" and are petitioning Rome to make her "Co-Redemptress" along with Jesus.

It is heartbreaking to see such kind people be so terribly blinded to the truth of God's Word. One lady told us when she converted to Christianity (Yes they differentiate between Catholicism and Christianity) her family dis-owned her. Another said that if she read the Bible for herself she was told by her mother she would go mad.

While I was there I was asked to pray for the people. I did, but God impressed upon me to pray in another way as well. I felt impressed to pray against the forces of darkness. I remembered the words of Paul who said "We do not wrestle against flesh and blood." I prayed against the principalities and powers of darkness that had plunged these wonderful people into a spiritual midnight of the soul. I became keenly aware that the enemy uses different tactics in different cultures according to his schemes.

While we have been lulled into spiritual apathy in America, the Maltese are very religious but lost. Would you join with me and pray against the spiritual powers that have the citizens of Malta cloaked in spiritual darkness? If you ever have the chance to travel with me or other teams traveling to Malta from Dallas Bay over the next several years I hope you will go. I want you to pray for these people as well. What a great victory it would be for the Kingdom if there were many people led out of idolatry into grace by the power of prayer. I'll talk with you soon.

Saved from dinghy

Immigrants rescued from stranded dinghy off Malta, from AFP:

Over a hundred illegal immigrants were brought ashore Sunday in two separate operations off Malta, the island's army said in a statement. Early Sunday, a Spanish trawler reported 79 illegal immigrants, claiming to be from Sudan and including four women, were adrift in a rubber dinghy taking in water and with engine trouble.

A container vessel travelling to Malta was diverted to the scene, 53 miles from Malta (80 kilometres), and took the immigrants aboard. The immigrants were then transferred in heavy seas to two army patrol boats and brought ashore.

Another boat arrived in the fishing port of Marsaxlokk where 21 migrants made it ashore. Ten of their colleagues remained on board and attempted to escape and continue their journey to Italy.

They were caught by a police boat. This group comprised 27 men, two women and two children. Around 1,700 clandestine migrants landed on Malta in 2007, according to an AFP count.

Terry and Lynne in Balzan

Life in Malta is a blog that records the story of Terry and Lynne from Northeast Philadelphia who have been living in Malta the past 18 months. This post tells of an incident which had a good ending:

On Wednesday - my only totally free day each week since I started working - I ran errands. On Friday afternoon I tried to buy chlorine and discovered my credit card was not in my wallet. I got Terry on the phone and had him check our account - no funky charges. Then he said the last charge was from a pharmacy. I had completely forgotten about that errand! It turns out the pharmacy was on the way home from the pool place so I was passing it anyway.

I went in and before I even said anything the pharmacist - who was the same guy who had helped me when I went in Wednesday - said I had left my card there. He went to get it and said he tried to run after me when I left but didn't find me, and that he tried calling the credit card company in the USA to have them contact me to tell me the card was there but he couldn't get through.

THAT'S customer service and I am now a huge fan and lifetime patron of the Balzan Pharmacy, in case anyone in Malta reads this

Malta in The New York Times

Ryanair growth

Ryanair sees tremendous growth on Malta route, from asap news:

Ryanair announced this week that during the month of July passenger numbers on its service to Malta reached more than 40,000, which was a 116 per cent increase over the same month in 2007.

The budget carrier released these figures as it announced the release of two million seats valid for travel this October to three destinations in Europe. At a price of just €5 one way, inclusive of charges and taxes, passengers can fly to Barcelona, Valencia or Venice, so long as the booking is made on ryanair.com through this Sunday.

A spokesperson for the airline, Alessia Viviani, said: “While Malta airport registered traffic growth of only 1.3 percent in July 2008 compared to July 2007, Ryanair has increased its traffic volume by 116 percent making a vital impact on the Maltese economy.”

She added: “Ryanair is confident that this significant growth will remain strong as Ryanair guarantees the lowest fares and no fuel surcharge ever.” The new special seat sale will make it possible for two million passengers to travel to select points in Europe during October for the incredibly low fare of just €5.

Ryanair has strongly advised potential travellers to book the €5 seats directly on the carrier’s website, Ryanair.com, and to avoid she “screenscraping” websites which, it indicated, added hidden fees that actually double or treble Ryanair’s low advertised prices.

Lacto

Beer Nut is a Dublin based guy who enjoys travel and beer 'preferably simultaneously'. In this post he takes a look at Maltese Lacto:

At a homebrew tasting in the pub last night one of the guys (hi Kevin) brought out a beer he'd picked up in Malta, a milk stout rejoicing in the name of Lacto. It's my second milk stout in the last week, and ever. There's even less to it than there is to the Left Hand. Again with the smooth milky texture, but basically no stouty roastiness: just a very sweet condensed-milk or Caramac flavour. What it reminded me most of was the malta soft drink I had in Cuba back in May -- just as easy drinking and, at 3.8% ABV, only a smidge more alcohol. It could pass for a lot weaker too.

I've never been to Malta, but it's somewhere I would like to visit (one of Mrs Beer Nut's distant relatives was shot down over it during the siege). I'm guessing that, faced with the the usual dull hot country lagers, Lacto is probably welcome relief when drinking Maltese beers. At a table in one of the best-stocked pubs in the country, however, it loses its special status quite quickly. Nevertheless, thanks Kevin, even if you only brought it to make your all-grain stout look good...

Mediterranean inducements

TripAdvisor marvels over Top 10 Mediterranean islands:

Steeped in culture and history, Malta also features beautiful beaches and secluded coves, making the island feel like paradise. Stroll along Dingli Cliffs, watching the sunset at the highest area in Malta or visit the impressive Hypogeum temple featuring the sleeping Venus of Malta at the entrance. As one TripAdvisor traveller said about Malta, "It has all the Mediterranean inducements: amazingly clear, blue, warm waters, blue skies, sidewalk cafes, good food and wine and charming villages."

"All of these islands offer pristine beaches and their own unique features," said Michele Perry, vice president of global communications for TripAdvisor. "Our travellers have identified the hot islands in the Med this summer, especially if you want sun, sea and dancing all night."

Old trucks in Malta