I apologise that there have been no recent updates but life has been more than busy here in the US. In just over week I have given around 20 sermons, talks and lectures.
I have been accompanied all the time by Philip, my assistant. He has been more than outstanding and is now looking really tired. My Foundation's Director of Operations, Peter Marsden, was with us for much of the time and it was a real highlight for me to have Micaiah back with me, taking a break from University to join us for some of the time. She is simply wonderful.
We started our visit at the River Church in Cherry Hill and St Peter's Mountain Lakes, both in New Jersey. Pastor Kyle Horner and his wife Danielle looked after us so well and took us to New York for the presentation of the Civil Courage prize.
The Train Foundation Civil Courage Prize:
The presentation was a very big event with over two hundred people present. It was wonderful to see so many of my friends from Iraq there, both Americans who have served with the military or diplomatic service in Baghdad, and Iraqis who now live here in the US.
A moment that was really special for me and for those present was to meet a young man named Ma'an. He was the very first Iraq hostage whose case I worked on and I secured his release back in 2004 when he was just a boy. I had never actually met him before but he was there in person. I mentioned his story in my speech and he stood and got a massive round of applause.
When we do this work, looking after a big church and a successful clinic, it is so important to remember the stories of individual men, women and children, like Ma'an. Each one is indescribably precious to G-d.
We had several other major events in New York City including a very good meeting with the Episcopal Presiding Bishop, Katharine Schori, a great time with our dear friends at the Tanenbaum Foundation, as well as a fund-raising lunch by the Knights Templar.
From New York we travelled to Harvard, where I greatly enjoyed giving a lecture as part of their Human Rights Programme. From there we went to Boston where once again we had a superb series of events organised by the Knights Templar, concluding with an outstanding black tie dinner attended by HRH Princesses Elizabeth and Renatee, together with Grand Priors and Commanders past and present: Captain Larson, General Rea and General Disney. They were most generous to us and we are very grateful to them for their wonderful support.
From Boston we went to speak at the Rhode Island Episcopal Convention and, as I write, I am on a plane travelling to Lexington, Kentucky. This is a place I haven't been to for a long time but I have many friends there and I know that we will have a great time.
Being in the USA is great but here I miss both my family in the UK and my family in Baghdad. I so, so long to see them both. I arrive back in the UK on Tuesday and will be in England for a few days before returning to Iraq. 3rd November is my dear son Jacob's 12th birthday so I am really looking forward to (finally) taking a day off that day to spend time with him and the family.
WITH EVERY BLESSING,
