Passports? Ready! Helmets? Check! Bikes? Ah " Two Sydney Anglicans have flown out on an epic road trip visiting Middle Eastern Christians after successfully solving some last-minute transport issues.
Nathan Brown and Julian Price had planned to buy two motorcycles in India on the first leg of a trans-continental trip to visit Christian communities.
"But after some hectic negotiations we decided to have at least one Aussie registered bike for our mission," Nathan explains.
"Julian and "Pack and Send' did a sterling job of buying, sorting and sending an ex-courier Yamaha to Mumbai in India."
Tuesday morning it was their turn to board the aircraft and catch up with their trusty steed.
The pair have strong links to Glenbrook Anglican and have been spending the last few months researching the trip that will take them from Nepal to India, through Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and Syria and on to London.
"I think he just floated the idea as a joke," Nathan says, recalling how Julian first brought up the idea of the trans-continental journey.
"He talked about it off an on, but when you know someone, you get to recognise the look they get in their eye," he says, laughing.
Their goal is to visit as many Christians as they can in countries where encouragements can be few and far between.
"We've been making contact with missionaries, organising meetings, talking to people who have been there before," says Julian.
"We also met with an Iranian guy who owns a kebab shop in Wollongong " they call him the "Persian Elvis' " he was quite a character, and told us a lot about the local customs," Nathan laughs.
"We also had some good chats about the differences between the Christian and Muslim faiths and have realised that really our mission starts now. What we are doing seems to open people up to talk about the important things in life."
Sydneyanglicans.net will be publishing a blog containing excerpts and pictures from Nathan and Julian's Christian Motor-Mission as they become available.
Care is being taken to ensure that the sharing of their journey will in no way compromise the very people they plan to support.
