Merry Christmas From Bangladesh!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Since our last update, we packed up our bags and got on a bus headed from Dhaka to the villages of Dinajpur, Rangpur. It was a pretty interesting bus ride with a lot of bumpy roads and constant beeping horns. We were dropped off in Rangpur on Friday night and took Rickshaws (which are carts pulled by bicycles) to our new home for the next month. We are currently in a beautiful mission compound called Bangladesh Lutheran Church. Right now, the compound is on Christmas break, but it’s used to educate and feed the Compassion kids! We have had plenty of opportunities to get to know and play with kids from the surrounding villages, and at the beginning of January, 243 Compassion kids will also be around! The kids have blessed us so much already just by sharing their simple joy and smiles with us, and reminding us again what it means to love God with a childlike heart and faith. There is a language barrier in some ways, but the Holy Spirit has made it so easy to get past that and share His love and recieve their love back. In the last couple of days, we have been getting to know a lot of the people around the compound and start building relationships with them. It has been very eye opening to see the simple conditions that they live with around here and also see the unadorned happiness that they have. The 5 girls on our team have been reaching out to the women here, while Cesar and Tyler have been working more with the men. We have gotten to know a little bit of the Bangla language, and between our broken phrases and flashing a smile at the passing women on the street, we have seen the true beauty that God sees on each face here. It’s safe to say that everyone on the team has really taken the mindset on how beautiful the women are here, and we don’t see with them OUR eyes but with God’s. He’s already broken our hearts for what breaks His. Today was a special blessing for our team through the Christmas celebration on the compound. Most of us got up this morning excited for where we are and what we are doing, but also pretty homesick for our families and the holidays back home. But then we had some awesome team time in the morning and continued on to the church building where we went between singing (or trying to) in Bengali and listening to the sermon. By the end of the service we had smiles on our faces and little kids in our laps or sitting around us. Through the rest of the day, the girls made a lot of new friends in the Christian women and children around here and the guys made friends with a bunch of men as well. Everyone was very inviting and happy to show us how they celebrate Christmas. They got out a birthday cake, cut it into little pieces after singing Happy Birthday to Jesus, and then little kids fed us some cake. We were also blessed with a huge and delicious meal of rice, chicken, potatoes and dal.

Our team has been growing closer every day. God has blessed us so much here, whether through giving us amazing food or even humbling us and making us so grateful for what we have. The one day we went out to play with the children, thinking that we will be able to bless them, but we came back to the house later completely blessed by them instead.

We can’t thank you all enough for the continued support and prayer!! Prayer needs that we have lately are for our health; that we will be healed of any sicknesses quickly. Also, our translator and his wife are newlyweds, so just that they will be able to continue to rely fully on God for what they need (His blog is http://ombd.multiply.com if you want to check it out). Other than that, just pray for continued unity for our team and open hearts, whether for us or the people around us.

We were blessed with this internet access for tonight, but we will try to continue to find some Wi-Fi to keep this updated for everyone! And once again, Merry Christmas to everyone at home!! 

Orientation Week in Dhaka!!

Hey everyone!!!
Our days in Dhaka for orientation are coming to an end! We landed in Dhaka, Bangladesh on Sunday night and were taken right to our hosts house in the city. The last couple days have been full-on but simply amazing!! On Monday we had orientation, where we learned about the Bangladesh culture and language, then some of our contacts took us to a delicious restaurant, where we had some authentic Bangladesh food. The rest of Monday was spent shopping for our Saris and just walking around the city, taking it in. The rest of the week we continued to get to know the city, and some of our contacts in it. One specific moment that was life changing for our team was on Monday when we went to cross a bridge over a road. On that bridge were beggars of all ages, ranging from a very elderly woman wrapped up in a blanket being looked after by a younger woman to a group of little kids, all holding out their hands and staring up at us. Most of us weren't prepared for that, and our sheltered worlds came down pretty quick. Since Monday, we have gone back to that bridge with homemade bracelets and candy to give out while saying in Bangali, "You're beautiful". The look on the women's faces when we handed them a bracelet makes everything so worth it. At one point when we were going down the stairs, we could look back and one woman was sitting there, staring at the bracelet we gave her like it was the most beautiful thing in the world. Another day we got to meet a group of 3 boys and 1 girl, all under the age of 8ish. The boys were looking after the little girl, who was blind, and looking for some money from the people crossing the bridge. We gave them all bracelets and Cesar gave them some candy, and then he got to teach them how to high five. It was awesome being able to give them just a tiny bit of their childhood back, if only for 5 minutes. Another cool thing that came out of paying attention to the beggars was that when we would stop and speak to them, the other Bangladesh people would also stop and watch us and what we are doing. Hopefully we are showing not only the beggars but also the the general people of Bangladesh what the love of Jesus looks like.
Tomorrow morning (Friday), we are leaving on a bus to travel up North to Rangpur to stay there for about a month in one of the villages. After that we hope to be traveling to Chittagong and eventually get back to Dhaka before outreach is over. Unfortunately where we will be going there will most likely not be internet or even electricity in some cases. So I will not be able to update this blog for a while. But don't worry everyone, because we will still be keeping track of our travels and all the amazing things that God does in our lives and the lives around us. I'll make sure to upload everything once we have internet again!!
We want to thank everyone for all the support and prayers that we have felt even this first week here in Dhaka. It is so amazing to see God move in even the simplest ways. He has given us divine appointments where we have been able to pray over people or even just see a smile light up their face. The pure joy and happiness that people have here is such a clear blessing from God.
Please continue praying for open hearts in the people we meet and that God would give us exactly the words and actions that we need. He is guiding us everyday and it is so amazing to follow and glorify Him in everything we do.

p.s. Pictures will also be on the way!!

The Journey Begins!!

Hey Everyone!
If you don't know yet, this is a blog to keep everyone updated on our journeys over the next couple of months. Our team consists of Cesar, our leader, Tyler, Kenzie, Nathalie, Heidi, Izi, and Kelsey and we will be following God as He leads us to Bangladesh to do His work! We're all pretty pumped right now and counting down until we leave base (which is 5 days by the way)! Thanks to everyone who has supported us so far during the Lecture Phase of our DTS, whether it be our families or friends. We have definitely all felt the prayers and support!! Continue to keep us in your prayers and we'll keep this updated!