Our days here in Bangladesh sure are flying by!!
Since our last update, we wrapped up ministry in Cox's Baazar and said some of the hardest goodbyes yet to the people we got to know there. Our last night we went to tell the street kids that we were leaving and hang out with them one more time. It was really difficult to tell them we weren't coming back but through that we got to let them know that Jesus will stay with them even when we can't. The night ended with a lot of tears from us and the kids, but a good assurance from God that they would be ok with Him. So we got ready to leave Cox's Baazar and go to our next destination. Our plan was to leave the hotel and head to a christian hospital not too far away to give blood for our contact's wife who has Gall Bladder disease, then head to the bus station to catch a bus to Chittagong. However, Cesar was informed the day before we left that there was a hartal the next day, so instead of leaving in the afternoon for the hospital, we left at 5 AM. God definitely had his hand on our van and driver, because as we were driving, trying to beat the start of the hartal which was at 6, we had to stop for gas. Our driver pulled in the gas station and started pumping gas. We heard lots of sudden yelling and bangs, and it turned out that the men on the streets down the road decided to start the hartal early and smashed the glass on the cars and vans that were behind us. Our driver kept us in the van as he and Cesar went to talk to the men to see if they would let us through without any trouble. Us 5 girls and Tyler prayed while they went to talk, and God sure enough already had us taken care of!! The police had turned up and got rid of the men before Cesar and our driver got there and they let us through safe and sound!! The rest of the drive was a little tense but safe, and we pulled into the hospital grounds completely safe except for a little dent on the van. The rest of the day we waited out the hartal at the hospital and even got to make some American friends! It was a huge blessing for us to spend the day there, but unfortunately our contact's wife couldn't get her surgery so we couldn't give blood either. We left that evening by another van that took us to Chittagong, where Cesar supposedly went to "buy bus tickets" but came back with one of our school leaders, Kent!! It was awesome to have him join us and head down to a little Hindu village called Fatichurri. We stayed there for a total of 4 days, and lived in a concrete house with a tin ceiling. We got to really get into the Bengali culture by sleeping on the floor and living on the outskirts of the village! Our contacts let us know that the Christians are just tolerated in the village, because they provide the schooling for their children as well as some other things. So most of the villagers didn't give us the overly warm welcome that we were used to, but we still got to get to know some of them. Some highlights from our time there was teaching English to the children in the school and the boys playing soccer with the young men from the village and the surrounding area. On our last night there, we got to have a small gathering. Cesar and Tyler played another game of soccer with the men while the girls played games with the children. Then once their soccer game was over we shared cookies with everyone and did a drama, then Nathalie shared a small message. We also got to encourage the few Christians in the area by having a new family over to eat with us every evening. It was super inspiring to hear their stories and their struggles and try to bless them. One of the women in the village that we got to know really well was Anju. She works with our contacts as well as running the school and church for the children. Her testimony is crazy and amazing!! A few years ago she was blessed by fund raised money to attend a DTS in Chittagong so that she could learn more about God, and she felt the calling to go back to her home village after graduation and try to share her faith to her family and community. She has stayed in Faticharri since then where she is unwelcome and oppressed because of her faith and the fact that she is an unmarried woman. She has gotten tortured and beaten by her family multiple times over the last year because she won't give up her faith, and she not only stays faithful to God but continues to live it out. Anju was such a huge blessing and life changing testimony to us! It was sad to say goodbye to her and the rest of the people we met in the village, but we left by van to head back up north to Dhaka. After some sleepless nights and a long bus ride we reached Dhaka at 6 am and crashed in our hotel room until 10:00 when we got a unexpected surprise through getting to worship with another YWAM team from Kona, Hawaii! The next couple days were filled with getting readjusted with the city life and doing tons of worship and intercession with other teams from around the world. The YWAM staff here in Dhaka put together a worship night for all 4 teams, which included us, Kona and Maui from Hawaii, and Newcastle from Australia. It was awesome to just get filled up by Papa through hearing the other teams stories and being encouraged. We got to hang out with the Kona team pretty often as both of our teams are staying in the same hotel. They taught us a lot about worship and intercession and become in tune with God's spirit. We also had to say a sad goodbye to Kent as his visit came to an end. He blessed so much through encouraging us an just having fun with us. The last week here has been full of personal revelations for each of us, and making an intentional effort to grow in our intimacy with Him. We have also been learning a lot here about what is going on in this country politically. There is currently a huge non-violent protest happening in the middle of Dhaka where tons of Bengali people have been standing up for their rights. We got to go there yesterday with a YWAM contact and talk with people there. It was soo awesome!! It is a huge step for Bangladesh as the people stand up against a radical Islamic group and lots of women and youth are getting involved. Now with only 2 weeks left of ministry here in Bangladesh, we are jumping right into things like the rally and other injustices here in the city. Each day, a different one of us has the opportunity to plan our ministry for that day so we will be able to go to different places and do different things. We are also continuing to really dig into the intimacy that God wants with us so that when we go out, we won't be pulling on our own love to give to them, but instead going to God for everything. Once again, we want to thank everyone so much for all the prayer and support!!
Prayer Needs:
-Health!!!
-That each of us would be renewed in our intimacy with Him and that we would be able to draw on that out in ministry.
-Lots of open doors to ministry here in Dhaka and opportunities
-Continued unity for our whole team
-That we would continue to give everything we have each day to God and follow Him with whatever He wants us to do
Since our last update, we wrapped up ministry in Cox's Baazar and said some of the hardest goodbyes yet to the people we got to know there. Our last night we went to tell the street kids that we were leaving and hang out with them one more time. It was really difficult to tell them we weren't coming back but through that we got to let them know that Jesus will stay with them even when we can't. The night ended with a lot of tears from us and the kids, but a good assurance from God that they would be ok with Him. So we got ready to leave Cox's Baazar and go to our next destination. Our plan was to leave the hotel and head to a christian hospital not too far away to give blood for our contact's wife who has Gall Bladder disease, then head to the bus station to catch a bus to Chittagong. However, Cesar was informed the day before we left that there was a hartal the next day, so instead of leaving in the afternoon for the hospital, we left at 5 AM. God definitely had his hand on our van and driver, because as we were driving, trying to beat the start of the hartal which was at 6, we had to stop for gas. Our driver pulled in the gas station and started pumping gas. We heard lots of sudden yelling and bangs, and it turned out that the men on the streets down the road decided to start the hartal early and smashed the glass on the cars and vans that were behind us. Our driver kept us in the van as he and Cesar went to talk to the men to see if they would let us through without any trouble. Us 5 girls and Tyler prayed while they went to talk, and God sure enough already had us taken care of!! The police had turned up and got rid of the men before Cesar and our driver got there and they let us through safe and sound!! The rest of the drive was a little tense but safe, and we pulled into the hospital grounds completely safe except for a little dent on the van. The rest of the day we waited out the hartal at the hospital and even got to make some American friends! It was a huge blessing for us to spend the day there, but unfortunately our contact's wife couldn't get her surgery so we couldn't give blood either. We left that evening by another van that took us to Chittagong, where Cesar supposedly went to "buy bus tickets" but came back with one of our school leaders, Kent!! It was awesome to have him join us and head down to a little Hindu village called Fatichurri. We stayed there for a total of 4 days, and lived in a concrete house with a tin ceiling. We got to really get into the Bengali culture by sleeping on the floor and living on the outskirts of the village! Our contacts let us know that the Christians are just tolerated in the village, because they provide the schooling for their children as well as some other things. So most of the villagers didn't give us the overly warm welcome that we were used to, but we still got to get to know some of them. Some highlights from our time there was teaching English to the children in the school and the boys playing soccer with the young men from the village and the surrounding area. On our last night there, we got to have a small gathering. Cesar and Tyler played another game of soccer with the men while the girls played games with the children. Then once their soccer game was over we shared cookies with everyone and did a drama, then Nathalie shared a small message. We also got to encourage the few Christians in the area by having a new family over to eat with us every evening. It was super inspiring to hear their stories and their struggles and try to bless them. One of the women in the village that we got to know really well was Anju. She works with our contacts as well as running the school and church for the children. Her testimony is crazy and amazing!! A few years ago she was blessed by fund raised money to attend a DTS in Chittagong so that she could learn more about God, and she felt the calling to go back to her home village after graduation and try to share her faith to her family and community. She has stayed in Faticharri since then where she is unwelcome and oppressed because of her faith and the fact that she is an unmarried woman. She has gotten tortured and beaten by her family multiple times over the last year because she won't give up her faith, and she not only stays faithful to God but continues to live it out. Anju was such a huge blessing and life changing testimony to us! It was sad to say goodbye to her and the rest of the people we met in the village, but we left by van to head back up north to Dhaka. After some sleepless nights and a long bus ride we reached Dhaka at 6 am and crashed in our hotel room until 10:00 when we got a unexpected surprise through getting to worship with another YWAM team from Kona, Hawaii! The next couple days were filled with getting readjusted with the city life and doing tons of worship and intercession with other teams from around the world. The YWAM staff here in Dhaka put together a worship night for all 4 teams, which included us, Kona and Maui from Hawaii, and Newcastle from Australia. It was awesome to just get filled up by Papa through hearing the other teams stories and being encouraged. We got to hang out with the Kona team pretty often as both of our teams are staying in the same hotel. They taught us a lot about worship and intercession and become in tune with God's spirit. We also had to say a sad goodbye to Kent as his visit came to an end. He blessed so much through encouraging us an just having fun with us. The last week here has been full of personal revelations for each of us, and making an intentional effort to grow in our intimacy with Him. We have also been learning a lot here about what is going on in this country politically. There is currently a huge non-violent protest happening in the middle of Dhaka where tons of Bengali people have been standing up for their rights. We got to go there yesterday with a YWAM contact and talk with people there. It was soo awesome!! It is a huge step for Bangladesh as the people stand up against a radical Islamic group and lots of women and youth are getting involved. Now with only 2 weeks left of ministry here in Bangladesh, we are jumping right into things like the rally and other injustices here in the city. Each day, a different one of us has the opportunity to plan our ministry for that day so we will be able to go to different places and do different things. We are also continuing to really dig into the intimacy that God wants with us so that when we go out, we won't be pulling on our own love to give to them, but instead going to God for everything. Once again, we want to thank everyone so much for all the prayer and support!!
Prayer Needs:
-Health!!!
-That each of us would be renewed in our intimacy with Him and that we would be able to draw on that out in ministry.
-Lots of open doors to ministry here in Dhaka and opportunities
-Continued unity for our whole team
-That we would continue to give everything we have each day to God and follow Him with whatever He wants us to do
