Almost at a Close

Our days are really winding down here in our newest home!
We are reminded everyday how much God has blessed us with amazing opportunities in ministry. Since the last update, we have been making a huge initiative both as a team and individually to really dig into the intimacy that our Father wants with us. We have realized how having that intimacy with God releases us from striving, especially in our ministry. Instead of going out into the streets of Bangladesh and doing things out of our own love for the people, we can rely completely on what God has for them. Since we start off with seeking out God's heart not only for ourselves but also for the people, we can share that heart with them too! Once we realigned ourselves to that fact, it made our ministry so much easier and just more spirit led. For our last week of ministry, all 6 of us students were given a day to take control and plan the ministry. Each day was very successful and taught us so much, not to mention super fun!! The first day, Tuesday, was Kelsey's day. We went out to Shahbagh Square, where the nonviolent protests were held and got to learn more about what was happening there, and spend the day talking to the university youths involved. It was another eye opening day to what is going on in Bangladesh. The protest is bringing about a lot of HUGE changes in the country, both in the government and just in everyday life. We took a Bengali friend named Max along with us, and he helped to explain to us what was being said and what the whole rally is about. It is pretty cool that it is bringing some good changes to the country, but the whole foundation of the rally is pretty controversial. The next day was led by Nathalie, and she took us to the streets with chalk, balloons and henna. There we met a street "family" consisting of a few women and all their children. One woman has 3 children, 1 boy and 2 girls, all under the age of 4, who we got to spend a lot of time with, teaching them to draw on the cement with chalk (instead of eating it) and bumping each other with balloons. It was soo awesome to see how happy she got when we played with her children, and to see her face light up when her kids laughed. And God allowed us to make her even more happy by pulling out the henna and decorating her hand, which is a sign of beauty and honor. It was difficult saying goodbye when the evening ended, but God gave us a lot of peace that we got through to them how much they are loved by Him. Thursday, led by Heid, we went out again to the streets, this time with the goal to pray for the crippled and heal them. There is no short supply, so we went from bridge to bridge, praying and telling them how much they are loved. Most of them gave us smiles and a handshake, then turned back to their begging, but some really lit up once we prayed for them, shining with pure joy that only God could give them, and we all knew that their healing is on it's way. Friday was filled with more street ministry after the church service, led by Tyler, where we went a different direction to meet the street people and bless them. For Kenzie's day on Saturday, she felt God leading her to have a Bengali-style "Mark Parker Day," just like we had during Lecture Phase. It was a really awesome day where we got to recommit things and lay down areas of our lives. It was a good time to remember what we are here for, not just in Bangladesh but even when we are back home or wherever else God leads us. To put Him first and let His lordship be the center. Then on our day off on Sunday, the girls got an opportunity to do some shopping for souvenirs for families, then we went to a fellow missionaries house, Gustavo. He, his wife and two daughters and a son are from Colombia and are staying here long term. It was a really good time just to talk and try to bless and encourage them. And finally, on Izi's day on Monday, she led us with a contact to the Dhaka prison, where the 5 girls got to meet some christian women in jail while the boys met with boys. It was very eye opening not only to how they live, but also to the injustice there and in the government. There was 2 Bengali girls that were convicted of murder, one Nigerian woman who got mixed up in drugs and another 18 year old girl that didn't deserve to be there at all. She is a university student in Dhaka and one of her good friends ran off with a Bengali guy and got secretly married, which is very bad here in Bangladesh. The married girl's parents called the police and told them that she had something to do with it, which she doesn't, but she got thrown into jail. There was another man that Tyler got to speak with from Nigeria who didn't deserve to be in jail either. His friend got in trouble and ran off, so the police grabbed him instead. He has been in jail, convicted but not sentenced, for 2 years. We asked why so long and were told that if you didn't have anyone working for you outside the jail, you could spend your whole life in jail, just waiting for your sentence. The people there were very nice and open with us, and it broke off many stereotypes of criminals. The next two days were spent with an amazing organization named CUP, which goes out into Dhaka and rescues girls from prostitution and trafficking. We learned that there are 13 legal brothels in Bangladesh, the largest on with over 1,000 women and girls in it. While none of those brothels are in Dhaka, many of the girls that are trafficked go there or to hotels or buildings all over the city. CUP helps to educate, train and integrate the women into society as well as helping them to get jobs at a company called Basha, where they make beautiful blankets and jewelry to sell. All the women and girls that we met there were so eager to learn and change their lives. We worked with their children while they either worked or learned at CUP, playing games with the kids and telling them bible stories. It was so cool to see children that come from nonexistent homes and off the streets have such pure joy and happiness. God has given us such an amazing gift of being able to see the joy of street people!! We were sad to end our last day of ministry, but it was a pretty awesome last day.
So now as Outreach is coming to an end we have headed into Debrief week, here at Tropical Daisy Hotel were we are unwinding and processing with God all that has happened. He really has done amazing things in our team and in each and every one of us and we have each changed so much. We have gotten some sweet treats like waking up to the hotel staff bringing breakfast right to our rooms and going out for some delicious ice cream as a team. Even though their are hartals outside almost everyday, which makes it hard for us to go out, Cesar has been making this an awesome week for us to spend with each other but most importantly with Papa.
Thank once again for all the thoughts and prayers! There will be one more blog entry before this season is over.
Prayer Requests:
-That we would continue to be intentional with God, ourselves and each other
-That we would seek Him out every day
-We would be able to process all He has done and continue to give Him the glory
-As always, our health :)

Back In Dhaka!!

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

FINALLY PICTURES!

 

Our team teaching the children at  a Compassion sight

Bromance

This is the village that got saved!!!

Our family up north

Worshiping at the first Buddhist temple!

Meet Bapi, an extraordinary little street boy we love

A monkey that scared us a lot!

TEAM BANGLADESH

The bridge in Dhaka that changed our lives

Tyler and Cesar with Abusalam, the Muslim man that we got to prophesy over

Assalamualaikum!! (Another Hello)

A warm hello from all of us here in Cox's Bazar, Chittagong!!

Since our last update everything has been running pretty smoothly for our team. Our last week in Dinajpur up north was amazing! One afternoon while our team was prophesying over one another, and a Muslim man named Abusalam, who Tyler and Cesar were getting to know, walked into our house, wondering if we were free to visit him and his family. God opened some major doors for us and allowed us to prophesy over him as well and answer some questions that he had. Another day during a village visit, our translator, David, gave us a heads up when we arrived that the villagers here might have questions about Jesus, but none are Christians. So after introducing ourselves, Kenzie and Kelsey shared their testimonies and the Holy Spirit led Cesar to tell them the whole story of the bible, from creation to Jesus coming back. We got to stress to them how much Jesus loves them and that the difference between our God and our religion to others is Jesus. It was awesome to see the men and women listening to every word said and soaking it in. After we finished talking, we asked if anyone wanted to accept Jesus Christ into their hearts and lives. Each member of our team sat in our chairs praying that at least one person would stand up, but God blew us away by having each and every villager listening to us stand and accept Him! It was a HUGE moment not only for the village but also for our team, as God downloaded a lot into our hearts. It was encouraging to see that the villagers were so hungry for God, but it was also really sad that they went their whole lives without even hearing the simple gospel. What could be possible if everyone got to hear the gospel and got that chance to have faith in Him? Later, we had a little "celebration" with them, including Orange Tang drink and cookies, just as the angels were doing in heaven, to welcome our new brothers and sisters. There was so much of God's joy and love there, and God even healed a few women of their back pains and one woman of pain down her whole left side. After leaving that village, we went to eat at someone else's house and a man wandered in and said that he has had back pain for the last 3 years, and couldn't bend over at all. We asked him if he believed that God could heal him and after he said no, prayed over him. After praying, he was asked to try to bend over and he bent and touched his toes!! God worked another miracle, showing His love to that man even though he had no faith. He is soo good! With our time up north coming to an end, we continued to go to the different villages for visits or children's programs. In the last couple of days we got to see a few more healings or people coming to Christ, including one elderly Hindu man. As we left his village, Cesar even got to wipe off the Hindu mark painted on his forehead as Kenzie replaced it with a cross necklace! The month we had in Dinajpur was a huge growing time for each of us individually and as a team, as God spoke to us through our ministry and even just the people around us.

So after some sad goodbyes to our new friends up north, we took our bus to Dhaka on the 14th, and got to stay the night back in the pastor's house that we stayed in during our orientation week. We were hugely blessed to catch up with our YWAM contacts and have a day to unwind before our next bus down to Cox Bazar. 

Since stepping off the bus here, God has once again been blowing our expectations and our minds. We have another amazing contact and translator, Kamajohn, who is so filled with joy and passion for his work here. There is no YWAM presence here in Cox Bazar, which is a big tourist spot for Bangladesh. We are staying a few minutes’ walk from the beach and are surrounded by hotels and busy streets. At first it was a bit of a shock because we went from one of the poorest parts of Bangladesh to one of the richest. As for ministry, so far we have gotten to worship amid the Buddhist temples and proclaim His name over them, and visit a few completely Buddhist villages where Kamajohn has been building relationships. In these villages, we are only the second or third foreign people to come there, and it has been very eye opening to learn about the Buddhist culture and religion. At one village, we asked one man if he had ever learned anything about other religions, like Hinduism or Christianity. He answered that he has no reason to know any other religion because he has Buddhism. At another village, we were invited into their temple to look around, and on our way out were asked to play a song for them. So with God’s help, we got to sing praises to our amazing God right in the middle of a Buddhist temple, with the monks sitting there, watching and smiling! It was a huge God send and the Buddhist man that was leading us around told us that the song we sang warmed his heart (But really it was Jesus that warmed it!). He continued to ask Tyler and Nathalie some questions, and Nathalie got the opportunity to pull out her New Testament bible and give it to him to read. It was not only completely awesome to have that opportunity to speak Jesus into his life, but also to see how God is moving even in the middle of a temple. We have also been learning a lot about the power of prayer while here as we go out on a lot of prayer walks around the city. When we pray, we get to open doors for God to work in ways that we don't know. Outside of our scheduled ministry we have also gotten to spend a lot of time with the street kids. Since it is such a touristy place, there are also many beggar kids always trailing behind you. It all started when we went out with 100 Taka each (a little more than one dollar) to bless the kids that we meet around the shops. We split into two groups and met back at our hotel 2 hours later with huge smiles on our faces. Tyler, Nathalie and Kelsey headed out to the beach with one 11 year old girl and eventually ended up with 11 girls, playing with them and laughing. Each little girl got a "Bondu bracelet" (friendship bracelet), which gave Nathalie and Kelsey the opportunity to tell each girl how beautiful they are and that they have worth. The other group, Cesar, Heidi, Izi and Kenzie bought a soccer ball and headed out to the other side of the beach to play with any kid that wanted to. They soon gathered a crowd and had a blast kicking it around and eventually sharing some bread with the kids and one old beggar man too. Since that night we have gotten to go out and build relationships with individual kids and just play with them. Some of them have no money to go to school, or some don’t get the chance to. We met one little boy named Bapi that followed us around one day on a prayer walk. Bapi is somewhere between 5-7 years old (A lot of Bengalis don’t know their age) and has 6 siblings at home with his Mom and Dad. He told us that his dad has a job, so we asked him why he still begs for money, and he told us that he had the opportunity to go to school, but his Mom would beat him if he did. She wanted him to go out on the streets to get money instead of get an education. So now he sings for money, and he told us a story with a big smile on his little face about how one day he sang for a lady and she gave him 500 Taka (about 6 US Dollars) and his mom bought him chicken to eat. It is stories like Bapi’s that have captured our hearts, and God has spoken to each of us through every little kid that we meet. It is truly amazing to see the kids run towards us on the beach and leave their baskets with necklaces or seashells that they are trying to sell behind to play with us, even for only a few hours.

God has really been blessing us with amazing ministry here in Cox Bazar and through each person that we talk to. As a team we have continued to grow closer and learn more about each other. We are starting to grow past good friends and towards being sisters and brothers in more than just living with each other for 3 months. God has given us such amazing team mates and it is really sweet to get to know each other in really deep ways.

We will be staying here in Cox Bazar until Thursday, January 30, and from here we will be going to Chittagong for transition, then to a Buddhist village called Fattichari.

Prayer requests for our team would be that we would continue to have amazing ministry opportunities and that we will continue to look to God and grow in Him even when the ministry hours end, individually and also as a team. Also for our health once again, as we have been battling different sicknesses all outreach. Also pray for Kamajohn’s wife, as she has Gall Bladder stones and has to go to the hospital often. We have been praying for healing for her, but if everyone around the world that reads this will join in, that would be so powerful!! We all send out a HUGE thank you once again to everyone that has been supporting us and praying for us, you guys are awesome!!

Nomaskar! (Hello)

Hello again from Bangladesh!!

God has been moving in both big and small ways here with our team. We have gotten into a semi-regular schedule going between village outreaches and Children’s Programs/Adult Seminars. Our daily schedule goes something like this: We have breakfast at our house at 8:30, then have either bible study, intercession or worship as a team until we leave the house at 10:00 for the village. When we get there we either have outreach or programs, and then head back home for dinner. For village outreaches we always try to be led by the spirit, which leaves plenty of room for God to completely blow us away! Once we reach the village for the day, we normally introduce ourselves, do some songs and dramas, and then share our testimonies and/or a message. Afterward, if the spirit leads, we get to pray over the village people whether they are Christian, Hindu, or Muslim. For the rest of the visit we have been able to build relationships with the people there by asking them about their everyday life and sometimes even learning how they work. It is always a little bittersweet when we have to load into the van and pull away, leaving a big group of villagers waving and some children running behind the van. As for the days that we put on a program, we arrive in the villages to a big group of children ready to listen to us. We sing motion songs, do dramas, play games, and act out bible stories with them as some of the characters. It is really awesome to see the children come out of their shells and start laughing and dancing around with us by the end of the program. After that is over, we switch over to the adult seminar which has been for teachers or church leaders. We have taught on Spiritual Leadership, Justice and Discipleship. It is really cool to experience God speaking through us!

One day during an outreach program we got to pray for an elderly woman of the village who was blind and going paralyzed. We prayed over her, as well as praised and worshiped God, for over an hour. It was a big blessing for us as a team to feel God’s presence so strongly. When David, our translator, asked how she was doing the woman said that she could see a white woman sitting in front of her, which was Kenzie. She still could not see completely, but we left the village that day knowing that God had more healing to come for her. It was a good learning opportunity for us to praise God even though we might not see the healing. We have also seen some Hindu villagers come to Christ, and multiple others definitely touched by the words spoken over them. Cesar gave us an awesome spot-on reminder as a group one day that we may not be here to do the reaping in this land, but to sow seeds into the villagers or to water seeds that have already been planted. Also, it has been really important to us to empower the churches we visit and help to build them up. The churches here have been small and pretty new, and God has put it on our hearts to build them up as much as possible so that they can continue to do His work. Especially since our team is only here in Bangladesh for 3 months, it is important to our team to uplift the Christians and churches here, and teach them to hear God and follow Him so that they can continue to plant seeds and raise up more followers. Some days of ministry have been difficult in the beginning, simply because it seems like the villagers are restless and not receptive. But God has been teaching us to dig in and continue to look to Him through those times. And He has always guided us and by the end of the day shown us His purpose for that visit.

Our team has continued to grow closer and learn from each other and God. It is really awesome to reflect on where we were spiritually when outreach began and how God has grown us since. Again, God has blessed us abundantly with one another, and shown us how we each have such a specific and important part to play on our team. We have been battling some sickness here lately, and a couple days a few of us had to stay back and take a day off to rest and spend time with our Father. On those days of ministry when we are missing a member, the rest of the team can feel the absence and it has taught us how important each one of us is to the team.

Thanks to everyone all over the world for keeping us in your hearts and prayers!! We can’t stress enough how grateful we are for those prayers and we can really feel them in our day to day lives.

Prayer Requests:

-Health!

-To continue to have our love for the Bangladeshi people grow

-That we can continue to be led by the spirit during ministry

-That there would be an amazing outpouring of the Spirit

-Revival for the whole team!

-Revival for Bangladesh!!

-That God would reset a fire on all of our hearts every day and that our thirst for Him would grow more and more

-Continued unity for the team

-That God would continue to show Himself to us and to the country

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!!