Back in Maui!

Well I'm back in Maui and glad to see the sunshine, the waves roll and relax on the beach. It's crazy to think that this 6 month season of my life is almost over. I have grown, learnt, and experienced so much. It is only a couple days till my grad and my mom and brothers came a couple days ago! I was able to spend Tuesday morning with them, it was so juice to see them again, sometimes you don't really realize how much you've missed someone till they're with you again.

I'm really sad to be leaving this beautiful island and all the people I've become family. But I can't wait to see what this next season of my life holds. I'm excited to go home and see family and friends, to be able to share all my crazy stories, and put into practice all that I've learnt.

I have officially graduated from DTS!!! It's crazy to think I'll be leaving all these amazing people and the amazing Island. But I welcome the Lord's plan for my life with open arms. I may keep posting a blog I may not we'll see. But thanks to all who read this and supported me in this adventure!

Love Melissa

Bangladesh Update #10

One week till I leave! Ahhh! This trip has flown by so fast, I've been in Bangladesh for 2 and a half months. I've been gone from Canadian soil almost 6 months, I haven't seen any snow all winter. This has definitely been a season of my life to remember, one that can not be replaced or replicated. This is most likely the last time my team will be altogether with everyone there. I'm really learning the meaning of cherishing every moment. Well Sunday started off with a bang as the strikes were still going on. As a team we woke up early and decided to read through the New Testament of the Bible in one day(minus Matthew, Mark, and Luke) . This was an extremely long day as we started reading at 7:45pm and ended at around 8:45pm. We read from John - Revelation out loud as a group in the apartment. It was long and sometimes hard but as a team we were glad we did it. We decided for the rest of the week to do ministry even though the strikes were continuing. Monday we did another prayer walk and visited houses in the slums across the tracks. Then in the afternoon Katy, Cailey, Rachel and I went shopping around our area looking for fabric and handmade items to bring home. Tuesday we rented a van and went to the outskirts of the city to visit a church and school. At the the school we sang songs and taught the kids English in their classrooms, it was fun to teach them and practice our Bangla with them. *On a side note in Bangla I can now introduce myself, respond to certain questions, ask certain questions, and say random words that I'll never really use ever in a conversation. Wednesday we rented another van and went to different places around the city to pray over them. First we went to the biggest Mosque in Bangladesh, it was huge! There were 7 stories and they told us that on Friday (holy day) over 100,000 Muslims come to pray. We prayed over every story in the Mosque for revival of the Christians and truth to reign in this nation, then we sang worship songs on the steps leading to the Mosque. Then we went to one of the biggest slums in Dhaka where we met with past YWAMers who have gone into full time ministry there. We played with the kids and Sarah and I went to a small school (10 students) and sang songs with them. Next we went to Dhaka university, walked around one of the campuses (which is huge again), prayed and talked with students. Lastly we went to the Parliament building where they were currently talking about the strikes. We were not allowed on the grounds so we stood outside the gate praying for wisdom for the leaders of this nation and peace to come to the country so the strikes will stop. Thursday our ministry was cancelled due to a rain/thunderstorm, as our ministry was outside. So we had worship & intercession in the morning and listened to a podcast in the afternoon. Friday we attended two churches services like usual but this time we went to a different church in the morning. In the morning we went to an international church held at an American club. The property is owned by the American embassy so we had to email a week ahead to get our names put on the guest list and show our passports in order to enter. It was very nice to be able to understand the entire church service, but it was weird being around so many white people. I'll admit being around Bangladeshi people and being stared at changed me, I felt Bangladeshi looking at the people around me. There were people from all different nationalities as well, we met people from many different countries. But to my surprise most were not missionaries but business people. It was nice to not have to speak through a translator for an entire morning. In the evening we attended the same church we have been attending the entire time we've been in Dhaka but this time we just attended. It's been a privilege to for a friendship with the pastor and his family. Their youngest son even sacrificed some of his chocolate for us. And every Friday night after church we get to play with their puppy, which is rare to have in Bangladesh because the dogs here are generally not cute, but Jack is adorable! Our team leaves Bangladesh next Friday and we arrived in Maui on Saturday night (it's weird cause we live February 28, 2015 twice). It's crazy to think in a week I'll be on my way home, well my home in Maui. In a week and a half I'll see my family for the first time in person in 6 months. In a little over 2 weeks I'll be on Canadian soil. I've been reflecting a lot on the last 6 months and can't believe how much I have changed. At first I didn't really realize it but I think of how I used to be back home I'm like a new person. Just a warning to you all for when I come home and see you all. But I can say without a doubt I've changed for the better, become more of my own person and a more outgoing individual. And I've definitely got the "traveling bug". I love you all and can't wait to see you when I get home. Again thank you for all your love and support. Thank you for your prayers. Love Melissa

Bangladesh Update #9

Since my last email the situation with the strikes has not changed. We were still cooped up in the apartment most days unable to hands on ministry. But this week we have really set our eyes and hearts on daily intercession for this nation and the strikes. Saturday is our Internet day so as usual we went to a coffee shop in the afternoon, but this time just the girls went, Colin and Mike stayed home. We came home to a lovely surprise, girls appreciation night. Each team is advised to have a girls and a guys appreciation night sometime through out lecture phase or outreach. Our team decided to have our on outreach. The guys made us bruschetta, salad, and spaghetti. It was so nice to have a more American meal! They wrote us encouraging and uplifting notes to each of us that had our outreach nicknames on them (mine is Molasses, don't ask me why it some how just happened). Then we changed into our comfy clothes and watched the movie She's the Man, which us girls had talked about quite a bit this trip because we wanted to see it again. The movie included ice cream and Oreos, the guys sure know what we like. This was also the night we found out strikes were going till at least Tuesday. This past week us girls have been planning the guys appreciation night which is planned for Saturday night, we are making them breakfast for dinner, crepes, fresh fruit, juice, and hashbrowns. Then we might watch a movie well see how things plans out. Monday our team decided to have a 24 hour chain prayer and fast starting at lunch. So we fasted for the full 24 hours and took shifts in the prayer devoting an hour at a time to be in intercession for this nation and the strikes. I prayed at 1pm, 9 pm, and 5 am. We were super excited as a team to be able to do this and really invest even more time and energy into this nation. It was a lot different from the other times I've fasted (30 hour famine), this time there was not a huge hangout at church, we didn't stay up all night(except when you were praying), it was a very quiet 24 hours as a lot of our time was spent reading. I'm so glad I did it, it was really good to practice the discipline of fasting and praying. The rest of Tuesday and Wednesday was spent just hanging out, listening to podcasts, and more reading. On a positive note I have officially finished the Old Testament, I started at the beginning of outreach which means I finished it in 2 months. Thursday morning was normal, but then in the afternoon we took a rented van to a fishing village outside of Dhaka and did kids ministry! It was so nice to get out and have fun singing songs and doing skits for the kids. We would love to do this more often but unfortunately the rental is very expensive. Friday we attended the same two churches again. My friend Cailey spoke on surrendering your rights at the service in the morning and I spoke at the evening church about anxiousness and not worrying. It was awesome to be able to speak and encourage the believers of this nation with what the Lord is teaching me. Thank you all for your love and support and prayers! Melissa

Bangladesh Update #8

Well aside from Friday night this week has been pretty dull. But I'll start from the beginning of the week. As many of you may know there have be strikes going on in Bangladesh since since out second week here. This is annoying because it is 2 political parties fighting so the government pretty much just shuts down, which means transportation is very difficult. The strikes are usually 36 hours but they are always extended. In our case this week the strikes started Sunday and ended Friday night, which means ministry is a no go. We were able to do house visits to Christian homes in this area Monday and Tuesday morning, but as the rest of our ministry is outside this area we are unable to do it. Monday afternoon, Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday, and Thursday were spent in our apartment. We are all going a little stir crazy and love going out to grocery shopping as it means fresh air and sunlight. We have spent a lot of time in prayer for the strikes to end, we have a lot of worship, and are reading a lot of books. Friday we were able to get out and go to 2 church services, one in the morning and one in the evening. Unfortunately our leaders were sick in the morning as well as our translator. So the 6 of us students went to Church by ourselves, where we shared testimonies, songs, and a skit. It was fun to get out and do ministry, and by doing it without our leaders it felt like we were proving to ourselves that we can do it. We can take on a leadership role and do ministry with out someone "holding our hands" or telling us what to do. Of course we missed our leaders and are glad they are feeling better, but they can rest assured they have well prepared us for ministry. Both churches we went to were just church's consisting of 20-30 members. The evening church was the church our translators go to. I was originally going to be doing a teaching there, but they had another American going to speak so I will teach next Friday. It started out like a regular Bangladesh church service for us. We sit there on the floor not understanding the service at all, we have worship, then they ask us to come up. We introduce ourselves, we share a skit and then someone shares their testimony. The service went on with no problems, when the other American got up to teach he talked about how he liked our skit but we missed something. He then continued to share the gospel more in depth and then did an altar call, asking anyone who was not sure of their eternal destiny and wanted to make that choice to raise their hand. I had assumed that because of the small number of people there and the fact that it is a house church everyone there was a believer. God really opened my eyes as 3 ladies raised their hands, the speaker asked us girls to pray with these women (through a translator of course). Our team helped led 3 Bangladeshi women to Christ! I had the privilege of praying with one lady who was so sweet and grateful. It just shows how even when you don't see it God is working in people's hearts and how everything works out for his glory. It was God's working that I was not supposed to teach that night as I never would have thought to do an altar call. And it turned out that the guy who was speaking used to be a missionary in Bangladesh! 10 years ago him and his family had lived here for 3 years. After the service I went with our translator to talk again with the lady I prayed with. I shared John 1:12-13 with her and gave her my new bangle I had just bought the other day. I gave her the bangle so she will always remember that night, that on Friday February the 6th, 2015 at 6:15pm her life changed forever, and I am so happy I got to be a part of it! The more I think about this past week the more I appreciate what the Lord was doing. This trip we have seen very little fruit in our ministry, which can be frustrating and disheartening. And with bring stuck in the apartment this past week it has been hard for me to keep a good attitude all the time. But when I look back I can see that all the time we spent having worship & intercession and reading God was really giving my spirit rest and preparing my heart for Friday night. I learnt that just because you are in a planting season right now doesn't mean you always will be, and just because it doesn't feel like you're doing ministry doesn't mean your prayers are accomplishing nothing and God is moving. He is always preparing your heart and the hearts of the people you are going to meet! I will close this email off with asking that you will all join our team in praying that the strikes will end. We so desperately want to go out into this city and do the work God has set out before us. I also ask that you will pray for patience for our team in dealing with the strikes. Thank you all for your love and support. Melissa

Bangladesh Update #7

This past week was an amazing week in Golpalgonj. Traveling went well, only a short 2-3 hour trip. When we arrived we thought we were either staying in a hotel or a house in the main more cityish area because YWAM has no contacts or roots there yet. Much to our surprise and delight we were not staying in a hotel, but in a small village. To get there we had to cross a river (where my leader Victoria met a nice man who asked if she was married and said he liked her) and take a 15 minute walk with all our stuff along a path (that sometimes wasn't actually there). When we got to our destination we were thrilled to see that we were going to experience real village life. We had electricity most of the time (it would sometimes go out for hours in a day), all our meals were cooked over a fire, we lived in tin houses (where you could hear the rats crawling around and squeaking above us every night), we had no running water (you want water you pump it from the well, but drinking water was bottled and all safe), we had bucket showers, and our bathroom consisted of one squatty. It was so much fun! The family we were staying with has their ministry called YES-Youth Evangelical Services. The eldest brother, who actually lives in Dhaka but came down to translate for us, is YWAM staff in the outskirts of Dhaka. The younger brother who runs YES is considering joining YWAM staff so then more teams could come to that area. Altogether the while family is amazing! They sacrificed so much so we could stay with them, their own beds, their time, etc. We soon found out that Golpalgonj and more specifically the area where we were staying has a huge Christian population! Which is incredible but at the same time that meant for ministry we had to travel anywhere from 20-40 minutes. Since we only had a short time there we tried to cram alot into each day in between them feeding us so much food (we would have 3 meals a day and in between meals we would have tea and snacks). Unfortunately I again got sick on Monday, trust me I was fine with the squatty till I got sick. But I bounced back and was only out for half a day. A lot of our ministry was prayer walks, children's ministry, and evangelizing. It was amazing to see the community that this family has built around their home. They have a lot of children's programs and their yard/house is the main area the local kids come to hang out and play. So everyday when the kids weren't in school we could always hear laughter and games. Us girls became very attached to one little girl who was constantly with us. Her mom was our cook and she was 6 so she didn't always have school. Her name is Labony and she spoke no English, but she always knew who to get her point across to us. Whether she was sitting in our bed as we talked and read or was accompanying us on ministry, she had the final say and would often speak to us in Bangla expecting us to understand. She learnt to say our names and she knew "twinkle twinkle little star" but the rest was Bangla and giggles. We started to repeat things she would say to us in Bangla which became a running joke till we found out on the last day that the one phrase she would always say meant silence or be quiet. The youth (ages 14-20+) also came and hung out with us a few evenings. It would start out as hanging out talking and would always turn into a dance party. I've decided that anyone who isn't white has the natural ability to dance, because they were good! They taught (or tried to teach) us some of their dances which was lots of fun. Then we taught them a line dance and played some American music and danced. What we didn't realize at first was that their dances have each have a general dance to them that everyone knows, so when we free styled to American music they tried to follow us step for step which turned out to be hilarious. And don't worry we have videos. We ended up having 3 dance parties in 5 days. My favorite ministry moment I think was Thursday afternoon. The youth from the community came and us students gave a short teaching on what biblical relationships look like. It was so much fun to spend our last day with the youth. We have now made it safely back to Dhaka where we will spend our remaining 4 weeks doing ministry. Prayers requests would be health as I am still battling some health issues(runny nose, sore throat, cough), safety as we have mainly been sharing with Hindus but Dhaka is mainly Muslim, strength and endurance for this last portion, and spiritual discernment with ministry. Thank you all for your love and support. And I love reading the replies I have received over this trip, I apologize for not being able to respond as things as crazy here, but u love reading about what's going on in your lives back home. Love Melissa

Bangladesh Update #6

To say the least may favorite ministry has been here in Khulna. This past week has been filled with exciting adventures. To start off I got sick again, which sucks but we think we know which food is making us sick now. I'm going to avoid it like the plague! Bring sick away from home sucks, but I'm learning to be an adult and that means I can't have my mom looking after me all the time(I especially missed her being sick). On Sunday we attended 2 church services, one here at the small church next to our pastor's house and one in the city of Khulna. I shared a bit of my testimony at the big church which was in front of around 200-250 people! Monday was the Tiger Forest aka Sunderbund (not sure on the spelling), where we saw no tigers, ironic. We woke up really early and took a 3 hour boat ride there, it was pretty cold (well not compared to Saskatchewan in the winter). All of us napped on the way there as the boat rocked us to sleep. When we got there we walked along a path through a very small portion of the edge of the forest, no wonder we didn't see any tigers. But we did meet a wild monkey, and fed it bits of bread. There was another pastor's family with us and his son was feeding the monkey when it bit his finger and then the monkey tried to grab the toddler standing next to the boy! Needless to say we stayed away from the monkey for the rest of the trip. But while we were there we saw more money in an enclosed cage, as well as alligators, and these cute little deer. On the way home we stopped at a brothel where we shared the gospel with people and sang songs at a school set up by World Vision for the children of the women there. It was awesome to see what World Vision is doing in the nations as I've done 30 Hour Famine a few times, I saw first hand what they put their money towards. Tuesday we had more house visits and then in the afternoon we went to an orphanage! We spent a couple hours just holding Bangladeshi babies. They were so cute! Most were only a couple months old and so tiny. I have quite a few photos because they were just so precious. A couple of us girls were saying we wish we could adopt one but we were then informed that unless you or your spouse is Bangladeshi adoption is not allowed. Wednesday we did school visits where we made friends and did open air ministry(songs, drama, gospel, testimonies). I made a new friend Sumita(don't know about the spelling) who is 16 and in class 10, she was really shy at first and it was hard for us to communicate since I know very little Bangla and she knows some English, but we made it work. In total we went to 4 different school that day. Our last day of ministry here in Khulna we went and visited the homes of the families in the local church. It was so encouraging to meet and talk with these people in their homes and it was so nice to be able to encourage them. In the afternoon we visited a Christian girls hostel where the girls live there and go to a Christian school down the road. The minute we got there a group of about 11 girls surrounded me and started talking with me, their ages ranged from 13-16. They asked me to sing for them so I sang and as soon as I started singing all the girls from the school surrounded me. When the song was done the girls went back to talking amongst themselves then the girls who originally started talking to me took my hand, told me to be quite and we slipped out of the group to their study hall. It was like they were kidnapping me, except I went willingly. They only wanted to talk with me and get to know me without all the other girls around. We talked, and then they showed me a dance, then they taught me the dance. I'm sure I looked quite ridiculous because they were laughing the entire time. After a while we went back out side joined the big group played some games. Then everyone went into the study hall, they did some worship music and dance, then we did some songs, Sarah shared her testimony, and I shared the gospel. Again I made new friends and I'm going to miss them very much. Today is our rest day where we spent the day relaxing, reading, and recharging. The family we are staying with made us monitor lizard today, it was delicious. It tasted like chicken wings! Us girls were talking about how much we love it here in Khulna, the quietness of the village, the home atmosphere of the house, the home cooked food everyday, we all wish we could stay another week. I especially want to stay because the pastor's daughter Jishap and I have become fast friends. She is a sassy little firecracker with enough attitude to go around and she's only 14, i'm going to miss her :( . Well on Saturday we leave for Golpolganj (again not sure on spelling) where we are helping YWAM pioneer ministry there. There are quite a few Christians there are we are hoping to for contacts there so other teams in the future can go there. Prayer requests : -health hopefully no one else gets sick and I have a nasty cough that will not go away -safety traveling and in Golpolganj -wisdom and peace in the government as the strikes and unrest are continuing with no solution so far -stamina and endurance as we are halfway through outreach As always thank you for your love and support, Melissa

Bangladesh Update #5

4 and a half weeks sure fly by! It is crazy that outreach is almost half over. We made it safely to Dhaka on the 8th and then we made it to Khulna on the morning of the 11th. We are staying with a pastor's house(in a smaller village outside of Khulna) which is connected to the church and a primary school that they started and run. They are amazing couple who has devoted their entire lives to ministry, as they put it "21 years of marriage 21 years of ministry". Ministry has been a lot of house visits, walking to different villages (we are working off our rice bellies with all the walking). It's definitely a different cultures in the villages as we just walk into someone's yard and they stop what they are doing bring out chairs and snacks. They sit and listen to us until we leave doesn't matter really how long. Some of the houses we have visited already know Pastor and his family and know the gospel but haven't accepted. Majority of the families we meet here are Hindus, and most have a little shrine in their house for the god (or gods) they worship as well as a little tree that they worship in their courtyard. Favorite ministry day in Khulna so far: So yesterday (Jan. 15/15 it weird to write 2015) on our morning house visits we were walking along and came to this cluster of houses with kids playing to the yard. We sat down and played games with the kids, shared the gospel with the women and children and had snacks. We were finishing our snacks when our translator (Richard) asked if we wanted to go or wanted to stay a bit longer. We were about to leave when one of the men pulled up on a flatbed rickshaw with a boar on it. We asked what they were going to do with it and Richard said they were going to butcher it. We decided to stay and watch. Now this boar was huge, probably close to 200 pounds! We watched as they stabbed it in the heart (I've decided that a shot to the head is much nicer than stabbing) and started to skin and butcher it. Our leader Colin held the cut off head of the boat and said the head alone weighed probably between 35-40 pounds. And don't worry we got video of most of this process. We thought that was the excitement for the day, but at the end of our house visits we visited this one lady's home. She was an older Hindu lady and she knew Pastor and his family. We started talking to her, she brought out snacks the usual. When she started telling us a little bit about her testimony we found out that her daughter was married and living in India (so she never saw her) and her son had committed suicide 7 years ago. She explained how they invested everything (sold land, livestock, gold jewelry, their life savings) into their son's university education in hopes that he would get a good job and take care of them in their old age. Her husband works as a driver in Khulna, they have just enough food to eat but no excess. What really got me was when she said, "My son's death is my punishment for all my sins." I know my sins are forgiven but she doesn't. Her storied burdened my heart so I told her my story about dad and how bad things happen. I hope to go back to visit her and continue talking with her. I love living in the village out of the city reminds me of home. Prayer request : quite a few of us have been sick this past week with what we think is the stomach flu, we are feeling better but are still a bit weak. Continue to prayer for health and safety for my team. Thank you all for your prayers and support! Love Melissa