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