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