I Wouldn’t Have it Any Other Way

              God gave me plenty of time to spend with Him today. It really refreshed me and reminded me that He knows best and He has a reason for me to be here. I was reading one of my old prayer journals from May and I realized that I had no clue what was coming when I was praying about going to Bangladesh. One of my fellow Student Missionary friends said it best when she was describing how her trip was going so far, “God has already shattered every expectation that I had about how this year would go.... He's definitely been teaching me a thing or two about faith, gratitude, and humility.” This year may not be going the way that I thought it would go but it is definitely going the way that God wants it to go. I feel as if He is cleansing me of all the things that are not of Him so that I can become more humble, grateful, and faithful.
 
             Deuteronomy 30:6 “The Lord your God will clean your heart… so that you will love Him with all your heart and soul and so you may live.” My Lord knows best!

              After God renewed my spirit I was ready to hang out with the kids again. I bounced out of the room and began hanging out with a group of the older kids. One of the kids asked me what my mother’s name was and so I decided that it would be best if I showed them a picture so they could see her. So I ran up stairs to my room and grabbed all the pictures that I had of my family. I told them all to “bacho” (sit) and I started telling them about each one of my family members. When they saw my mom and little sister Lila they kept saying “Shundar,” which means beautiful/attractive.  One of the little girls Joni kept on kissing the pictures of Lila, my mom, and me. They thought it was funny how my Dad and brothers all had the same chin as me; the kids really love my dimples. When I looked up I realized that a crowd had grown and there were even some caregivers in the group who had the biggest smiles. It really helped my homesickness to tell the kids about my family back at home.
             I was running around with the kids all evening so by the time the sunset I was exhausted and just wanted to sit. Luke came and faithfully held my hand even thought I was being a boring playmate. I can honestly say that I don’t have a favorite kid here because I love them all but I have a special place in my heart for Luke. His skin is so dark and beautiful and he has the cutest little face with big eyes and loooong eyelashes. Every night he gives me a kiss on both of my cheeks and tells me goodnight. Oh my word, that boy has stolen my heart hahaha. I suppose I’m falling in love with all the kids and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

(Please continue to leave comments on my posts. You have no clue how happy it makes me to have so much encouragement)

Spiders, Smoothies, and the Market Place

            Mornings seem to be the worst. I go to bed happy every night but by the time I wake up in the morning I become miserably homesick. That is why the morning walks that Mrs. Waid goes on are good for me; it forces me out of bed and into the Bangladesh culture. This morning was a holiday where the people received their gods again (the ones that they threw into the water last week). There are several stations where they place their gods along the roadside and they had loud music playing. Although I don’t believe in their plastic gods I find their devotion inspiring. I think the Christians in America should celebrate God and his Love everyday like it is a celebration. Everyday is a gift from God.
             After the walk I came back to my room to have my devotions. In the middle of my reading Heather freaked out and exclaimed “THAT IS HUUUUGE.!” Being overly curious to what she was talking about I got up and walked over to her bed. I looked down to see the biggest spider I have ever seen in my life! With its legs it was about the size of my palm and it was super fast. Lauren and I wanted to take pictures of it so we got really close and all of a sudden it turned around and started running straight towards my feet. I seriously jumped up a couple feet in the air and landed on Heathers headboard. At this point we were all screaming and had our sandals in our hands prepared to TAKE THAT SPIDER DOWN! We lost sight of it for a few minutes and then it magically appeared on our table (it was like something from a horror film). It made its way under the tablecloth and against the side of the table top and Lauren started beating the place it was. I have never seen so many guts from just one bug. It was gross! Mrs. Waid told us they weren’t poisonous but that they ate the cockroaches and it was possible for them to get bigger. I would rather have a cockroach in my room.
             Us four white American girls (Mrs. Waid included) decided that we wanted to go to town this morning so we got our personal rickshaw van to take us. I absolutely love going to town on that thing. Everyone in town just stares at us so we have decided to smile and wave wildly back at them. It seems to make most them happy, especially the kids. I bough two more outfits because having just one daily outfit wasn’t really working out. We helped Mrs. Waid buy stuff for the orphanage’s laundry room and I bought a air tight Tupperware to keep the ants away from any food/cough drop that they decide to go after. Overall it was a successful trip and I’m beginning to learn my way around the market place!
             When we got back from shopping we had mango smoothies and then we had the meeting to find out what classes Lauren and I would be teaching. I am teaching 2^nd graders English/math and 3^rd graders health. I am so nervous about being a teacher. Please pray for me; I start being a teacher on Sunday. I’m not sure they realize that I have no clue what I’m doing.
             God’s got it all under control… I have to remember that. 

Focus on the Rose not the Thorns

   Earlier today I wrote a blog that was rather pessimistic (I ended up not posting it) and then I received a comment from Constance Spano on my last blog entry. In it she told me to focus on the rose and not on the thorns. In other words focus on the good things and not the bad things that are happening around you. As soon as I read that I began to look at things in a more positive light. I am now making a list of the things that I like about being here or that I am thankful for no matter how small they are:

-The food is good (tonight for dinner I had curried string beans and then for dessert we had ice cream that tasted homemade)
-I love when the kids yell my name from across the campus
-When you ring the doorbell it plays a little song
-I get to go for a walk every morning and attempt to speak bangla with the villagers
-The kids draw me pictures
-I have a western toilet and shower
-I HAVE AC IN MY ROOM (although electricity is unpredictable it is still especially appreciated at night time)

My new goal is to push out the bad things and only embrace the good.
             After I got done using the Internet Heather, Lauren, and I went down to finish the pictures. We took the rest of them this morning but now it was the hard part of figuring out which name went with each kid. We couldn’t find any of the caretakers so we decided to find one of the kids that spoke English well. Lauren went and came back with Danny. We sat on Mrs. Waids porch as Danny identified each of the kids. Mrs. Waid came up by the time we were done and let us into her cold house (It felt so good). I am keeping whatever snacks I have left from the ants in their fridge and I decided that Danny deserved a treat for helping us. I pulled out my bag of Dark Chocolate covered pomegranates and gave him a few while telling him “I’m not sure you will like these.” The moment that the chocolate hit his tongue he got so excited and exclaimed how good it was. It made me so happy. Chocolate is everyone’s friend!
             Eventually I made my way back to my room to put my computer away and I noticed that my bed was covered in ants yet again. My package of ricolas had attracted all the ants in the country to a party on MY bed. Determined to save my delicious treats I took them out on the porch and began to de-ant each package. I was so focused that it took several minutes for me to realize that there were people below me talking. I glanced down and noticed a group of about 10-15 villagers just staring at me. Feeling rather friendly I waved at them and yelled “Nomasgar” (a Hindu Greeting). They all pathetically replied and then continued staring at me as I worked. It made me laugh; they were probably wondering what this crazy white girl was doing banging little packaged cough drops on her railing.
             So maybe I lied when I told you that I had conquered the ants. They are unstoppable. I am just thankful that God answered my prayers and there are no ants on my bed right now.


Update: I wont have pictures up for a while because we are only aloud to use 1 G a month and I'm still using Heather's internet. I'm sorry. :( 

Going Native

              As soon as my foot steps outside the apartment building children mob me. There is so much love here! The other day I was in the yard hanging out with a few of the children and then I had to run up my four flights of stairs to grab my water bottle. I took my time fiddling around with things in my room and then I glanced out my window. To my right all the kids were gathered around Heather, Lauren, and Kerri. When I glanced the other direction I saw Luke, Chrissy, and Joni (these are a few of the kids that have favored me over the other girls) all of them were sitting around by themselves waiting for ME to come back down. It made me feel so loved and needed. I received two colored papers today from Tisha and Deborah. Tisha’s says “Teacher Cantal I love you so mush.” I may not be her teacher yet but it is still sweet! Another girl told me that when I left she would cry every day. Yes, I am definitely feeling the love.
             I have a few of the kids names down but it has been rather difficult getting to know all the children’s names since there are 115 of them! At the same time I am trying to learn Bangla and all the caregivers names. A few words and phrases I’ve learned are:

-Camonachu (How are you?)
-Balo Achi (I’m good)
-Nomasgar (Hindu Greeting)
-Ami Tomo que balo achi (I love you)
-Namkey (name)
-coo coo (dog)

Of course none of these are spelled right but you get the point. We had a photo shoot with the kids so that their sponsors could receive up to date photos of their child. This has helped me learn many names but it has been so difficult to make some of these kids smile. There is this one boy name Jamie and he will not smile at all! Lauren says it looks as if he is solving the world’s problems because his face looks so serious and sad all the time. Another girl cried every time they put her in front of the camera. Slowly but surely we will get all these kids photos taken!
             In other news we have received our Shama camis. This is the outfit that the women here wear. It is a long shirt with pants that kind of look like Pajama pants and of course the olna (scarf). It took four days for them to get tailored and my pants are a little short. It was so much fun shopping for them. We went into town with Bani and Ellen, two ladies that work at the orphanage. They would take us to a shop that had all sorts of fabric that was already made into the shirts and pants they just needed to be tailored. When you go into a store you are suppose to sit on these stools that are set up for anyone who is buying something. We told them that we wanted cotton because it is the coolest material and then they would start throwing down different packages of fabric.
             I bought three, each of them were about 500-600 taka, which is around 8-9 U.S. dollars. After you buy them you take the fabric to the tailor and they make them fit perfectly for you, although I don’t think they did a very good job.
             We went into town (5 in the back seat) and picked the outfits up yesterday and then we got to ride back on a rickshaw van. This is a flat piece of wood that is pulled by a motorcycle.  It was so much fun but at the same time completely terrifying when you see a huge truck coming at you from the other direction and when it passes you it is only a foot away. All the women here are so excited to see us dressed like them. They are telling us that we are real Bangali woman now. Watch out I’m going native!! 

Resting in Jesus

“Rest in God. He is able to keep that which you have committed to Him. If you will leave yourself in His hands, He will bring you off more than a conqueror through Him that has loved you” (Steps to Christ 73).

             I’m going to be honest with you at this moment in time I don’t feel as if I am really needed at Bangla Hope. Since I just arrived I don’t really have a job set up for me (although they are telling me that I will be teaching English and a few other subjects soon). The only thing that is keeping me going is the realization that Jesus put me here for a reason.. whatever that may be.
             When I was leaving for Bangladesh I was worried that my bags that were too heavy might have to be emptied of some of the precious cargo they carried.  I was several pounds over according to my grandpa’s scale and it was stressing me out. My mom and Grandma prayed with me about it and later when I would bring something up about it my mom would simply say “Chantel, you gave it to Jesus. Leave it in His hands.” In turned out that we were actually 4 pounds under!
             Now I am here and I feel overwhelmed and stressed but I have forgotten that I have committed myself to Jesus and now I may rest in Him. Isn’t it amazing that we have a God who cares so much about us.

Just for You Readers

   I have had trouble getting internet and still do not have it on my computer. Therefore I will be posting pictures that go along with the posts later on when I finally figure out how to get internet with a mac computer.

Thanks for reading :)

The First Sabbath

      Today was like a roller coaster of emotions. It started out with a lovely walk where I got to mingle with the village people that literally live right behind my apartment. We then ate a wonderful breakfast and went to visit the Sabbath schools. All of us missionary girls who were suppose to be observing the Sabbath schools and seeing how they worked ended up telling stories in the classes and singing up front. I thought it was bad when Pastor Greg asked me to talk in front of chapel the night before but these people asked me to tell a story a few minutes before they pushed me up front. By the time church rolled around I was to exhausted and the thought of sitting in a stuffy hot building sweating like crazy didn’t sound appealing. During the sermon I had too much time to think since I couldn’t really understand what was being said even though it was translated. I began to feel a little home sick and I wanted to crawl back into my shell of comfort at home. Last Sabbath was such a wonderful day where my mom and sibling came to visit me before I left and now I was sitting on a mat dripping with sweat (I know they say that girls don’t sweat “they glisten” but obviously those girls have not been to Bangladesh). The pastor approached us after church and asked us if we would go to the village Sabbath School at 2:00 and we all hesitantly agreed.
            There was about two hours until we had to leave so we all decided that a Sabbath nap sounded beautiful!  I brushed some bugs off my bed and laid down, I felt like never moving again. I’m not sure if I’ll ever get use to this heat, humidity, or simply just being out of my comfort zone. Prayers began to bubble in my head as I surrendered my unwilling and uncomfortable spirit to the only one who can change my outlook. Just as I was beginning to fall asleep Danny came and rang our doorbell (we didn’t even realize we had a door bell until then) and he told us that it was time to go for a walk in the village. Lauren, Heather, and I stumbled out and threw our olna’s (scarf’s) around our necks. Danny was waiting at the bottom and he popped out and scared Heather and Lauren who were ahead of me. Hearing all this commotion I decided that I would pop out and scare Danny. So I jumped around the corner and yelled “BOO.” He jumped back and began laughing hysterically. At that point I realized that God had renewed my spirit.
            By two we were ready to walk to the other end of the village (I have walked 5 or 6 miles in 96-100 degree weather by this point). The village road is gorgeous though it is raised up high to keep it above the rice fields and lined with trees to give shade to everyone walking along the path. Sabbath school was actually really fun of course we were put on the spot once again and asked to tell the story and come up with a new song (how are we suppose to know what songs they know?). Lauren told the story about Jesus feeding the 5000 and the village kids who are all from hindu and muslim families listened intently to this story that they had probably never heard before. I think next week is my turn to tell a story (does anyone have a suggestion of one I should tell? Hahah).
            God is so amazing. Even though I have been so overwhelmed and cannot focus completely on Him all the time because I am so stinking hot He is still with me every moment. He knows that all of this is hard for me and He will give me the strength to get through this time here in Bangladesh. Thank goodness we have a God who cares soooo deeply for us.