Monday 2/6: Went to UniMart this morning to get some things to take to Lisa and Lanae. I needed a few things too so between the three of us I had a good sized grocery list. There’s definitely more traffic than on a Friday but it wasn’t terrible. Did have to sit in some jams on the way home. Took maybe an hour to get there and then an hour home. Jared had canceled his language class so we didn’t have to feel pressured to be home at a certain time. Layton is learning to patient while we sit in traffic. Emphasis on the learning!!! While we were waiting in traffic I noticed a man on a bike pulling a “flatbed”. Instead of it being stacked with boxes or other cargo, he had his maybe 1 year old child on the back. 🫣😬 I tried to not think of that baby bouncing on that trailer through the Gulsane traffic. The rest of the day was pretty low key, spent time in the courtyard so Layton could ride his bike, made a pan of bars to take along to Golpagonge, laundry, the usual…
Tuesday 2/7: Jared had clinic this morning. Sumita came to clean. She thought it was hilarious that Layton was wearing ornas around the house. I’ve tried to explain to him that only ladies wear them but he still thinks it’s great fun to wear them and then wash them by hand and hang them up to dry. Spent the day packing and taking care of some things before we leave tomorrow morning. Elwoods flew into Dhaka today from India. They were able to get through immigration after quite sometime… we were all so grateful! Their visa situation has been pretty dicey. They came for supper. It was so uncertain whether or not they would be able to stay in Bangladesh due to their India visa that I hadn’t made any plans for supper. So quick whipped up some cornbread and sausage gravy for us all.
Wednesday 2/8:Left the house for Golpagonge at 6:45 am. Josna and Sumita rode with us. Shurov called Jared and said he was sick so he’ll come on the bus when he is feeling better. Kokhon said he would come by bus as well, so hopefully the Dhaka group will all be reunited tomorrow. Layton had fun seeing how many mosques he could see on our way out of Dhaka. I heard him mutter to himself, “thousands and thousands of them.” We were glad we had gotten up early to get through town. Didn’t have to stop even once for a jam!! Which in Dhaka is quite a feat. The drive to Golpagonge is really beautiful. Crossing the Padma Bridge was fun. The air was clear enough we could see the boats, barges and sand drilling rigs. Had to think of all of Carl and Neil’s stories about waiting 6 hours in line for the ferry there before the bridge was built. Now we zoom across! So much to see and observe. One just finally has to focus on the sights along just one side of the road. It never ceases to amaze me how once we are on the “freeway” people are still climbing over the guardrails and trying to dash across the road in between cars and buses. The nurse in me visualizes the trauma which could possibly occur. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the rice patties. Lush and green! Quite a contrast from all the grey dirty cement in Dhaka. Layton could not understand why you would want standing water in a field. Jared told him “Rice likes to have wet feet.” Got to Kelly’s at 9:45am. The road that leads to their house is very narrow. Part brick and part dirt. Barely wide enough for a “mini bus.” Then we met cycles and people walking along the road yet too that all deserve a spot. Kelly’s older children were in school when we got there so Layton and Krista amused themselves. They dug and dug and dug in the dirt. Jared and I just let Layton get filthy… he was having so much fun being with other children AND being able to play in good clean dirt. I wasn’t about to tell him he had to stay clean! Lanae’s housekeeper made us all lunch… chicken curry, pumpkin, rice and dal. The rest of the afternoon we were at Kelly’s. Elwoods came by bus mid afternoon. In the evening we all went to church and had supper there together with some of the Golpagonge members. Due to the size of our group Kelly’s rented a church. It’s a Nazarene church. This one is much bigger than their church building. The “sanctuary” is upstairs and the kitchen and eating area is on the main floor. There is also a school room off to the side. I will not write about the joys of learning to use the squat pot in the restroom. All I will say is… be thankful for western toilets.😂 Before supper the men laid out the carpets on the floor, set up chairs, etc. Supper was fish curry, sobji (with large dal and peas in it), rice and dal. We are used to Josna and Lucky’s dal that is thick. This was very runny! More water than Dal. They poured it out of a tea pitcher. I could see why they gave us plates with high sides. At the end of the meal, you just slurp it out of your plate. Before supper I was standing in the doorway of the kitchen watching the ladies cook. They had a big fire in the back of the kitchen with a massive rice pot on it where they were cooking the rice. Then on a large gas burner they had another huge pot. The pots were so big I think Layton could have sat in them. Off to the side they had a large mound of probably 20 heads of cauliflower and a bunch of cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes and all sorts of sobji. I was intently watching out of sheer amazement and Melissa sidled up to me and said “looks just like the kitchen in the Hesston church doesn’t it?!” We had a good laugh. We are staying at a motel across the road from the church. The other missionaries and members are scattered between several other places.
Thursday 2/9: Trevor’s, Carls and Neil’s came this morning. Kulna is only an hour away so that worked fine for them! We had a loose schedule we attempted to follow today to keep the revival moving. 8:30 breakfast which ended up being more like 9:00 or so. It was Khichuri (rice, Dal, and vegetables all mixed together) with a boiled egg on the side. Very good and not too spicy to eat first thing in the morning. Layton was pretty leery of it because he doesn’t like dal, but there was just enough to make the rice yellow but not all runny. He actually ate some with a bit of convincing. 9:30 we started our church service. Neil had the message on Light and Darkness. The interpreter really put his heart into his job and used lots of expression and hand motions. Every once in a while they would have to rephrase something to make sense. 11:00… cha and biscuits (crackers) and then visits with different members. Carls, Neil’s and then the couple in charge of the post along with the member visited for awhile. Felt kinda strange to sit in on a visit and listen to other people share their hearts. I was thankful that they humbly shared things even though Jared and I were sitting there. 1:00: lunch (chicken curry) and then rest time. (Before church started, Jared and I had observed the “food committee men” out back butchering the chickens.) 4:00… cha and biscuits again and more visits then church service at 5. Carl had the message on hearing and knowing the voice of God. Supper at 7 (fish curry.) After supper Jared had another visit to sit in on so Layton and I came back to our motel room. He was needing some quiet time. I enjoyed visiting with Ang and Judith for awhile while we waited on the men. Neil’s and Carls are staying at the same place as us so we had our visit before we retired for the night.
Friday 2/10: Todays schedule was much the same as yesterdays. Some more members were able to come today. Neil had a sermon on Repentance in the morning, and Carl had a sermon on the Church in the evening. The men continued with the visits in between meals and cha. Had a members meeting this afternoon. “Gol meeting” (circle meeting) we all sat in a circle and whoever felt like sharing could. The decision was made to go forward to Communion tomorrow. They were wondering how we did it in America, if all the members couldn’t attend would that close the door to Communion? Neil explained that it was what everyone felt on their hearts that determined whether or not we could proceed with Communion versus how many were physically present. Had more rice, chicken curry and fish curry! Bangla food is oh so good, but boy eating it all day for 2 days in a row makes one feel pretty fluffy.😂 I tried not to eat so much but my rice:dal ratio was always off. Too much Dal so I added rice to sop it up, then too much rice so I needed more Dal to moisten it. And on and on it went…. Kinda like chips and dip. Layton has been loving cha. He drinks two cups every time. This is cini (sugar) cha (tea).Basically piping hot sweet tea. The first time he drank it was Wednesday evening. Jared and Elwood took him to a cha dokan. Didn’t think to tell him that this cha isn’t strained and that the tea grounds were in the bottom of the cup. He drank it all and soon was hurriedly spitting out mouthfuls of grounds!! Now he carefully sips it.😂He told someone “my one granny makes hot tea and the other Grammy makes cold tea.”
Saturday 2/11: For breakfast we had rice and dal and then alu borta. (Balls of mashed potatoes with onion and then something to add some spice.) Had a members meeting, self expression and then communion this morning. It was a neat experience and we were glad we could be here to partake of it. It was really special to me because one of our Dhaka sisters came up to me after Communion and hugged me and said “I love you!” Had beef curry for lunch. The beef was unusually good. Sometimes mutton here can be tough and lots of fat and bones to pick out. Layton and I went to lay down at the motel for a bit before the 2nd wave of activities hit. We packed up and headed to Kelly’s for the afternoon and evening. Layton couldn’t wait to go back to their place and dig in the dirt!
Sunday 2/12: We left Kellys around 1:45pm. Elwood, Neil, Carl and Tessa all took the bus from Golpagonge to Dhaka and then Jared and I took Melissa, Ang and Judith with us plus all the luggage. Got home around 5:15. We hit Dhaka right when the traffic was starting to pick up for evening rush hour. But we inched along and eventually we were home!💖 I was so thankful Layton could get to play with a bunch of other children for several days.
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