Monday 3/6: Jared had clinic this morning. Saw around 30 patients. He had to set up some guidelines with some that are involved with our work here as they kept asking him for meds for personal use. He told them they could ask once a month for meds just like the patients. He told them we have a budget we have to stick too, so we can’t just give out meds to you every little bit even though you work hard for us and we really appreciate you! Hard to know what to do sometimes. Our employees are our friends, family and colleagues so having to make a new rule is hard. Maybe it’s called “new missionaryitis.” While Jared was gone Layton and I did odd jobs around the house. Cleaned out his bedroom and that sort of thing. Got some popsicles in the freezer… “hot cocoa popsicles.” Basically chocolate pudding and marshmallows layered. Sumita came and cleaned so it was nice having her buzzing around. I think it’s taking her a bit to get used to a little boy that can make some hefty messes. She’s a good sport and laughs and says “moyla moyla!” We try to have him clean his stuff up before she comes. Got the teacher room ready for Miss Kalli when Trevor’s come into Dhaka in a few days and did some laundry. Strawberries are in now. Found it interesting that they are in season the same time as at home! They are so good so we’ve been eating our weight in strawberries and ice cream. They are around 350-400 taka ($3.50-$4.00) for 1 kg. Jared picked me up some more when he went to Farmgate this afternoon. Want to freeze a bunch for smoothies. This afternoon I took Layton out to ride bike like usual and the dokan man flagged me down. A lady from Kulna that Trevor had seen at his clinic had been referred to Islamic Eye Hospital here in Dhaka. She somehow ended up at the guesthouse which is right across the street from his dokan. Not sure how she got there because we never let patients come to our house or the guesthouse. They have to come meet us at the clinic if they are wanting assistance, even if they show up after hours. Anyways I called Jared because the lady was completely clueless as to what she needed. All she had was the referral paper. He ended up taking her to the clinic for the night and then Dr Elizabeth will see her tomorrow morning during clinic and they can make a plan. Usually when they come from Kelly or Trevor’s clinics they know where they are supposed to go or they call Jared ahead of time or family comes with them to help them. But this lady was elderly and showed up all by herself. It seemed like she had no idea what was going on! We were surprised she even made it to Dhaka by herself. Spent the evening at home just being us.
Tuesday 3/7: Clinic day today! Jared was able to get the elderly lady that I talked about yesterday a ride to Islamic Eye Hospital. Layton and I went through the magazines and books to see what sorts of treasures we could find. Oh, the things that collect in a mission house😂 Found at least 50 or more old hearth and homes clear back from 2002. One of them had our cousin’s Jesse’s birth announcement in it! Jesse is in the youth now. Some said “Sheralyn Nikkel” or “Chelle Johnson “ on the front. I kept them all for now, kinda interesting to read through and find new recipes. Gave Layton all the old magazines to cut pictures out of when he gets bored. He found a hunting magazine and was very impressed. Sang tonight with the sisters then went to Hotel Shuktara for supper. We got there right at dusk so it was fun to sit on the 9th story roof where the restaurant is and watch the lights of Dhaka. It’s a Hindu holiday today…. “Holi” (the Festival of Colours) Holi symbolizes the celebration of spring, friendship, family, and the victory of good over evil. They throw colored powder or water at each other. We didn’t see much of that here in Dhaka but Trevor’s said their neighbor kids in Kulna came and dowsed their children good! Wish we could have seen more of it. Sounds like a holiday that could have the potential of getting pretty rowdy based off of what other missionaries have said. Sometimes there are drugs involved to help elevate the party spirit! It’s so intriguing learning about all these holidays.
Wednesday 3/8: Jared had business at the clinic to tend to first thing this morning. Still dealing with the Islamic Eye lady. They ended up telling her to go to a government hospital where it would be much cheaper. Jared didn’t feel like the amount of money he could give her would go very far if she continued to dr at Islamic Eye. It’s a Muslim holiday today so his plans of picking up the audits from the audit office were spoiled. This morning when we were riding bike (Let’s make this clear… Layton rides, I waddle along behind to ensure his safety😂) we noticed some painters had their long bamboo ladder hanging down the side of our building! The 10 bamboo “steps” or “rungs” are maybe 5 feet long and then tied to a rope at evenly spaced intervals maybe 4 feet apart. The ropes are tied to two gigantic sand bags that are up on the roof. The men were climbing up and down that ladder like a bunch of monkeys. We stood on the veranda for awhile and watched them! Looked like today they were just scraping the outside. Curious to see how they will paint it. Usually they paint the verandas all one color and the rest a contrasting color. Then in our backyard by the mango trees a group of men have a large metal tripod set up with a rope and pulley system. They have a heavy cement block on the rope and then 4 men heave and pull up and down and use the block to pound their pipes down into the ground. We think they are trying to dig a well or something. They’ve been moving the apparatus to different parts of the backyard and repeating the process. They’ve been cleaning up down there the past while… tore down an old building, burned many piles of leaves… so who knows what will end up back there! Went to the clinic for lunch… we were starving! There’s nothing as good as a big plate of chicken curry, rice and sobji that’s topped with dal when your ravenous. Josna’s dal is perfection. Not too thick and not too runny. Layton is doing better with eating the vegetables. I realized he wasn’t eating them because they were “mixed up”🫣 So I told him what type of veggies were in there and then he ate it! Silly boy. The tumeric makes it all look yellow for sure potatoes, cauliflower, papaya, etc so it does look all the same. Josna always gets a big smile on her face when Layton asks for third helpings on the food! Didn’t do much in the afternoon. Trevor’s came to town to drop off their company. After they were done at the airport, we went over to the guesthouse and I helped Lisa and Miss Kalli make strawberry jam. That was a lot of fun! Jared and Trevor went to the new Pizza Hut that’s about a 15 minute walk from our apartment and got pizza and wings for supper. The pizza looked and smelled just like at home. 🥰 Trevor’s and Kelly’s go there a lot when they are here but we hadn’t tried it yet. We stayed late and visited. It feels good to talk about adjustments and emotions with others that are going through them too. We are thankful we are here.
Thursday 3/8: Jared spent the morning and afternoon running errands… auditors office, bank, buying milk for the clinic, etc. Shurov came for his usual Thursday afternoon talk and sweet tea fix. He always hopes I have “something homemade” on hand too. I don’t always then he has to have boughten cookies with his tea… On a different note… sometimes I wonder if I should be doing more “for the gospels sake.” It feels like I keep house and take care of things just like at home. Seems like Jared is the one that is out and about more amongst the people and runs the clinic. We can’t really go around passing out tracts etc here. Our clinic is our outreach. Carl and Neil encouraged me to just be friendly with the people I do come in contact with and make friends with the other ladies in these apartment buildings. So I’ve been doing my best. Saying the few simple things I know to the moyla lady, the moms at the clinic and the moms I see walking their children back here to our apartment. It’s been giving me a sense of fulfillment for which I am thankful. For so many years I’ve been a nurse and that gave me fulfillment so not doing that now has been more of an adjustment than I thought it would be! I have really enjoyed being able to be more of a present mama since I’m not working.
Friday 3/9: Church today… stayed for quite awhile afterwards. Layton sat and colored in the kitchen and Josna and Sumita joined him and wanted to color too. They tried to teach him the name of the colors in Bangla. It was fun sitting there and talking to them. Or trying to anyways! Miriam was telling me that she had taken a 3 piece to the tailor to get sewed. She told him she wanted it loose fitting. But when she picked it up it was tight around the waist and flared out at the bottom. She concluded the story with “man has no brains.” 😂 it’s fun to laugh with them! Went to Lola’s and UniMart. After some good naps, Jared went to the clinic to get some things for the two patients that were there. Spent the evening just relaxing.
Saturday 3/11: As soon as we got up I raced (waddled) around the house and got things tidied up before Sumita came to clean. In the evenings my energy level is comparable to that of a sloth so I just let the mess go after supper. Layton did a great job of helping. Jared went to the clinic for abit to take care of some things and then headed to Computer City to buy a new printer. We were hoping this printer would last awhile yet but it completely gave up the ghost. So he’s been having to go to the printshop to get his papers printed. I think Davey bought this printer so it is a bit aged.😂 When he came home Layton was beside himself with excitement with watching Jared hook the thing up. You know… cords to plug in, buttons that light up, wires to connect… all the things that he loves.
Sunday 3/12: Clinic day… The painters were busy scraping and washing in front of our apartment this morning so that provided some entertainment. How they don’t fall off their bamboo rope ladder is beyond me. This morning when Layton and I were out for our morning bike ride one of the drivers was all excited. A tiny “meow meow” had climbed up inside his car and fallen out. He thought I should take it to my house, I briefly considered it but it was so small I would have had to give it a bottle or something. Wasn’t sure I should start that up and become the apartment cat caretaker. This afternoon Jared got me 4 kg strawberries when he went to run errands for the clinic. Got them all cleaned and cut up and froze for smoothies. Otherwise a normal rest of the day.
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