June 19-25, 2023

 Monday 6/19: Kelly’s and Trevor’s left Dhaka this morning and headed to Mallumgaut and Cox’s Bazaar. They invited us to go along but we weren’t sure about having Shania out on the beach at Cox’s Bazaar in the heat and sun all day. They are going to be down there for several days. Another reason we didn’t go was its our turn to go to Kishorganj to see Michael and Monica. We wanted to go before Doyle’s come into Dhaka. Maybe next year us and Trevor’s or Doyle’s can go to the beach! It’s a 8 hour drive from Dhaka there. That’s where there is an American hospital. When we first came we were originally going to travel down there to have Shania. They were unable to get a visa for an expat American OB doctor so we stayed here and went to Square Hospital. (Which we were very happy with!) Kelly’s had Sally there so they wanted to go back one more time before they leave. We try to always have one couple on the field that knows the contacts and Nurse Mary there at the hospital. Just in case an emergency happens and one of us needs to go down there for care. It sounds like a really neat place! Anyways… our day was pretty uneventful. Jared had clinic. He was met by a happy Josna because they caught two mice overnight in the mice traps he had given them! The mice were starting to eat holes in their mattresses so hopefully these scoundrels were the culprits. Shania wanted to eat and be held all day so mama was quite weary by nightfall. 

Tuesday 6/20 : Jared had clinic… Layton and I worked on laundry and getting things around for our trip this week. We are getting good at packing! We’ve learned to always take towels and washcloths with us whenever we stay at a motel for the night here. Often they only have 1 towel available. We also take along pillows and blankets because sometimes the beds just have sheets. Had a beautiful rain for awhile in the afternoon. It really cooled things down so opened the windows to cool off the apartment. It was nice to wear dry clothes for a change instead of being so wet from sweat. These cool moments are sure savored! Singing at the clinic was as enjoyable. After we got home we got the sobering news that Casper and Janalee’s (Jared’s sister) baby girl Eden Rose had went to Heaven during labor. The rest of the evening was quiet and with a “pit in your stomach” type of feeling. 

Wednesday 6/21: Got up and got ready to leave. Our hearts and minds were in Carrot River with Casper’s and their angel baby.💗 But we felt like we should still go ahead and go to Kishorganj and see Michaels. Layton’s enthusiasm kept me going. He was ready to leave by 9:00 AM!😃 He loves to travel. His favorite thing is the motel. (When we were still at home he would often say “mom can we go to a motel again?”) He said “Mom just think of all the sights we are going to see!” Then after we had been on the road awhile he said “I just have never seen such beautiful sights!”😂 bless his heart💙 the drive went good! Drove by the airport, it was interesting to see how much had gotten done there on the new terminal since we came! Saw parts of Dhaka we hadn’t been to before. Words just fail me to try and describe all a person sees. It’s just continuous ebbing and flowing of people… Sometimes we weren’t sure if we were on the right road or even headed in the right direction but we soldiered on. So much road construction in Dhaka all over. Once we got out of Dhaka everything was so lush and green! It looked like PA… winding curves, so many trees… went by a big nursery that had thousands of potted plants. Bright colored flowers… Once we got closer to Kishorganj the road took quite a turn. Some was paved some wasn’t… huge potholes filled with water since it was raining. Wasn’t sure if the oil pan was coming or going as we lurched and banged through the potholes. Good thing our van is slightly lifted. Now I know why when we told Kelly we were coming to see Michaels he smirked and said “that will be a fun drive.” (Never a good sign!😂) The roads in Kishorganj are very narrow and barely two lanes. They are dirt and most often lots of trash on the sides. Lots of cows wondering down the roads some just meandering along and some eating the garbage. The cows look much more healthy than the ones we see here in Dhaka! A van our size and a CNG can squeak by with a few inches to spare. Parking was an awful hassle.  The hotel we stayed at had a parking garage but it was full. We didn’t understand the gentlemen at the top and so we drove down a very steep ramp to see a total of three parking spaces which were full. So Jared stuck it in reverse and barely made it back up the steep ramp. He told me later he didn’t think we would make it back up to the top. I sat there and prayed mightily that we would make it back up the ramp. We finally called Michael and asked him where we were supposed to park. He came and hopped in with us and we just parked the van at their place. Later on him and Jared found a better location to park at. The hotel owner let us park in his courtyard! As soon as we got to Michaels, Monica (his wife) made us cha and biscuits. Michael used to be a member and Monica and Marcie are currently members. We met Steven (Michaels brother) Steven’s wife (Lucky), Franklin, Happy and daughter Christiana. (Michael’s son and family) and Michael’s mother. They were all really friendly. Michael talks good English so it was nice to be able to converse with him easily. Marcie (Michaels daughter) is in nursing school. She was excited to hear that we were both nurses. She asked me tons of questions… how many courses did I take? How many years did it take? She showed me her books and notes. It was really enjoyable. The old grandma of the bunch was laying on the bed where we were all sitting. All of a sudden she sat up and peered at me and said “madam do you like our country?” I said “yes I think it’s beautiful!” She smiled and plopped back down and went back to sleep. Around 7:30 Monica fed us all chicken curry, rice and okra. It was good! I told her that Chelle didi missed her cooking and that sure made her smile.😃 Layton wouldn’t eat so later when we got back to the motel I made him a PB and J. I’m learning here to always bring something for him to eat later since he won’t eat if we aren’t at home. (Not sure how to handle this problem. He did this at home too.) Anyways we came back to the motel around 8. Shania was crying over every strange noise. There is a mosque right beside Michael’s apartment and when the prayer call sounded with great volume she just lost it. As soon as we came back to the motel she was happy as can be. The motel room was very nice! White walls, white tiled floors, two beds, AC… 

Thursday 6/22: Around 9 we headed over to Michael’s for breakfast. They live in a two story cement house. Open windows with metal grates over them. It is really nice! Each family has their own room. For breakfast we had ruti (type of tortillas), fried eggs and fried potatoes. The potatoes were slivered with onions and kaj morich in them with a-bit of turmeric and salt. After breakfast Jared had devotions. Afterwards Jared Layton and Michael went and saw where the old mission was here in Kishorganj and then stopped to talk to some of Michael’s friends. I stayed at the house with Shania and enjoyed visiting with Marcie and Monica. Went and sat down in their kitchen for quite awhile and watched them chop up their vegetables and things for lunch. Lunch was chicken curry with chichinga, green beans and potatoes. Michael and Jared visited quite awhile once they were back at the house. Since Michael’s were the first members here in Bangladesh they know missionaries from way way back! Very interesting to hear about. He told us about one missionary that had come here had taken a rickshaw all apart and taken it home.😀  After lunch we went back to our motel to rest for several hours. I was thankful we were able to have some alone time for awhile. I needed some time to just be in a quiet place to kinda let my brain rest after all the things that have happened this week. After naps we went back to Michael’s. Layton just loved playing with their granddaughter Christiania. He couldn’t wait until she got out of school. I was proud of him. It used to be that when we went somewhere new here he would hang onto my skirt and cry and not let me out of his sight. He played and played this morning and would occasionally come and find me to see where I was but there was no tears and no anxiety!!! Around 7 we went back. I sat in the kitchen with all the ladies while they made egg curry. I helped Monica peel the eggs and potatoes. After supper the majority of Michael’s family all came upstairs and we had a church service. Sang a few songs and then Jared had some thoughts. He encouraged them to get to know Jesus and if they felt like they already knew Him then to stay with Him. Before the closing prayer Jared asked them if they had any prayer requests. (Something we always do in our services). It impressed me what they asked for. Michael wanted prayers that his family could stay healthy, Monica wanted prayers for the pain in her right side, Steven said “boss, you remember I told you that I want to build my own house? Can you pray that I could?”  So Jared prayed and included the requests. It was really special. We told them bye. They were so appreciative and happy that we had come to see them. Jared told them how much we enjoyed being with them and Franklin said “it made us happy to have you here.” We assured them that we would come back and see them again! Jared took the children and I back to our motel. Then him and Michael went to see one of Michael’s Hindu friends. He runs a medical supply dokan. Even though this gentlemen was Hindu he still wanted Jared to pray with him. Found that very interesting! The guy was so enthused to see Jared coming to see him. One thing we found interesting was all the stares we got when we would be out and about in Kishorganj. We get stared at too in Dhaka but it was a whole new level in the village. I saw one man driving an easy bike. He stared the whole time he went past us then pulled his rig off to the side of the road and turned around and stared some more.😂 

Friday 6/23: We left from Kishorganj around 9 and didn’t stop until we were back in Dhaka at 1. Noticed many loads of cattle on the back of little pickup trucks coming into Dhaka. We wondered if they will all be sold for Eid? Mostly Brahmans… Wish my brother Clarke could see the cow hauling. He would think his red stock trailer was just pretty spiffy.😂 Traffic in Dhaka was busy but not jammed up. Layton made himself a bed in the back of the van with pillows and blankets and was happy to be back there. Usually I make him wear a seatbelt just like at home much to his displeasure. Shania was pleased to be held by mama the whole trip home. She’s been more fussy than usual lately. Just chews and chews on her wee thumb. Is she teething already?! Finally started giving her some Tylenol to help her settle some! Was so good to be home again. When we travel through the streets teaming with honking buses it always gives us a new appreciation for our quiet Siza Court! Came home and had lunch then we all napped for quite awhile. For some reason we were exhausted. Bless Sumita’s sweet heart, she had put away all the dishes I had piled on the drain board and folded all the laundry that I had left on the veranda. I did not expect her to do all that for me while we were gone!  I started in on all the laundry that had accumulated. Jared started working on paperwork to renew Kelly’s work permit. Even though they leave in 2 months and it’s highly unlikely he will get them, he still has to attempt to renew it. Just in the odd event they would go through then we don’t have to pay the massive exit visa fees. 

Saturday 6/24: Sumita came to clean and Lucky came to cook. Right when Lucky came in the door Shania was crying because I was dealing with Layton right then. Lucky picked up “Sania” and boy did Shania give her some big grins! These two ladies are becoming my “near and dears.” Sumita wanted to hear all about how Michael’s were. Jared went over to the guesthouse and checked on Trevor’s and Kelly’s since they were ill with various maladies after getting back from the coast. Layton was in tears that he couldn’t play with them but I told him we did not need to be getting bad colds, diarrhea and fevers from them. Plus one of Trevor’s girls had lice last week and we don’t need that either.😂 Had church this evening. When we walked out the gate to leave, the guard and caretaker said “BOSS! BOSS!” They were all excited that Eid is this week. They told us that will would soon be “onek goru” (many cows) in the courtyard. Shurov wasn’t able to come so didn’t have an interpreter. Jared read about Job and talked about patience. He couldn’t find what the Bangla name for Job was so that Sumita could read the verses out loud so out came google translate. Miriam came half way through the service so we did some extra singing afterwards. After the service Jared got some milk out for a patient. On the way home we noticed that in the apartment complex close to ours they had 10 goats tied up in the courtyard! The paper keeps saying how the cows for Eid are so expensive this year so Jared wonders if people will rather buy goats instead? In the evening Jared kept working on papers for Kelly’s. 

Sunday 6/25: Hustled and bustled this morning to get some things done before we left for the US Embassy. Since traffic is so busy now before Eid we left at 11:30 to give ourselves plenty of time to get to the Embassy for our 1:15 appointment. We got to UniMart to park the van and then took a rickshaw to the embassy. He wanted 500 taka and then dumped us off half way to where we were going! Oh the joys of white skin.😂 It wasn’t terribly hot so we just walked the rest of the way. Walked by Germany, Italy, France, Germany, and Canada Embassies. They were all plain brick buildings but Saudi Arabia’s Embassy was next level fancy!! We had to leave our phone and keys in a locker, thankfully they let us bring in Shania’s bottle. The website made it sound like nothing could come in. We weren’t sure how particular they were about bringing things in. The people there were really nice. Most of them were Bengalis but the gentleman that helped us was white and talked American English. I could have hugged his neck. Jared said it was so nice to just be able to talk and not have to first stop and think how to explain what we needed. Sounded like he was from New York. In three weeks we should get Shania’s passport and born abroad papers. Stopped at Chefs Table for some ice cream and then headed home. The traffic was awful. Took us 1.5 hours to get home from UniMart. Miriam said that a lot of people will be leaving Dhaka today to go to their villages for Eid. Definitely looked like that was happening! Our friend Natun was going to come over this evening but he messaged and said he was stuck in traffic and hadn’t moved at all for quite awhile! So hopefully he can come tomorrow… 

June 12-18, 2023

 Monday 6/12: Got news this morning that Jays had a baby girl! I think it’s neat that now at Hesston there’s two girl babies that will be Shania’s age. When Layton was born several other ladies that were due close to the same time had boys too! Anyways… When Sumita came to clean this morning her allergies were flared up. She went to my pantry and got a raw onion and ate it to try and unstuff her nose. Oh we had a good laugh together as she shuddered at the awful taste! I told her I was going to have Jared do that the next time his allergies are bad.😂 It rained this morning. A downpour for quite awhile. Layton was very sad he couldn’t ride bike. I rummaged in my bored box and pulled out some slime I had bought at UniMart. I keep random little things in my bored box for when he’s bored or needing a change of scenery. He LOVED the slime and played an played with it. Had a quiet afternoon. Jared helped me cut up all the mangos I had gotten last week for the freezer. After supper Jared worked on some CEUs to renew his Kansas nursing license. People have asked if we use our nursing skills here at the clinic. The answer is no we do not. We don’t have Bangladesh nursing licenses. Our Dr Elizabeth does all the assessing and treating at the clinic. The people that come to the clinic usually don’t need any sort of urgent care or dressings. 

Tuesday 6/13: Jared had around 20 patients at the clinic today. The RO system at the clinic has been having problems. Keeps getting holes in the tubing. He replaced it two weeks ago and now there’s another hole! He is suspicious it’s mice. One of the sisters said during the night she felt something nibbling on her toes. So needless to say, after lunch Jared went to Farmgate in search of mousetraps. Had singing this afternoon with the sisters. The last few times they’ve been teaching us Sunday school songs from their childhood. It’s been really fun learning them! I wish Layton was more enthused about singing them but he could care less. I’ve started taking along things for him to do while we sing. He gets awfully bored otherwise. After singing was over, Jared had some matters to tend to with a patient. Kelly had sent a eye patient from Golpaganj that needed some financial assistance for testing. (Kelly and Trevor send their

patients to Dhaka if they have done everything they can to help them.) Went to Hotel Shuktara at Farmgate for supper. Hadn’t been there in months! The waiter said “I haven’t seen you for quite some time!” Jared told him we had a baby that’s why! We got egg drop soup, garlic ginger prawns and spring rolls. Layton has taken a real liking to egg drop soup. The view is always amazing from the restaurant since it’s 9 stories up. Some smog this evening but not terrible. Walked home.. When we got home our neighbor man wanted to visit for awhile. His children are the ones that Layton plays with. He knows very good English. His oldest daughter is studying abroad in Australia. He was enthused because he got a visa for him and his family to move to the states to Mississippi so his children can get a better education. He was in the Bangladesh army for 17 years and now is a higher up in a bank close by. 

Wednesday 6/14: Jared let me sleep in as during the night the two hoodlums needed me lots. Sometimes I almost wonder if it’s even worth it to sleep in. I get up and everyone is out of sorts because mama hasn’t been up before hand making sure everyone’s morning is off to a good start. You know the little details… the precise amount of sugar a 6 year old likes in his cornflakes, just how Shania likes to be wrapped tight but not too tight so that she can still find her thumb… Daddy manages these things very well in fact just as well if not better than mama but for some reason MAMA is the special one! Went to the clinic for lunch. Chicken curry and then the vegetable mixture had okra, carrots and potatoes in it today. On the way there our rickshaw’s tire got caught in the drain grate on the street. Layton and I flew off and thankfully Jared and Shania stayed on! Layton hit his head good but he was fine after he collected his wits. That is why Jared always holds Shania when we are riding on one! The driver felt so bad and we assured him we were all just fine. Payed him good so he wouldn’t feel so bad. It was so cute he put his hands around Layton’s face after he was back in the rickshaw and in English said “I am so sorry!” While we were eating Miriam and the sisters told us what to expect at the next Eid. Muslims have two Eids… the first one was in March and now the second one is the end of June. The 2nd one is considered the “sacrificial Eid.” Sounds like we should have plenty to watch. Apparently they slaughter live animals right here in Siza Court. Stay tuned…. 🤢 Sumita and Josna weren’t too happy with one of the patient’s mother. She was chewing pawn (a big green leaf) inside the clinic and spitting it all over the floor. The pawn makes a red juice which stains their teeth and lips. We often see red puddles of pawn spit on the street and sidewalk when we are out walking. It’s a big no no for people to chew inside the clinic. I guess this lady took the bucket that the sisters have in the hallway and took it in the bathroom and spit in it too. Jared and I had to stifle our laughter at how underlying disgusted Josna and Sumita were by it all. They take great pride in how clean the clinic is so this was a horrible occurrence.😂 they took her pawn away and hid it until she leaves. 

Thursday 6/15: This morning people were in and out. Sumita came to clean, Jon came to get Trevor’s passports to get their work permit finished up, the caretaker came to get money for the electric bill, etc. Jared and Layton went to the guesthouse to change the water filters on the RO system. We are very diligent at changing the filters. If they go too long without being changed they don’t work well and we don’t want to be getting sick from bad water. Something Jared and I are paranoid about. We take our own water everywhere.   The rest of the day we stayed indoors under the fans. Layton was the only one brave enough to go ride bike in the heat with his friends. Until he had a accident. After supper Layton said “mom, I want to message my friends.” This is the first time he has asked to do that since we came. He had quite a list… Marcie, Kobe, Silas and Nixon, Stacey (his speech teacher at Goessel), Amber, Shantel and Raelynn! 

Friday 6/16: We changed our church services to Saturdays at 4:30 pm to see if this better accommodates our brother Shurov and his situation. So no church today. Went to Aarongs and got some bigger dresses for Shania. Then went to Farmhouse Burger for lunch and then to UniMart for some groceries. Layton played with one of his friends in the evening. He’s getting quite an assortment of people to play with. I have thanked God so many times for them all. A child just simply needs other children to play with. It feels something in them that playing with mom and dad doesn’t. 

Saturday 6/17: Sumita came to clean, and Lucky came to cook! Lucky told me that at her other cooking job that she has been so hot while she cooks that she can wring sweat out of her orna. Thankfully now the electricity has been staying on since the one power plant got coal in, so I made sure she had the kitchen fan blowing on her while she cooked today. She made sweet and sour chicken, okra, then a mixture of potatoes, carrots and green beans, and then fried pumpkin. Earlier in the morning, I had went and bought a significant pile of vegetables to eat throughout the next week. I told Lucky to make her yummy okra and pumpkin so she did but she also used up all the other vegetables too! Oh well, I can always get more! She loves to try new things with what I have on hand. She rummages through the fridge, freezer and pantry and concocts quite the assortment of things! At 4:30 we had church. Shurov wasn’t able to come until 5. Was worried he wasn’t going to show up. He always get a a ride on one of the pickups to come to church and he had to wait 30 minutes for one as the streets were quite busy. He said “now I know why we have church on Fridays!” His father has said he can keep coming to church as long as we don’t have services on Fridays. Jared had some thoughts on how God can use our small amount of faith and multiply it into something bigger. He always worried that his thoughts out scattered. I tell him I think he does fine. Being able to only say a sentence at a time then having it interpreted would really rattle me too! Came home and made mango smoothies for supper. After Lucky’s big meals no one feels like eating. Seems like the rice just expands and expands in one’s stomach. 

Sunday 6/18: Jared had clinic. It was a quiet morning at home for the children and I. Layton and I played some games then he wanted to be teacher and play school. He made me a worksheet and I had to practice my numbers from 1-5.😂 so at least I have learned something while we are here! A cloudy morning… with some rain. Shania napped off and on seemed like she was feeling kinda lazy! Jared and I have noticed the past week or so that it looks like her hair is starting to have quite a red tint to it! Wonder if it will be auburn like Janalee’s? She is starting to recognize the three of us and just grins away and screeches when she sees us. Yesterday I had her sitting on my lap while we ate lunch and she got so excited! Kicked her little legs like crazy and waved her arms. Lucky was pretty sure it meant that she wanted some rice! She told me when she is 6 months old to mash up pumpkin and potatoes to feed her. This evening the AC technician was at the guesthouse to fix the old AC unit. Jared went over there and called and said “Kelly’s are here you should come over!” I totally forgot they were coming into town, so that was a neat surprise! 

“Story time with Grandma” (I miss you Penner!) This little girl was the recipient of Jamesport’s Bible School Money. Jared wrote this up so thought I’d share! 

Johana is an 8 year old girl that lives with her family in a cement apartment building in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Her father and mother own a small clothing business.

One day in December of 2022, Johana was playing outside in the rain. Nearby where she was playing, a pole was leaned up against an electrified power line. With the wet conditions, the pole became electrified and Johana accidentally touched it with her right arm. She was shocked by the electricity and got severe burns on her right arm. Her family rushed her to the hospital, where she stayed for about a month. After multiple skin grafts and surgical attempts to save her arm, it was decided that her right arm would have to be amputated about 3 inches below the elbow.

She has fought multiple infections and is now on daily antibiotic doses that cost about $10 USD per dose. Since December 2022, her family has racked up medical bills in excess of $7,000 USD. (This may not sound like a lot to Americans, but to Bangladeshis this amount can appear to be a large sum of money. The average worker in Bangladesh earns about $3,000 USD per year and many earn significantly less than that!) Her mother and father have had to go into debt to pay the medical bills.

As of May 2023, she has limited movement in her right elbow, but it is hoped that she will slowly regain strength in the remaining part of her arm. Once she regains enough strength, she will need an artificial arm or prosthesis.

Accidents like this are devastating to Bangladeshi families. Even though Johana is an otherwise normal little girl, this accident may prevent her from getting married or finding a good job when she comes of age. 

June 5-11, 2023

 Monday 6/5: This morning the paper said Dhaka government primary schools are canceled this week due to the heat. There is so much about power outages in the paper and the lack of fuel and coal. We don’t think an hour several times a day is that bad. Jon says though before the war in Ukraine Dhaka very seldom lost power. So when you compare it to that it has definitely increased! It was 95* in our apartment yesterday afternoon so I am glad the outages aren’t much more than an hour at a time. Layton and Shania nap with a fan blowing on them. It amazes me how when we are out and about how many people I see walking barefoot on all this hot cement! Doesn’t look like it bothers them that the ground is so hot. They must have very calloused feet. Some have asked if we have AC why we don’t run it all day when it’s so hot. These cement buildings aren’t insulated and it would be cost prohibitive to keep an apartment this size cool all day. So we just run them at night and shut our bedroom doors so that the cool air stays in. If Jared is doing paperwork in the afternoons he turns it on for awhile otherwise the fans blow his papers all over the place or he sticks to the chair from all the sweat. Sumita came and cleaned today. She cleaned the windows in Layton’s playroom within an inch of their lives. She put on a mask and wrapped her head all up in a red orna so that she wouldn’t get dusty and so her allergies wouldn’t flare up. Then she pulled down all the curtains and dumped them by the washer and said “onek moyla, poriskar lagbe didi!” (They are very dirty and need to be washed, sister) Tomorrow she is coming to wash all the windows in the teachers room. This apartment will be clean whether it wants to be or not. In the afternoon we were all a bunch of grumps for various reasons. I made everyone coke floats and then we all had some alone time in our respective rooms. When we are together all the time sometimes we just all need some space to breathe our own air! 😂 Paninna stopped in and picked up some jars for mango jelly. Around 2100 the car mechanic brought Elwood’s Scorpio back to the flat. Jared had him take it for a service and tire repair. Now Jared hopes to get it sold. It’s a white elephant vehicle here in Dhaka so hoping we can get a decent price for it. Selling a vehicle as a NGO here takes jumping through some hoops. You can’t just put a for sale sign in the window and park it by the road like you do at home. 

Tuesday 6/6: Sumita barely made it here to clean today. I thought she was going to have a heatstroke with as rough as she looked when she came in the door. As soon as she got here I made her sit in front of the fan and gave her water to drink. The air feels like pudding today. Very humid. But there’s hope! It’s suppose to cool off next week into the 90s and there’s high chances of rain for then as well. We shall endure!🤗 Made honey mustard chicken wraps for lunch. Didn’t feel like turning on the oven to bake something. Lanae wonders what character trait this heat is trying to teach us?! I thought maybe endurance.😂 they say your first summer here it seems pretty rough and then the next summer you don’t sweat quite as bad. Shania was fussy today. Only wanted mama to hold her and wouldn’t sleep unless she was laying on my chest. So that’s what I did! Life is short… soon she won’t want to hold still ever so I enjoy this sitting and holding her while she sleeps even if the timing is somewhat inconvenient at times! Layton on the other hand tends to have some jealousy when this occurs! I said “I did this for you when you were a baby too!” That settles it. Jared had clinic today. Only had 6 patients and then the power went out so they closed shop early. Sumita told me that she didn’t want to sing this evening if the power was off at the clinic, so we called right before it was time to leave. Power was on so off we went . We stopped and bought them some mangos and apples to cheer them up. (This heat and the current load sharing makes them anxious it seems like.) They don’t eat any fruit unless we buy it for them. Fruit is sort of a rich man’s food here. Often times if there aren’t patients at the clinic they won’t eat much meat either. After singing we stayed for awhile and waited for Tanvir to deliver the milk. The walk home was enjoyable! After the sun goes behind the apartments and it’s dusk it’s not too bad outside. 

Wednesday 6/7: Caught up on laundry. Didn’t get much of it done yesterday since the power kept going off. Think it went off 4 times at least, 3 of those for an hour. At 1 we got a rickshaw and headed to the clinic. Typically we walk there but with the heat this week we take a rickshaw so that Shania isn’t in the heat for too long. 115* real feel today… Jared and I pay the rickshaw drivers a little extra just because we really appreciate them hauling us around in this heat. They work hard that’s for sure. Their shirts are sopping wet from sweat on these morbidly hot days. Lunch at the clinic was amazing! Fried fish, egg curry, vegetable mixture, rice and dal. Her vegetable mixture is never the same. I always like to guess what’s in it. Today was snake gourd, carrots and something else that I couldn’t tell what it was. Josna was especially pleased because Jared took 2 eggs (“Duane boss ate three!”) and Layton liked the fish. His comment was “do these things (fish) have flippers to swim with like sharks?”😂 Whenever Shania cries during lunch all three ladies immediately say “Shania bhat lagbe?” (Does Shania need rice?) They think it’s hilarious. When Josna makes fish for lunch it’s always a topic of discussion about how many kg the fish weighed. This one was 3 kg. I told them Shania weighs 4.5 kg so they found that humorous. For a few weeks we’ve been kinda burned out on so much rice and spice but now we don’t mind it again! We eat pretty light bland meals the rest of the week to make room for the rice and spice the other 2 days of the week. While we were there a patient fromKishorganj came. Her daughter has some health issues. They needed milk so Jared gave them 12 bags. The lady was wearing a full burka with gloves. When the lady wasn’t listening I asked Josna if that black burka outfit wasn’t awfully hot? She laughed and shook her head and said “Muslim burca onek gorom!!!” (Very hot!) The fabric doesn’t look to be very thick but all black has got to be stifling. This lady only had her eyes showing. I almost felt naked beside her in my dress and orna! Got home and the power was off. We immediately shed any unnecessary clothing items and took naps. Later in the evening our neighbor across the hallway brought us some mangos! I need to take her something now in return. 

Thursday 6/8: Trevor’s came into Dhaka last night sometime! Jared needed to have a visit this evening with someone and it was felt it would be best to have more than one brother in on the visit. Trevor needed work done on their van anyway so they came into town for moral support and then Kelly came in by bus. In the morning I made granola and brownies before it got too hot. Trevor and Jared went and bought a new AC for the guesthouse. Some of these ACs are still the ones that Carl put in years ago! (Thank you Carl!) We had it serviced and cleaned out awhile ago put it still lacks luster. Doyle’s will be staying there for a few weeks when they first come to Dhaka so it is prudent to get the dears a good AC as the heat might be a slight change from Nova Scotia weather. Sumita came to clean like usual. Her and Layton spent time writing their names on paper. Layton wrote his and then she wrote hers in Bangla. I complimented Layton on how neat he had wrote his name. With him being a lefty it has been hard for him to write his name straight on the lines. Then with all the drama only a 6 year old can muster Layton said “it’s only taken me 10 years to learn how to do that!” In the afternoon we had a small rain shower and then the most delicious cool breeze came up. Jared and I just stood on the veranda and savored the coolness. It was truly amazing! I will never complain about wind ever again🤭 I told the guard how thankful I was for the “thanda batash” (cold wind) and he clapped his hands and smiled like only he can smile and “Kube bhalo batash!” Meanwhile while we were enjoying the breeze, one of the drivers was trying to teach a lady how to drive down in the courtyard. You very very seldom see ladies driving here. One day we saw a lady driving a cycle and that was really unusual. Out in the village you pretty much never see a lady driving. The women in Dhaka overtime are slowly becoming more “liberated.” The children and I went over to the guesthouse for the evening with Lisa and her kiddos while the men had their visit. We got pizza and then had the brownies I made earlier. Sent some to the men too for them to eat during their visit. Layton played and played. When we first came it totally overwhelmed him to play with the other children and now he just plays with his whole heart. Makes me so happy to see! The longer we are here the less overwhelmed he is by things. It is a relief to me. We’ve had to use a lot of tough love with him to help him overcome some of his fears and anxieties and it seems to be effective. He’s also becoming more independent and isn’t constantly wanting to be right beside me all the time. Kylie, Brock and Layton had the ripsticks out and were sitting on them and would zip down the parking garage ramp! The men stayed up late talking. I don’t mind when they do that, just glad that Jared can visit with other men. The children and I hit the hay. Kelly spent the night here at our apartment. 

Friday 6/9: Kelly left at 5 this morning and took the Dhaka cycle back to Golpaganj and then Trevor will pick it up from there and take it to Kulna. On the way to church this morning it was really muggy. Let’s just say that the humidity amplifies the odor coming from the trash wagons. Church was full this morning. The sisters, Miriam, Lucky, Trevor’s and us. A book seller and his wife came to the service too in hopes that we would buy some of their books. Later the wife asked Miriam if we could give her money to help her daughter get through school. Miriam told her we only give out money to the sick and to people needing operations. Seems like our white skin makes people think that we dish out the taka. After church we tried to tell the children “act as though you were in church at home.” This seemed to have little effect on the wall climbing and gate swinging. Honestly if we come home with children that act like savages we really did try to keep some semblance of rules and discipline while we were gone! Trying to remind your children how to act in church “like at home” seems strange though because there is no comparison between the two. Walked home from church in the rain. Soon after we got home it turned into a downpour. It was amazing! Coolness followed. The one man that lives in the apartments near by was out in the courtyard just walking back and forth back and forth enjoying the rain! On the way to the restaurant when we were going up the flyover a bunch of little boys had foam blocks and were putting them on the side of the road watching them float down the stream. Another guy was washing his hair under the rain pouring off a roof. A bunch of rickshaw drivers parked their bikes on the edge of the streets where the puddles were and were washing their rickshaws. Of course the cycles stop and park under any bridge they can find to take cover from the elements. This slows traffic and then causes jams! It’s fun seeing how the rain makes people so happy. I wonder if they will still be as enthused about the rain in a few months from now? The rickshaw drivers keep plastic under the seats to put over your laps when it rains. One of the drivers had a little head umbrella on his head. Us and Trevor’s went to Farmhouse Burger. It’s a real favorite of ours. Their burgers are interesting. One is a BBQ burger with a fried egg on top of the patty, another one has barbacoa beef and a crisp corn tortilla on top of the patty with a spicy dipping sauce. Their fries have Parmesan cheese and parsley on top.  Layton thought it was cold and I said you better enjoy the reprieve for the few hours that it’s cooler! By everning it was 78*. We spent awhile in the courtyard riding bike and walking. When it’s cool like this the electric is on pretty much all the time since they don’t need to load-share.

Saturday 6/11:  Sumita came to clean. Lucky wasn’t able to come cook… Shania took a long nap this morning. She slept all night last night for the first time. Woke up with a start and here it was almost 6 am! While Shania napped I spent time with Layton. Went and rode bike for awhile, did some worksheets with letters and numbers, etc. we stopped and bought some vegetables for the coming week. The dokan man was quite jovial. Probably because of the cooler weather. Usually he sits under his fan and in a drab weary voice he says “ki lagbe?” (What do you need?) Today he was up walking around, got me what I needed instead of making his grandson, and then talked to the children.😊 I don’t blame him… this cooler weather makes us all a lot happier! Sumita was cleaning the kitchen windows while I was making lunch. I had bought several eggplant. I have been hungry for Josna’s fried eggplant. Sumita showed me how to do it. Cut up the eggplant into thick slices. Put them in a steel bowl and sprinkle with turmeric and salt. Let sit for five minutes. Then heat up oil and fry on both sides for 2-3 minutes. Put on paper towel and sprinkle lightly with salt again. When she told me to put “holud” in with the eggplant and salt, I was so confused. I could not figure out what holud was. I quick used google translate and it said “yellow”. Then all of a sudden I thought turmeric!!! Turmeric is very yellow and sure enough, that’s what “holud” is. Thats my style of learning Bangla. This afternoon was cloudy and thundered ominously. We just had a relaxing afternoon and evening at home. Called some family… 

Sunday: This morning after Jared left for clinic, the children and I went out and about. I took two more 3 piece sets to the tailor for him to sew. Then Layton wanted to go to the clinic to see Josna and Sumita and daddy. Stopped in there, they didn’t have any patients right then so stayed for awhile. Watched Sumita cut up a chicken plus the feet. She said she would freeze the feet for later. Josna was busy cleaning the kitchen. That clinic is spotless! We headed off to the fruit dokan and got 5 kg of mangoes. I want to cut them up and freeze them for smoothies. Stopped off at the veggie dokan and then headed home. Today it’s cloudy and still cool (90*) from the rain.Now that’s it’s cooler we still sweat like crazy but it’s more from humidity then heat. I really enjoy going out. I don’t go many places without Jared, but I feel comfortable going to the tailors by myself. 

A clinic story… Trevor recently sent a baby to Dhaka from Kulna for Jared and Miriam to assess and potentially help. The baby was born with severe deformities to the face and mouth. I will not go into great detail because it was pretty bad. Jared said he wished he could unsee it. Upon giving birth the mother put the baby in a bread bag and put it in the trash. She fled elsewhere. Someone happened to be walking by and heard the baby crying. They took the baby out of the trash and took it to a nearby neighbor lady. The neighbor lady was no relation to the mother. She has been caring for the child ever since. She took to the baby to Trevor for assistance. He gave her some milk as no one expected the baby to live. Every time she came back for more milk Trevor noticed the baby was getting bigger and growing despite the severe deformities. He had to increase the amount of milk to give her, so he decided to send them here to Dhaka to see if surgery would be beneficial. Miriam says they will cut the skin from over the eyes “to see if the eyes are alive.” The baby has hydrocephalus so it needs a shunt to drain the fluid from the brain. However due to the oral cavity being so deformed it is unsure if anesthesia and intubation is even possible. Often times when the oral and nasal cavity is so mishappened they are unable to advance an airway. Sometimes their throat is too small so they have to wait until the baby get older. Wish this baby could just fall asleep for a nap and go to see Jesus. Keep it from all the suffering! Anyways, just thought I’d share that story. We get occasional updates on some of the children that we see. We spent the evening at the guesthouse with Trevor’s. The men fixed some plumbing problems. 

May 29 - June 4, 2023

 Monday 5/29: Jared had clinic this morning. He only had 15 instead of the usual 30. Sumita came to clean. I spent most of the day on the couch or in bed with a stomach issue. In the afternoon the children and I slept for 2 hours! Layton has started taking naps with me again. Seems like he feels more secure that way. Jared went to Farmgate for some clinic things. While he was there he endeavored to find the tailor that Elwood used for his shirts. Need to get him some shirts made. It’s amazing how quick they wear out here. The armpits get all crusty like… Took it easy the rest of the day while my guts felt like they had been turned inside out and backwards. Layton was the sweetest, he made me water with a lime wedge in it and told me “take 5 sips every so often. It’ll help speed things up!”😂 He’s been going down every evening to play with 3 older children in the courtyard. They do all sorts of crazy stunts. Give each other rides on their bikes, chase the apartment complex cat, play bike tag, etc. I’m so thankful he has the three children to play with. Today one of the kids was handing out Canadian Smarties! The other day he came upstairs all in a huff and said “these kids talk so fast I can’t understand a word they say!” They all talk some form of English. I just stand on the veranda and watch him play down there. 

Tuesday 5/30: Woke up feeling like a new woman. Which is good because “the show must go on.” Jared had clinic. 20 patients today… At 5 we went to the clinic for singing. Sang for almost an hour. Went to Parktown for supper. No rain stopped us this time! Air conditioning and good food… what more can a person want?! Layton wanted to take a CNG home so we did. I’m slowly getting used to them but still feel like a dog in a cage while riding in those things sometimes. They don’t have shocks so when one is lurching over speed bumps and dodging potholes in a narrow alley one feels like one is in a boat rocking on a tumultuous sea. One day while we were out and about we saw a pink CNG… it was cuter than a bug’s ear! 

Wednesday 5/31: Jared and Jon went to the visa office this morning to pay for Trevor’s work permit. Jared has to take their passports back in a week or two to get the appropriate stamps put in them. Then they will officially be here legally… 1 1/2 years later! Hopefully Jared will get his security clearance soon so his work permit can be issued. Went to the clinic for lunch. Josna made the usual… chicken curry. When we go out, the short guard tells me that I need to cover Shania’s head to protect her from the heat and then the tall guard tells me that I should uncover her so that she gets Vitamin C! Layton informed me this morning that it made him feel loved when I made him good food. So endeavoring to be a good mom, I whipped him and Jared up a chocolate cake while Shania napped. The rest of the day was unremarkable. Jared did end of month bookwork… we are having another heatwave so afternoons and evenings are spent inside under the fan! Layton has gotten all enthused about his Magna Tiles and Legos again and spends hours building with them. Or we’ve play Sorry. These heatwaves seem to last for about 2 weeks then it rains and cools off for about a week and then the cycle starts over. They have been shutting off the electricity for an hour 2-3 times a day to conserve energy. Bangladesh has the capacity to have power all the time but due to the fuel shortage they are unable to do so. We don’t mind the short outages. Now that the battery backup is fixed we still have three fans that can run and a light or two. 

Thursday 6/1: June! Layton clothespinned a sheet onto a pedestal fan and turned the fan on as high as it would go. This resulted in a big bubble. He spent quite a bit  of time in his “tent.” Put a light in there and everything! Made granola this morning. It’s interesting to cook when it’s so warm. Frozen meat thaws quickly, butter can go from frozen to squishy soft in a very short amount of time… Layton left a cup of milk out one afternoon. It stayed out overnight and it turned to yogurt consistency by morning. Who needs an Instant Pot to make yogurt? 😂Jon and Paninna invited us for lunch today! Haven’t seen her much since we quit our language classes. Their daughter is in medical school and has the week off so they wanted us to come over so they could see the baby. As always she cooked so much food. Fried chicken, fried fish, beef curry, shrimp curry, egg curry and pilau rice. For dessert she had strawberry and vanilla ice cream and then after dessert she cut up mangos yet. We were so full!! I royally embarrassed myself on the way there. We got there and rang their apartment bell. When Paninna’s brother George came to let us in at the ground level, we had to go up 5 flights of stairs. On the 4th flight I tripped and fell while I was holding Shania. You can imagine the scene that caused. Shania wasn’t hurt at all because I managed to keep ahold of her the whole time. I quick jumped up and said “bhalo bhalo!” (Good good) But when we got to their apartment George told Panina that I tripped and she was in a tizzy! Again I said we were all fine. Jon was annoyed that their electricity had went off during the night. He said it was so hot that he went to market first thing and bought a battery backup system like we have. I was glad to hear that he thought it was hot too, made me feel like I’m not such a pansy! We really enjoyed visiting with their family. Jon has traveled all over the world so he has a-lot of interesting things to say and viewpoints.  We didn’t stay long after lunch because Shania was getting fussy. Came home and took it easy. Smoothies for supper because who feels like eating when you have a belly full of rice? We needed something light “to fill in the cracks” like Layton says! 

Friday 6/2: Shania is two months! Feels like a lot of water has went under the bridge since she was born. Sometimes I wonder why I’m so tired in the evenings and then I have to remind myself that she is only two months old. I told Jared it feels like she ought to be at least 6 months old. Anyways… church this morning! Jared and I had a good chuckle this morning as we were getting ready to leave. He has started carrying sweat rags with him to the clinic, because the electric will go off and it will be absolutely sweltering in there with all the people and not one speck of a breeze. So when we go to church now, into the diaper bag goes a sweat rag in the event of a power outage! Plus a big thermos of ice cold water. I wondered if anyone is doing that at Hesston for church?😂 Jared’s inspiration was on the story of Lazarus rising from the dead. Miriam and Sumita took turns reading the scriptures in Bangla. We pray that they receive some sort of small inspiration from our service since we don’t have an interpreter at this time. So thus why Jared has them read the Bangla scriptures out loud. There was a mom staying at the clinic with a little boy this morning. He came to have a palatal lesion fixed. He was absolutely the cutest little thing. About 2.5 years old. I wanted to take him home with me! I rubbed his bristly hair and he just stood there absolutely stock still. As long as I didn’t look at him he was ok.😄Jared gave them some milk, money and meds before they left. They looked like really clean people. She wanted to hold Shania so I let her hold her during church since they were sitting in on our service. Went to Lola’s for lunch then went to UniMart. It amazes Jared and I how incredibly rude some of the foreigners in the Gulsane area are to these Bengalis. We’ve seen it several times… a foreigner will be rude and insulting when asking one of the UniMart workers where something is or when we were at Lola’s last there was a foreigner in there being snotty with the waiters because his food took longer than 15 minutes to make. We try to be extra courteous and respectful so they don’t think all foreigners are like that! Came home and took naps. This heat saps our energy. After supper we played our usual round of Sorry. Layton went down to play with the kids but came up every 5 minutes or so to get a cold drink or sit and cool off. Shania wanted to be held and walked around so that’s how the rest of the evening went. Every evening in his bedtime prayers Layton thanks God for “sending us Shania.” My heart… 🥹❤️

Saturday 6/3: Been in Bangladesh 7 months!🇧🇩 For once I was mostly caught up with things around the house. Or maybe there’s something I’m forgetting! So spent time just holding Shania and talking with Layton. Did some alphabet practice with Layton to keep his mind off the heat. He’s been having a lot of little fears since we came here. One of them is the electricity going out. I was so proud of him this morning because the power went out for an hour and he just kept on playing in the living room even though I was nowhere around him! The living room was fairly dark even. He used to would have yelled and came running for me and not leave my side until it came back on. We are proud of progress being made! Him and I went to get fruit this morning. The water trucks were out watering the streets. Not sure if it was to keep the dust down or because of the heat? We stood and watched until we started becoming a stumbling block on the sidewalk. This afternoon I took Layton down to ride bike. We noticed in the parking garage there was a BMW. Rather unusual for Siza Court. The guard saw us looking at it and said “onek dam!” (Very expensive!) and then “onek taka!” (Much money). The driver was standing nearby and looked quite pleased with this observation. 

Sunday 6/4: Jared had clinic today, he saw 30 patients. The children and I went to the tailor to pick up my 3 pc. It fit very well so I’ll take him the other 2 that I have sitting here waiting. I got some beef chunks for beef curry but Lucky didn’t come Saturday so I cut it up and trimmed it and put it in the crockpot with potatoes and carrots for supper. By the time I trimmed all the fat and gristle off and picked out the bones there wasn’t much meat left. When it had been in the crockpot for several hours the meat was actually pretty good. Not fall of the bone quite but good enough! I really miss Jared’s grass fed beef that we had at home! We can get good ground beef here but seems like anything else is tough and chewy.