Tuesday, July 29, 2025

July 2025

 Well it's been a minute since i wrote anything. There's been a lot of water under the bridge since May when Shana left! We are still trying to get used to her being gone. Layton often tells me, "can she come back, mom?"Yesterday he said "I wish she would come back and make butter chicken and naan one more time!"


Murphy has been hot on our tail lately. The downstairs AC kicked the bucket which is not surprising considering how old it is, then the brand new AC in the children's bedroom decided to blow hot air. So now the children are sleeping in Shana's room which they could not be more tickled about. The two faucets outside both have a steady trickle of water out of them despite the knob being in the off position, the new kitchen faucet decided to spray water everywhere a mere two weeks after being replaced. Jared said it looked like it rusted through, never mind it was supposed to be "best quality." Haha! Jared and I both have been smitten with fevers, bad colds, body aches and now an all over body rash. I told Jared it reminded me of that children's song "two little speckled frogs..." The worst thing ever was our little pal Bennett (Brian's boy) went into one of the upstairs bathrooms and turned on the hot water tap. The water heaters here aren't adjustable just off or on. Anyways, extremely hot water came out of the tap and he got horrible burns on both feet. Huge blisters immediately. Jared and I have been dressing his wounds with silver cream, and gauze twice a day. The poor boy is terrified when he sees us coming because he knows what's about to happen. He started to have more pain and just not feel well at all, so Brian and Jared took him to Evercare. They cut all the blistered skin off, bandaged them all back up and then started him on an antibiotic. He has really perked up since. He can't walk now with his bandages on, so he just crawls or scoots around. One day Jared was trying to go to the clinic, and the van ceased from its labors, the road was jammed and moving at a snail's pace, so Jared just pushed the van along with the traffic and shoved it off on the side of the road. A few hours later the mechanic arrived with a tow truck. The Lord must feel like we need another round of sanctification before we leave the mission! 

However, all that being said we have had some really enjoyable times in between all the Murphy business! Eid came and went in June. The slaughtering didn't hold the fascination that it had the previous year. The evening before Laytons friends and he went around and fed grass to a lot of the animals. The neighbors had three cows and two goats tied up in their front yard. This is an unbelievable amount. Made us wonder what made them feel like they  needed to slaughter so much? An unpardonable sin? Immorality? After the slaughtering was done, the beggars came into Pink City in absolute droves. We were anticipating this from last year's experience, so we shut the curtains and locked the gate so we wouldn't get mobbed. Someone still climbed the fence. Meat, particularly beef, is so expensive right now so it seemed like people were extra desperate. Some people bought beef hides and scraped the tiniest little scraps of beef and fat off and sold that in order to stretch the meat further. One day during the Eid holiday we went out driving into Old Dhaka. That is always fascinating. The roads get narrower and narrower. One lane pretty much. We drove along the Buriganga for aways. Somehow ended up in a humongous wholesale fruit market. Looked like the trucks were backed up where the boats would bring the fruit, then they were selling them right there. Millions of apples, oranges, grapes, pomegranates, pineapples, mangoes, etc. I told Layton he would probably never see that much fruit in one spot ever again in his whole life and certainly not at walmart! We really enjoyed seeing all the huge boats at the docks, ferries, sandbarges, boats that were hauling the fruit, little tiny fishing boats. We would have loved to go look at the inside of the larger ones but the ground was covered in "matter"from the slaughtering a day prior. As we were slowly winding our way through the market, suddenly here came a funeral procession. The deceased was wrapped in purple velvet cloth and was laying on a stainless steel bed frame. 

Clinic was closed for two weeks over Eid. The government decided this was going to be a 10 day holiday. Josna and Sumita went back to their village because there would be nothing for them to do anyway at the clinic. This meant no singing on Tuesday evenings, no Bangla meal on Wednesday and no church on Friday. We didn't mind the time of being at home but we certainly did start to get on each other's nerves. :) Friday, we meant Nathon in Uttara and he took us to Savar to see his mother's family. We really enjoyed that! He has brought his "nieces"" over before so it was neat to meet the rest of their family. We first stopped at his aunt's house. Jared and I were quite surprised at how nice their houses were. They clearly have money. These were not the little mud houses like what we are used to seeing in the villages. They were cement with tiled walls. The first house we stopped at was where Nathon's auntie lived with the nieces and their parents. THe house was huge! Had a western toilet and 6 bedrooms! The one girl is studying fashion design. I looked at one of her textbooks and was immediately intrigued. It was details on how to sew everything from pants, underwear, blouses and dresses. The dress patterns looked alot like what mennonite girls would wear. She showed me a dress she had sewn plus her sketchbooks full of clothing she has designed. These Bengali girls have such talent when it comes to drawing and painting! She showed me her sewing machine and it was quite a fancy piece of machinery. I just love seeing these girls all enthused about what they are learning in school. After consuming so delicious Bangla noodles, the girls, Nathon and us went on a two hour walk. We got our purification sweat in. We meandered around the village and stopped in at least three other houses of Nathon's family. Every house offered us mangos, jackfruit, lemonade, cha, biscuits, you  name it. Of course we politely ate abit to make the hostess feel good. Nathon kept saying ":remember supper is coming yet."  We eventually finished our rounds and got on an easy bike. It struck me so funny to see Nathon and Jared both up by the driver on the tiny seat hanging outside die to the big men they are, the rest of us squeezed in the back. By the time we got back to the auntie's house they had quite a spread ready for us. It was delicious! They told us "we didn't put in any turmeric because we heard foreigners don't like tumeric. haha! I'm not sure where they got that assumption because we think turmeric is delicious, and wondered if they got it mixed up with mustard oil. We dropped Nathon off and continued on home to Pink City. We were exhausted but it was worth it. 

We had Fellowship the 2nd week in July. Micahel and Monica hosted it in Rajshahi this year. The past several years it has always been in Khulna so it was really neat to go to Rajshahi. We always love going there. It is gorgeous and for sure now in the rainy season it did not fail to disappoint. You almost wonder where you are when you are there. There is not the filth and smog that there is in Dhaka. Everything is nicer there, the roads, buildings, etc. Michaels had rented a big Catholic facility. It had a chapel, kitchen with cooks to cook for us, a large dining room, and rooms for all the members to stay in for the night. Us missionaries were going to stay there as well, but the facility said they couldn't accommodate children for the night. We all ended up staying at Hotel X instead. None of us complained about the change in plans after we found out what soft beds they had. Layton still talks about them. He wants to go back just to sleep in the beds!!! haha! Michael is just not starting to get up and around on his feet after his fracture and operation a few months ago. He moves pretty slow, so the men would take him from the chapel to the dining hall in the van. It was quite impressive to see him having opening, leading a song or having the sermon. When we came he was so angry, disowned Franklin was trying to divorce Monica, now he is a member!!!! Sitting there watching him, I had to think to myself that there really is grace for absolutely everyone. Boli and Elizabeth from Kaligonj even came. They have never attended revivals or fellowship since we came! Boli even participated and had a song or opening I forget which. It was encouraging to see how well the members participated instead of just depending on the missionaries to run the service. I don't think any of the CSI men had any of the sermons! After 5 services in two days, the children were quite weary of church. The chapel had those old wooden school desks to sit in. Made us adults squirmy as well! 

Brian and Kaylee, Bennett (3) and Lars (3-4 months) from Roblin Manitoba arrived on July 18. Between Bennett's feet owies and Brian getting a stomach bug we haven't hit the orientation phase too hard yet. Brian has been to the clinic several times with Jared. They have started Bangla class already and are doing very well. Of course their brains are swimming but Jared and I think they are doing great! Bennett comes for a while in the mornings when they have class if he feels up to it.  We have been amazed at how well their jet lag has been! They stopped for a night in Dubai on the way here and we are pretty sure that's what helped so much! Even the baby is sleeping through the night. :) We have quite a list of things to show them and Jared has been working on showing Brian a lot of the paperwork sometimes in the evenings. It's fun to have people back in Dhaka with us! Crazy to think this is the last time we will do this! 

Best news yet, Lonnie and Doyle both got security clearances! Just waiting for their work permits to follow. Jared doesn't have one yet, He resubmitted all his paperwork when he submitted Brians to see if we couldn't get one yet quickly before we leave, otherwise we will have to get an exit visa and a fine is usually attached. The teachers are waiting to get their passports back from the embassy/consulate, so as soon as they have them, tickets can be booked and they will arrive! 

Other than that, we continue to live our normal lives here, hard to believe we fly out of Dhaka in exactly two months. 

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July 2025

 Well it's been a minute since i wrote anything. There's been a lot of water under the bridge since May when Shana left! We are stil...