July 2024: “More Sure and Still Committed”

Well excuse the lack of a post. After you read this you might understand why. I might post once a month from now on but I’m not sure. We do have some interesting things coming up though so I might randomly post things just to keep people guessing.😂 Several have messaged and said they missed my writings so here’s a good long one. You might want to get a cup of coffee and a tissue or two before you start. It’s a doozy. 

Everyone always messages and asks about the children so here’s an update! 

Shania says “dada, mama, night night and hello.” Her words aren’t always very clear but I can usually understand. She delights in sneaking into the bathroom and comes out wielding the toilet brush like it’s a saber. Usually the toilet paper comes trailing behind her as well. The trash can in the kitchen is her pride and joy. That thing has to be set way up otherwise she searches through there looking for something to eat or play with. she has been developing quite a love of animals. Every kitty she sees has to be meowed at and every dog we meet on our evening walks gets growled at. She has some little plastic animals that she has been playing with a lot. She has four books that are her absolute favorites and they all have cats or dogs in them. She brings them to us the minute she sees us sit down! We have to count all the animals and then meow or growl at them. It’s hilarious! Side note: there is a dog here in pink city that barks and howls every time the prayer call goes. After the initial roar of the call starts if you listen carefully the dogs prayer call starts too. Jared saw the dog sprawled out on its side on the road asleep. The prayer call started and the dog just lifted his head up a bit and howled away. Even the animals here have religion. 

Layton is really looking forward to school and Miss Shana coming. Every little bit he says “dad can I go with you to the airport to pick her up?” “How many more days is it until she comes?” He made a paper chain that he can cut a link off every day so he knows how many days it is until she comes! He has been keeping himself quite busy lately. He’s been busy with his usual… legos, Knex, snap circuits, and drawing things he wants to build. His hot glue gun is a steady companion as well. Every little Piece of wire and piece of wood is viewed as a treasure! The dining table is usually covered in above said treasures and honestly I don’t mind. One evening after everyone was in bed I cleaned up the house and had all the toys put away and the table cleared off. I happened to turn around and look back down stairs as I was going up the stairs and it all of a sudden hit me “this is what the house will always look like when they are grownup.” It made me kinda sad. I do get tired of the mess and hot glue pieces everywhere but I was glad for the reminder of how short life is. He likes when I look up Lego creations on Pinterest and then he tries to recreate them. He does really good! He gets tired of me asking him to help pick up toys in the evening. One day Shania had dumped her blocks all over so he built a contraption out of Knex that resembles a snow plow. He turns the little motor on and he used it to push all the blocks in a pile! I’m not sure who was more tickled… Layton or his dad! Jared and I were listening to church one evening and Jared’s cousin Grant led “Jesus loves me.” Layton came into the room and said “where is that coming from?” I said “it’s our church in Kansas!” He said “I know that song! We sang it in Sunday school!” Haha! We sing “Jesus Loves Me” in Bangla quite often in church but I guess he never figured out that it was the same as the English version. 

Miss Kalli came to see Trevor and Lisa this past month! She taught for them last year. It felt quite normal to have her around again. To see her come tagging after Trevor’s into church, hear her singing, etc. It was fun to hear about her job and friends at home. Sounded like her village did it up right and served her more Bangla food than she could almost stomach. 🥰 One evening Trevor’s and Us had supper at the guesthouse. Nathon and his roommate came and cooked for us. It was so so delicious! Nathon is an amazing cook. He made his special beef curry, rice, two different kinds of sobji mixture. Then he wanted cabbage salad yet too. He can’t have a meal with us Americans and not have cabbage salad. We all ate until we were plenty full. Nathon didn’t seem satisfied at how much we ate. He said “this would barely be enough food for 4 Bengalis. Do Americans usually not eat so much?” We assured him it was delicious and that Americans are simply not capable of eating that much rice. Of course Trevor HAD to have my cornflake bars so I made them. After supper the men griped and complained at how much food they had eaten but guess what… they still sat and pigged out on bars and coffee. Do you think they got any sympathy from the rest of us? Absolutely not. I sent a bunch of bars home with Nathon and his friend. They had made us a really good Bangladesh dessert (shemai)  but they wouldn’t eat it because they wanted my American dessert. 😊 I asked Nathon “why aren’t you eating this dessert you made it’s so good!” He said “I’m waiting for you to get out your American sweets.” 😂 

Clinic has been busy now that the Eid celebrations are over and done. Jared’s been seeing up to 45 patients a day. This month we had a 11 year old girl come in for rhinoplasty post cleft lip repair. She looked so miserable after the operation but she will be so glad she got her nose fixed when she is older. Jared is also in a busy season of paperwork again. One day an SB officer wanted to meet with him and Jon and requested some papers. The SB officer was investigating Doyle’s paper this time. They are working on his security clearance. The officer came to the clinic to observe our program one day while Jared had clinic. God had went before and prepared. Two patients from  Golpagang came to the clinic in the 1.5 hour time span that he was there. One of them knew Doyle personally and was able to talk to the officer about him. This was an incredible help. Jared said he overheard Jon tell the officer that “it would be in everyone’s best interest if you would tell your boss that these are good people and that they need their papers.” Another day the SB officer brought another person with him and observed again. Jared said it sounded like they had small little issues that they were getting hung up on. Most of the issues lay with the NGO beauro. When they come to visit Jared always takes the tract rack down beforehand. Wouldn’t go over well if they saw we had Christian religious literature for the taking. Someone called Jared about his security clearance awhile ago but that’s all we’ve heard other than that a few months ago it got denied. Once their security clearance is approved the they can get a work permit. Trevor is the only one with a work permit right now. Another day another SB officer plus four other men showed up at our house asking for our passports. Jared was gone and had the key to our safe so I told them that he would email them to them later. They were very respectful. I was thankful that they had brought an interpreter with them otherwise I would have had to call Nathon to see what they wanted. 

Peace seems to be reigning at the clinic again between the workers. Thank God! What a time of growth for everyone involved. It has been good growth though. There has been better communication between us and them about what they want and what we expect. Some boundaries needed to be set in place etc. Several of our other members at the other congregations have been quite discouraged. It’s very disheartening. Darrel flew in for four days after his stint in Myanmar to help with that all. But on the bright side, the repentance was lifted on a brother from Golpagang. It was good to have a minister here. Sometimes I wonder why God doesn’t send ministers to the mission instead of “lay brethren.” Seems like they have much more wisdom about how to handle all these problems than we do. Sometimes it seems like God sends his weakest. Pray for our members. Sometimes we wonder why we even try to have a courageous congregations here. But I always think of that verse about the few that were found faithful. Sometimes it feels like the members expect us white folk to make church fun and exciting for them. 

Josna told me she was worried about boss. She said she notices that every time we go to the clinic to eat he is very hungry and eats alot. She wondered if lunch at 1 was too late. I said “oh no, the reason boss is so hungry is because we eat a very small breakfast on Wednesdays so that we have more room to eat Bangla food!” Miriam said “it is ok if you don’t eat much rice but you can eat the other things like the meat and vegetables because I know you have a small stomach.” Apparently she has been noticing that I haven’t been eating much rice. It was really special that Josna noticed and cared! 

The biggest source of “entertainment” and frustration this month was that Students from universities in Dhaka and all over Bangladesh have been having huge protests. Thousands of people… It has something to do with the government and the job quota. Google it if you want better details. In the early stages of this protesting, traffic was quite terrible. One morning Jared left at 9:15 and didn’t get to the clinic until 10:40. Usually he can get there in 20 minutes. The students were going around standing in main intersections in the city so that no one could get through. Traffic comes to a halt and just stays that way until they decide to move which could be hours. One day we were headed to the clinic to eat and we were waiting at the Farmgate intersection to turn on airport road. Off to the side was a group of protestors. One of the guys ran over and tried to put a barricade up in front of a car in front of us. A bystander saw us waiting and moved the barricade and waved us on through. Sometimes it does pay to have white skin. Another day we went to Mohawkali to get Shania her next set of vaccines and the traffic was jammed. Dead still. You know it’s bad when the drivers are out walking around in amongst the cars out of boredom. Finally after awhile people started backing up and soon everyone was trying to back up and men were getting out of vehicles to help push CNGs out of the way so they could get out. So finally what was there to do but to back up with the crowd? When there is not a protest usually people just shut their cars off and sit and wait. Thankfully we were close to a turnoff so the backing up was maybe several hundred feet until the turn off. We backed out and went back from whenst we came and decided to go to the travelers clinic another day. Another afternoon we were headed to the clinic for singing. Sat in traffic for two hours. Moved maybe a total of 1/4 mile in that time. Finally managed to wiggle through enough to get to the road we needed. Got to a big intersection and there was trash all over. The police were guarding the intersection, looked like protest had just moved through there. A little bit later here came the water cannon truck and the crowd dispersing truck. The crowd dispersing truck is a big army tank with a bull dozer blade of sorts on the front. We got up on the expressway and saw a bunch of smoke, students were burning tires and the police press were up on the expressway keeping an eye on it. The prime minister has closed all schools and universities for an indefinite period of time until things calm down. She was hoping the students would all go home and things would be at rest but it appears as though it amplified things. After seeing the burning tires and being stuck in traffic so much, we have been being careful when we go out. When we headed back from the clinic that evening we noticed the inter city train was just sitting on the tracks. Thought that was odd. Sure enough Jared checked the news and the students had protested on the train tracks and shut the thing down for 6 hours that day. 

July 18: Jared got an email this morning saying the US embassy issued a “cautionary alert” because the protest group was going to close the country down to get their point across. Supposedly everything would be closed except hospitals and only ambulances would be allowed on the roads. We stayed home. Didn’t really have any reason to go out. It’s hard to know here. Sometimes we get alerts about things and it looks like not a soul follows them and then the next time it’s taken seriously. At bedtime we noticed the internet was seriously slow. It worked a little bit on our WiFi. 

July 19: . The government shut off all internet and I mean completely. No WiFi nothing. (This happens sometimes when there’s political protests going on but it’s never for more than a few hours. This one lasted 10 days) They shut off all international phone calls as well. Carl was able to call briefly to check on us but Jared could hardly understand him due to static. He ran up to the roof because sometimes there’s better service up there but it didn’t help much. Being the optimistic missionaries we are we decided we should go to the clinic and have church. Part of our reasoning was that in the past most protests have stopped on Friday because of the Muslim Sabbath and then they resume on Saturday or Sunday. However, our internet was down so we couldn’t read the Daily Star or the government alerts we were getting. The government alerts are in Bangla and usually we copy and paste them to Google Translate but that’s impossible without Internet. Well on the way to clinic, after we got out of Bashundara and went to get on the expressway… it was closed, which is very bizarre. We went on the old airport road up to the Banani entrance, it was closed, so we go up to the mohawkali entrance. I might add here that there was NO traffic on the road. Jared said he had never driven so fast before on that road. This was where a few days before we had sat for two hours. There were a few private cars and CNGs but that was it. When we got to the Mohawkali exit, a terrible sight greeted our eyes, that was when we both realized that maybe just maybe we should not be out and about. The entrance toll both was burnt to cinders, the government building next to the expressway was burnt along with maybe twenty vehicles. Jared said it looked like fire bombs had been used. We continued on the airport road and got to the clinic in record breaking time. After church Jared took care of some patient details and we journeyed on to Gulsan. We took a roundabout way to get to Gulsan to avoid the bus stand because sometimes they can be a place of jams and crowds and the US embassy said to avoid places where large groups of people could gather. Welllll….. things went downhill from there. UniMart was closed. So we went to Schwapnos (a mini grocery store) and got the basics. Had a quick lunch at a restaurant right beside there and then tried to come home. “Tried” being the key word. Every road around in Gulsan 1 and Gulsan 2 was blocked and barricaded and guarded with police. Not just one or two police but 50 plus police. Some of the roads we could see down past the barricades and could see cement chunks scattered all over the road, vehicles that already had burnt and some that were actively burning. Seemed like everywhere we looked some building or something was burnt. One lane of the road had a burnt truck sitting right in the middle of it. Later Jared said he thought we had seen at least 200 burnt vehicles. The police station in Gulsan had rows and rows of burnt vehicles outside of it. Jared tried every route he could think of, even the embassy road was closed. Finally he stopped and asked a police officer “How can I get to Bashundara?” The police officer just shrugged and said “the road is closed.” Finally Jared said “I have no idea how to get home.” I prayed mightily and we just kept driving around and finally Jared found a road that took us to Kuril. I tell you Pink City never looked so good. When we got out of the van I realized I was shaking. Guessed it scared me more than I thought it had. Jared had to lay down for a while when we got home to relax after it all. He told me it was “moderately unsettling” but being the man he is later I overheard him telling one of the CSI men that “it’s not too bad” This is worse than anything we ever saw during election. Once we got to Bashundara everything was peaceful and no protests, burnt buildings or cars or anything. We felt good about that. We feel safe here in pink city. Jared felt bad about the whole deal because we have been keeping a close eye on the news with it all but now with the internet shut off we had no way of checking. We didn’t realize the enormity of the situation until we went out and about because there is always some type of protest going on it seems and usually they are just marches or something. I told him not to feel bad we all got home safe and sound and that’s all that matters in the end. Anyways… lesson learned. Seems like every missionary has a good scare once in their term so maybe this is ours.😂 We were able to message by SMS abit with Doyle’s and Trevor’s to make sure they were all ok. Kulna has had some protests too and Golpaganj has had brick throwing events. We decided we better subscribe to the Daily Star here in Pink City so that we can get a paper copy of the newspaper so that if Heaven forbid we deal with this again while we are here we can at least read the paper if the internet is down so we know what’s safe and what isn’t. We got the paper at Siza Court but just have never gotten around to restarting our subscription here. With this lockdown in place, the pink city kids are all getting bored and restless without internet and being home all the time. This evening when I was out walking I saw a car full of maybe 10 teenage boys all hanging out of the doors and trunk and windows trying to make a video of sorts, I burst out laughing and it appeared as though they appreciated my reaction.  another boy appeared to be taking his dads car for a test run. Judging by his driving skills I think drivers Ed would prove helpful. 

There are some very bored CSI people in Bangladesh due to this lockdown. Jared resorted to wiping down the walls in the downstairs, Trevor ordered many ice cube trays, and Doyle sent the men hilarious jokes about “vowel movements.” 😂 I’ve been having to get creative with keeping Layton entertained. Water beads and shaving cream did the trick, rode bike a lot, read so many books, one day we read the entire “Mouse and the Motorcycle” book and then started on “Mrs Piggle Wiggle”. One evening he put on his winter pajamas and we made hot cocoa and popcorn after Shania went to bed for a “mama and son” date, Jared did some school work with him, we built legos, built tents, played games, played snap circuits, swam in his pool, let him do things I usually wouldn’t… you get the point. The days are awfully long being stuck at home all the time. But I’d rather be safe than sorry and end up in a bad predicament.  I was reciting Dr Seuss to Layton and made this up “It’s not safe to go out, too hot to play ball so we sat in the house and did nothing at all.” I think Jared officially thought I had lost my marbles at that point. But after 11 years of marriage I like to keep him guessing whether my sanity is intact or not. I’m fun that way.  I asked him if he wished he had married someone that was quiet and shy and didn’t have any opinions. He didn’t say anything. Smart man. He has learned.😂

July 20: A lady invited all the children over to her house this afternoon for a drawing party. The kids and I went to get out of the house! She was the nicest lady so we stayed for quite awhile. There was maybe 20 children there. They all sat on the floor and colored and drew. I took a big pack of markers and they all were excited to use them. They played pass the pillow and several different games. The lady’s maid had cooked up some Bangla noodles, chicken curry and French fries for all the kids for snack. After snack the kids all went outside and played soccer on the lawn. Two other moms were there too and they both knew English so we visited quite awhile. I had them tell me what the government alerts said on my phone so I could tell Jared. After everyone left the lady insisted I stay for cha so I did. Figured why not, nothing else to do!!🥰 she found out I do my own cooking and she generously offered to bring me a duck to cook. I think we all know by now how I feel about duck in this country. I was so thankful for an opportunity to get out and be with other ladies and talk. Jared doesn’t mind being at home a lot but I have to get out or I go nuts. One thing that has been so neat about this whole situation is everyone is home from work now. So in the evenings a lot of families are out playing cricket with their boys, taking walks, the kids are riding bike, jumping over bushes in the median, etc in the street. It’s a real community spirit. I have enjoyed it so much! People are all wanting to visit just cause there’s no internet. I told Jared “is this what life was like 30 years ago before internet?” Everyone was social and talkative?? At the play date one of the boys there was from Dallas. He said he had come to visit his grandma in pink city. He was quite shy and once he found out that Layton was American and knew English they became fast friends. He went home and told his mom all about Layton.😊 so one day we went to his grandmas house and invited him to come play! He was quite tickled that Layton had Legos so they played that for awhile and then played soccer. I really enjoyed visiting with his mom. It was so good to hear about things from the states. She causally mentioned ordering something off of Amazon and I told her I couldn’t wait to go home and order things on line again and to do pick up orders. She totally understood! Both of his parents are Bengali. They’ve lived in the states for 10 years so they are quite Americanized Bengalis. His dad is a software engineer. 

July 24: After lunch we ventured out to the clinic. Supposedly the national curfew now is from 2-5, but we left the house at 1 and no one was enforcing curfew in the least. Traffic was pretty much back to normal. Yesterday we tried to go out to the coffee shop but the roads were all still blocked and barricaded. Lots of police out. They had made berms out of sandbags and there would be several behind them with their guns. Saw a police truck slowly driving through traffic with a police standing on top watching things. Jared took a picture of the sign on the entrance to the expressway so he could have someone translate it. It said “temporarily closed.” We drove the old route to the clinic. Took maybe 45 minutes. Stopped and filled up with gas just to be safe in case things close down again. I have NEVER in all my life been so happy to sit in a traffic jam and the gas line. Oh it was so good to get out of the house. We got to the clinic and everyone was fine and happy. One of the patients has been there for two weeks because the roads to her village are all closed. We saw lots of buses out and about so hopefully she can get home soon. Trevors were able to make it into Dhaka today as well. For awhile they weren’t letting people travel from one district to the other but they didn’t have any troubles. They brought Nathon back to Dhaka with him. Sounded like he was one happy boy. He said “I need WiFi, I am not a village boy anymore.”😂 Lisa called me and said “we are at Herfeys and their WiFi works!” We raced over there after we were done at the clinic. It was so good to see them again! Never mind it had only been a month since we saw them last. We ordered some drinks and and connected to the WiFi. It was slow and took awhile to get messages on WhatsApp. We couldn’t download any voice messages or send voice messages. I was so relieved to be able to message my mom and Jared’s mom. Haven’t been able to call them at all. People from the states have tried to call us but we can’t hear anything. Spent the evening with Trevor’s. Lisa and I took a long walk. Layton was so glad to be able to play soccer and ride bike with Brock and Kylie. 

July 25: Nathon was bored out of his mind so he came and got the scootie and took it in for a service. He was very pleased because he has internet. We still don’t have any. I told him we were all going to move in with him. Jared called the internet guy to come check our WiFi. Nathon thinks it’s a cable issue. Pink City was supposed to get internet last night. It’s very frustrating not being able to use google translate. We feel like real pioneers. No google maps, google translate, WhatsApp, etc. It’s good for a soul I suppose to go without technology once in awhile. But a week? There was a rumor going around that a data center got burnt and that’s why the internet was “shut off.” Nathon says there is no way that’s possible because there are how many data centers all over Bangladesh and he himself works at several of them so no one data center is the cause for this all. Not only that the one was supposedly burnt only had outside damage. Sounds like people in the states get more news about what’s going on than here. The Bengali government is trying to keep everything very quiet. Supposedly the death toll has been declared as “200.” But it’s more like 1,000. Nathon said his one family member works in a hospital close by and she said in just her one shift 150 people came in that were either shot or dead. This is the biggest uprising since the freedom war. Nathon said “you have dealt with a lot since you came to Bangladesh! Just think now you got to be a part of history.”This fact seems to make him quite pleased. He wanted to know all about how Dhaka had been while he was gone. It is so good to have him back. Today the curfew was after 5 pm. Us and Trevor were together in the evening. 

July 26: Darrell’s flew in around 1 am. They headed to Kulna around noon to start the work over there. We had church like usual. Felt good to be with Josna and Sumita again. Three patients at the clinic. Noticed the one little boy only has three toes. It’s not uncommon at all for the left lip/palate babies to have missing fingers and toes. Josna saved me more newspapers so I could cut the pictures of the protests out! I take the pictures I get from there to the Dokan and get them laminated. Getting quite a stack from the past 1.5 years. Found a picture of the Mirpur 10 metro station. Looked like some went in there with a sledgehammer and made quick work of it all. We just cannot figure it out. The metro has only been operating maybe a year if even and they vandalized it horribly, then the expressway has only been open 6 months and they burn a toll plaza???? Ami bujhi na. They so badly want Bangladesh to become a progressive country but how when all the good things get abused? Anyways Nathon told us that when we go home and give our report that we should make it sound like we were dodging bullets. Jared was Crawling on the ground to avoid getting hit, windows shot out, and that Brianna was still flying around on her scootie while bullets whizzed by her ears.😂 oh we laughed! It felt good to laugh about this ridiculous predicament this country is in. Seems like we are kinda short on laughs these days. We ventured into Gulsan this week. I was kinda worried about it after last weeks drama in Gulsan but like usual my worries were a waste of energy. Lots of police around, some of whom were sleeping under trees.  This struck us funny because we had been told to “expect heightened security.” We stocked up on groceries just in case we get lockdown again. Came home and napped. Lisa left Layton two of her old mixers that got burnt motors in them. So he was very busy taking them apart for the rest of the day. We are trying to install VPNs on our phones so we can get WhatsApp. Trevors got it and it’s working well for them. However the WiFi is so slow that it says it will take 8 hours. The UN is calling for the prime minister to allow all internet and communications to be restored throughout all of Bangladesh. “Human Rights.”

July 26: Jared did paperwork all morning. Lucky came to clean at the guesthouse. She was really nervous about coming but I told her that we had been out yesterday and everything was ok. That seemed to relieve her. After lunch we went shopping abit. Needed to order new sheets for the guesthouse. The traffic is insanely congested now with the expressway closed. It took us 3.5 hours to drive to Gulsan go to two places and then come home. It’s very disheartening to be sitting in a jam and look up and see the expressway right above our heads just sitting there. We have started praying that it opens soon. Nothing is off limits when it comes to prayer we’ve discovered! 

July 27: A hard day emotionally. Trevor’s girl Whitney was expelled in Kulna. It was part of the work Darrell came to do. Even though we knew it was coming it didn’t make it any easier. Trevors children feel like our own and while we didn’t feel the parental emotions they did it still hurt our hearts. They plan to go home as soon as arrangements can be made. This added to the hard emotions but we support Darrell and the boards decision. The government restored the internet this afternoon and allowed WhatsApp. The internet and WhatsApp is slower than molasses but it’s a start. Still can’t get any voice notes. So if anyone sends us a message be prepared for us to not reply for a day or two. Jared didn’t have much luck with the VPN. We finally got them downloaded after how many hours and then it wouldn’t allow us to finish the process. Today the news said that in Bangladesh with the internet outage there’s been an 5,000% increase in people trying to download VPNs so no wonder. 

July 29: Darrell’s finished up their visits in Kulna and then Doyles brought them into Dhaka. Darrell had so many things to do in four days. Jared and I had Doyle’s and Darrell’s, Josna and Sumita and Nathon for supper. It was really enjoyable. I made roast, potatoes and mixed vegetables for supper. Darrell told us funny stories and it felt good to laugh! 

July 30: Doyle’s took Darrell’s to the airport. They are continuing onto China now for several days to do some work there. 

So thus concludes our month. An inspirational thought I had in closing… A friend sent me a letter describing her mothering moments with her young children two of whom are sons who enjoy adventurous behavior. She wrote she was “unsure but yet committed” to the task of being their mother and keeping them out of harms way. That phrase really impressed me. Later on in the letter she had a day where her children were well behaved and showered her with affection. That day she felt “more sure and still committed.” I had to think of that often this past month. Seems like during the low times and the monotony of being home for days on end because of the protests and then sad news of Trevor’s needing to go home, we feel “unsure but yet committed.” We aren’t sure how things will go with just us and Doyle’s here after Trevor’s leave. After Darrell’s stopped in we feel “more sure and committed.” 🐦‍⬛ 

June 17 - June 23, 2024

 

Monday 6/17: Today was a really enjoyable day. Layton woke me up early and told me that the neighbors had their cow in the tent and were starting to slaughter. Sure enough there was quite a rodeo going on. We noticed the guards that usually stand at the gate where standing close to the tent with their police sticks incase an unruly animal got loose. At least 30 cows all being butchered at once. We sat and watched out the living room window for quite awhile. Mid morning the kids and I went out on a walk to see the sights but it wasn’t long and we realized we were having to watch where we stepped to avoid all the blood puddles. Went back inside for the remainder of the morning. We kept our gate locked all day to avoid the maids coming into the yard asking for meat. They just assume we do the same thing. Beggars aren’t allowed inside Pink City but the maids still come around begging sometimes. The Muslims give 1/3 of their cow to poor people, 1/3 to themselves and 1/3 to friends/family. Last year in Siza Court we had people ringing our door bell all day long wanting to put meat in our freezer and wanting money or meat. I was glad we had kept the gate locked because I happened to look next door and there was a group of maids waiting outside their gate. Anyways, after lunch we jumped in the van. When traffic is light in Dhaka we try to go out and about as much as possible! We went to old Dhaka to tour the Lalbag fort. It’s 400 years old. We were surprised at how much of the towers where still standing! Beautiful architecture. We really enjoyed it. The grounds around the castles and walls were immaculate. I have never seen the like in Bangladesh. Lots of green grass, perfectly manicured shrubs and bushes. And the flowers… oh my. Lots of wildflowers like what we would see in Jared’s pasture at home! Black eyed Susan’s, cosmos, cone flowers, and then a whole bunch more that I have no idea what they are called. Rows and rows of marigolds and rose bushes. Jared and I thought it was a mini version of Botannica on Wichita. The best part was that it did not stink and there was not one speck of trash anywhere! Lots of young people where there too but they were respectful and didn’t ask for too many selfies. A guy from Spain came and asked Jared if he could help him exchange some American money for Bangladesh taka. Jared figured he could probably help him out because they only needed a small amount. Behind the grounds was a huge hill where you could go climb and then look down on the greens. The kids loved being up there. Shania was kinda nervous about standing and walking in the grass. Jared wondered if it was because it was tall grass? We stayed until we couldn’t endure the heat any longer. Left and went to North End Coffee of course! Went to a new one that just opened in the lobby of a bank. It looked just like the states. Carpet, couches and lounge chairs. That’s a perk to living in the city is sometimes we stumble upon places where you can almost pretend that you are at home when you are inside. Anyways while we were waiting for our cold drinks, Shania had a diaper problem and soon there were poo poo balls on this fancy carpet😳 I grabbed a napkin and picked them up and scurried to the trash. I tried to act like I do this every day… pick up poo poo balls. We stayed indoors the rest of the evening. The smell outside was abit potent. 

Tuesday 6/18: Jared went and filled the van up with gas. Trying to do all the things we can think of now while the traffic is less. He didn’t even have to wait in line, said he pulled right up to the gas pump and bam he was on his way again. Spent the day getting ready for supper company. I found a hunk of good boneless beef at UniMart. I made pepper steak, rice, cabbage salad, cut up cucumbers and chocolate cake and icecream. I don’t know which missionary introduced these people to cabbage salad but they want it every time we have them over.😂 Jon and Pannina and the children and Nathon came around 5:30. Jon’s wanted a tour of pink city and our houses here. They wanted to move to pink city a few years ago but Jon didn’t want the hassle of having to buy a car. Pink City is designed for people with cars. They just loved it here and oohed and ahhed over how beautiful all the trees and flowers are. Paninna said “This must be more like America here.” At supper everyone ate and ate. I thought I had made way too much food and it was barely enough. I did 5 cups of dry rice to make 10 cups cooked and there was enough left for maybe one more meal for Jared and I and the kids. The way these Bengalis tuck away rice still leaves me dumbfounded. I do not know how they don’t pop at the seams. Of course the cabbage salad, cake and icecream was a smash hit! Paninna kept saying “this place must be safe there is no one here!” We went up to the roof for awhile and she said the same thing “there is just no one here!” Jons told us over and over how glad they were that we could move here and how it was such much better for us and the children to live in a quiet community. They live by the clinic where it is jam packed with people cats and buildings. It was so neat to see them enjoying themselves. After they left Nathon stayed for abit. We had Miss Kalli bring us a Kansas shirt and then a pair of socks with hamburgers printed on them. Layton wanted to give him a gift so that’s what he gave him. He laughed and laughed and laughed about the socks. He has went on many Herfeys hamburger runs with us so hence the reason for the hamburger socks😂 even after he left we could still hear him outside laughing to himself. We are very careful not to give too many gifts to people here but that boy has bent over backwards helping us lately so felt like it was ok! It was so fun having company again. I told Jared I’m so proud of my progress in company having over but I still have a few moments every time when I’m worried about my food but I think that’s normal. 

Wednesday 6/19: Both children slept all night! Shania is going through another sleep regression where she likes to be awake for 2 hours. But it’s just a temporary season. Cleaned up the kitchen from last night. One thing I love about Wednesdays is since we eat lunch at the clinic, I can clean up the kitchen after breakfast and stays mostly clean until supper in the evening. 😊 It’s the only day of the week that it’s like that! Jared went and cleaned the roof at the guesthouse. After we took Jon’s up there last night Jared realized he better clean it before the heavy rains start so that water doesn’t collect and seep through the ceilings. Him and Layton took the scootie and ran errands for awhile this morning. I had some time to myself while they were gone since Shania was napping. It was so nice. Caught up on a bunch of messages from my friends back at home. The smell from the slaughtering is slowly improving outside.🤢 They have deodorizing powder all over the streets. Nathon had plenty to say about the smell last night. The Christians here all view Eid as disgusting and they always say they hope it rains on Eid because then it won’t stink so bad. Jon’s were telling us last night that camels are the most coveted animal for Muslims to slaughter on Eid. I didn’t quite catch on to why that is. Nathon said that if it doesn’t work for someone to butcher due to poverty then they have to do something else to meet their requirements with Allah, because this sacrifice is what helps their standing with him. It was kinda amusing because when we sat down to eat last night everyone wanted to know if the beef I had made was from someone’s sacrificial cow. Jared said “no, we bought this at a store.” They all seemed relieved to know that. They wonder if American Muslims do this type of thing. We said we weren’t sure how it works in America! It’s a new thought to them that we aren’t surrounded with Muslims there like we are here. Jared has told them that the closest mosque is maybe an hour away in Wichita and that there isn’t a prayer call. They for sure can’t believe that. He explained to them that we have noise ordinances so a prayer call would be prohibited. Nathon says he thinks Dhaka needs to implement that😂 Shurov used to always say that he couldn’t figure out why the Muslims couldn’t just have an app on there phone that would just alert them to pray! Sumita made chicken curry and eggplant for lunch. She was disgruntled because all the  dokans were still closed from Eid so she said Ang walked all over Monipuripara and could only find eggplant that was too expensive plus she thought the chicken wasn’t any good too many bones. no Pollyanna today with them. The rest of the day was fairly low key. It rained and cooled down to 86*. We didn’t even turn the AC on until evening and then it was mostly just to cut the humidity inside. Spent a fair bit of time outside walking and riding bike with the kids. Jared regrouted our bedroom. It looks much better. He gave up on trying to mix colors to make the grout match the tiles and just went with white. The tiles are maybe only a centimeter or two apart so it’s not like it shows that much. 

Thursday 6/20:. Our living room breaker keeps flipping. Jared kept flipping it back on and a bit later out it would go again. Went to the Dokan that Layton calls Menards and got a bigger breaker. He took out the old one and it was black on both sides from overheating. I told Jared I wonder what on earth he will do for fun once we get home and he won’t have all this repair work to do.  Jared was going to work on the veranda grout but it started to rain so that came to a halt. He built a tent for the kids to play in. Had singing in the evening. Fairly uneventful.Had supper at Herfeys. 

Friday 6/21: Church this morning. Visited with the girls after church. Did our usual shopping. Tried out the new Dominoes pizza in the UniMart food court. It was ok… Pizza Hut is better! Layton has been begging to go play at the new play place in the food court so he did that while I did my shopping. Came home and took some good “Sunday afternoon naps.” Fridays kinda wear us all out. In the evening we went out and did the usual walk and bike ride. Some people from Chittagong were visiting some family in pink city over Eid. They were beyond fascinated with us.😂 Jared talked to them and then they wanted pictures. The one lady literally grabbed Layton’s bike so he would stop riding and take a picture with him. They wanted a selfie with me. Usually I consent but they were being so forceful with my children that I was not ok with it. I said “no thank you.” They said “ok” but then when I turned my head to check on the kids the ladies came and stood beside me quick and the man took pictures anyway. Shania and I went up to the house because I thought surely that would deter them and they would catch the hint and leave and then they stood at the gate and along the fence videoing me and her because we were swinging. I was so mad at that point I took Shania and went inside. Thankfully Jared took Layton and went outside of Pink City to ride bike along the river so they avoided the paparazzi. 

Saturday 6/22: Jared worked on hanging up new light fixture I. Shana’s bathroom and then did some fix it work on the veranda. It rained quite abit today. We still have not tired of the rain here. Nothing to eventful happened! 

Sunday 6/23: Jared had clinic. He said he wasn’t very busy. People are still gone from Eid. The children and I decided to tackle the upstairs this morning. Got half a bag of trash out of Layton’s toy closet. All his pipe cleaners, electrical wires, batteries, sticks, hot glue pieces etc were starting to overflow their alloted container. Jared worked some more outside on the veranda. The end. 

June 11 - June 16, 2024

 

Now for the rest of this week!  See the previous post about Sunday and Monday 😃

Tuesday 6/11: No clinic. Sumita had gotten sick at Fellowship so her and Josna and Ang decided to spend another day in Kulna. Jared and Miriam still had an office day. Had some babies that needed milk. Shania has really started walking more and more. She has been drinking out of her sippy cup all the time now so I hid her bottles to see if she would notice. She could care less. So just like that the bottle era is over. Layton had bottles until he was almost two and then it was a terrible fight to get it away. Shania is very attached to her pacifier and thumb though but that is a battle for another year 😂 Spent the day doing laundry and catching up on a few things from being gone. Layton and I like to play board games while Shania naps in the morning. The other day he told me “I wish you had never had her.” 😳 I’ve been trying to be more intentional with spending time with him and his attitude toward his sister has improved greatly. 

Wednesday 6/12: Shania decided that since she is such a big girl to go ahead and get two more teeth at once. Jared spent the day doing odd jobs around the house. Washed out the carport, the van and the scootie. He’s been working on reputtying around the door frames inside. Ever since the cyclone we have had a real infestation of ants. We will all of a sudden find big black piles of them in random rooms. Hoping getting all the cracks caulked will cut down on the amount of ants indoors. They are just the tiny little ones not the big ones that bite. This evening was quite a hullaboll. Nathon was so excited that we were home from Kulna that he wanted to come over so we said “sure!” He never came and never came so finally we messaged him. Right when we were going to bed he messaged and said he had laid down to sleep and had slept all evening. We got new furniture for the guesthouse because the old stuff was falling apart and was past the point of repair. The delivery men said they would come deliver it this evening. Finally they called and said they couldn’t come because of the heavy rain we had all evening. This evening Layton was busy trying to build a generator out of all the parts and pieces that he has collected in his building bin. Shania came to investigate and accidentally touched his hot glue fun and burnt her finger good. She spent the rest of the evening reminding us of her tragedy. Layton felt so bad and cried with her. 

Thursday 6/13: Jared ran some errands by Jamuna. The roads were heavy with traffic so it took him awhile. He got some more tile grout to regrout some tile. He finished sanding down the putty in the kitchen and then repainted it all. We could hire a mistri to do this but Jared likes to do odd jobs sometimes as a break from the paperwork and usual things!. Layton helped me mop and vacuum all the dust up. After lunch Jared went to the bank at Farmgate to take care of some matters before it closes for several days for Eid. Eid is in 5 days I think. Depends on the sign of the moon. This Eid is the one where they bring animals to their house and slaughter them. I curious to see if Eid is different here in Pink City then it was at Siza Court. There’s definitely richer more westernized people that live here. In the evening it rained off and on pretty much the whole time. It cooled off wonderfully! Jared worked on regrouting some tile upstairs in the evening. Miriam called to let Jared know that a 7 month old baby girl from Golpaganj that had a cleft lip surgery had to return to the hospital. She had the surgery done and then came to the clinic. Shortly after arriving she started having dyspnea. She was transported back to the hospital and admitted to ICU. 

Friday 6/14: Had church. We had a good sized group this morning. Josna, Sumita, Ang, Beeti and Maria. I finally figured out our friends name! Maria! Beeti is an expelled sister. She has been starting to come more and more. Whether she is coming for the social of it or for her soul we do not know! Took icecream bars for everyone. That’s always so fun to do😊 Miriam called the dr of the baby that was admitted yesterday and the dr said she was awake now and breathing well. Their pastor stopped in at the clinic. Jared told him to have the father of the baby bring the cash memos and he would see how much he could help. We went to UniMart for lunch and then grabbed groceries. Hadn’t went grocery shopping for two weeks so we got quite a load. Not sure if UniMart will be open next week or not with Eid. The whole town comes to a halt for almost a week during Eid. For once I was able to get almost everything I needed. Lately they have been so unpredictable. Just frustrates me to no end. Going to try and make some better meals for my family this coming week instead of grillled cheese and the like. In the evening we went out and took a walk and rode bike. Layton and I walked up and down some of the streets to see how many people already had cows or goats tied up in their yards. Been seeing loads of hay out and about too. In the evenings lately there has been a lot of Muslim teachings going on. It’s across the road from pink city. Wish I could understand it all. My neighbor lady says it’s very annoying to her. Around 5 Miriam called Jared and said the baby from the clinic had passed away. We asked her if the baby had any underlying conditions and she didn’t think so. Seems kinda funny that a baby would just die but maybe she aspirated or something?? Jared offered that the family could meet him at the clinic tomorrow morning and he would give them some money for burial expenses. Miriam called back and said the family had left Dhaka around 8 with the babies body and was going back to the village for the burial. It’s so sad. This is the second baby that has passed away after surgery while we’ve been here.

Saturday 6/15: Jared did all sorts of odd job projects today. He cleaned the drains on the roof so that now during rainy season we won’t have standing water up there, he weed whipped the lawn, then worked on regrouting some more upstairs. It looks so nice! He told me he had really enjoyed doing projects like that after a few busy weeks of paperwork. He’s still working on getting some of Shana’s papers submitted to the NGO. But now during Eid their office is closed. The kids and I spent a fair bit of time outside. Even though it’s beastly humid we still go out and then come inside to cool and then go back out. Lots of cows are being delivered today. The pink city maintenance crew is putting up two huge bamboo pole tents. One is right by our house and then the other one is further down the Main Street. Lucky came to clean at the guesthouse so I asked her what they were for. She said that is where people will slaughter their animals on Monday. Now that Shania is walking I have to keep a very close eye on her when we are outside. She has figured out how to open the gate and she zips over there and the next thing I know she is out the gate. After supper we were in the living room having devotions with the children. All of a sudden several men came down the street chasing after their big bulls. We weren’t sure who was walking who. It looked like maybe they had gotten loose because a little bit later a blue truck came back by with all three bulls tied up on the back. These people just tie their bulls (all sacrificial cows are bulls) up under their carport and they just stand there docile as a lamb. I told Jared you would never see a Kansas cow standing like that! 

Sunday 6/16: No clinic since it’s Eid. This morning Jared worked more on grouting upstairs. More and more bulls have been showing up. Jared says pink city is starting to get the faint odor like a feedlot! This afternoon we decided to get out of the house and go on a drive for awhile. We start to snarl at each other if we just sit around.😂 The traffic was amazing. No jams… we decided it was good to get out since everyone is back in their village by now. We found a new restaurant area that we wanted to check out. It was an outdoor food court all under a big multi level pavilion. Off to the side they have an enclosed AC seating area. The best thing was they had a huge American style playground! We will definitely go back so the kids can play. We are always on the lookout for places like that. On our drive we stumbled upon an Eid cow market. It was so entertaining. Rows and rows of bamboo pens. By now most of the bulls have been sold. There were still a few left. So many people were out walking their goats, cows or sheep. Apparently some buy camels too but we haven’t seen that yet. Some of the cows had garlands or tensil draped around their necks. I wish my brother Clarke could have seen the set up. Made the Salina sale barn look quite ritzy! So many little blue trucks were sitting on the side of the road after having unloaded their bulls. Sounds like farmers from all over Bangladesh being their cattle into Dhaka to be sold. The newspaper says the prices are much higher this year than last year. A bull can sell for up to 96,000 taka. Layton thought the cow market was the best thing ever! He kept saying “this is so beautiful.” That boy dreams cow herds, tractors and dairy barns. We came home and rested for awhile. Spending the rest of the evening at home looks like! 

In which they have fellowship💒

I didn’t  have time to write a blog post for last week so here’s a report of our annual Fellowship Meeting.😃 Our members are in charge of hosting and pulling this event off. The missionaries plan revivals and they do fellowship. There was some drama before hand but the day of everything was pulled off very well. Shanto hired decorators to put up a big tent that everyone could eat under and hired a cook to cook for everyone. The Kulna brethren were responsible for different parts. Liton was in charge of fire wood, someone in charge of buying the vegetables, etc. We had it all day Saturday and part of the day Sunday. Saturday breakfast was supposed to be at 8 sharp. Shanto said emphasis on the sharp part. He had been grumbling that the foreigners blame the Bengalis when the schedule doesn’t go as planned and then here it’s the foreigners that are the late ones! We got there around 8:30 and breakfast was just being served. Some of us quick ate cornflakes at Trevor’s before we went. Kichuri was the meal of the morning! Quite a few of the members from away had arrived Friday evening already. Quite a crew… Josna, Sumita, Ang, Michael and Monica, Kobid, Samir, Liton, Hadun, Kokhon and Beauty, Shanto and Sotti… It was real feel of 114*. So we all had a grand opportunity for a lesson in endurance.😂 Right before church started Shotti came hauling through the crowd with the three massive ducks that needed to be butchered for Saturday’s meal. During the service the cooks butchered the old boogers. The ducks were stationed right outside the outhouse before the slaughtering took place. Layton had to use the bathroom right then during church so I had to go with him. I don’t blame him. I do not care for ducks whether they are alive or dead. While we were out in the outhouse Ridoy came out of church headed the same direction. He told me his brother got bit on the leg by ducks once because he knows him and I share a mutual fear of ducks. I went into where the food was being stored just to see what was in the tent and everything was COVERED in flies. I just laughed and laughed. Sometimes in the mission you just have to surrender to what is. Can you imagine the Hesston food committee having fly covered food and butchering ducks?😂🤣 I try my best to not compare Bangladesh to Kansas but sometimes one simply must acknowledge the stark differences so one can laugh in order to cope! We had a sermon in the morning which surprisingly didn’t last as long as I thought it would. Had a cha break and then a members meeting about getting the church registered in Bangladesh. This is something that has been an ongoing topic for several years already. The meeting was an air and share. Per Ripon’s research in order for the church to get registered in this country, we need to have a seven person committee complete with secretary, treasurer and chairman. We need a meeting three times a year and be able to show minutes from those meetings. Several members were quite concerned about this so called committee. Other churches get a committee here and it’s not long and the committee becomes the boss. The CSI men emphasized strongly that this committee is only a legal thing and registering the church would enable us to put a sign up on our building, purchase land for a church, and in the future we could maybe even get a missionary visa instead of a work permit. It was explained in deep detail that being on this committee does not mean you are the minister or the leader or the boss. You are a team. The chairman is of course a coveted position but the CSI men emphasized that the chairmen is not taking control of the church he is only the spokesmen for what the rest of the committee has decided. Most were in support of this moving forward but three men were not. The meeting eventually dispersed. For lunch we had rice, chicken and dal. It was really good. The dal looked abit sketchy but they had used a different type of lentils that I wasn’t familiar with. I didn’t eat much because I was still recovering from a round of parasites. Us ladies and kids stayed until after lunch. By then the heat was causing some mamas and small children to not cope very well. I did have a small fit because Shania was down in the dirt where all Shotti’s goats and ducks and cats are. I hope she doesn’t get worms. I squirted hand sanitizer on her booster seat tray before she ate off of it because of all the flies and made Layton wash his hands good. I try so hard to not let my OCD take over. Went back to Trevor’s house because we just couldn’t handle the heat any longer. We were all wet from head to toe from sweat. I was glad I had brought Gatorade for the kids with as much as they were sweating.. Anyways we took the kids home and We turned on all the ACs and turned the house into an ice box. We all laid down and fell asleep and slept for several hours. Shanto said no one needed to rest in the afternoon and church would resume at 3. Well the men messaged us and said everyone was resting😂 Went back around 5 and had more church. A short worship service. After it was done we all walked to the river and looked at how high the water had been from the cyclone. It was so much cooler by the water and there was a nice wind so we stayed for awhile and cooled off. I love going to the river and watching all the boats! Quite a few fishermen had nets set up. Walked back to Shanto’s and ate more rice and then made a beeline back to Trevor’s to cool off again. Everyone pretty much went straight to bed. Around 10:15pm I noticed the whole house was quiet. That’s one for the books, usually after the kids are in bed us adults all stay up late and have coffee and visit. When it’s so hot no one has much energy for anything. Sunday morning the men headed to Shanto’s around 8:30 for dim and ruti. Us ladies stayed home with the children. They were so wore out from the day before.  They played quiet and hardly fought which is abit unusual for 8 kids.  Anyways… Krystal came home mid morning with her baby. Poor Edward was so hot. He calmed as soon as he got into the cool house. Doyle came flying home and got Gatorade and Tylenol for all the men. They had another members meeting about the church registration. The majority still felt in favor of it. The three brethren that were very vocally against it decided to not participate and stay home which caused some frustration. One of them was eventually persuaded to come but he still refused to vote. So they did a ballot vote for seven positions. Monica got the chair man! All the members here look up to her and have great respect for her. Every members meeting she speaks up and says things just how they are. She is such a sweetheart. It was neat to see the rest of the members confidence in her. Jared Doyle and Trevor had to use google translate to read the names but eventually they got it all sorted out. Us ladies all took the kids for lunch. I was really worried when I got there and saw Jared. He had red welts on his neck from the heat. Lunch was duck. None of the white people ate any. Jared tried but got mostly bones in his serving. I did not let my children eat anything other than rice. The dal was like pea soup with a thick scum on it. The next morning several people woke up sick and was I ever glad I had not let the children eat it. Anyways after lunch the meeting dispersed. Went back to Trevor’s and the men all cooled off and slept. Doyle’s headed back to Golpaganj. We spent the rest of the day and night at Trevor’s. Monday morning Trevor and Jared went into Kulna to the bank and got a few details taken care of. We got back to Pink City around 4:30. So good to be back home. It is so much cooler here. Cool enough we even went out and took a walk! Looks like we might have had a good rain though this afternoon at some point. Layton went straight to his Legos and sat and built for quite awhile and Shania walked around the house making sure everything was in order. 

Found out that Trevor’s didn’t get a replacement this time at board meeting. We all felt kinda blue about it. Darrell says Bangladesh is priority at the next meeting in September. Hopefully third time is a charm. I used to get kinda weary about all the plea for mission workers. Mostly because I was fighting inside about Jared wanting to go to the mission in the first place. But when you are the one in the mission and your colleagues time is up and there’s no replacement it sure hits different. God will provide…. Lisa and I decided God must have someone very specific in mind for Bangladesh. They are just not quite ready yet!! 

May 27 - June 2, 2024

Monday 5/27: Woke up to strong winds (for Bangladesh) and lots and lots of rain. Cyclone Remal made landfall last night around 8. It really hit hard! Yesterday Trevors said the wind had already started up for them. Them and Doyle’s have been out of power for the past two days. Their IPS system runs until the batteries go dead then they hook up the generator until the batteries are charged up. Jared decided to cancel clinic. I was glad he did! With the amount of rain that was coming down we weren’t sure if the water pump on the pink city Main Street was going to keep up with the downpour and he wouldn’t be able to get back in. Mid morning a hefty piece of tree crashed down on our internet cable. It didn’t seem to affect the internet any. I love to look out the window and watch the palm trees waving in the wind. Layton was going stir crazy with not being able to go outside. I let him go under the carport but didn’t want him to go where there wasn’t a roof. He played with rice on the floor for awhile, built knex and then was quite bored. I mixed together shaving cream and water beads in a fix and mix bowl and oh did he have fun!! He played and played. Shania sat in her booster seat and ate snacks and laughed at her brothers antics. We were going to go out and about for awhile to get out of the house but around 1 the wind really picked up and the rain intensified. The news said this cyclone is a slow moving cyclone and the weather will continue until tomorrow afternoon. Jared didn’t think it was safe to be out and about so we stayed home. Made brownies and popcorn chicken. 

 

Tuesday 5/28: Didn’t sleep very well last night. Guess we aren’t used to the sound of howling wind anymore. The gusts were up to 50 mph. After 1.5 years of hardly any wind here this seemed quite blustery to us. I was so nervous about coconuts crashing off the trees and hitting the house or the trees themselves toppling over since they look like tall toothpicks and all of a sudden during the night we did hear a big crash. I ran to the children and they were peacefully sleeping and Jared went down stairs and here one of my shelves had fallen off the wall😂 what scaredy cats we are! The wind died down significantly this morning. The trees look so weary and worn. Some of the big branches on the coconut trees are just hanging down limply. Absolutely no cell service whatsoever. Jared went up to the roof and was able to get just enough service through Banglalink on his personal phone that he called Miriam and told her to cancel clinic. We lost power a few times during the night but it never lasted longer than 30 minutes. We are so fortunate. At least Half of Bangladesh has no power at all. Trevors and Doyle’s still are out of power. By lunch time the rain had quit. We went out on a drive. Lots of trees are bent over. The river by pink city was up quite high. Branches down everywhere. Went to Herfeys for lunch. Felt so good to get out of the house for awhile! Came home and napped. The sun came out and the heat and humidity made a roaring entrance! 

Wednesday 5/29: Trevor’s and Doyle’s both have power back! Off and on… Went and got some new passport photos taken. Stopped at the tailor and got my dresses. They fit perfectly! Just need to add shoulder pads. Sumita made pilau rice, fried eggplant and chicken curry. Layton was disgruntled that the rice wasn’t “normal” rice. I told him he needed to learn to be more flexible. Shania had to have a bath when she was done eating! She ate lots of eggplant. Jared worked on paperwork the rest of the day. He has to submit a bunch more papers to the NGO office for security clearance.nAlso got a coat of paint done in Shana’s room. Tried the take the children outside so they could run off some energy. Wasn’t long and we were back inside… just absolutely HOT. It’s not that it’s so warm today just the humidity makes the air so thick it feels like you would need a knife to cut it! We were all getting kinda crabby at each other by supper time so after supper we all had to have some alone time. 😊 

Thursday 5/30: Nothing of importance seem to happen today. We had singing in the evening. Jared went and picked up the passport photos afterwards. Shania’s picture turned out hilarious. She had a perfect little pout because she was about to start crying when the guy took her picture 😂 I’ve been reading in the news about the damage from the cyclone. The Sunderbans (a large forest) really got hit bad. Lots of deer and a few bears got killed.

Friday 5/31: We had just finished breakfast and Nathon called and said “I’m bringing some food I’ll be there in a bit.” So we had breakfast number two! It was so good! Much better than cereal. Dim, Ruti and Dal bajhi. I had told him once how much I loved that. On the way to church he told us about his job during the cyclone. Some of them had to work for 2.5 days straight to keep the internet servers for Grameen up and running. Sounded stressful. He says he’s still not caught up on sleep. Doyle and Amayllis came to church too. Jared was thankful for Doyle’s help with the service. Doyle’s came into Dhaka as soon as their power came back on. Krystal stayed at the guesthouse with the boys because they have some eye infection and they were worried it might be contagious. After lunch we came back home and took naps. We were so tired, why I do not know! Nathon hung out in pink city the rest of the afternoon. We asked him if Cyclone Remal was a normal cyclone or was this worse than usual? He said “very bad.” Amaryllis came over and played with Layton which I was grateful for. Layton was certain death was imminent if he couldn’t play with her. There’s been some big emotions at this house lately with the small fry. Krystal and I sat out by the gate and visited awhile until the mosquito fogger came by. We did not eat supper. We still were so stuffed from breakfast still this morning. 

Saturday 6/1: The day was kinda laid back. Jared got the last coat of paint up in Shana’s room. I did the usual things… laundry, make lunch etc. Jared and Layton went on a long scootie ride. in the evening Doyle and Jared hauled some furniture upstairs to the guesthouse and then hauled some downstairs. We decided to all go out for supper. Went to the coffee shop beside Herfeys. They serve American food! Pasta, pizza, Burgers and can you believe it NACHOS. Some girls came and asked me if they could hold Shania. I don’t mind as long as they stay right beside me. They said “where are you from?” I told them we were from the states. Their eyes got big with longing and they said “madam WHY are you HERE if you are from America?” I told them my husband has a job here with a three year contract. They shook their heads. They can’t figure out why we would leave a place that they dream of moving to. Even Nathon says that sometimes “why are you here since you live in America and have it so nice there?” One day I told him “when God tells you to do something you jump.” He said “that’s right!” 😊 Doyle hung up a bunch of things in the guesthouse. New mirrors, hand towel hooks, clocks etc. The guesthouse is slowly coming together! 

Sunday 6/2: Jared had clinic. The children and I cleaned out the pool and swept off the veranda. There was still twigs and so many leaves from the cyclone. Layton freaked out because he found a dead bird in the midst of all the rubbish. Shania started walking some this afternoon! Every once in a while she’s been taking a few steps but she can crawl so fast that she just always resorts back to that! Lately when ever Jared sits down in the living room she always goes and sits on his feet and starts to jump. She wants “ridey horsey.” Whenever a random dog comes into our yard she growls at them. This afternoon Layton was bored so he took apart an old fan that’s been laying around here. He said “mom you never know, I might just discover something fun inside this motor.” 😂 Later I heard him muttering “this is not working out.” Jared and I have been so hungry for Applebees lately. Kinda weird the random places and food that we get hungry for. We always love their strawberry lemonade so I figured out a recipe that tastes almost the same! Jared spent the rest of the afternoon doing bookwork. Jon told Jared that he had lost his glasses and that’s why he hasn’t been able to work on some of our paperwork lately. He says he got new glasses now so he can start working on it. Ahhhh…. Bangladesh. 🇧🇩