November 🍁 (a lengthy sort of read😊)

November 4: A regular day turned into a field trip. Jared wanted to take the children to an outdoor play area we had stumbled upon awhile ago. So after naps we packed up and headed there. It was very clean and wasn’t that expensive to get into! Both kids really enjoyed it. Jared and Layton noticed that they had a big bumper car area so for a dollar they went and did that! Layton could hardly smile bigger. He’s getting into this phase of boyhood where he wants to drive anything with a motor. I told him “go bump into something, your car is designed to do that!” Jared rode with him since he hadn’t ever done it before. He said “no mom, I’m being careful, I don’t want to break anything!”🤣 Jared told him next time that he would get a car too and he would show him how bumper cars really works!! Haha! I was so proud of him. A year ago he wouldn’t have dared left my side to do something like that, or he would have wanted me to do it with him instead of Jared. Jared spends a lot of time with Layton in the evenings and it has made such a difference! Layton is more secure and seems like it has eased a lot of his fears. It will be a big adjustment to go home and have daddy at work all day! There was an outdoor food court there so grabbed abit of supper. Places like this are so nice for my kids! Gives them social interaction as well which they really need. Shania had no fear and was climbing up backwards up the slides. There was a big blow up bouncy castle that was on the shape of a monkey and that scared her. She kept telling Shana “eyes eyes!” And pointing at the huge cartoon style monkey face on the front.

 11/9: Carls and Linferds flew in around 9. Linferd and Teresa are from Cartwright. She is Judith’s big sister. They came for lunch. Shana helped me make grilled chicken, pasta salad and fruit salad. I was so thankful for her help! While we cut up the fruit and vegetables we sat at the dining table and chattered. Her and I chatter a lot.😂 Anyways Shania climbed on the table and perched her bootie on top of the no bake cookies I had just made and proceeded to steel handfuls of veggies and fruit any chance she could. After lunch Carls and Linferds were doing their best to stay awake so we took them on a drive. Took them to Siza court so that Carls could show Linferds where they used to live and then showed them the old guesthouse too. Every time we drive down that street and smell that specific smell I am overcome with such gratitude and thankfulness that we could move to pink city. Relief is the right word. We had good friends at Siza court but pink city is so much better for children and teacher! 11/10: Shana went and got dim and ruti for everyone for breakfast! Gave the guards the leftovers. Left Pink City around 9. Got aways down the road only to discover that the main road we take to Rajshahi was closed. Went on a 3 hour goose chase through all sorts of random back streets that wound in and out of construction. Eventually we made it back to the main road. We also enjoyed several jams in the mixture. Linford and Carl hopped out a few times to try and clear the jams up. Sometimes white skin helps! At one point Layton wearily called out from the backseat “are you SURE we aren’t back to where we started?” We all died with laughter😂 Eventually we got going again. Got to Michael’s around 7ish. I was glad to be out of the van. Some of us were blessed with car sickness but rallied quite quick when Monica dished out the pilau and chicken curry!!!! That woman’s cooking is so delicious. 😋 They were really enthused to see Carls and Linferds. We didn’t stay too long because our beds were calling. Stayed at Royal Raj. That place is so luxurious which felt so good after all the bumping and jostling on the roads. Took Layton for a quick dip in the pool before bedtime yet. The water was so cold that he didn’t last long in there. Bed felt good after being cramped in the van! We were a tight fit in there but we didn’t want to hire a driver and have two cars.

 11/11: Had breakfast at the hotel and then headed to Michael’s around 10. Breakfast at Bangladesh hotels are pretty much all the same… Fried rice, chicken curry, Bangla noodles, ruti, boiled eggs, rice pudding, and fresh fruit. Michaels seemed happy! Monica really enjoyed showing us her animals. Shania remembered the goat and was plum tickled. She did not want to sit still in the living room while we visited, she kept wanting to go back and look out at the animals. So her and I spent most of the time watching the chickens hop around. She just LOVES animals. Now Monica has added 2 rabbits to her herd of animals. She showed us her and Marcie’s gardens and her flowers up on the roof. She also has a little outdoor kitchen with a tin roof over it up there too! The neighbor had some rice drying on the roof and she came up there and swished it around with her feet so it would keep drying. Monica seemed really enthused with all her projects! She has recently started sewing for other people too. She was busy sewing clothes for a wedding that was coming up for some aquaintences. It made me feel good to see her happy and enthused about her projects. She didn’t even cry when we left this time! I wish we could transplant Marcie into an American youth group. I think she would blossom. She is such a beautiful girl! It just looks like she has no motivation. Monica says she does cook a fair bit for them and she enjoys that. She used to go to school to get some type of nursing degree but she isn’t pursuing that at this time. Not sure if it’s because of money or what?! After we finally pulled ourselves away from Michael’s we headed to Kaligonj. Jared and I had never been there before. The GPS optimistically told us four hours but by the time we dodged buses, trucks and every thing else we shared the road with it was more like 6-7 hours. We did stumble upon a cutesy little resort for lunch. That’s one thing that drives me crazy here with traveling. At home you don’t think twice about eating on the road. But here you never know if you will find a place to eat that’s decent or will they be open or will they have child friendly food, or will it be clean? Felt like we found a pot of gold finding this resort. It was beautiful and Linferd and Teresa took my kids outside on a walk while we waited for our food. My children are lapping up all this “grandparent” attention they are getting from Carls and Linferds! Layton always hopes “one of those girls” will sit by him in the van! 🥰 anyways, we eventually made it to Kaligonj. The next challenge was to find Boli and Elizabeth’s house. Oy…. Driving in the dark here is something else. Jared did so good and I was so proud of him!!! He twisted and turned down all sorts of tiny village roads and eventually we made it. Boli and Elizabeth don’t really live in a town but more of a settlement type place. Layton was glad that they had a grandson to play some soccer with! This couple is in their 60s maybe?? She suffers from arthritis and pain and chest pain. Due to her poor health they haven’t ever been to revivals or fellowship so this was our first time meeting them! They have two sons. One is married and has two children… a 8 year old and a 1 year old. Boli is kinda quiet but he visits easily. Elizabeth is the sweetest thing ever. Have you ever been with someone that is so sweet and kind that you kinda feel a bull in the china shop around them. That’s how Elizabeth is. She kept calling me “seester.”We all went and sat on the church floor and had cha. We didn’t stay long because the guesthouse in Kaligonj kept calling Jared wondering when we were coming. A few weeks ago Doyle found a place called “Hunger Free World” guesthouse. They have been trying to find a better place to stay when they come to Boli’s once a month. CSI does have a small house rented but it doesn’t have electricity or running water most of the time, so Darrell thought it would be wise to find somewhere else to stay that’s better suited to the need! This guesthouse is ran by NGOS. 

 11/12: The night was OK. At one point I woke up to the sound of someone a few doors down having some gastric distress. We will leave it at that. Carl and Jared went and found a good restaurant that served breakfast. They bought some dim and ruti and brought it back to our room. We spread the food out and everyone grabbed some paper towels and bon appetite! Everyone had some sort of tale to tell about the previous night.😂 will we stay there again? The jury is out… After we were done eating we noticed there was a school on the main floor of the guesthouse! Probably 75 kids were all lined up in the courtyard doing their morning drills. They were doing some exercises and reciting something. We couldn’t understand what they were saying. We stood on the veranda and enjoyed the entertainment. Packed up and headed back to Boli’s. This time it was daylight so we could see our surroundings! Drove down some very narrow brick roads. It’s rice harvesting season now so everyone was busy laying their rice straw out on the road to dry. Any big open area is covered in rice stalks. Nothing to do but drive right over it. They don’t seem to mind. Also saw piles and piles of cow manure out drying on the edges of the road too. Noted some tobacco fields and pawn growing areas. It was neat to see their place in the light! Their yard is immaculate! They have a big outdoor kitchen, 2 houses and then the church. The whole yard looks like cement but it’s cow manure and water mixed together then it’s “painted” on. When it dries it hardens flat and smooth and is easy to sweep. Elizabeth has a bamboo fence up around the yard and lots of plants. Absolutely gorgeous. I told her I thought her yard was so beautiful and she seemed to find that humorous. They have the church building looking quite nice. However the decorations made us giggle. At the front behind the podium table was a big wooden cross with Christmas lights wrapped around it and then the curtains are white with red crosses stitched onto them! We sat and visited for awhile while the men went off to look at Boli’s rice fields. Elizabeth took Shana and I on a walk. She took us to her friends house that has a talking parrot. It kept saying “apnar nam ki?” (What is your name?) then it would say it’s name “Ritou, Ritou.” Shana and I just howled with laughter at it then it started imitating us and laughing back😂 we went and got the men and showed them this hilarious creature!!! They took us to have cha at a NGO organization down the road. Eventually we pulled ourselves away from there and got back in the van. Stuck our nose in the wind for Golpagang! Took about four hours to get there. Couldn’t find much to eat on the way there but eventually we found some fresh shingaras. We dropped our things off at Samuel Bella’s guesthouse. Layton and Jared went on to Doyle’s but Shania and I needed some rest and quiet time! Laid down and the next thing I knew Jared was telling me it was time for supper!Sandwiches were had by all. Didn’t stay too late at Doyle’s as everyone was ready for bed pretty early. It’s impossible to nap when you are on the road here, too much lurching and braking. 

 11/13: The men and Shana headed off to eye camp. It was about an hour away! Shana did the computer work and Jared, Doyle, Bruce, Carl and Linferd all had jobs too! They saw about 600 patients and at least 1000 showed up but they turned a lot away. The men got home around 5 and were absolutely starving because they had had no lunch. I made tacos for everyone and there was not much left! They all thought they were delicious. Made some CSI bars and those got gobbled up too. I enjoy cooking for hungry people! While the men were gone us ladies did our own thing. Sat and visited a lot. The children played in the water most of the morning so it was quite peaceful. Kinda interesting out of our big group, only Carl, Shana and I are Americans. All the rest were Canadians in some way shape or form! Was neat to be able to make connections and talk about people that everyone knew. 

 11/14: Had breakfast together and then packed up. As we were leaving Samuel’s guesthouse we met Nathon’s dad! He wanted us to come over but Jared told him when we are back in Golpaganj for revivals in January then we will stop in! I was struck by the saying on Samuel’s shirt “CHOSEN to be a testimony.” Gave me something to meditate on. Left Doyle’s around 10. Carls and Linferds stayed behind to go with Bruce’s back to Kulna. Our van felt quite empty and quiet after traveling with them the past few days! Shania was so over being around lots of people that as soon as we got in the van to leave she waved and waved at everyone saying “bye bye bye bye!” After all the twisty winding village roads we’ve been on past few days the road from Golpaganj to Dhaka felt like quite a dream. The traffic in the city was wonderful and we hardly stopped at all! Got to pink city around 2! Shana says she is ok if we dont get back in the van anytime soon.😂

 11/18: Jared had clinic and then went and met Doyle at the Padma Bridge. Picked up Carls and Linferds and brought them back into Dhaka. Shana and I made them all supper. They were very thankful for something that wasn’t spicy.😂 Just visited for quite awhile in the evening. Carl wondered if we would come back for a 2nd term. We told him that a 2nd term didn’t feel like an open door. We would really like to be home by the end of August so Layton can start 2nd grade at home but it all depends if there are replacements to be had or not! 

 11/19: Everyone came for breakfast. After breakfast we all piled in the van and headed to Farmgate. The ladies wanted to do some fabric shopping. However, I always forget that the fabric and tailor section is closed on Tuesdays! That was really disappointing because Shana and I both wanted to get some things, but that’s ok! We ended up just browsing through the part that was open which was still a fair bit. Found my children some winter Jammie’s which they were both plumb tickled about. (Update: my days of buying my children’s clothes at the market are over. The next day I washed them all. The athletic pants that Layton loves that I bought, shrank by at least 3 inches and my hoodie I bought the sleeves shrank by 4 inches. So no more market clothes. I was very frustrated.) We all went to KaWran Bazaar next. That’s where Jared goes to buy milk. I’ve always wanted to go there but Jared always says he thought it was too stinky and slimy for women to go to. Now it’s dry season so it’s not all muddy. We walked through the vegetable and fruit market, it’s designed more for wholesale. The vendors just throw any rotten or bad vegetables on the road or to the side and when the compost gets too much then a big loader comes through and scrapes it all off into a pile. Layton was not amused at the smell.😂 it wasn’t too bad. We went back behind the bazaar and walked along the train tracts for a ways. That was so neat to see all the tin shacks along there. Even most of them had electricity! Lots of women out cooking. I was surprised that we didn’t have more followers than what we did. Three trains came flying by while we were out there. It never gets old seeing the Dhaka trains. They are so stuffed full of people, inside and then on the roof and then some hanging on the back. Sometimes the young boys will be running along the top while the train flys along. Jared thinks the train goes around 50 mph? By this time we were all getting hungry so took rickshaws back to Farmgate and got cold cokes. We stopped at the jute store next. Found some dandy treasures and some presents for the people I love. Headed to the clinic and feasted on the most scrumptious fare. Josna made Carl boss beef biriyani and chicken curry. Biriyani is fast becoming my favorite Bangla food!! For sure with lots of lime juice squeezed on the top. Carl bought some tok and Misti doy. Doy is like a custard yogurt. The Tok is a lot like Greek yogurt and the Misti taste like a sweet pudding. Very good! I could tell my children were starting to get worn out and frazzled and so them and I quick ate and then we went back to the kitchen for some quiet time while everyone else ate. Shania took a 30 minute nap and Layton just sat in the corner and played one of his games on my phone. I’ve been finding if I give my children a break on days like today they are much more enduring. I was so proud of what troopers they are!!! After lunch the men dropped us ladies off at Danmondi Aarongs and they headed off to a coffee shop to meet Shurov (our Dhaka brother.) Us ladies shopped at Aarongs and then got CNGs and headed to Prezzie (a different coffee shop). We stayed there for awhile just relaxing and enjoying food and visiting. The men’s visits didn’t last super long. Shurov seemed abit softer than last year when Carl visited him. He admitted that he does miss coming to church. We all came back to pink city and rested for 2 hours. Had Shania nap again and Layton had some quiet time. Around 7:30, we packed up Carls and Linferds things and headed for Gulsan. We were all enthused about going to Farmhouse Burger for supper. Traffic was pretty thick and jammed up so it took us an hour or more just to get to the first Gulsan intersection. So we ended up just turning around and heading for the airport to drop them off. It’s always sad to see visitors leave! My children will miss their new grandparents🥰 We headed home and just had snacks for supper then we all flopped into our beds!

 11/21: Jared spent most of the afternoon and evening getting the old Kulna van sold. One of Hridoys friends came and bought it. As is usual here in this culture, it was quite a long and drawn out process but by 7 the deal was closed and the van was driving out of Pink City!

 11/28: Happy Thanksgiving! 🍁🦃 No school today! Shana and I cooked almost all day. We had a lot of fun cooking. We decided to go all out for Thanksgiving and make all our favorite foods. Made chicken and gravy, mashed potatoes, Mac n cheese, deviled eggs, canned cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, pecan pie, chocolate pie, apple pie and pumpkin pie. Mavis and Krystle brought butter horns, cauliflower salad, sweet tea, apple cider, sweet potatoes casserole. Shana and I were quite proud of our homesteading cooking.😂 the green bean casserole we made cream of mushroom soup from scratch and plus the French fried onions were “scratch” like Layton says. Then Shana wanted relish in the deviled eggs so she carefully cut up pickles. So there you have it… CSI homesteaders, stay tuned. We invited Josna and Sumita and Nathon. Nathon was busy with a friend’s wedding so he couldn’t come. We all ate plenty, I think that’s goes without saying. It was so so good to have American holiday food again. Josna and Sumita kept counting all the different piles of food on their plate to see how many different kinds there were. They seemed to really enjoy it. I sent some pie home with them later on. 11/29: Well our morning was quite interesting! A few weeks ago one of Nathon’s friends that is a pastor at a Baptist church in Tongi asked Jared if he could come and speak on a Bible verse at a youth program. Jared wasn’t so sure but the other CSI men gave him the go ahead so he decided it was probably ok. Got to the Baptist church in Tongi a lot sooner than we thought. Only took 20 minutes to get there. Never know how the traffic will be and the area we were driving through is always jammed up pretty bad so it was a pleasant surprise that we got there so quick. Right after we got there the younger children were having “Sunday school” or some type of activity. Dancing to Jingle Bells. Shana and the children and I went and watched. Looked like organized chaos. Shania wanted to dance along with them!. The big girls all wanted to hold Shania but she wasn’t so sure about it. After awhile, they called us to go to the upstairs of the building and Nathon had the youth group playing some hilarious games with plastic cups. The event was called “youth refuel day.” The schedule was kinda interesting it had been going since 8 in the morning. Jared, myself, Shana and the children all had to go up front and get introduced and then they handed us all flowers.🤣felt a little out of my comfort zone. Jared gave his talk. He talked abit about why we are here and who we work for. They wanted him to speak on “abhore that which is evil and cling to that which is good.” Nathon interpreted for him. After the sermon, they got out their guitar and the leader sang a song while Nathon played the drums. They were taking a lunch break then. They invited us to stay for lunch but Shania was getting so fussy so we ended up leaving. Hope that wasn’t too rude. That church is nice. It would work perfect for revivals if we ever hosted them in Dhaka. The “sanctuary” had lots of fans in it and a big speaker system, plus a pull down projector screen that they had the songs on.They had cooks there too that were making chicken and egg curry. Nathon had told Jared about this church awhile ago so it was nice to see it. He goes there and helps with their programs occasionally. Came home for pie and pizza and naps. 

 Clinic update: It’s a busy place I tell you! Last month one day Jared saw 50 in one morning, another day he had to turn away at least 20. Thus the reason we didn’t feel bad closing down clinic for a week last month to go to Kuakata. You might wonder, “well isn’t it good to have such high numbers and isn’t it good to see as many patients as possible?” Yes and no. Our clinic facility is quite small. We have a 10x12 room where Miriam, Dr Elizabeth and Jared see the patients. One patient at a time is allowed into the room. The area where the patients wait is a long narrow hallway. Otherwise they have to wait on the street. If too many people come, these Bengalis extinctively soon get the mob affect. Pushing, shoving, butting in front of the other, yelling about how their problem is worse than the person in front of them and so on. It’s like Michael from Rajshahi explained it to Jared once. “In Bangladesh if there is not order at the clinics, you soon have 10 patients in the room, 10 patients around the doctors neck and 10 more in the hallway.” If we were able to run the clinic like a drs office at home yes we could see more, but these people cannot comprehend that style of order. This is why Golpaganj and Kulna no longer do clinics only eye camps. Things get out of control so fast and it’s impossible to regain order once chaos has started. Miriam keeps order at our clinic! She is serious about it too. If someone stands in the room too long after Jared helps them she says “Boss has given you enough money, you should be thankful.” And she sends them on. She has a heart of gold for the patients but she is very firm with them too. So every so often we shut the clinic down and the numbers go down for awhile. We very easily meet our quota from the NGO buero so this is no issue. One day Jared said a man came running in off the street and came inside the clinic yelling “there’s an emergency we need the doctor.” They told him that we are not an urgent care and plus Dr Elizabeth doesn’t go see other patients while she is at the clinic, the guy would not leave and became more and more obnoxious. Finally Jared just looked at him and said “do we need the police?” The guy quieted right down and left. Another day a mom brought her 15 year old girl in. This girl comes in a lot and Jared always thought she was normal, but this day that she came in it was very evident that she was NOT normal. She kept hitting her mom, pulling her mom’s hair and being a mess. She kept trying to grab the drs notes from Jared and just fixated on it. Jared said “if she wants the paper so bad let her have it maybe she will calm down.” Her mom said “no she will rip it up.” The girl got so worked up Jared didn’t know what to do. He thought about taking her outside so she wasn’t so disruptive and so the mom could finish up her things but it’s inappropriate for a man to do that so finally they just got business taken care of and the mom could take the girl home. The conjoined twins have officially been separated! One remains in ICU and the other is out of the ICU and is able to drink milk on her own. The dad comes and gets milk every so often. They shared a liver and some intestines and also some a major vein or artery I forget which.

 Shania’s latest game is: “how many cats and dogs can we find?” Now that it is cooler she loves to be outside all the time. She goes to the door and begs to go out. In the mornings when Layton and Shana are at school, I put her in the stroller and her and I walk up and down all the streets in Pink City looking for cats and dogs to meow and bark at!😂 I enjoy it! It takes about an hour an she is quite content in her stroller. Plus it gives me exercise! You should try it sometime, meowing at any cat you see… it’s a lot of fun. Decreases adult cares and worries. Layton giggled because I told him we were being “thing finders.” (Pippi Long-stocking) Shania had kinda a rough week the past week. Her last molar plus two other teeth are trying to poke up through which has caused the young lady alot of emotional anguish. I am very ready to be done with this teething season. One day in particular when she was especially fussy and clingy Layton sighed and said “mom, it looks like getting teeth is alot more work than just loosing them.”🤣 she is picking up new words at an astonishing rate! She would love outside in the dirt if we let her. Don’t worry, dewormer is always on hand.🤭we are really careful with not letting dogs into our yard so not too worried about it. 

 Layton is busy as usual. Rollerblading and playing games with dad are his two current favorite past times. He is enthused about music class now. He came home one day and said “Mom, did you know there is two Dos in music.?” He especially likes the song “My Homes in Montana.” One day he said “there’s a thing in your ear that vibrates and it sends the noises up to your brain, sometimes like when you’re on a tractor or something, it vibrates too much and allows too much noise to go up to your brain and that’s why it’s so loud.” I’m so thankful he enjoys school. We could not have asked for a better teacher!🩷 He gets quite worried at times about “Kansas school.” So Shana has been explaining to him how it works and what you all do at school and it has eased his fears quite abit. He remembers the big playground set and the gym so we capitalize on the fun he will have at recess with Kobe, Silas and Kenyon. Layton has made some new friends lately. One day one of them was over playing. I overheard Layton ask him “what do you do when the power goes out while your praying at the mosque? How do you hear the prayer call? Do you have to wait to finish your prayers until the electricity comes back on?”🤣 Then a few days earlier he had come running inside all worked up. “Mom that boy told me I should be a Muslim.” Shana said “don’t forget that you’re a Christian and you’ll be ok.” He’s been spending a lot of time playing badminton and soccer with his new friends. Of course as soon as the 5pm prayer call goes all games are over for the evening. In the afternoons one of his friends comes over and him and Layton sift dirt. They use my good colander and gravy ladle too. I’m just so thankful that he is playing with other children that I don’t put up a fuss about my kitchen ending up outdoors except I did make a noise when the colander got a big dent in the side. I’m not sure what is so appealing about this particular behavior. It reminds me somewhat of “Beezus and Ramona.” Ramona and Howie playing brick factory. Pounding bricks for no particular reason. Sometimes Aarobs older sister comes too and her and I play badminton. I love badminton and it’s fun to do something other than housework.

October 2024

Google Images 

 This month I’m going to try to be more prompt about writing. September I waited until the end of the month to write anything then after I posted it remembered all sorts of neat things I was going to write. 

October 1: Got up at 6 and finished packing and headed to Golpagang. Shania has been doing so good with sleeping during the night but alas it was not her night. Anyways… got on the road by 7:15. Nathon came for pizza and the evening last night so didn’t get as much packing done as I usually do, so got up early and did it this morning. Took us awhile to get out of Dhaka since we left later in the morning but eventually we cleared the city and made good time to Golpagang! Doyle’s have been putting a lot of work into their yard and it is beautiful now. Was neat to see the finished product. Sheema made us chicken curry, which was delicious as usual. Later afternoon we took a long walk through the village behind their house and showed Shana the Hindu cremation site. Found out that if they can’t afford the firewood to burn the body, they do bury them off to the side of the crematorium. Still gives me the spooks to see those idols there. The bowls of sugar that had been left as offerings in front of the idols were covered in ants. Thankful that my “offerings” ascend directly to my God. 

October 2: loaded up after breakfast and went and took a boat ride on a Noka. I’ll post a picture from Google images that is similar. It was so neat to go down the river at a slow pace. We definitely got our purification sweat in though. The humidity was next level! Some places the river was so choked up with water hyacinths that Doyle had to climb to the front of the boat and shove them aside so we could go through. The water hyacinths are considered invasive. Several places the farmers will harvest a bunch and then turn them upside down in the river, and plant a garden on the top. That way they can have a floating garden in the monsoon season. One bridge we went under we saw a whole bunch of men and boys run to see us go under and then they all ran to the other side to see us come out the other side. It struck us so funny!!! Felt like a human version of Winnie the Pooh playing “Pooh sticks.” 😂 One dokan we floated by  that was on the edge of the river was a barber shop. It appeared as though the barber threw all the black hair out the window onto the river bank as there was quite a pile of black hair! At home there would be all sorts of colors of hair. After our boat ride we packed up and left Doyle’s and headed to Kulna. I wasn’t sure what it would be like to be there without Trevor’s. The house just has the basics in it so without all their pretty personal touches it felt like good closure that they were indeed gone. Poor Shania didn’t handle it too well. She walked around crying and crying. Room to room then outside. I took her outside and showed her Tulsi uncle but that didn’t help. Finally Jared said “I bet she is looking for Lisa!!” Later evening we video called Grandma Lisa and Shania saw her and got the biggest smile ever on her face!🥰 Unpacked our things and turned on all the fans and ACs. Now that it is rainy season and the house has been empty for a few months, mildew can show up quickly. So when us or Doyle’s aren’t there, we finally got the maid and Tulsi to agree to leave fans on. Went to Shanto’s for lunch. Took a van rickshaw which is always one of  my favorite parts of going to Kulna. The road into the house was so tore up we barely made it in with the van. Shana thought CSI needed a Jeep or Land Rover instead of a van car after that ride in. Anyways got to Shanto’s, and it was SO good to see them again. Shania went to Shanto after she was done having a meltdown over Shotti’s ducks. Shotti has two cats that Shania just was obsessed with. But the minute they twitched their tails she sobbed. She was quite an emotional mess. Shotti made chicken curry for us. Oh it was good!!!!!!!! We sat and visited for awhile and then Shanto and Jared took care of some bills and money issues. Shanto is helping us with some things now that the post is empty. It looks like he kinda enjoys being involved! Went back to the house and slept for awhile. Shania snuggled up against Jared and fell sound asleep. She needed that security after her morning of tears and meltdowns. In the evening we went and got fuska and chapoti. I was determined Shana had to try it. I told her that the only way it tasted good was if you had sweat running down your back and face the whole time you ate it and it did not fail to disappoint. The van rickshaw ride home was so fun. The Bengalis rise and shine at night when it’s cooler and all their dokans were open and lots of people were out and about just socializing and standing around. I just love showing Shana this country. Bless her heart she is a very good sport! 

October 3: we spent the morning at the house. We did go to Shanto’s for breakfast for dim and ruti. Got back to the house and Dipti came to clean. She was so glad to see someone at the house. She gets so lonesome. I did have to give her some marching orders about cleaning because there was gecko poop all over upstairs. She didn’t seem to mind. Jared payed her for the month of October and gave her her puja bonus. Shana and I took a walk through the village behind the house. I always love that walk! They were setting up bamboo poles in preparation for the Hindu pujas that are fixing to happen. Pujas are the big celebrations. There are alot of them this time of year. Different pujas for different gods. This year with all the protests against the Hindus after Sheik Hasina’s fall, Shanto said that the pujas would be quieter than usual. I asked Dipti about it and she said the same thing. They are worried about drawing unwanted attention. Spent the rest of the morning packing our stuff up and leaving Trevor’s house Spick and span since it will be a few weeks until anyone stays there gain. Told Tulsi bye and headed to Dhaka. Got home around 8:30 pm. From the time we entered Dhaka until we got to pink city was 2.5 hours! Nathon told us that if we want avoid the majority of the jams we need to be back in Dhaka by 4:30 pm but we got a late start. 

October 4: first time we had church in 2 weeks. Between going to Rajshahi, Golpaganj and Khulna and Jared being sick we haven’t been there for singing or lunch either! Josna was more than delighted to make us cha. She said “I haven’t made you any food or any cha for many days.” Stayed for quite awhile after church. Nathon and the ladies wanted all the details and then Nathon and Jared always have to have their visiting time. 

Well there is where things went off the rails. I kinda forgot to write and when I remembered I didn’t feel inspired.

Speaking of pujas, while they were going on, there was a school by the clinic that was hosting one. One Friday Shana and I decided to go walk down the street past it. It’s fun to see from afar and to see how everyone is dressed. Sumita caught wind of us going so she decided to come to. Well we got there and into the celebration she marched. I gave Shana a look of pure horror because I did NOT want to go in, only look from afar. Well what to do in that large crowd of people but to follow Sumita. She went right in and when the guards saw us they cleared a path for us. Sumita took us right up front to the idols. People were putting fruit by them for offerings. Felt so out of place that I said “ok I’m done now.” we walked out of there and I felt somewhat defiled. Jared assured me I was not defiled from the whole ordeal. Anyways, they were handing out kichuri bowls to people but we did not participate. I was glad to get back to our clinic and have our church service, that does not have loud music and big naked idols up front. 😳

Us and Doyle’s went to Nathon’s for supper one evening. He has been wanting to come over and cook his special beef and kichuri. I love kichuri. So I’ve been hounding him about it because I did not want him to forget what he had promised. One evening him and his roommate decided to just cook it at their apartment for us. Boy where we plum tickled. Hardly ate anything all day in preparation. It’s quite a drive out to his place. Out in Gazipur. Come to find out we had been literally driving right by his place when we went to Rajshahi. It doesn’t feel like Dhaka at all out there. Just more like a village. His apartment is very nice. I had a good chuckle because Nathon messaged and said “can you please bring paper plate and cup? I do not have enough dish.” Made him some “cow food” (cabbage salad) to. They made beef curry, kichuri and then a sweet dessert that reminds me of rice pudding. We ate and ate! I was glad I had fasted all day. Afterwards we drove around the area abit. Gazipur has lots and lots of factories, mostly clothing. Since it was night by the time we left, the factories all had their lights on inside. We could see right in. Jared the pulled the van up beside one and we sat and watched for abit. Rows and rows and rows of ladies sewing. No AC, just huge fans in the windows. Jared said he bet production doubled at night since that’s when it’s cooler. Have heard those are miserable places to work in the heat. Wish everyone at home could see those factories. It is quite something! And to think that a lot of Carters and old navy’s clothes come from factories like that. 

Last time Doyle’s came into Dhaka it was Amaryllis’ birthday. We all met for lunch at Burger King and then Krystal and I spent the afternoon at the play place at Jamuna with the kids while Doyle Jared and Nathon had man coffee time. That play place is worth its weight in gold. It’s air conditioned, clean and has so many things for the kids to do. It’s a lil pricey so we just do it once in a while when things get monotonous. When it’s 100* plus and playing outside isn’t an option it’s a good place to go for the afternoon to wear the children out. 

Krystal’s parents flew in October 17. Bruce and Mavis Schartner. It was neat to see them! Bruce’s are planning to spend three months here. They will live in the Kulna house and help out with the work over there.  They were only able to get a 30 day visa instead of the usual 90 day visa. So a few weeks after they got here, Bruce, Doyle, Jared and Nathon are planning to go the visa office to see what they can do to obtain another visa. The high comission in their area at home assured them it would be no problem at all. “Once you get to Dhaka just reapply for an extension.” Har har. This is Bangladesh folks. None of us are here legally currently. We are rebels like that. 

The best news ever this month… One night during the night at 3 AM I noticed Jared was listening to a WhatsApp. I thought “now that’s strange he never does that during the night.” He said “Darrell found a replacement for Kulna and they are hoping to come in January.” Well we were pleased as punch I tell you! Prayers of thanks ascended. Lonnie and Lynette Koehn from Lobelville Tennessee. 😊They have three girls, 10 year old, 8 year old and 18 month old. Layton is enthused that they have someone his age, he doesn’t even care it’s a girl. We are very much looking forward to having them here! 

Our Kuakata trip was enjoyable. We went for three days for abit of a break. Some missionaries go to all the places…. Tea Gardens, Coxs Bazaar, etc. Those places are lovely, but we have wanted to go back to Kuakata ever since we went there with everyone last December! We decided we better go now because by the time the winter business subsides the heat will be back full force. However it would not be a true vacation without sickness. We had decided that we would leave at 4:30 am to beat the traffic out of Dhaka. Well I was so tickled because by supper time the evening before Jared, Shana and myself had everything ready to go. I thought “we certainly have our act together when it comes to traveling.”😂 Layton started throwing up and having other bathroom problems at 11 pm. Then Shania woke up with a fever. Layton’s sickness seemed under control enough to still go by morning. So we loaded up extra clothes and a trashcan and took off. We have been looking forward to going to Kuakata for months so we weren’t about to let anything deters us. Got there around 12:30. Oh it was beautiful! We all took naps and hit the pool! Layton and Shania seemed to feel better by that point but we still took it easy. For supper we got chicken and nan at the cafe beside the pool. Rested the rest of the evening. The next day we ventured out. Packed a picnic lunch and hired a van driver. Went out to the beach. It was quite hot and the sun was intense. Gotten so used to Dhaka smog that we don’t even think of using sunscreen. We all got quite burned. Shania was very fussy and feverish despite the meds we had given her. Plus everyone was getting hot so we ended up taking our picnic back to our motel room and dining on it there! I wished we could have been at the beach longer but it does not pay to have a sick child out in this heat for longer than necessary. We all had good naps! Later afternoon once Shania had settled, we went to the beach Bbq. Jared’s been looking forward to coming back to this since last December! He got tuna, shrimp, crab and then another type of fish. It was delicious! Also got homemade tortillas for the kids. Jared had to message Trevor about what he was eating. Last year him and Trevor ate so much and later they were in the bathroom due to the spices….. wellll what can we say. History repeated itself. The victim kept declaring “it was worth it… it was worth it… it was worth it.”😂 We did some shopping at the beach market there. Layton wanted a new Kuakata shirt because his one from last year was much too small. Got some sea shell things too… Layton keeps finding all these little treasures and says “I want it for my Kansas bedroom mom.”  Went back to the motel and went swimming again. Shania and I stayed up in the room for some peace and quiet. We got our moneys worth out of that pool that’s for sure!  Layton is becoming a fish in the water. I’m glad because that had been a big fear of his. You’d never guess it now! The next day was quite overcast… we decided to just stay at the resort. There’s lots of things to do there. There was a cyclone headed for Coxs bazaar so it was abit rainy and windy. Had hoped to go back to the beach to see the waves but it didn’t seem like beach weather. Rode on the pedal boats, the kids swung for awhile, we took a walk on the grounds, and then went swimming again. Mid afternoon we went on a drive around Kuakata. It’s so beautiful there. I am so thankful we got the chance to go back one more time!!!!! The next day we packed up and headed home. It really rained and the wind blew! The cyclone ended up hitting more by India instead of Cox’s Bazaar where they had originally predicted. We hustle to leave because the road into Kuakata took an hour to drive :::::: because of all the potholes. Thankfully the rain stopped and we were able to get out and down the road. Jared was worried it would flood with as bad of shape as the road is in. Drove 20 mph or less the whole way down there. Decided we were never complaining about any Marion country road ever again. Got home around 6 pm or so. 

Enjoying a few weeks at home. We are really looking forward to the winter activities. Several sets of visitors are coming, Lonnie’s come, several outings, etc. Shana and Layton are busy with school. I just love seeing Layton’s progress. He is starting to sound out words and read them. Any words on water bottles, food packaging or any signs he is always trying to read . I love when we says “hey mom! I know that word!” He’s been into doing word search puzzles too and spends a fair bit of time in the evenings working on that. 

Shania seems to be finally over her fever/cough illness. She got two molars in the process. Let’s just say for a whole week she slept no more than 3-4 hours a night. I tried to be Pollyanna and say “I am so thankful that she isn’t sleeping at night because taking a nap in the afternoon is so fun to look forward to and enjoy!” I almost convinced myself. She keeps adding more words to her vocabulary. Cow, fishies, Layton, bye bye, hello… It’s so fun having a little girl. It will be neat to see her playing with Lonnie’s girl that’s only 4 days older than her. Her blanket and her thumb are her ever present companion. She’s starting to come tell me if she poops her diaper. So that maybe the next thing we undertake. 

Several have asked if there is protests going on yet. Yes there is. We accidentally stumbled upon one one day without meaning too. Police everywhere and the water cannon truck was out. Lots of yelling about “no Hindus”. We quietly and quickly drove through the area as quickly as possible. Now the latest is that the students are threatening to take to the streets again if the president doesn’t step down. The interim government remains in place. No idea when election for the next prime minister will be. But as always… we feel safe and aren’t worried and are careful where we go. 

Ok much more could be said about our life and the clinic, but this is enough for now I think! 

Love to you all🩷

Mission Voice Article

 Mission Voice

Jared and Brianna Regehr 

Dhaka, Bangladesh 

July 2024

 

Greetings (Nomoskar) from Bangladesh. We came to Dhaka in November 2022. Moving from a rural area of Kansas to one of the mostdensely populated cities in the world has been an adjustment. Over time, we have come to love the people and culture and enjoy our work here. 

The population of our city is ~25 million. The geographical size of Dhaka is 100 square miles. For comparison, the city of Wichita, Kansas has a population of ~450,000 in 160 square miles. When we are out and about, we never lack for interesting things to see. People riding on top of the trains and buses. Rickshaws piled high with bags of vegetables and with the vendor riding on top. Motorcycles with a father, mother, and two-three children riding on it. Trucks with stacks of rice in burlap bags piled twice as high as the sides of the bed of the truck. Double decker buses that lean to one side (it is amazing that the buses don’t tip over). Traffic jams with vehicles flowing and moving in every direction. Markets with fruit and vegetables stacked high and the vender sitting in the middle of the pile. Colorful clothing drying on the railings of the apartment buildings. Children flying kites made from twigs and old plastic or using an old foam container as a toy boat in the gutter. People sleeping on the raised curb beside the road, inches away from the buses and cars driving by. Goats tied up on the roof of a market (probably no room for them on the street). Cement buildings in various stages of construction for as far as the eye can see. Driving in this busy city has been somewhat of a sanctification at times, with the rickshaws, buses, CNGs (green three-wheelers that are used to haul people and goods), motorcycles, bicycles and pedestrians vying for a spot on the road. Recently a Metrorail (subway) was opened, along with an elevated expressway, which is comparable to an interstate at home, in hopes of improving traffic congestion. To see the teeming crowds of humanity constantly moving around, leaves one wondering, how does one reach the ones that are searching for God? How many are longing for a relationship with a loving God that extends grace and mercy versus an Allah who determines your salvation on a good deeds versus bad deedsscale?

We are here under CSI. We have a small office/clinic and medication dispensary. It is open three mornings a week from 10am to 1pm. We see up to 40 patients a day. We allow only women and children to participate in our program. Many women come for vitamins or medications for minor illnesses or underlying medical conditions like thyroid issues, hypertension, or diabetes. The women can come once a month for vitamins and prenatals. We have many cleft lip/cleft palate babies and children come through our program. In our last fiscal year (June 2023-June 2024) we helped 100 children who suffer from cleft lip and palate problems. They come and are evaluated by our physician, who refers them to a local hospital. They get blood work done and have their surgery at the hospital. Depending on the severity of the lip/palate, many children come back multiple times to have lips, palates and cosmetic facial surgery done. It is beautiful to see a child come back from the hospital with a closed lip and a beautiful full smile. The babies and children come back and stay at the clinic for several days afterwards to rest and heal. We give them the antibiotics and other medications that they may need. After surgery they can only have milk for nutrition. We assist with this as well and have a milk program to assist with this. Many babies come from surrounding villages, so they will stay until their post-op appointment. We have two employees that live at the clinic. They cook meals for the mother and the baby and help care for the babies as needed. 

We also occasionally assist in some major medical expenses. A family must bring in doctors notes, cash memos, and reports from blood tests and/or X-rays to receive reimbursement for a major medical event. We also use any Bible School funds that we receive from home to help in these areas. Last year we used some Bible School funds for a girl that was electrocuted and received severe burns to her arm, which eventuallyrequired amputation. There are so many that beg for assistance. It is hard to discern who to help. We also have those that fake an illness or disability. They will bring fake or old cash memos to get some extra cash. We think of the song, “Oh to be His hand extended… Reaching out to the oppressed. Let me touch Him, Let me touch Jesus, so that others may know and be blessed.” 

We have three members here in Dhaka currently. Two are faithful attendees and one has chosen not to worship with us currently. We hold a church service every Friday morning at the CSI clinic, along with a singing meeting one evening a week. Being a Christian in this country is challenging. The Muslim faith is very dominant and overpowering. We are reminded of this many times, as the prayer call from many mosques around goes wailing through the air 5 times a day. Dhaka has ~6,000 mosques. This is to ensure that every Muslim can hear the call to prayer. Christians are the extreme minority here. It is not uncommon for an employer to hire a Muslim over a Christian. We are not able to pass out tracts currently. We do have a few tract racks in some Christian clinics that we keep filled. Occasionally we will receive emails asking for our tracts and/or Bibles. 

At times we feel discouraged with the lack of growth in our church here in Bangladesh, but over time there has been some growth. Pray for our church that the members can strengthen their relationship with each other and God. We know a slow growing tree has more strength than a quick growing plant that quickly withers and dies.

September 2024

 Well just like that September is over. Seems as though we just blinked and zip it’s over. I’ll see if I can recount the months events in a precise non rambling manner. 

The biggest highlight was that Brandon and Jennifer Koehn and their family from Mize Mississippi came to visit for 10 days. Josna and Sumita have looked forward to this for months. Honestly we all have. We have heard much about Brandon boss! They flew in Friday at 2 in the morning. Bring the robust souls they are they came to church with us. It was so fun to see Josna and Sumita giggle and carry on in the excitement, Nathon was overjoyed as well! A lot of backslapping and carrying on was had. These people love when former missionaries come to visit. I don’t know who gets more excited Nathon or Josna and Sumita!  We took Brandon’s out to lunch to Shuktara. It was so enjoyable to visit with them and hear how things were back in their day. They couldn’t believe how much Dhaka has changed in the past 8 years. They were impressed with Al the plants and trees planted in the medians on the streets. We shopped Farmgate for a bit then they went off on their own and we came back to pink city. They spent most of their time here over in the Kulna area. We were so glad they could because now since no one is there, it helped a lot that they could go spend time with those people. All too soon it was time for them to leave. Monday before they left, the clinic girls made beef curry, shrimp curry, pilau, sobji and pyash. Some of us clearly thought it was our last meal and ate accordingly. It’s so fun to the visitors children’s reaction to this country and culture! Looked like Brandon’s kids just jumped right in. After being here, I think every youth age person should visit another country to broaden their horizons. It changes a person. 

Shania is 18 months now. This past month she has really grown and started doing a lot more new things. It is quite evident that she is very observant. I saw her pick up my phone the other day and use her dress to clean the screen off.😂 She loves to give hug and kisses to daddy and Layton. She will just go up to Layton and want to hug him. One day she came up behind me when I was sitting and she tried to rub my shoulders.  We are SLOWLY making progress with getting her to sleep through the night. Those parents that have their kids sleeping through the night at 6 weeks old… good for them. The rest of us try. She is starting to enjoy playing with her dollie. She wraps it up and holds it and bounces it and goes “sssssss.” My heart cannot even. Shana has been trying to get her to talk, She is getting quite a vocabulary!  On the days when there is school and clinic Shania is quite sad when everyone leaves. She likes “her” people close by. She stands at the door and cries. 

Layton is still really enjoying school. He likes to come home and tell me the latest Mercy Watson happening from Story hour. He always hopes it’s a science experiment day. One day they put gummy worms in baking soda and vinegar. And another day they put mentos in coke. He too seems like he is getting really tall. Had to go through his shirts the other day and take out the small ones. We bought him a cricket bat and ball and Nathon has been teaching him how to play cricket when he comes over. Layton jumps at Scootie rides any chance he gets! One morning I took him with me when I went to get dim and ruti for breakfast. It’s a little restaurant maybe 5 minutes down the road. Shana and I go there at least once a week and pick up breakfast. (We can feed our whole family breakfast for $3) We were sitting in there waiting on our order to be done and one of the local high school students came in. Layton whispered “is he a protestor?” I said “no I don’t think so.” Anytime we get caught in a traffic jam he wonders if it’s because of a protest. 

Jared keeps busy with clinic like usual. The numbers are slowly creeping up. 40-45 patients are starting to become more and more common. Every so often we close the clinic for a day or so and it keeps the crowds at bay. One day they had 5 patients and their mamas back in the patient room. Last week Jared was inflicted with dengue (a mosquito carried virus). One Friday after church we were grocery shopping and he told me had body aches. I told him it was probably from the heat because it was very hot that day and he was dripping by the time church was over. We got home and by evening he had high fever. Lasted several days and the body aches were really bad. He came downstairs shuffling like an old man. He spent two days in bed just because it hurt too much to move. 2 days after his fever broke he got a rash all over his body. He itched like I have never seen a person itch. Reminded me of some of my liver patients that itched. He literally was climbing the walls. It seemed worst at night and he could sleep because the itch was beyond miserable. He took so many different things and nothing seemed to help. I prayed and prayed that God would ease the itch for him so he could finally rest. Eventually it eased up. By now his rash is mostly gone and the itch has mostly subsided. He still has achy joints but from what we’ve heard that can persist for awhile. We are thankful he wasn’t sicker. This time of year there is a lot of people being hospitalized from it. 

We took a few days off of life and went to Rajshahi. We have never been there! We weren’t ever able to make it when Elwoods were there because I was large with child at that point. It is beautiful there. Lush green jungle. The drive there was interesting! Lots of road construction, narrow two lane road where you play chicken and dodge the oncoming traffic and get ran off the road by the buses. The rice paddies were thick and green and on the levvis were mango trees. Oh my…. “Too much beautiful” like these people say. The mango groves and banana tree groves were immaculately groomed to perfection. At one place along the road it looked like a wholesale banana place. Thousands and thousands of banana bunches were all on the ground waiting to be sold or shipped off. We passed a lot of trucks and CNGs that were packed full of them! The banana bunches are so heavy, I saw a grown man carrying just one and it looked like quite a chore. I’ve always wanted to count how many bananas are on those things. We got into Rajshahi and what a neat place. Literally… hardly any trash on the roads at all. Shana noticed that even the sewer cutters along the edge of the street didn’t have trash in them. The River Levvi was built up quite high and it was covered in plants and bushes. Quite a sight for our Dhaka eyes!!  We splurged abit and got a nice motel with a pool on the roof. It was 13 stories high. From the pool we could see a great view of the river and could faintly see India even. Shana thought maybe she would just swim across and go see her old haunts😂 the first day there we got there around 2:30, checked in and admired the luxury that beheld us. Spent the rest of the day there at the motel, swimming in the pool for hours and then had supper at the restaurant there. Jared rested a lot since he was still achy and itchy. Shana and the kids and I spent the evening at the pool again. There was a small cafe beside the pool so we got us some dessert to enjoy. The second day, we drove around and enjoyed the beauty and cleanliness some more, took some easy bikes and drove to the river and walked along it for abit. It started to rain and rained and rained so back to the motel we went! Later in the day we went to Michael’s and had snack with them and visited for several hours. It was so different seeing this time. The past two times we’ve visited them it was in Kishorganj. Michaels brother and family, Michaels mom, their three children and several other family members all lived with them! Now it’s just Michael, Monica, Marcie and Anamkia and Michaels mother living there. Felt kinda empty! Michael was very sleepy and his speech was slurred. Him and Jared were still able to visit. I really enjoyed seeing Monica again. We back the next day and had lunch with them. Monica’s cooking is so delicious! She made chicken curry, pilau, sobji and fried cauliflower! Their family actually ate with us! We had a church service with them. Short. We left for a few hours and went back to the motel and then went back late evening for cha one more time with them. I wished I could have talked more with Monica. She told me she wishes her and the girls could leave and move somewhere else. Michael is not easy to live with and his anger is always the problem. They left him once for awhile earlier in the year. Jared wanted to ask Michael if he was taking his meds like he was supposed to be but he wasn’t sure if that was our place to get involved with that. When we left Monica hugged me and cried. I told her I would pray for her. I got her phone number so I can message her or call her. I felt so guilty after we left. Here they are living in an unfinished cement house. Michael doesn’t work because of his depression/anger issues. They all seem tired and worn of the situation and just want him to better and easier to live with. Here I am in my beautiful house in pink city. And to think I have the nerve to get annoyed when my rugs don’t match or something trivial like that. I felt like such a heel. But it was good for me to see once again that those things don’t matter at all. 

I really think God sent me here to realize that a lot of the things I get worked up over are so dreadfully earthly. 

Once again at the September placement meeting, no one was found to replaced Trevors. This is the third time. Hopefully the fourth time in December will yield fruit. Until then we are waiting… 

Ok, I think I have carried on long enough here! We plan to leave tomorrow for Golpaganj and Kulna. 😊 Love to you all! ❤️