Safely Home From Bangladesh!
Well, I made it back safely from Bangladesh late Friday night, October 18. I am so thankful to God that everything went smoothly and we had an amazing trip! Best of all, twelve people were added to the family of God during our trip! Thank you so much for all your prayers and support!
Sorry this post is kind of late, things have been crazy busy for me since I got back with trying to get caught back up with homework and classes I missed while I was gone. I know this post is also kind of long, but there is just so much to share from the trip.
Day One: Arrival in Bangladesh
I am so thankful to God that He brought our team of five together safely to the airport in Bangladesh on Thursday morning, October 10. We are all from different states and flew out from different airports on Tuesday, October 8, and sometimes our layovers were very short, but PTL everything went smoothly! We met the couple we would be working with on Thursday, and a young deaf man from America who is assisting them for six months. Then we began to get settled into South Asian life.
I am so thankful to God that He brought our team of five together safely to the airport in Bangladesh on Thursday morning, October 10. We are all from different states and flew out from different airports on Tuesday, October 8, and sometimes our layovers were very short, but PTL everything went smoothly! We met the couple we would be working with on Thursday, and a young deaf man from America who is assisting them for six months. Then we began to get settled into South Asian life.
Day Two: Deaf Fellowship
Friday, October 11, was our first day of work in Bangladesh. There is a small deaf fellowship in Bangladesh that we visited on Friday. There are about 25-30 deaf people who attend there (including children). We did a drama for the attendees and presented the Good News. During the invitation time at the end of the service, all of the adults who were there came forward. Some wanted prayer for sickness or other struggles they were facing, but at least three men and two women prayed to join the family of God! I enjoyed so much getting to meet all these sweet people, and especially getting to talk and build relationships with some of the women. 
On our second day of work, we went to visit the slums. We first visited the deaf association building and met the leaders and some of the members. It was a tiny, stuffy building with no windows. The deaf we met there were so excited that we came to visit them. We were able to talk with them and share about our families and why we had come to Bangladesh (sharing why we came opens the door to share the Good News). After visiting with them for a couple hours we hopped on some rickshaws and rode deeper into the slums until the roads became so narrow that we had to get off and walk the rest of the way. Our guides tried to lead us through the slums to what they called a “clothes factory” where there was a class/workshop to teach deaf people how to become tailors so that they could get jobs. But the slums was spread over such a big area, and so much of it looked the same and was like a maze that even our guides who had been to this “factory” many times got lost and we had to backtrack five or six times before we finally made it to the “factory.” I very much enjoyed our walk though, 
Day Four: Visiting Deaf in Their Homes
The next day we visited the home of a young deaf man from Bangladesh, who became one of our tour guides and close friends as he worked with our team. He lives way out in the country, and the beautiful, peaceful village where he lived was a very welcome break from the dirty, noisy city for all of us. We met his family (his parents and two aunts, who are all hearing), and had prayer with his mom who recently had surgery on her jaw/neck and is still recovering and struggling with vertigo. We then used the colored bead bracelets to share the Good News with his family. One of his aunts joined the family of God! The rest of his family members are already believers. We next went to visit one of his neighbors who have a deaf son, but unfortunately the deaf man was out working so we didn’t get to meet him. However, we did have a wonderful time visiting his family, especially all of the children who were there, and sharing with them about who we were and why we were there. It was a lot of fun!
Day Five: Prayer Walking
Monday was a little bit of a slow day for us, which was a welcome break from the busy schedule we had been keeping. However, despite it being a slower day, there are two things that stick out in my mind from that day that I want to share with you. The first is that we had a wonderful fellowship over lunch with the couple who work among the deaf in Bangladesh, the five from our team, the two deaf Bengali men we discipled, the young deaf man from America, and another Bengali man. So at the lunch we had four deaf people from America, two deaf people from Bangladesh, one hearing man from Bangladesh, four hearing Americans two of whom have been living in Bangladesh for four years, and when we were fellowshipping together over lunch there was a mixture of ASL, Bangla sign, English and spoken Bangla being used in the conversation. Yet despite all the different languages and cultures represented, it felt like one big family.The second thing that sticks out in my mind from that day is the prayer walk that our team of five went on after lunch. We would walk and as we felt God touch our hearts to pray for something, we would all stop and gather in a circle to pray. As we were walking and some of the others were stopping to pray, I was praying and asking God to touch my heart for what He wanted me to pray for. As I was praying I was reminded of some things the couple who works in Bangladesh had shared with us earlier that day about the great need for more laborers to go and work to reach the deaf of Bangladesh. I was, and still am, very burdened about how unreached the deaf of not only Bangladesh but also of the world are and how few laborers are going to reach them. That is what I prayed about on our prayer walk, and am continuing to pray about, and I would like to ask you to please join me in praying for God to send out laborers into the harvest to reach the deaf of the world who are unreached and unengaged.
Day Six: Meeting More Deaf Friends
Tuesday we visited the family and friends of another young deaf man who became our close friend as he worked with our team. His parents and siblings are believers, and we had a wonderful visit with them. His mother is very bold in sharing the Good News with the women she works with, and she was very thankful that we shared the Gospel bracelets with her so she could then share them with her co-workers. After visiting his home, he took us to visit the home of one of his close friends. We had a wonderful time visiting with them and sharing about ourselves and why we had come to Bangladesh. Next he led us to meet some young deaf men who are also friends of his. We met up with the 12 young deaf men outside a shop, but we wanted to go somewhere where we could sit down and talk with them and share the Good News. So they led us to a Catholic Church, and we sat outside on the steps and began to share the Good News with them, but as we began to share it started to rain and we were unable to continue, so someone found the priest of the church, and he allowed us to go inside the sanctuary and continue sharing the Good News there. One of the young deaf men prayed to join God's family, and I know that seeds were planted in the hearts of the others.
Wednesday was a Muslim holiday called Korbani Eid. The Muslims celebrate Korbani Eid twice a year in remembrance of how Abraham was willing to offer his son as a sacrifice (they believe the son was Ishmael not Isaac), and how God provided a ram for the sacrifice so Abraham did not have to sacrifice his son. In Bangladesh, they sacrifice a cow or a goat in remembrance, and also to cover their sins. Though Wednesday was the main day of the festival, we had seen preparations for it going on the entire time we were there. The streets were full of cows for sale, and the occasional goat, everywhere was even busier than normal because people were traveling home to their families for the holiday. The guest house where we stayed was owned by a Muslim family, and they had purchased two cows to sacrifice for their families, (one cow can cover the sins of up to seven people, and a goat only covers the sins of one). Wednesday morning we got up and stood on the second floor balcony and watched as they sacrificed the two cows in the driveway below. The owners are rich, so they had hired both an Imam (Muslim religious leader) and a butcher to officiate the sacrifice. The Imam first read a passage from the Koran that explained how they are supposed to cut the neck, and then he read a sentence that said “Allah is almighty”, and then he cut the neck of the cow. They then let all the blood drain out, and then the butcher and many helpers began skinning it and then cutting it up. Once the entire cow is cut up, the family will keep 1/3 for themselves, give 1/3 to the poor, and give the other 1/3 to their friends in the community. After we watched the sacrifice, the Muslim family invited us up into their home to visit and share in a traditional dish served to guests on Korbani Eid. We had a great visit with the family! Being in Bangladesh during Korbani Eid opened up many doors of opportunity for us to share the Good News with people as we were able to tell them about the final sacrifice for their sins so that they do not have to continue sacrificing cows and goats to cover their sins every year.
We departed from the airport in Bangladesh at 6:00 AM on Friday, October 18, and arrived home in America later that night. After our plane had finished ascending, we looked out our windows and saw the beautiful Himalayan mountains sticking up out of the clouds. Seeing the mountains made me think of Nepal, and how much I miss all my students and friends there, and how I long to return. However, I am very thankful to God for blessing me with the amazing opportunity to have spent 8 days working with the deaf in Bangladesh, and for the 12 new people who were added to God's family while we were there!
Day Six: Meeting More Deaf Friends
Tuesday we visited the family and friends of another young deaf man who became our close friend as he worked with our team. His parents and siblings are believers, and we had a wonderful visit with them. His mother is very bold in sharing the Good News with the women she works with, and she was very thankful that we shared the Gospel bracelets with her so she could then share them with her co-workers. After visiting his home, he took us to visit the home of one of his close friends. We had a wonderful time visiting with them and sharing about ourselves and why we had come to Bangladesh. Next he led us to meet some young deaf men who are also friends of his. We met up with the 12 young deaf men outside a shop, but we wanted to go somewhere where we could sit down and talk with them and share the Good News. So they led us to a Catholic Church, and we sat outside on the steps and began to share the Good News with them, but as we began to share it started to rain and we were unable to continue, so someone found the priest of the church, and he allowed us to go inside the sanctuary and continue sharing the Good News there. One of the young deaf men prayed to join God's family, and I know that seeds were planted in the hearts of the others.
Day Seven: Korbani Eid
Wednesday was a Muslim holiday called Korbani Eid. The Muslims celebrate Korbani Eid twice a year in remembrance of how Abraham was willing to offer his son as a sacrifice (they believe the son was Ishmael not Isaac), and how God provided a ram for the sacrifice so Abraham did not have to sacrifice his son. In Bangladesh, they sacrifice a cow or a goat in remembrance, and also to cover their sins. Though Wednesday was the main day of the festival, we had seen preparations for it going on the entire time we were there. The streets were full of cows for sale, and the occasional goat, everywhere was even busier than normal because people were traveling home to their families for the holiday. The guest house where we stayed was owned by a Muslim family, and they had purchased two cows to sacrifice for their families, (one cow can cover the sins of up to seven people, and a goat only covers the sins of one). Wednesday morning we got up and stood on the second floor balcony and watched as they sacrificed the two cows in the driveway below. The owners are rich, so they had hired both an Imam (Muslim religious leader) and a butcher to officiate the sacrifice. The Imam first read a passage from the Koran that explained how they are supposed to cut the neck, and then he read a sentence that said “Allah is almighty”, and then he cut the neck of the cow. They then let all the blood drain out, and then the butcher and many helpers began skinning it and then cutting it up. Once the entire cow is cut up, the family will keep 1/3 for themselves, give 1/3 to the poor, and give the other 1/3 to their friends in the community. After we watched the sacrifice, the Muslim family invited us up into their home to visit and share in a traditional dish served to guests on Korbani Eid. We had a great visit with the family! Being in Bangladesh during Korbani Eid opened up many doors of opportunity for us to share the Good News with people as we were able to tell them about the final sacrifice for their sins so that they do not have to continue sacrificing cows and goats to cover their sins every year.
Day Eight: Saying Goodbye
Thursday was our final day in Bangladesh. We used that day to take time to fellowship with the couple who works there whom we had come to help, and with the two young deaf man who had worked with us and whom we had trained. We also had a time of prayer, and a time of debrief and sharing about what we had seen God do while we were there. It was a bittersweet day.
Later that night, four of us went to visit a Muslim family’s home for dinner. We had met her at the airport when we arrived in Bangladesh, and found out that though she was raised in Bangladesh, she had attended college in the US and now lives in Colorado and was returning to Bangladesh for the Korbani Eid celebration. When she met us at the airport she had invited us to come over to her family’s home for dinner one night while we were there. So we arranged to do so on Thursday. When we arrived we found out that her family had been in the village where her grandparents live all week celebrating Korbani Eid and ordinarily they would have stayed longer, but they came back home on Thursday just to have dinner with us. They had arrived home and immediately started preparing dinner and getting things ready for our arrival. We had a wonderful visit with them and time of fellowship. We finally left at around midnight, and then had to get up early the next morning at 3:00 to be at the airport by 4:00.
Day Nine: Departure
We departed from the airport in Bangladesh at 6:00 AM on Friday, October 18, and arrived home in America later that night. After our plane had finished ascending, we looked out our windows and saw the beautiful Himalayan mountains sticking up out of the clouds. Seeing the mountains made me think of Nepal, and how much I miss all my students and friends there, and how I long to return. However, I am very thankful to God for blessing me with the amazing opportunity to have spent 8 days working with the deaf in Bangladesh, and for the 12 new people who were added to God's family while we were there! 
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