Youth Camp and Beyond

Hello Readers,

Much has gone on since last I spoke to you all. We were very busy prepping for the youth camp which was held June 18-20.

Spear-headed by Matthew Miller, National Youth Camp of the United Pentecostal Church of Bangladesh was a huge success! Much preparation and hard work went into it and it was well worth it! There was over 230 students in attendance from all over the country of Bangladesh. This is over double the attendance than last years youth camp. These are some of the most dedicated I have ever seen. I know of one in the States that would walk for miles and travel by bus then by boat then walk for a few more hours to reach their final destination. That destination, camp where they could hear and come closer to Jesus Christ and experience Him for their self. Their sacrifice to come to the camp was very humbling.

90 people received the gift of the Holy ghost at the camp for the first time, and there were 17 which were baptized in Jesus Name. I was even privileged to baptize one of them which was a first for me. I also had the opportunity to lead the music for the camp. Despite power outages and equipment failures God still had His way! It was most definitely an awesome sight to behold.

Also during the youth camp I played my first real soccer game which we (the staff) beat the all-star team thanks to the help of a few professional soccer players. They attend the English church here in Dhaka, and agreed to volunteer their time to help out with the kids. We had a blast impacting lives and letting the kids know that not only do we care about their souls, but that we are there to be their friends and we care about them as people as well. 

After youth camp we took a scenic river boat cruise with the Shoulders. (the speakers of the camp) It was pretty neat. We stopped by a place that makes Saris (a native dress of sorts) by hand and they are very intricate and ornate. We also visited an old house which is now a university which was owned by a wealthy aristocrat of the country many years ago. 

I have also resumed Bangla classes for my last full month of my term here in Bangladesh. We are anxiously anticipating the Bible School graduation that will be taking place here in the middle of the month. It's so cool to see these students develop and mature over the course of a few months. I also finished the year with the students who I was teaching music to. They were very happy to be on summer vacation!

This random picture is something you don't see too often... I thought it was interesting. A truck load of people with umbrellas protesting in the rain... fun fun.....

Oh whoever reads this last and random comment. Since tomorrow is July 4th, will someone please set some fireworks off for me? I will be celebrating my Independence here as best I can, minus the whole fireworks thing.... unfortunately. 

Floods and Fruit

Hello all.
It has been a while I know since the last I spoke with you, but great things are happening here in this part of the world!

In my last post I spoke of the rains which began a bit early this year, and as a matter of fact today is the last day of summer here and the rainy season begins. I mention that because several times these past couple weeks we have had service in a flooded area with rising water all around.
It is amazing that even when it is pouring down rain outside and that you have to bail the church out literally of water just to have service, that there is a packed house and people come and worship God despite of having all these setbacks. It is very convicting. If I had nothing and my church was flooded would I still come to worship God?....


Anyways, Next week is our church's youth camp. Our team here has been working tirelessly to accomplish everything necessary for the  camp. Details will follow after the camps ending next week.

Have you ever tried a jackfruit?... I have. It is this massive green prickly thing and when you break it open there are hundreds of these things------------------------------------------------------>
They kind of taste like banana baby food but they are slimy and have a big seed in the middle. So once you get past the seed, it is kind of like eating a goldfish or something... eck!!!

On another note, it is the peak of the mango season and Bangladesh has some of the best, if not the best, mangos in the world. I have been eating them like crazy and they are so stinking sweet!

Hello my name is Tyler Cummings and I am a mangoholic.....  : )

Oh! BTW... I found Kraft macaroni and cheese on one of my little explorations around the city. I about had a cow because I was so excited. It's the little things that we take for granted that make it feel much more like home.

Let the Rains Begin

Within the past several weeks life has been quite interesting. 

I have now learned how to take the bus from here in Mirpur (where my apartment is) to Gulshan/Banani. That is where Impact Worship Center is and it is also where I go to have Bangla class on weekdays. Learning how to ride on a bus and catch the right bus or mode of transportation with clear signage can be challenging. Imagine with me not knowing how to read or speak the language proficiently! This makes for an interesting experience especially when trying to flag one down. All I know, is that the big blue blus with the fancy writing on it (aka. the Konok bus) is the bus that I take. Whenever you try flagging three of these down in a morning trying to get to school on time and every one of them blow right past you with their doors closed like your'e invisible it can be frustrating.  (I will have to take a picture of one of these when I am not so pressed for time to catch one)

      In the event that you cannot catch the Good bus or Konok bus, you resort to the Grameen bus. which is a cracker box on wheels which they cram as many people as possible in, on, around, and on top of the bus. It may be a few takas cheaper to take the Grameen bus, but I would rather have a seat. 

     For the last resort, you take a CNG or a baby taxi. These little green caged go-carts are crazy! The price of my trip is more than quadrupled to get to school if I take one of these! Also they all have annoying horns and think that they own the road! Traveling is always quite the adventure in a CNG. 

     What the locals call the rainy season has begun here in Bangladesh and it has already been evident in this past week. after dodging the bullet of Cyclone Mahasen, it seems like it has rained almost daily since then. This makes using the public transport all the more interesting with flooded roads and such. In this instance, to get down the road to my apartment I use a rickshaw. Or if I really feel adventurous I trudge through the putrid water in my flip flops and don't think about the consequences. 

     The roads by my house have been flooded several times the past few days and it is quite the experience walking to church on Sunday when it's pouring down rain through flooded streets. Maybe I should invest in a kayak! 

     En-route to church this past Saturday, it had just started raining about the time I started to walk to catch a bus. Since drainage systems are practically non-existent here the small holes in the ground connected to the sewage which flows inches under the street suffices as a drain. As I started walking the water started spiraling down these small holes. It was then I began to see hundreds of 3-4 inch cockroaches pouring up out of these drainage holes and race to whatever dry ground they could find right there around my feet. I couldn't think much of it at the time, otherwise I would have hailed a rickshaw and been on my way, but my stubborn self wanted the full experience cockroaches and all!

     Amidst all of the craziness of catching busses and wading through flooded sewage-water filled streets, God has still been doing Awesome things here. We have been hearing from Bro. Corbin here on Saturdays and he has really challenged us to strengthen our prayer lives. Last eve I had the wonderfully opportunity to preach the Word to the Mirpur church. It was a youth led service and as the music lead I also led the worship. I say non of that to boast in myself but just hang with me a minute. Last night it was quite the service, even though the music and singing and all didn't go perfectly and despite frustrations, God still had his way. I found out after the service that there was a young man passing by the church during our worship service. Upon hearing this music, he felt something drawing him to what was in the music. That was the Spirit!!! He proceeded to join us in the service and really enjoyed what he had felt and experience by opening up to God. I didn't find this out until after service mind you! The music which sounded off to me, God used for His glory because of the right Spirit within me and within the church. He will be coming to our youth group on Thursday night Lord willing and I am so excited to see what God will do in his life! It makes all of the showing up early for practice and prayer and preparation so very worth it to know that your work is being fruitful. If it is for only one soul that this trip is for, I count it as a huge success! Let the rains begin!

Jungle Chickens and Elephants

Settling in here has been quite the adventure, but the families here have made the transition so much better by accepting me into their homes and taking me in as practically family. It means so much for the host family to bring me into their home and begin telling me their family stories as well as their heritage and where they came from.

Bro. Peter Biswas and his family pictured below are the host families and some of the truest people that you will ever meet. Like I just said, when a family begins telling you stories of where they came from and showing you their family photo album it makes you feel at home as well. At least, that is how I feel.

Sis. Tuni, Elizabeth, Bro. Peter, Shilo
(left to right)

When Sis. Tuni started telling me a story of how in her village elephants used to come marching through the village just for no reason at all, I definitely knew that I was not in Missouri anymore. When she added to this the fact that there are these wild chickens (aka. Jungle Chickens) that roamed around and were twice the size of a normal chicken. I found that humorous. It's just a completely different lifestyle than what I was brought up in. Different lifestyle, different people, different methods of doing things, but we are all connected by a common thread, Jesus Christ! 

Other than conversing of jungle chickens and sipping tea, I have been teaching the youngsters at American Standard International School and dodging hartals. Also the Bible school here has started up and it it really awesome to see how dedicated these students are! I showed up at the church late last evening to find them singing and praising God with formal leadership and no music! They do it out of a genuine love for Him, not some manufactured or generic love. It was quite inspiring and humbling I must say. 

Making Memories

Upon ending my first full week here in Dhaka last Saturday, I had the privilege of tag-team preaching with Sis. Frances Day at Impact Worship Center. It was such a great opportunity to share a bit of my testimony!

 Sunday morning I started taking Bangla classes to learn the native language. They are quite interesting for sure. I feel as if I am back in elementary school learning how to pronounce new sounds and words that made my head spin!


With the garment factory collapse last week coupled with the political unrest in the country, Hartals or strikes were prevalent in the country. On Friday afternoon I went with Shilo to the local market only to find that there was a Hartal or strike going on and I was right in the midst of it. The picture to the left was taken on a walkover over-looking protestors in Mirpur circle. They line up and wait for a bus or any automobile of the opposition party to come along and vandalize it. It's pretty scary stuff at times! Thankfully nothing serious happened at the time I was there.


So now it's time for a funny story. Since rolling blackouts are a common occurrence in Bangladesh, it was not surprising to me when I came home to my apartment Sunday afternoon to find that I had no electricity and no water either! Well, I had enough water to take a half shower... i.e. lather up.. and not enough water to rinse the soap off. I did have a water cooler (minus the cooling part) with some water in it which I used to rinse the soapy suds off my body. I didn't think twice after leaving the shower to turn the shower off, since there was no water coming out anyways! In my hurry to get to church on time, I threw on clothes and I was out the door. After church was over, I came back to the apartment to change and grab some clothes for the nights stay at the Millers (btw Thanks Sis. Miller for the chocolate chip pancakes).... Anyways.... As I entered the apartment and proceeded to take off my shoes, I stepped right into a puddle of water. Wet socks are in my opinion are one of the worst things. Add to that a flooded living room and you have a mini disaster. To my dismay I had realized what I had done. I forgot to turn off the shower before I left and the electric came back on, which in turn caused the pump to pump water to my shower (which was on) flooding my living room. So, for the next little while instead of eating and packing clothes I spent my time sopping up water from around my apartment. Luckily nothing was damaged and all is well. What an experience. You can bet your sweet bippy that I will double check the shower from now on!
Oh, and I don't have pictures of this, just so there is no solid evidence of this ever happening to ruin my reputation. lol

Settling in.

So, It is amazing how a glass of ice-cold, sweet, iced tea (made by yours truly, thanks mom), a pack of ramen noodles and a few skype calls can make your day so much better. If you couple this along with a few pictures drawn by the kids prayer group at your local church it is like the icing on the cake. (check them out - guaranteed to put a smile on your face)https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151551815208903.1073741826.736333902&type=1

Never mind the 96ºF days without A/C and 88ºF at present. It all makes you so very thankful for the things that we take so much for granted. 

For instance finger nail clippers.... Random I know but when I couldn't find mine that I thought I had packed away I asked a local about getting a pair. She responded by, "we'll check at the library." I thought to myself that this chick is nuts! Usually you go to Walgreens or somewhere like that for finger nail clippers, not the library! Later on I found my own pair, so going to the library for finger nail clippers was not necessary after all.... After the fact, I needed to find a gas line for the propane tank so I can use my fancy little gas stove. As we walked down the street towards the super market to buy groceries we passed a tire shop. She said, "let's check here for a gas line for the LP tank." At this point I'm thinking to myself, "Is there no standardization in this country at all?! It seems as if everything is backwards or has little relevancy at all." The tire shop ended up not having the hose but the appliance shop down the road did. Idk... maybe it is just me, but I am thankful for some sense of standardization. At least I know where I need to go for a pair of finger nail clippers back in the States. 

Living like Macgyver yesterday morning, as to not dirty up a bowl (since I did not have "clean" water to wash dishes) I decided to eat out of the plastic bag which the cereal was conveniently packaged in. Necessity is the mother of invention!

Since we last talked...

    Hello all,
Since I arrival here in Bangladesh, Life has been nonstop. Can you say culture-shock! Even though I have been here before, visiting a country for a few days and actually living in it are two completely different experiences all of their own. Each are faceted with new obstacles and hurdles which can and only will be conquered through one day at a time.

living room

 The Kitchen

Along with leading worship or Impact Worship center last Saturday and as well as last night here in the Mirpur church, I have been getting things moved into my apartment here the past couple days. I now have furniture and spent my first night in my own place last night. I really haven’t had much time to let it all sink in..yet. After picking up a few much needed knick knacks the place is starting to look like a home. here she is folks...

My room (I have yet to get a dresser)

 

       I started my job teaching music yesterday as well. I am learning a whole lot of information very quickly! Learning a new language and learning how to teach kids from grade 1-6 is quite interesting. These are some of the students I am teaching. There names are all very interesting and difficult to pronounce  but thankfully almost all of them speak English. 

 I don’t yet have internet access in my apartment, but as soon as I do, I should be keeping you more up to date on things. 

I Have Arrived!

Upon arrival in Bangladesh yesterday afternoon, I was one of only a handful of foreigners on the plane. When I got to the airport, I made sure to be one of the first in line as to not have to wait hours to get through immigration. Thankfully having a seat close to the front helped out a bunch! As soon as I stepped up to the immigration counter, I spotted Bro. Corbin on the other side of the glass wall. At that point I breathed a huge sigh of relief knowing that I knew someone was waiting on me. After standing at the counter for just a few minutes, I was motioned through with no problems. I proceeded to the baggage claim area and got all of my bags and was out of the airport within a half hour!

Once I left the airport Bro. Corbin took me to his home and then onto the American Club where the whole Bangladesh AIM team met for dinner. It was great actually getting to meet these people of whom I had heard so much about!



More Pictures to come shortly.....




Today, I have spent the day shopping with the Corbins for my apartment. It has been a trip for sure! Learning to dart in and out of small hole in the wall shops and winding my way through corridors and local vendors of all sorts has what most of the day has consisted of. That coupled with learning my way around the city and picking up bits and pieces of the language has been fun...so far.... lol I was a bit nervous at first, but as the day went on I became more comfortable to the whole bartering process and fast paced conglomerated shopping experience. I suppose we just have a way more relaxed view of shopping in the States. It's all about perspective.....

We will be having a PI (Purpose Institue) class here at the Corbin's house this evening and I cannot wait to start the service off with worship come this Saturday! So pumped at what is going on and so thankful to be a part of the work here in Bangladesh.

Traveling...

Hello all,

After leaving St. Louis yesterday, I had figured that I would have time to update this blog as well as access to Wi-Fi, but was I sorely mistaken…

As a first time world traveler (by myself) the whole flying process couldn’t have gone smoother up until this point. Getting through St. Louis and Chicago was a breeze and not at all what I had thought it to be. However, the time allotted to me was exactly the time I needed to make it through security and the like at each airport, which left no time for internet usage other than what I could quickly do from my phone.  I am just glad I only have myself to look after, I couldn’t imagine getting a whole family through all this. 

Upon boarding my flight from Chicago to Abu Dhabi, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I have a whole three seats and a window to myself! It has made this whole trip very relaxing! Also, when it came time for dinner to be served, they ran out of chicken right before the stewardess reached my section. I reluctantly agreed to eat the lamb with Arabic spices and rice and I was kind of disappointed to not have a “regular” meal before I eat rice and curry chicken for the next few months. This is especially true, since I hadn’t been able to eat an “American” meal in Chicago due to time restraints. Right as I started to dig into the lamb and rice (which was really good) the lovely stewardess brought me a new meal with chicken that she had acquired! So I ended up actually with two delicious meals and polished them both off to tide me over for the duration of the 13 hours I had left on this leg. (I must have really been hungry) Showing yourself friendly really does pay dividends into your well being in life, so I have found.

 It’s amazing how He has gone before me and prepared my steps, and this is only the beginning! Put your confidence in Him alone and He will order and direct your path. It’s that “Faith Within” which Bro. Aaron Bachelor spoke about yesterday that keeps me going. All this other stuff is just a bonus!

 I am currently in Abu Dhabi spending the night at the beautiful hotel Cristal Salam. I was privileged to meet up with the current pastor of the church here in Abu Dhabi, Bro. Brad Reed, and have an authentic Arabic dinner with him. It was such a treat. He also took me around the city to see what I can see at 9pm at night. It is so cool to see what God is doing around the world and to meet people like Brad. I will be leaving in the morning for the last leg of the trip to Dhaka. This trip has been fun so far, but I cannot wait to get to my final destination!

                                            Below: Emirates Palace Hotel

                                   Below: Abu Dhabi Cityscape from Heritage Village

                                                                      

Preparation

Welcome friends,
If you are reading this, you have probably had a hand in what is the bigeest faith-step of my life up until this point. Thank you for being a huge part in it as well as your continued support. At this time, I am stuffing as much into suitcases as I possibly can without exceeding the weight limits in preparation for the journey. This next week will consist of the gathering together of last minute supplies for the trip. You just have to love the thrill of packing for a three month open ended excursion.  I suppose this is all a part of the limitless expedition.

Please feel free to check back on April 14th when the real adventure begins.