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.