Check out a slide show of pictures & video from Bangladesh!
http://ca.video.yahoo.com/watch/5071134?fr=yvmtf
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Back from Bangladesh Update
Bangladesh is an amazing nation. It is incredible poor, beyond what I even imagined, but the people are wonderful and they taught me so many things. I am unbelievably blessed to have gone over to Bangladesh and seen first hand how 90% of the world lives. God is working in Bangladesh and has chosen some amazing people to live there and spread His news. Amazing things are happening in the nation of Bangladesh and it was wonderful to be able to play a small part in that. Below I’ve given a brief run-down of what we did on our trip; however I really don’t feel I can even put into writing, pictures or videos what I witnessed and felt well living in Bangladesh.
Dhaka: Dec. 18-20
• We arrived in Bangladesh Dec 18 and it was quite the culture shock! The airport was filled with men in white robes who had just completed the hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca). It was really intimidating and there are people everywhere who love to stare at you. Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries. You could put 10 Bangladesh countries into the size of Ontario yet there are 200 million people in Bangladesh and only 11 million people living in Ontario. There are seriously people everywhere!
• I remember the first time we were walking on the streets and being constantly stared at by everyone. They don’t see white people very often, so to see 12 of them at the same time must have been quite the sight! As we were walking little children would be tugging at your clothes and asking for money or food, it is really a sad sight (seen Slumdog Millionaire?). It breaks my heart every time I think of them …
• This is where we exchanged our money and bought our traditional sali-camis outfits (see me wearing it in the pictures)
Khulna: Dec. 21
• We took a 7 hour bus ride from Dhaka to Khulna … it was actually the craziest bus ride of all our lives. I can’t even describe what it is like driving in Bangladesh. It is constant honking and passing and all the drivers nearly hit people or other vehicles. All the vehicles have huge scratch marks & dents all over them because they have been in so many accidents. Dhaka is the second worst place to drive in the entire world next to Mexico City. When we arrived in Khulna we experienced our first “rickshaw” ride to the YWAM base and stayed there overnight.
Village: Dec. 22- 28
• The team arrived at a village about an hour from Khulna and were greeted by a very nice pastor and his family. We went to an orphanage and the children were very happy to see us! They were adorable. We did songs, skits, a message and played with the kids outside.
• We went Christmas carolling for a few hours in the nearby Hindu villages, which was actually a lot of fun! It’s different than your typical door-to-door carolling. We were singing and dancing, and had tambourines! We went to about 50 houses. These Bangla people have lots of energy.
• The guys on our team played a soccer game against a group of Muslim men, which was the “biggest event of the month” in the village and the surrounding area. There were close to a 1000 people at the soccer game. While the guys played soccer, the girls handed out tracts to the crowd.
• We went to a Hindu witch doctor’s house. We asked her if it was ok that we pray around her house and she said yes. We split into small groups and walked around her house and prayed. I’ve never experienced such spiritual darkness before, but when we were praying it actually felt like we were making a difference. Like we were in a real spiritual battle and we were winning! Afterwards we came together and just prayed for her individually. When we were finished she had tears rolling down her cheeks. All of us could feel that the Holy Spirit was definitely there and was working in her! Then our translator talked to her about why we came and what we believe and she said that she has a Bible, but she worships it in her shrine. So we suggested that she read it and she may find the truth.
• Christmas Eve! Our leaders surprised us by decorating our room with mini stockings, candles and presents from our parents! We did not know that they had asked our parents to send them Christmas presents in Maui and they had brought the presents in a “team box” to Bangladesh. It was a fun night and we sang Christmas songs and ate candy from our parents. We were even able to phone home for 10 minutes each.
• The pastor wanted us to see the Bengal tigers, so we went on a four hour boat ride to see them, but when we got there, they were going to charge us way more money because we are white. So we left and didn’t see the tigers … 8 hours on a boat! And the toilet was just a hole into the water!
Khulna: Dec. 28- Jan 9
• Election day! We were on house arrest for 2 days because elections in Bangladesh can be very dangerous, this was their first election in 7 years. It was safer for us to stay inside. We fasted and had intercession for the election.
• New Years eve! The team went to a nice restaurant and then to church where we sang songs and had a bonfire. It was a fun night.
• Most of our ministry here was evangelism, house visits and children’s ministry. For evangelism we would do skits, dramas, songs and a Gospel message. And for house visits we would go to people’s homes and pray for them and sometimes they would give us food or tea. For children’s ministry we would go to orphanages or schools and do skits, dramas, songs, a message and then play with them.
Dinajpur: Jan 9- Feb 6
• We took a train ride from Khulna to Dinajpur. We were very thankful for our new home for the month because it had real western toilets and showers! We had been use to using squatty potties and taking cold bucket showers, so this was a very nice place to live! The house was in a Compassion International compound. There was also a school beside us where sponsor children went. Because we stayed in Dinajpur for a month we go to know the kids and people that work at the compound really well and we became good friends. • It was amazing to see what happens with sponsored children and to see where people’s money goes and how much it helps the kids. Often the lunch the kids ate at school was the only meal they would get all day. This is also the only way the Bangladesh children will get to go to school as there is no public school system.
• We did a mini “DTS” for 2 days for new Christians. We taught Bible overview and basic Christianity. It was really good for us to be able to teach what we learned in our DTS to people in Bangladesh.
• We also taught English one day, using the Bible to teach them.
• We bought a pet goat, and named him “kaba” which means “food” in Bangla. He was a nice goat for a while and on our last night we ate him for dinner! I know a lot of people think it’s cruel, but its just Bangla culture! We actually had all the workers of the compound over for dinner and blessed them with it. Afterwards we washed their feet and prayed for them individually. It was a real blessing to us to be able to bless them and encourage them. After we prayed for the women most of them were crying and hugging us. Showing your feelings is not common in Bangla culture, they usually do not really express how they feel and display affection. Because Bangladesh is a Muslim country, women are extremely oppressed and don’t often get treated with respect.
• Bangladesh Zoo! Black bears, deer, birds, porcupine, monkey, guinea pigs, rabbits, cat, and even a 5-legged cow! They also had a “fake zoo” which had fake animals like penguins and dinosaurs! It was pretty random and funny to see.
• Apparently it is custom in YWAM Maui for the leaders to leave the team for a week. Rachel and Brandon left leaving Chris and Amber in charge of the rest of the team. It was a really good week and we all worked together really well, even without our leaders!
• We went to a Compassion International orphanage and got to see the sponsor children’s pictures and the kids writing letters back to their sponsors. It’s really cool to see that the money people send is actually going to the children and their family’s needs.
• We also went to a leprosy hospital and learned a little bit about leprosy. It is still common in Bangladesh, especially with beggars, but you can get cured from it.
• By this point in outreach, we all were craving Western food because we had been eating curried rice, meat, potatoes and vegetables 99% of the time. We had a couple treats like finding Oreos & Tara had brought pop-corn with her, in the hopes that she would find a microwave somewhere! We found one in the market and were very happy that day to eat pop-corn. : )
• One of the best nights we had was looking at the stars on the roof until late at night. It was awesome!
• Most of our ministry in Dinajpur was evangelism, house visits and children’s ministry. It was a really great time and we were sad to leave.
Dhaka: Feb 6-13
• Our team did children’s ministry one day and university ministry the next day. At Dhaka University we made friends with the students there and talked to them and hung out with them at school. It’s really good because most of them speak English, so we were able to have good, in-depth conversations, sometimes even about Christianity and the Bible. One of the days at the university we even got interviewed to be on TV! We never got to see it, but it was pretty funny.
• Pizza Hut! Our leaders surprised us by taking us to Pizza Hut, which we were extremely happy for! It’s random for a Pizza Hut to be in Bangladesh, but we were very thankful for it and enjoyed our pizza!
• I was sick for 2 days while in Dhaka. Thankfully this was the only time during the trip.
Bangkok, Thailand: Feb 14-19
• It was very hot and humid in Thailand, but we enjoyed our time! We stayed at the YWAM base in Bangkok and our ministry was with the MST Project. It is the “Male Sex Trade” project in the red light district. How it worked was that we would go to those areas and survey the men walking by. It is a really intense place, sort of like a mini Las Vegas but with bars, strip clubs, and prostitutes. It is really hard to see and to know that a lot of Western men come there looking for love, however the girls usually just want their money. A lot of the time we wouldn’t even use the survey. We would just have conversations with the men about prostitution, Christianity, their beliefs and why we were there. Sometimes after talking to a guy he would decide not to go home with a Thai girl that night because of our conversation. The Lord is really blessing this ministry and it’s cool to see the changes that are happening in that area.
• Fun day! We went shopping, got Thai massages, drank Starbucks, ate at Outback, saw “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and went bowling!
Maui: Feb 20-28 (debriefing, lecture and graduation)
Outreach was an amazing experience. I had a great time and was there with an awesome group of 11 other people! We had some crazy times, hard times and fun times, but it was all worth it in the end because it’s all for His glory! Sometimes it was hard because in a country like Bangladesh, there isn’t many healings or salvations, but we have to remember that God is still at work in that country and everything is all part of His plan. We were a part of that plan by planting seeds and introducing the Gospel message to people who sometimes have never heard it before. We really learned the power of prayer throughout our trip, and even the little things that God does, shows his ultimate sovereignty! “Joy Jesu!” (“Praise Jesus” in Bangla)
Dhaka: Dec. 18-20
• We arrived in Bangladesh Dec 18 and it was quite the culture shock! The airport was filled with men in white robes who had just completed the hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca). It was really intimidating and there are people everywhere who love to stare at you. Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries. You could put 10 Bangladesh countries into the size of Ontario yet there are 200 million people in Bangladesh and only 11 million people living in Ontario. There are seriously people everywhere!
• I remember the first time we were walking on the streets and being constantly stared at by everyone. They don’t see white people very often, so to see 12 of them at the same time must have been quite the sight! As we were walking little children would be tugging at your clothes and asking for money or food, it is really a sad sight (seen Slumdog Millionaire?). It breaks my heart every time I think of them …
• This is where we exchanged our money and bought our traditional sali-camis outfits (see me wearing it in the pictures)
Khulna: Dec. 21
• We took a 7 hour bus ride from Dhaka to Khulna … it was actually the craziest bus ride of all our lives. I can’t even describe what it is like driving in Bangladesh. It is constant honking and passing and all the drivers nearly hit people or other vehicles. All the vehicles have huge scratch marks & dents all over them because they have been in so many accidents. Dhaka is the second worst place to drive in the entire world next to Mexico City. When we arrived in Khulna we experienced our first “rickshaw” ride to the YWAM base and stayed there overnight.
Village: Dec. 22- 28
• The team arrived at a village about an hour from Khulna and were greeted by a very nice pastor and his family. We went to an orphanage and the children were very happy to see us! They were adorable. We did songs, skits, a message and played with the kids outside.
• We went Christmas carolling for a few hours in the nearby Hindu villages, which was actually a lot of fun! It’s different than your typical door-to-door carolling. We were singing and dancing, and had tambourines! We went to about 50 houses. These Bangla people have lots of energy.
• The guys on our team played a soccer game against a group of Muslim men, which was the “biggest event of the month” in the village and the surrounding area. There were close to a 1000 people at the soccer game. While the guys played soccer, the girls handed out tracts to the crowd.
• We went to a Hindu witch doctor’s house. We asked her if it was ok that we pray around her house and she said yes. We split into small groups and walked around her house and prayed. I’ve never experienced such spiritual darkness before, but when we were praying it actually felt like we were making a difference. Like we were in a real spiritual battle and we were winning! Afterwards we came together and just prayed for her individually. When we were finished she had tears rolling down her cheeks. All of us could feel that the Holy Spirit was definitely there and was working in her! Then our translator talked to her about why we came and what we believe and she said that she has a Bible, but she worships it in her shrine. So we suggested that she read it and she may find the truth.
• Christmas Eve! Our leaders surprised us by decorating our room with mini stockings, candles and presents from our parents! We did not know that they had asked our parents to send them Christmas presents in Maui and they had brought the presents in a “team box” to Bangladesh. It was a fun night and we sang Christmas songs and ate candy from our parents. We were even able to phone home for 10 minutes each.
• The pastor wanted us to see the Bengal tigers, so we went on a four hour boat ride to see them, but when we got there, they were going to charge us way more money because we are white. So we left and didn’t see the tigers … 8 hours on a boat! And the toilet was just a hole into the water!
Khulna: Dec. 28- Jan 9
• Election day! We were on house arrest for 2 days because elections in Bangladesh can be very dangerous, this was their first election in 7 years. It was safer for us to stay inside. We fasted and had intercession for the election.
• New Years eve! The team went to a nice restaurant and then to church where we sang songs and had a bonfire. It was a fun night.
• Most of our ministry here was evangelism, house visits and children’s ministry. For evangelism we would do skits, dramas, songs and a Gospel message. And for house visits we would go to people’s homes and pray for them and sometimes they would give us food or tea. For children’s ministry we would go to orphanages or schools and do skits, dramas, songs, a message and then play with them.
Dinajpur: Jan 9- Feb 6
• We took a train ride from Khulna to Dinajpur. We were very thankful for our new home for the month because it had real western toilets and showers! We had been use to using squatty potties and taking cold bucket showers, so this was a very nice place to live! The house was in a Compassion International compound. There was also a school beside us where sponsor children went. Because we stayed in Dinajpur for a month we go to know the kids and people that work at the compound really well and we became good friends. • It was amazing to see what happens with sponsored children and to see where people’s money goes and how much it helps the kids. Often the lunch the kids ate at school was the only meal they would get all day. This is also the only way the Bangladesh children will get to go to school as there is no public school system.
• We did a mini “DTS” for 2 days for new Christians. We taught Bible overview and basic Christianity. It was really good for us to be able to teach what we learned in our DTS to people in Bangladesh.
• We also taught English one day, using the Bible to teach them.
• We bought a pet goat, and named him “kaba” which means “food” in Bangla. He was a nice goat for a while and on our last night we ate him for dinner! I know a lot of people think it’s cruel, but its just Bangla culture! We actually had all the workers of the compound over for dinner and blessed them with it. Afterwards we washed their feet and prayed for them individually. It was a real blessing to us to be able to bless them and encourage them. After we prayed for the women most of them were crying and hugging us. Showing your feelings is not common in Bangla culture, they usually do not really express how they feel and display affection. Because Bangladesh is a Muslim country, women are extremely oppressed and don’t often get treated with respect.
• Bangladesh Zoo! Black bears, deer, birds, porcupine, monkey, guinea pigs, rabbits, cat, and even a 5-legged cow! They also had a “fake zoo” which had fake animals like penguins and dinosaurs! It was pretty random and funny to see.
• Apparently it is custom in YWAM Maui for the leaders to leave the team for a week. Rachel and Brandon left leaving Chris and Amber in charge of the rest of the team. It was a really good week and we all worked together really well, even without our leaders!
• We went to a Compassion International orphanage and got to see the sponsor children’s pictures and the kids writing letters back to their sponsors. It’s really cool to see that the money people send is actually going to the children and their family’s needs.
• We also went to a leprosy hospital and learned a little bit about leprosy. It is still common in Bangladesh, especially with beggars, but you can get cured from it.
• By this point in outreach, we all were craving Western food because we had been eating curried rice, meat, potatoes and vegetables 99% of the time. We had a couple treats like finding Oreos & Tara had brought pop-corn with her, in the hopes that she would find a microwave somewhere! We found one in the market and were very happy that day to eat pop-corn. : )
• One of the best nights we had was looking at the stars on the roof until late at night. It was awesome!
• Most of our ministry in Dinajpur was evangelism, house visits and children’s ministry. It was a really great time and we were sad to leave.
Dhaka: Feb 6-13
• Our team did children’s ministry one day and university ministry the next day. At Dhaka University we made friends with the students there and talked to them and hung out with them at school. It’s really good because most of them speak English, so we were able to have good, in-depth conversations, sometimes even about Christianity and the Bible. One of the days at the university we even got interviewed to be on TV! We never got to see it, but it was pretty funny.
• Pizza Hut! Our leaders surprised us by taking us to Pizza Hut, which we were extremely happy for! It’s random for a Pizza Hut to be in Bangladesh, but we were very thankful for it and enjoyed our pizza!
• I was sick for 2 days while in Dhaka. Thankfully this was the only time during the trip.
Bangkok, Thailand: Feb 14-19
• It was very hot and humid in Thailand, but we enjoyed our time! We stayed at the YWAM base in Bangkok and our ministry was with the MST Project. It is the “Male Sex Trade” project in the red light district. How it worked was that we would go to those areas and survey the men walking by. It is a really intense place, sort of like a mini Las Vegas but with bars, strip clubs, and prostitutes. It is really hard to see and to know that a lot of Western men come there looking for love, however the girls usually just want their money. A lot of the time we wouldn’t even use the survey. We would just have conversations with the men about prostitution, Christianity, their beliefs and why we were there. Sometimes after talking to a guy he would decide not to go home with a Thai girl that night because of our conversation. The Lord is really blessing this ministry and it’s cool to see the changes that are happening in that area.
• Fun day! We went shopping, got Thai massages, drank Starbucks, ate at Outback, saw “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and went bowling!
Maui: Feb 20-28 (debriefing, lecture and graduation)
Outreach was an amazing experience. I had a great time and was there with an awesome group of 11 other people! We had some crazy times, hard times and fun times, but it was all worth it in the end because it’s all for His glory! Sometimes it was hard because in a country like Bangladesh, there isn’t many healings or salvations, but we have to remember that God is still at work in that country and everything is all part of His plan. We were a part of that plan by planting seeds and introducing the Gospel message to people who sometimes have never heard it before. We really learned the power of prayer throughout our trip, and even the little things that God does, shows his ultimate sovereignty! “Joy Jesu!” (“Praise Jesus” in Bangla)
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
please remember to pray for team BANGLADESH
Things to Pray For:
Safe Flights: We leave for Thailand on December 10th. Then we leave for Bangladesh on the 18th. We come back February 19th. Recently there has been unrest at the airports in Thailand. It is peaceful now but pray that it stays that way.
Unity for our team. Bangladesh is a very oppressed country towards women. Please pray that this does not affect our team especially the girls.
Divine Appointments. Pray that God gives us wisdom on where to go and what to do. Pray that he gives us the words to say and speaks through us.
Good Communication is hard because of the language barrier. So please pray that God will find a way to communicate through us to share his truth.
Culture Shock. Pray that we adjust quickly to the culture and that we don’t get overwhelmed.
Pray for peace to come over us.
Health. Please pray for our health. That nobody gets sick during this time. Pray for protection over our bodies and immune systems. Pray that we always have a good attitude about things even in tough situations.
Safety during election time. On December 29th Bangladesh is having elections. This hasn’t
happened in 7 years and is said to be very dangerous because of the protestors. Please pray for safety over our team especially during this time. Pray for peace to come over the nation and that any terrorist plan or act will be stopped.
Please pray for an openness of the people in Bangladesh. Pray that God will open their hearts to receive the words that He is speaking to them.
Pray that we get good rest and have energy to do the tasks that God wants us to do.
Thank you so much for your prayers and support. It really does make a difference. We appreciate it so much. We all can’t wait to get home and share with you in person the amazing stories of God working through us to share his love to the people of Bangladesh.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Flying out Wed!
Here's my flight schedule for the next few months:
Wed. Dec. 10 @ 6:04am Maui, HI TO Honolulu, HI TO Tokyo Narita, Japan TO Taipei, Taiwan TO Bangkok Suvarnabh, Thailand Arrive @ 1:10am Fri. Dec. 12
Thurs. Dec. 18 Bangkok to Dhaka
Wed. Feb. 18 @ 1:40pm Dhaka TO Bangkok TO Taipei, Taiwan TO Honolulu, HI TO Maui, HI Arrive @ 8:57am Thurs. Feb. 19
Wed. Dec. 10 @ 6:04am Maui, HI TO Honolulu, HI TO Tokyo Narita, Japan TO Taipei, Taiwan TO Bangkok Suvarnabh, Thailand Arrive @ 1:10am Fri. Dec. 12
Thurs. Dec. 18 Bangkok to Dhaka
Wed. Feb. 18 @ 1:40pm Dhaka TO Bangkok TO Taipei, Taiwan TO Honolulu, HI TO Maui, HI Arrive @ 8:57am Thurs. Feb. 19
Thursday, November 27, 2008
vintage 21
2 weeks ago our speaker spoke on our identity in Christ. He spoke on who Jesus is and his life on earth. We discussed how big & important the challenge is to represent Jesus in the world b/c of how many misconceptions there are about God. To illustrate this point he showed these hilarious videos created by the church vintage21 on what many parts of the world think Jesus is like. I think they are super funny but be warned you could find them offensive. Also this is NOT who Jesus is; the videos were created to show how corrupted the worldview is of who Jesus actually is. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQeFG6Q87uA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAb8qoXraGw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCTAgxsLE3Q&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hUaMahxXi8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQeFG6Q87uA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAb8qoXraGw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCTAgxsLE3Q&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hUaMahxXi8&feature=related
Friday, November 14, 2008
Baptisms - with video!
Thurs. Nov. 13 our group went up to IAO Valley to do Baptisms. It's an amazing park with a dormant volcano & waterfalls. I was baptized along with 9 other students. You can check out my baptism video on youTube @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rYZsO0U0uE
Wondering why i did this? Baptism illustrates a believer’s identification with Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. The action of being immersed in the water illustrates being buried with Jesus. The action of coming out of the water pictures Jesus' resurrection. As my friend Chris Lopez put it "It's outward expression of an inward experience" Basically it public shows that I'm following Jesus.
Wondering why i did this? Baptism illustrates a believer’s identification with Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. The action of being immersed in the water illustrates being buried with Jesus. The action of coming out of the water pictures Jesus' resurrection. As my friend Chris Lopez put it "It's outward expression of an inward experience" Basically it public shows that I'm following Jesus.
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