Fri. Feb 27

 Stayed home from S.S.’s with Maddie, as she wasn’t feeling well..

Cajun Chicken Pasta lunch

After our 4:00 church service, Kobid Brother came in and started playing a game of Carrom until inspiration hit to go look up Louis’s who haven’t been showing up recently. Kobid gave them a call and yes, that would be fine.. and thus commenced another very Bangali experience..

Louis’s live in Khulna City in a Catholic community… Louis, his daughter Lisa, and 1 of Lisa’s friends, met us out by the street where we parked and led us down the alley to their home.. a low income, 3rd world situation, and quite hard to explain. A concrete housing community and when we walked thru Louis’s gate 

the 1st thing was his easy bike(his occupation as a driver) parked 

and then right there was a hand pump for their well water,

And then their shared kitchen. There was even a table there with one end against the wall and a bench along another wall from the corner. Right in the middle there somewhere you could look up and see the stars in the night sky but roof covering most of the area… the “kitchen”… very small, very scarce supplies, dirt floor, a double mud oven(so she can cook her rice and curry at the same time👍🏼) btw, she says she made the mud ovens herself☺️. There was a counter top gas 2 burner but fuel is expensive… Purnima sat on a low stool and was busy cooking.. Bangla noodles, chips ..she had dried potato slices in the sun and now she was deep frying them for homemade chips which she served with her homemade salsa.. This lady loves to preserve food and she pulled many different delicacies out for us…dried mango bars that she’d mashed mango spread it out in the the sun to dry…We could still see the print of the basket on one side😉.. and then she cut it into strips.. another was her “specialty” pickled crab apple with chili for a strong sour/spicy experience with a tough stringy/mushy texture that’s just too much for these Americans🤦🏼‍♀️ one of those instances where we really compliment on the more palette pleasing dishes!.. and then she asks point blank if we like the pickle and here have some pickle and we try to politely tell her that we really enjoy her strawberry infused prune dish and point out how Annslie is Really enjoying those mango bars, and your chips and salsa are Quite fine!🙃

“Coffee”  was served, single serve packages of instant coffee/creamer/sugar that you add to hot water. “Coffee”  is considered uptown, but Lonnie always chooses hot tea if it’s an option😉

So, I mentioned, there was a table but that is not where you serve guests..?.. and to continue the tour of their abode…

There were several rooms off of this kitchen and down a little hall where there was a wash room at the end. Each of these rooms is a home.. Louis’s married daughter Rosy and husband + 1yr old claim one room(They were away this evening).. We congregated in Louis’s room which is unlike most, in that it has a couple pcs of furniture as he is also a carpenter and built the living room set at the mission house also. Which makes me wonder, where he does that? And is that a thing of the past? Anyway, the girls all sat on their bed. Their fridge was in there also, which is a common place for such here. The other rooms are a bit shared also, as in, Rosy’s room is where Purnima’s treadle sewing machine is (she sews her and Lisa’s clothes/kameeze sets) and another room that a “brother” claims, is where Lisa would pull toys out of. Purnima(Louis’s wife) is also very talented in making quite designed rugs and quilts. She showed us several. One had an elephant design😊

The chickens were put in for the night already and what a surprise! They were right inside in a lower cabinet that made up one wall of the kitchen!😅 5 hens and a rooster weren’t making a sound 🐓 

After visiting them, we realized what a trek they have to come to church. It was a good 30 min drive and they come by easybike which would take longer..

Thurs Feb 26 Khulna 🚙💨 & miracle📦

 Fellow missionary Doyle’s birthday so Lonnie helped me put a little extra effort into breakfast… frying the crepes….Whipped cream, fresh strawberries, and fried crumbled sausage.

Worked on getting our bedding and bath towels all thru the wash and hung out, the ice chest loaded and van packed. We had airport UniMart to hit yet to pick up a stockpile of those amazing tortilla chips and big bags of American flavored Lay’s potato chips😋

We ended up at that UniMart during the same time as Doyle’s and had a sandwich lunch with them down at the 2nd Cup/Cinnabon.

Loaded to. the. hilt. we had an uneventful trip back down to Khulna.

Upon arriving back at Feda Palace🏡, Tulshi informed us we had a package waiting to be picked up!!! So, Lonnie went with Tulshi to the P.O. man’s house to receive the package. The P.O. got broke into awhile back, is the way I have it, so he takes the mail to his house here in the village.. 

Talk about a most amazing feeling!!! We truly felt like it was a miracle box! A birthday box from my mom🤍 and 6 other family and friends💛 Our 1st mail since arriving over a year ago! Very special!!

When mom told me she had sent a box, I had just groaned because I didn’t ever expect to see it and I wanted to So badly!! I had to fight feelings of it wanting to ruin my day because I had no hope about it. We know of one letter that we never saw and a wedding invite that was returned to sender.. But it looks like a box can reach us🫶🏼 AND our friends at Gopalgonj have told us, that we can use their address for anybody wanting to send envelopes!🥰 just put in care of:

Doyle Barkman

Po Box 10

8100 District Gopalgonj, 

Gopalgonj, Bangladesh

Their P.O. man knows them well and has been Very Reliable!! They receive birthday and Christmas cards, birth and wedding announcements etc. in 10-14 days!! 

Maybe we’ll get there with our P.O. man yet too..?..

Anyway, A Thankyou, from the bottom of our hearts for those that contributed to the box and to Mom. It means so much! As I write this, we have been enjoying Dove and Lindor chocolates for 2 weeks now and one bag got put away to pull out at a later date😉 The little boy has a fun, crackly book to play with, birthday cards and letters from family and friends on the other side of the world grace the top of our bookshelf, etc..

Wed Feb 25 🎂

 The other men left for the day to do an eye camp. Lonnie stayed home, since it was my birthday, Bless his heart❣️ That was definitely a sacrifice! And I told him he didn’t need to do that!… The big girls stayed at the guesthouse with Krystal and her children and we took the littles with us. Lonnie took me for a pedicure and manicure. 1hr, 3 ladies, less than $10 USD!?! 

Stopped back by the house, then struck out for Sha-var, where Rhidoy and Pinky are living currently. Rhidoy is from Khulna, oldest son of our members Shanto and Shotti. Rhidoy needed work, so his mom’s relatives up here found him a job on the outskirts of Dhaka…. quality control at a garment factory. When you see, “made in Bangladesh” on clothing just know, it’s very possible that some poor villager was given hope, by moving to the City and getting a job at a garment factory 🫶🏼. A very nice visit😊 Rhidoy’s are living in a nice apt building, in the country.. definitely nicer than their village home, tile floors/walls, indoor bathroom,.. and it’s the 1st time, as a married couple, they are out from under his father’s roof, kind of hard for the American mind to grasp. And I think they are enjoying it! Rhidoy works nights so he let Pinky have a kitty 🐈‍⬛ to keep her company. And let me tell you, Pinky is quite the little lady! She got the kitten when it was just a few weeks old and in 2 weeks time she had that kitten potty trained to use the washroom!!?!😅 she had her kitty, his name is Leo, trained better than our 2 yr old🤦🏼‍♀️ Annslie was just loving playing with Leo till she she got a little much for him and then they put him out in the little enclosed veranda. He started yowling to be let back in so Rhidoy went out and gave him a little pop and he quieted right down! Pinky has added little touches to the 4 walls to make it homey. Even curtains on the windows that maybe Lisa had given Rhidoy before he was married when he’d been helping remodel the Pink City houses in Dhaka.. is how I’m remembering the story. Anyway, Pinky is a very neat and tidy housekeeper.. Rhidoy says when he gets something out she makes sure he puts it back in its proper place😉 She has just a t.i.n.y. little kitchen area with a small sink and a counter top burner, But she cooked us up a very nice afternoon snack! Battered and fried egg plant with a homemade dipping sauce, peyagi (deep fat fried onion patties), and homemade peanut brittle😌 Pinky has made friends of her neighbors there🤍

Something Rhidoy commented on, was how for years he always hoped a missionary would come with a boy his age!… Well now, that he’s married, his dream has finally come true! The Dhaka brother, Brian is about his same age🤩

  We went on a little walk yet, meeting up with Rhidoy’s cousin. And then headed back to Pink City later than we were wanting to, getting caught in Iftar traffic (Muslims stopping on the highway to break their fast of the day)

Back at the guesthouse, the girls had supper with Doyle’s. The men were back from a big day at eye camp. Recuperating.. Lonnie said he’d take me and the family out for a “birthday coffee” at North End yet. Spur of the moment, we decided to stop by Brian’s and see if the teachers wanted to go with us. Which of course they did😉 Their crew had already mentioned North End at their supper table, so Brian’s and Chris’s met us there also🥰 

Fun little gifts from my Bangladesh family.. a lucky bamboo plant, a jute throw pillow, and a basket💛

Tues. Feb 24

 Doyle had told Chris’s they could come hang out with us for the day. We decided to go to a park.. https://maps.app.goo.gl/DeqmLWnnp2tcFqCz9?g_st=ic a Very nice, gated park in the City! The children played at the playground, us ladies did a couple laps on the nice walkway around the “lake” and then hit the book store where I found some treasures.📚 

Chef’s Table was closed at this hour due to Ramadan so we ended up at Indulge in the UniMart for lunch. This UniMart is the one we buy our meat from. So we “hit 2 birds with one stone”.

To Brian’s for supper and the eve with everybody. And more singing. Chris had put together a collection of fun songs🎶

Mon. Feb 23 🏥 & CSI mtg

School for the girls again.

We didn’t get to the immunization clinic at 9:00 so they told us to come back at 2:00. We took Annslie and Gentry to see the pediatrician. Gentry is 4 mo. A very happy baby, starting to grasp his toys and play. My colleagues(like our fellow missionaries are referred to the natives as)are saying he is looking like Annslie now, 14 3/4 lbs, 24.8” long. He also has almost no soft spot like it was with Annslie, but his head is still growing nicely so not to worry yet.. he has just a nice amount of medium brown hair that looks like he’s got a nice haircut although we have not touched his hair with a scissors yet.

We picked up sandwiches from the North End on ground floor to take home for lunch with the girls and Miss Christina. Got Annslie down for her nap and took Gentry for his 2:00 appt.

Doyle’s from Gopalgonj arrived in the City also and moved in with us at the guest house. Their teacher joined Miss Christina and field secretary Chris’s at Brian’s. 

Pizza was ordered in, veggies and dip, and Kaylee made a burnt grape salad (YUM😋😋) for supper at the guest house with everybody. 9 children playing, adults visiting and singing

Sun Feb 22 🦷 & 👓

 Christina walked over from Brian’s (where she’s staying while we’re in the City)and had school with the girls while Lonnie, the littles, and I went to the dentist where I got some cavities taken care of. This place is higher tech than home with their method of X ray! While sitting right in the dentist chair they use an X-ray system that is just a slim wand with a small screen on the end and buttons on the handle for the Dr. to make it do whatever he needs and then the pictures show up on a screen right in front of the patient! We could choose between Japanese or American compound for the filling and after the work was done he took more X-rays and could show me the finished product, Pretty Cool 😎 

After Annslie’s afternoon nap we all went back to Jamuna Park for the eve. Primarily to pick up Jaira’s glasses at 8:00 that we’d ordered yesterday. We had a few hours to shop before the appointed time and started with finding some supper. Which turned into quite a bigger ordeal than we had expected! In the, is it South tower🤔, on 5th floor is a vast array of places to eat. We, just like criminals😅, followed our path of habit. But! Lo, and behold! Our favorite burger joint was under going remodel or was no more to be! Hopefully the former! 🤞🏼🤞🏼 So, we took off in search of something else.. Oh, and I have not mentioned that the Muslim month of Ramadan fasting began earlier this week. They break their daily fast at sundown, So this food floor was a very popular place at this hour😱 They had plates of food ready and waiting on the table for the moment when they could break their fast. After passing up Many places that were doing their best to entice us to their place of business we ended up at… Dominos where we knew what to expect🙃 The family behind our booth shared their dates with us. Dates are customary for breaking the fast of the day with. Our supper time got cut a little shorter when Gentry started fussing and I found out that the bottle and formula hadn’t got along with us! We were in a good place to get what we needed, but it would be a Lot of steps and I could foresee that being done with a hungry yelling baby🤦🏼‍♀️ I was able to quiet him by carrying him instead of pushing him in the stroller.. we did get a lot of extra steps in Fast, walking across the complex to a different tower and getting to the proper floor and then back across the complex to Wholesale Club where I’d been wanting to try some formula from a brand that I was familiar with versus the Biomil that our CSI program gives to the natives… We got our other favorite Jamuna Park shopping in.. Mr D.I.Y., Kid’s Paradise, and Wholesale Club. And then to pick up Jaira’s glasses… that was fun 🤓 she quickly started pointing out specific things on signs, giggling as she exclaims that she can see the white in daddy’s hair now! And when we walked out to the parking garage, “I have to be careful not to trip, everything’s so sharp now!”

I don’t remember the timeline of everything, but Lonnie ended up ordering a pair of auto-darkening glasses since he hasn’t been able to wear his contact lenses and therefore his sunglasses around home. And Christina ordered her a new pair of glasses also. So we should be set up now😅

Sat Feb 21 Dhaka 🚙 💨

 Got to Dhaka in time for lunch at Second Cup in the Centrepoint high rise(by the airport). Hit the UniMart there and had a LOVELY surprise!! Tortilla chips available again!!👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 It’s been a year since we’ve had luxury in that form🙃 and Big American sized bags of Lay’s potato chips in Cheddar & Sour cream and Salt &Vinegar flavors🤩🤩🤩. And they also had a diffuser in stock again🤗🤗 I’ve been wishing for one to diffuse essential oils at night when the stuffy noses syndrome makes it rounds

We went ahead and hit one of things that was on the priority list for this trip into Dhaka… glasses for Jaira!🤓 Which we found at Jamuna Park in the shop just past Slash Coffee on the way to Wholesale Club. 

On to the the guest house in Pink City 🏡 where we unloaded the van and made nachos😋😋😋 

Brian and Lars showed up to say “Hi” and chat a bit.

We made beds, got the classroom set up, and settled in for the week.

Round 11:00 or so, Lonnie went with Brian to get the CSI field secretaries from the airport. dea. Chris and Sondra Koehn NewPlymouth,ID.