Tues Apr 14

 More power outages. 

 The generator cannot be coaxed on anymore. The repair man is here today tho 

It’s hot, the baby is sick and miserable

Thankyou for your prayers 💫 

Electricity is restored and somehow the courage picks up also.

The busy toddler goes down for a nap.

We go up to the classroom to help sing at the end of music class

The chicken and pork mangsho(meat) is washed and in the fridge and freezer.

Lonnie goes out to mingle with the villagers

After Christina’s supper of sausage n rice casserole and fried apples we walk over to the mela that Tulshi told us about. The religious part was held at the school grounds and all the food and gift booths were behind. If we hadn’t just eaten supper we would’ve gladly bought more from the food vendors. As it was, we didn’t actually buy much, an icy cone(don’t think it can hardly be termed an ice cream cone😉) and as we stood waiting for some bags of popcorn, acquaintances from Chakrakhali S.S. just ahead of us bought for us. And one of our neighbors running a meeshti(deep fried sweets) stand just gave us a taste, as we didn’t want to buy a whole kilo. We did come away with hand held palm frond fans and a toy for the Bud 👶🏼 and lots of hellos to neighbors and friends.

Maddie’s still been feeling wiped out from the virus, taking 1-2 naps a day, a low grade fever returned this evening 🤒 

Mon Apr 13

 Every morning that the power has stayed on all night and we are able to get around in the morning and make breakfast with electricity is something to be thankful for these days✨ 

The Bud woke fever free! But by noon it was back.. The next stage of this virus is chest congestion and sinus drainage.. and we hadn’t got him completely over his last respiratory illness😩 we’re doing warm onion poultices and fever reducer around the clock..

Our night guard Shunil, has been having ongoing sickness also. He coughs and coughs! So much that he can hardly visit for the coughing and it has made his voice raspy. For reference, Shunil is the same age as Wade, Jon C., and Merle from our cong. And has worked for CSI for about 20 years💙

Sun Apr 12 🌴 Hindu Onusthan/Ceremony

 More power outages, a battery backup that’s not been lasting long, and then a generator that’s giving fits now too! 

The youngest 2 running fevers 

Breakfast table statistics researched:

Nashville: square miles- 526

                    Population- 712,581

                        Density- 1,498 people per square mile

Khulna City: square miles-58.14

                       Population - 998,460

                        Density - 17,170 people per square mile

Lonnie figured that’s 2 1/2 sq. ft. per person, but thankfully they build up, so there’s room for roads, etc 🙃

Dipti brought her husband’s photo ID, needing some copies. She wanted to know how many years older he is than her!🙃He is 49 and she is 41 according to the birth dates on their ID cards.

Tulshi was out til 2:00 this morning with the current 5 day Hindu festival going on. When I asked him about it, he says they will be holding a ceremony next to us this evening. Where a man will climb and cut the fruit of the beetle nut palm tree. 

So this afternoon, he let us know it would be happening at 5:00 and we joined the crowd just down the road to watch the ceremony. The special tree 🌴 was right beside the road. There were food and drink booths around, a couple people selling balloons, 

Gathered under the tree, was a group of orange shirted fellows and 4 young, brawny men with no shirts. To one side was all the Hindu worship jinish(stuff). Incense burning, etc, etc.

We bought a couple bags of popcorn salted with a spicy salt😋 to munch on while we stood there in the hot sun and observed the ceremony. The drummers keeping up a steady beat.🪘 we said “hi” to those we knew in the crowd.. Sunday School girls and boys, Dipti’s niece, neighbors,…

The 4 shirtless men sat cross legged under the tree with their eyes closed for quite a span of time… an elder, strategically dabbed a dark red smear on the small of their backs and each bicep, and maybe on their chest also 💭, there was a time of hugging with emotion.. they were laughing and then were they crying and then laughing again!?!. Then the orange shirted group gathered at the base of the tree, with hands raised to the heavens they chanted. Then the 1st shirtless fellow climbed the tree, navigating thru the spiny palm fronds, up to the top where he started gathering up the topmost middle fronds together to create a sort of post to hang on to. The next man climbed up and joined him, then the 3rd man worked his way up thru fronds and took up his post in the top of the tree. It looked like a good way to get hurt up there and we hoped we didn’t observe anything tragic! And then the 4th man nearly jumps up that tree, quite an animated feller! 

Next in the ceremony was the distribution of the fruit of the tree. Clumps of beetle nuts hang all the way around and these men start tearing strings of beetle nuts off the clumps and throwing to the crowd below. The observers all trying to get their hands on a string or 2. The animated 4th feller up there was bouncing to the beat of the drum as he ripped beetle nut strings.

The descent of these men, was probably the most fascinating. Putting a clump of beetle nuts on their head or shoulders They took turns riding a palm frond down to the tree trunk and when they got to the outstretched hands of the orange shirted men below, they would fall backwards into them, making their final descent to the ground via the hands that caught them😱 the 3rd fellow at the top of the tree, we all sudden noticed, had put a blind fold on!?! And made his descent that way!😳 the last man at the top of the tree was making a spiny wreath out of a new little palm frond to wear on his descent. Their backs shiny with perspiration and quivering from exertion…one of our bystanders commented, “spiritual power”.

the crowd started to disperse and we took our leave also as Lonnie had a milk program patient waiting at our gate. Annslie wanted one of the little spicy cups of chick peas yet. According to one of our neighbor girls, there would be a prayer yet, and then the beetle nuts that were caught, would be eaten.

Sat. Apr 11

 The Bud’s turn for the fever virus 🤒 

We have some legal documents that need to get to Dhaka ASAP and Doyle’s are going tomorrow. So after breakfast, we headed to Gopalgonj. With the rain we’ve been having, the detour around the bridge project has been deemed too risky once again. So, the extra 20-30 min out, creeping thru the village on a narrow path with bricks 🧱 sticking up a rakish angles in some places, which are Lonnie’s nightmare. He’s guessing we’ll end up getting a flat tire from them yet.

At Doyle’s we got out and chatted a bit, used the washroom, .. they were having a week like ours, battling the fevers.. then back to Khulna City to get our weekly shopping done.

Stopping 1st for a late lunch at Dominos. Was it ever good to go there again😋 the pizza is So yummy and the atmosphere modern and upbeat.

Day-7, Shwapno, and the fruit and veggie market.

Maddie registered a fever again this evening and spent the night on the couch🤒

Fri. Apr 10 Worship Day

Lonnie went to the S.S.’s alone today. Maddie and Jaira's fevers are gone🤗 but didn't feel up to Sunday schools yet. They did go along to the afternoon service tho while I stayed home with Annslie as she is still running a fever.

Sunday schools were slim today, only bout 8 students at each. There is another 5 day, Hindu festival going on. It’s orange shirts this time and they walk thru the village barefoot, was the info from Peem.

Thurs. Apr 9 ⛈️

 Tis the season! Thunderstorms most every night and power outages. The bright side… it cools the air so nicely!!

All 3 girls still under the weather with fevers.

After ibuprofen and breakfast they were up to going to school tho, knowing that if they got to feeling too bad they could go take a rest. And since they don’t have to worry about infecting any other students or teachers it works well. A plus to mission school life… gotta make notes of those!..since most days I have to be ok with the school life they are missing out on back home.

In the evening, Lonnie and I took Gentry on a walk thru the village. Stopping to visit with the girl that is home from Dhaka for 10 days with her little 1 yr old., then for peyagi and dim chop, Lonnie hung out at the carrom board with the men then while I visited with some ladies cleaning a pile of onions that were headed to market. Further on, a group of S.S. girls joined us for a piece…

Wed. Apr 8

 Lonnie’s prayer at supper last night was answered. The little thunderstorm that came thru only had the power out a little while in which the battery backup was able to take care of. So our night was not impeded by multiple or lengthy power outage. 

Long story, short, of our day… Our 3 girls spent the day with low grade fevers.. read on for the details🙃

Maddie came down in the morning not feeling well and registering a low grade fever. After a bit of breakfast she took a nap. At 1st recess, Jaira said she was cold and had been all morning! I knew their classroom, having no A.C., could not be classified as cold. Headache was still a symptom hanging on so more fever reducer and after awhile Maddie was feeling better and Jaira was in her room taking a nap. Then Lonnie got home from taking a walk with the littles and Annslie was ready to go down for a nap!(2 1/2 hrs earlier than normal)

Dipti made Bangla noodles for our lunch. 

She needed to talk to Lonnie about more advance pay as she has school books and shoes to buy for her younger son, Turjo. While she waited for him to get home, I had her clean a couple mirrors. She proceeded to spray windex and wipe down everything in the room with paper towel🤦🏼‍♀️ varnished door, plastic dresser, painted metal wardrobe, etc… whoever thought using job appropriate methods/cleaning rags could be so difficult to savvy?! And I know probably every missionary wife thru the years has had her clean a little differently from the last one!.. but for example When she’s washing the dining room table some days, I see she has gone to wiping the dining room chairs and then on into the living room dusting the furniture with her same dishcloth!… I Am glad for what she does around here.. it just gets a little interesting some days🙃

At lunch time, Maddie and Jaira were feeling pretty good again but after school Jaira was hit pretty hard again. Neither were very active. By evening, Annslie and Maddie were both having the chills and lying around also. The quietest, most docile evening version of Annslie ever! She sat, reclined in the love seat with Jaira, while Jaira sang song after song..and then was ready to go to bed early.

My day consisted of..a couple loads of laundry, a bit of mending, shirts ironed,

Lonnie got the tracts all bagged, ready to give to the local pastors that distribute them. And I helped him with a 12 lb. batch of sausage