Fri June 26 Worship Day

 At Chakrakhali, Lonnie, Kobid, and the man of the house sat down on plastic chairs in front of the S.S. room and visited. I went to see what the lady of the house was cooking on her outdoor/back porch mud stove. Chicken curry, while her Muslim maid used the horizontal mortar and pestle to make pastes for her. The lady of the house’s sister was there also. They were going to be attending their parent’s wedding anniversary! That was interesting to find out they celebrate like that💕(they are Hindu..) The lady went inside then so I meandered back to the pond where King Kor was fishing. A middle grade S.S. boy showed up and then 18 yr old Dudjoy who carried Gentry around. He told me Gentry is hot, he needs his shirt off. I haven’t totally followed these people’s thinking yet…?.. cause I’m thinking “you and I are hot too and we’re not shedding our “shirts”..?.. but it does ever seem to be a concern of theirs when they see Gentry’s head wet with sweat…. I have continued to observe and take note that they do try to keep their little people cool by putting an available fan to blow on them(while napping or sitting somewhere), take their clothes off, and wipe the sweat off…

Anyway, we never did have S.S. Most of the children including Taritro (hosting couple’s son) were off playing football (soccer). That’s a whole ’nother subject that I’ll briefly touch on while we’re here. This country is Brazil and Argentina supporters during Soccer season. We see Brazil and Argentina flags and shirts e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e.  Our guards have asked several times to take off for a couple hours to watch a game. Just up the road from us in an open grassy area a HUGE  screen has been put up and the villagers bring their plastic chairs and watch the game from 10:00 pm till 1:00 am. 

After the afternoon service, Liton needed something and Shanto’s were waiting on Lonnie for something also. We told them they could come in, but no, they were busy tonight. So I went in and bathed Gentry. By time I was done, Shanto’s were sitting in our living room ..?.. So, I served thanda(cold) cha, chanachur, and the coffee cake Miss Christina had made for breakfast. 

Mon June 22

 Lonnie had Clinic Day in Gopalgonj 

Sun June 21 Father’s Day

 Lonnie met with Kobid at the clinic and waited for the social services officer, who is over the N.G.O.s to arrive. She never did show

I had Tulshi go buy a flat(30pc)of eggs for me

Lonnie went to check out an option for another clinic location as a FOR SALE sign has been posted on the current facility that we rent. (Fast forward… the owner took the For Sale sign back down.. he is building a house and needed money, but found another way without selling the office space..)

Then he and Shanto went to CSS to settle up

The girls fixed up the supper table with cream tablecloth, black runner, brass candlesticks, coordinating paper plates with black and gold design,..

I made a Cajun shrimp pasta dish

🕯️ That night, the girls turned out the lights in the living room, set candles around his chair, and gave him a foot spa 

Sat. June 20

 Last day of Fellowship 

To CSS for dim, paratha, and dhal breakfast

9:00 service

11:00 Cha break but our service only lasted till 10:30 and some of us were really “needing” cha, Now!😅 so we went to the dining hall and they were already preparing and were glad to serve us early ☕️ 😌

Members mtg: round the table sharing. This is where our smaller group was really nice as we went around the table sharing our hearts. It was a special time. Bro. Kobid had a full weekend of interpreting but it makes such a difference if both nationalities get more of what’s shared and not as much guessing at what each is probably saying at times.

Dhaka brother made a phone call last night to make sure the man on the other end of the line was aware of what all was going on this weekend😉 and so our brother Shamir, who’s been tied to his work schedule, showed up for lunch.

One last meal together, which these natives consider the grand finale and make it a little extra special. They’d wanted beef curry but the establishment has a policy against beef and pork to accommodate all possible guests ..Muslim or Hindu. So it was mutton curry with rice, Shobji, “salad”, Coke, and doy (yogurt). Truly one of those weekends where one never actually gets hungry before there’s another meal to sit down to or cha to partake in.

One or so of the native brethren had the desire to walk down to the Rupsha river yet with whoever wanted to. So we did that. It is a nice wide river with lots of big boats And there was a lovely breeze blowing, making it quite pleasant. 

And then it was over, and we parted ways again.

Lonnie had to go clean the clinic for an upcoming mtg. He met 3 of our single brethren Kobir, Liton, and Ripon on his way over there. When they heard what he was headed to do, they said they would come help! What a blessing🤍

The Bud 👶🏼 is officially 8 mo old now. He is chubbing up again after his rounds of being sick. He is down to about 6 dirty diapers a day and 2 at night, about 1/2 of what it was at his worst. But now we can see that he currently has 3 more teeth on top all pushing at the same time😩 which makes for a miserable baby, terrible nights, flaming red bottom, survival mode for Mom and Dad🫩

His fine light brown hair has a reddish hue and is getting long enough in the back that it’s got a few hints of curls

He crawls, but he would just as soon cruise on 2 feet! He pulls himself up all the time, pushing anything he can manage to push… rocking chair, coffee table, footstool, dining room chair,…Loves to go outside! His hair is quickly wet with sweat, but that doesn’t bother him if he’s entertained. He is not a quiet boy, makes lots of sounds. Gets So many bumps and bangs, hitting the hard tile floor on his head Way too often for my liking😣 he’s our squishy, lovable, chubba bubba that we all love dearly, but gladly pass him on to the next person after taking care of him for awhile😉

Fri. June 19

Lonnie made the grocery run for the day with Shanto at 6:??

 8:00 Breakfast at CSS

We rolled in about a half hour late with everybody standing around waiting on us🤦🏼‍♀️

A Bangla breakfast of kichuri(rice and lentil mix) boiled egg,

9:00 assembly time in the conference room. A normal Bangla church service with singing, opening and a message. 

Side note: both the conference room and dining hall have A.C. 👍🏼👍🏼

Another note on the attendees: only a fraction of the members showed up this year😏 3 households have seriously ailing family members, a couple have work schedules that are quite binding, etc. But we did have a few guests with Miriam from Dhaka, Shanto’s employee’s family (a younger couple with 2 young girls-6 yrs and 2? Yrs., and Eric a young man who hung out with Antoor(Shanto’s 18 yr old son). Eric’s teenage sister was around for the meals(my understanding is that their parent (s) were the cooks..?.) Eric’s sister reminded me So much of my oldest sister’s boro meye(oldest dau.) a dark haired, brown skinned version with such similar looks and mannerisms🥰

11:00 tea time. Back at the dining hall, which is in the same building but a short walk outside, we were served hot tea and “biscuits” (little boughten cookies).

Kaylee and I also took this time to go to the Sisters room to have them help us put our Sari🥻 on. They had helped the teachers put theirs on at breakfast.

Members mtg till 1:00 lunch.

Rice, curry, and  “salad”(cucumber slices, lime wedges, chunks of red onion, whole hot peppers 🌶️)

Afternoon break… the missionaries went back to the house to put the littles down for naps.

Back at CSS for 4:00 tea and biscuits

As we started gathering for the evening service there was all sudden some racket and commotion coming from the A.C. up on the wall.. And What Do You Know?!!? It’s a snake!! Wriggling around up in there getting descaled. The grounds men were notified and they came in with their clubs😅 It took a bit to extricate but then we were able to continue with our service

7:30 supper.. another delicious meal… Rice, fish (pongas) curry that was absolutely delightful, Dal, and “salad”.

Back at the house, we enjoyed another late night visiting with our fellows

Thurs June 18 Fellowship guests arrive

 Lonnie had some errands in town. I sent a small list with him. He ended up driving Shanto around rounding up supplies for the chefs at CSS to make the meals for our group. A little different experience than food committee shopping back home. The Day of the event.. going to one dhokan to order the cooking firewood, the market by Gallimari bridge for all the food supplies… fish, chicken, mutton, rice, lentils, vegetables, all the spices,etc…

Dipti cleaned

We had fun making a Welcome Back Miss Christina banner as she has spent 2 1/2 wks of summer vacation with Brian’s and Miss Aleigha in Dhaka.

Also, anticipation of guests, is always a good incentive to get some needed tidying done.

The van load from Dhaka arrived a couple hrs before supper time at the CSS meeting place. They had brought the 2 Dhaka Sisters and the clinic nurse Miriam with them. On the way down, they stopped by Gopalgonj, as Miss Aleigha wanted to check the P.O. She had a pc of mail and Lo, and Behold! Surprise!! An envelope for me also!!!! Our Very 1st envelope to make it to us💛💛💛💛 … a birth announcement of our newest nephew in the Frase family🥰 So fun and enthusing!! It made my day!! Miss Aleigha said again, that they get mail all the time… so, you’re welcome to to use our neighboring missionary’s address at Gopalgonj to send to us if you get inspired💫

P.O. Box 10

800 District Gopalgonj 

Gopalgonj, Bangladesh

7:30 supper at CSS https://maps.app.goo.gl/pWcg45DMdKewCHsi7?g_st=ic 

It was raining so we were thankful for their covered parking area😌 enough umbrellas were brought forth to keep everybody mostly dry as we all trooped to the office where we needed to sign in. Then to a waiting area till everybody arrived for supper.. At 8:00, we decided we’d just go have supper with those that had showed up, so back out in the rain to make our way to the dining hall. A welcoming aroma met us as we stepped inside. Carefully set tables with China plates and actual drinking glasses. A yummy Bangla meal of chicken curry, rice, and shobji(vegetables). 

The Dhaka Sisters and Miriam stayed on the premises with the other native members for the night. 

Our fellow missionaries came back to our house with us. The teachers and my big girls sat around the table and wrote many Who, What, When, Where, Why stories with much laughter and enjoyment. I mixed up a batch of Choc Chip cookies that we enjoyed fresh out of the oven with cups of milk☺️ the men played carrom and the evening got late as we enjoyed each other’s company😌

Wed June 17 back to Khulna home 🚙 💨

 The normal packing out routine with keeping the washing machine going, cleaning out the fridge, and loading the van.

🛣️ 4 hrs later, Tulshi🧔🏾‍♂️and Toby🐕‍🦺 welcomed us back to Feda Palace.

The report was that the power had been off most of the day. Oh, yes, we are back in the village. 

It did come back on, got the water filter changed that had turned black during our absence, and the laundry going, in preparation for Fellowship weekend.