Fri Oct 30 Worship Day

 It was fishing day again at the pukar (pond) that’s just before our church house. So, many locals had paid to spend the day fishing at that location and lined the banks.

At Choygoria here, we decided to try attendance charts. There was no S.S. in Chakrakhali so it worked great to have extra time for getting the 30+ students’ names onto these charts.

After S.S., there is this lady that we’ve helped with medicine and her dad has been friends with Shanto’s. This lady’s husband died 4 years ago and her aging father has had a stroke… still up and about but not able to work like before… she has health issues and is not able to help bring in income.. she’s got a 14 yr old daughter that did not pass class 8 exams, they want to get her married well but Bangladesh has a backward? dowry system so they don’t have much hope of being able to marry her well.. this lady has an 8-10 yr old son as well. So, a household of 5 without an income to speak of. Losing their home is a real fear

We agreed to go with her to her home as we didn’t have the 2nd S.S. to attend

We wound our way along the canal on a narrow foot path, behind the men that were spending the day fishing.

Arriving at her home I was very pleasantly surprised.. very cleanly swept dirt yard and home. It was also more spacious than a lot of village homes that we’ve been in..

  typical mud floor home built up about 2 ft

But this one was very open with a walkway all along the front. Neighboring S.S. children hung around with us there…coming in for a drink…by this time it had started lightly raining which it kept up the rest of the morning… one of the girls led us to the wash room behind the house.. it was very clean and tidy also~a built up mud foundation outhouse with squat pot with an A-frame roof and a burlap cloth to let down when in use…On the far end of the house in the cooking area, the wrinkled little old grandma was squatting in front of a wok over the fire, just finishing cooking up a mess of greens. The lady said her daughter was there on the bed in the bedroom but in the dimness of the bedroom I could not see her under the mosquito netting. She called her 14 yr old daughter out then so we could meet her. She, like many other young people, was using a using a smart phone. These villagers often do not have much but it is not strange to see them with a smart phone. 

The children were all playing a game outside and my girls were game to play with them but the language barrier.. Maddie says,”I am not getting what the rules are”😏 in hindsight I would’ve had Kobid help them out with translating as he was with us since we had come straight from S.S.

When we took our leave, the lady and her 2 children came with us, taking us by a few more homes of her family where we were invited in, told to sit. The next house was nice in that it was concrete but not the level of cleanliness that we’d just experienced.. here they brought us palm fruit that had a nice texture and mildly sweet flavor..

Back past all the men spending the day fishing

By time we got home, we were all quite damp from the fine rain and the dirt paths that we’d been walking on had been turning to slippery mud…

Lunch

Littles down for naps

I tried my hand at making dudh cha(milk tea)… in my efforts I ended up with a couple pots of hot tea while trying to get it right..I did get a satisfactory product but still not sure if it was authentic

3:00 Lewis’s came for doctrine class 

I told them about trying to learn how to make dudh cha and wondered if Purnima would come into the kitchen and give me a demo. She made it a spiced dudh cha with cardamom seeds and cinnamon. One of the things that I’d been wondering for sure on was how to do the milk. So she helped me perfect it. I’d figured out that I needed to scald the milk 1st before adding it to the tea to get that desired texture with the gloopies from the scalded milk 😜 also learning that there are as many ways to make dudh cha “as there are cooks”. Purnima asked for Horlicks which is a powder of some sort that I didn’t have and Lewis says it’s best with a little instant coffee yet, too!! So I guess I have a few more versions of dudh cha to try. I thought I didn’t like dudh cha for our 1st whole year here cause probably within our 1st week in the country we were served dudh cha made with powdered milk and who knows, maybe if I’d try it like that again by now, it might set a little better than that 1st experience.?.

4:00 service…Shanto and Espondant were there in addition to Lewis’s, Liton, and Kobid. But Shotti was at home sick still. They’ve been having fevers, etc. it sounds like Shotti has been quite out of commission.. her parents left for a week? But plan to be back..

I put a load of laundry in and we started preparations for going in to Dhaka tomorrow

Thurs Oct 29

 Lonnie and I decided to go into Khulna City this morning and see if parts for the oven are available locally or if it’s an item for our upcoming Dhaka trip.

Got bbq meatloaf out of the freezer for the girls’ lunch

 We stopped at one stretch of appliance stores with no luck. Grabbed a few ruti(fry bread) from a streetside vendor. Went on to Day-7(grocery store), Artisan where we shopped clothes for Gentry and shirts and another pair of pants for Lonnie. There was another store Lonnie wanted to check for the oven part. At this one, 2 men said, if Lonnie would take them to Boro Bazaar they could check with somebody there.. no part there either. Then we stopped at a diner that has caught my attention for quite some time but I can’t pull anything up about it on Google Map. It’s the Compteur(or something like that🤔) aesthetically pleasing with floor to high ceilinged windows, trimmed in black. Plants for accents, A spacious dining area.. clean and modern. We ordered a frappé and a crème brûlée to try something from their menu. The crème brûlée was definitely the best we’ve had in this country so far. And we decided we’d like to come back for some special occasion sometime..

Wed Oct 28

 A nice little thunderstorm came thru in the night. Very possibly one of the last rains of the season, til next year..

Our kitchen oven’s chronic problem of not staying lit is steadily getting more severe even with the the TLC that has been administered by the head of the house.. this morning the oven was pulled out, the back cover removed and extensive investigation ensued.

After school, I was mixing up Autumn Pumpkin (choc chip) cookies (Meals To The Field cookbook), Lonnie and Annslie were down the road buying eggs and everybody else was outside.

Maddie comes in reporting that Gentry is gone! The neighboring repair shop man (who we know well) wanted to hold him and he takes off down the road on his bike, out of sight! They were found at the dhokan just past the church and Gentry was soon back home again.

 

Tues Oct 27

 Shunil(night guard) told Lonnie the power was s’pose to be out all afternoon. That was nice to have a heads up but it actually was off from 10 am- 5 pm! Battery backup lasted a nice amount of time before we had to turn on the noisy generator….There is a crew clearing around the power lines again. It wasn’t too bad although it was another really Hot day getting up to 93 so we were very happy to have AC to cool the house down in the eve. But then the power left again for awhile…

 Rice and beans and fried apples for lunch

 A couple books repaired 

Lonnie got the new basketball backboard mounted🤩

…took the Bud out for several hours this afternoon

And supplied one of the local pastors with more Gospel Tracts

We did Maddie’s Suggestion Box activity and played a round of Cover Your Assets.

Miss Christina made a yummy sloppy jo supper with fresh 30 minute rolls and veggies and ranch

The girls shot baskets for awhile

Mon Oct 26

 I got a hot spot tidied

And a couple loads of laundry thru

Lonnie got a bathroom door handle reattached 

New clothes line strung 

Taco stack and fresh pineapple for lunch

I got the inspiration to do a Suggestion Box and the girls jumped right on board and were enthused about it too!🤩 Maddie offered a Pringle can she had saved that I covered with brown paper and cut a slot in the lid. The suggestions… are to be any family activity from memorizing a song, to a card game, or a week of getting up at 6:00 to go for a walk before breakfast, or a dessert you’re hankering after, …

Made a different recipe of cinn rolls out of the Meals To The Field cookbook after school. They are called something like “Truck Driver’s Dream”😜 they Were Really good!.. I used honey in place of the sugar in the dough..

Tulshi left early to go to another Hindu Onostan

Sun Oct 25

 Lonnie and I needed to make a trip to Boro Bazaar 

I pulled Cajun chicken pasta out of the freezer for the girls to heat up for lunch and we headed into Khulna

We were parked and walking down the street before 10:00 so there weren’t very many shops open yet. We walked down to the river where the toddler took a bathroom break and we found a place frying “fry bread” and got a cup of cha

By that time a few more shops were opening and after a few tries we found just what I was looking for… (beautiful) cotton pants for my family, when they come, for a grand total of about $2 USD a pair☺️

Lonnie found the bolts he was looking for and we drove to New Market where I got another (much better/real milk) dudh cha. And Lonnie let me go shop Artisan for next size of clothes for Gentry. A half off sale running today and I found a sweater for myself also😊

Sat Oct 24

 Dipti came in this morning since she’d taken a day off this week

Lonnie gave the Bud his 1st haircut.. still mostly just a trim job all the way around.. but it was high time.. hanging over his eyebrows I kept it out of his eyes with a little of Lemongrass’s healing elements and “finger” comb job.. halfway over his ears… and one lock of a reddish blonde curl on the back🥹

Got Annslie down for her afternoon nap as soon as we could and were able to leave for town by 3:00 

Late lunch/early supper at Grand Plastic(aka Grand Placid but Annslie calls is Grand Plastic so we often do too 🙃) Annslie and Gentry played in the play area with Maddie and Jaira taking turns with them. We watched restaurant chefs prepare Middle East food on the big screen TV intermittently as the power came and went. It seemed like it took extra long for our food to be prepared but we much enjoyed it when it did arrive! Artistically plated, complete with roasted tomato roses and heart shaped cucumber and carrot slices☺️

Then it was Shwapno, ATM, Day-7, Safe N Save, and the vegetable and fruit market

Thurs Oct 22 hosting Dipti’s and Baroti’s family

 Oh man just about didn’t write about today!?!

Tulshi told us, “Dipti is bringing her family”

💭 Oh boy, what do I have on hand to serve them!?! Finally decided that coffee would be special to them we could get a pot ready to brew. and If it was us showing up at their place  they would just run to the dhokan for “biscuits” so decided I could serve a package of biscuits that I had on hand.

It wasn’t long and they did arrive.. Dipti’s husband brought them on his rickshaw van… their oldest son Shuvo had to work but it was his wife Baroti, her dad and mom and little brother Rudro..he’s 12 and such a charming boy🤎 and then Dipti’s younger son Turjo 15? They were all dressed beautifully in their red and green saris 🥻 and gold jewelry, the boys wearing nice long sleeved large plaid button down shirts, and the dads wearing their “nice” lungis 😉 

While we started serving up the coffee and biscuits, the dads disappeared.

They ran to a dhokan for gifts… bags of chips, big package of biscuits, a big bottle of Coke, and a Coke glass.

 After coffee, I asked if they wanted to stay for lunch if Dipti would help me cook? “No, no, another day” but when Baroti’s dad heard of the invitation he says, “Yes! Let’s stay!” 

While Dipti washed up the dishes

Baroti’s family wanted to see the classroom upstairs where the girls were having school and then on up the stairs to our roof top… definitely making a stop by the laundry area where I currently had a load going in the washer… they were intrigued and Baroti’s dad wanted to know how long it took to wash a load and then it was the laundry basket that they studied (a woven jute that is made here in this country but are not very easy to find)

Back downstairs, us ladies got busy in the kitchen making chicken curry, rice(it was fun to watch those ladies try to figure out how much to make😉 they decided 6 cups of dry rice would be a good amount for our crowd of 13), lentils, vegetable stir fry.. 

Lonnie pulled out the Bangali edition 101 Bible Stories for Baroti’s dad, as he can read. He ended up reading from cover to cover while he was here! Sometimes reading out loud to Dipti’s husband Uttam..

The boys played with Annslie and Gentry, the magna tiles and games on their phones.. they let Annslie play what looked like a carrom game on their phone with them..

It was so fun serving Dipti’s and her daughter in law’s families! 

I sent home food for Shuvo. Dipti  had the dishes washed almost before I got the food taken care of. She swept all the floors yet and then they took their leave, inviting us to come their way next time😊

Fri Oct 23

 After Chakrakhali S.S., Chaity(lady of the house) brought out a couple plates of fresh, cubed papaya. Lonnie helped Rajib (man of the house) try to get his tiller started.. they worked at it quite awhile. I listened in to Kobid’s conversation with Chaity on the Hindu caste system. Adding a question here and there. Then let the Bud play on Nee-tie’s rickshaw van to try to keep him happy a little longer

4:00 service       just Kobid and Liton. Shanto’s were sick. When “beggar man” came in after awhile, Gentry hollered and begged to go to him! I figured it would make the man feel special so I set him down and let him walk across the aisle to our friend who happily picked him up and gave him some loud smooches. 😅Gentry wanted to get down and play and I soon had to take him back.

After church, we grabbed the sand toys, mat, pumpkin muffins and took Kobid and Liton with us to our favorite stretch of sandy beach along the river. It was pretty hot and humid but as usual the children enjoyed playing. Gentry is still not sure about the sand and plays in it while staying on the mat.

A lady was curious about us, but also more shy than so many are. She knew some English and returned the “Nice to meet you” when we left😊 one of the rare times that Bangali savvies those English words💗

Wed Oct 21

 I woke at 2:15 am with drumming down the road still going on

Dipti had guests and didn’t come in today

Tulshi (day guard) laid pretty low today.. 

at one point I was outside and a couple ladies came to the gate for water (we have regulars that come fill their water pots from our deep tube well but usually Tulshi takes care of it.. putting the hose thru the gate and turning the water on and off) I helped the ladies this time but they wanted to know where Tulshi was🙃

Annslie informed us in hushed tones, at one point during the day, that Tulshi was taking a nap, just like Gentry 😉

And later she heard Tulshi’s phone ringing and went and woke him so he could answer his phone🙃

In the evening, we went for a rickshaw van ride. Out to Batiaghata along the river and back home 💭 Kind of like how we used to like to pile in the back of a pickup and enjoy the night breezes. 😌

Tues Oct 20 the Bud is 1!

 Lonnie and the girls helped blow up balloons and hang them in the dining room window and set the table with party plates,etc After breakfast we listened to 🎶 happy birthday🎶 from Grandma Frase and cousins then gave Gentry his ride on wiggle/plasma car. 

Dipti has Hindu holiday guests and wouldn’t be coming this evening so I served her some birthday treats before she went home

7:00 our church group and Tulshi were invited in for a little celebration.

 Everybody brought something… a stuffed Teddy bear, a bottle of Coke, a sweetest little Bangali outfit(Very thin,white cotton with beige design, sleeveless, button down with matching pants), and even a plastic kitchen set for Annslie..which she happily went and played with her new toys.

 Liton had his nephew Mikal(13? yrs old) along (who Annslie loves to bug) and Shanto’s had Shotti’s parents along.

 We put a candle in the Oreo Delight, turned out the lights and sang 🎶 happy birthday 🎶 we had worked with Gentry some on blowing out a candle, but not enough.. 

Gentry enjoyed having so many of his “uncles” there and made his rounds with them🥰

 Before everybody left, we got out the Bangali hymnal and sang for a bit then Shanto had a typical long prayer.. by this point, Gentry was “past it” with the big evening. 

After everybody left we put him in his stroller and we all walked down to the school grounds where the last big event of the 6 day Hindu holiday was going. At our house,  the drumming was rattling the windows. But at the event, the drumming could be felt on our chests… we all commented on that feeling…. And Gentry fell asleep to it!?!🤷🏼‍♀️ These Bangali’s do it up when it comes to festivity. The section of the road in front of the school grounds, where the local Hindu temple is located, is made into a tunnel of lights. A stage set up for the performers, strobe lights, out back - all the food and gift booths…

Lots of friends to say “Hi” to.. 

We didn’t stay long, one reason being Shanto’s had left their house key at our house and our night guard doesn’t have a key to the house.. 

Mon Oct 19

 Lonnie took Tulshi with him to Khulna to find a barrel to finish the cleanup job at the clinic as the character that tore the place up to begin with has been back to break the remaining window plus drag junk in front of it, throw in thru the bars, etc,

After lunch Nee-tie took Lonnie on his rickshaw van to the clinic and helped him. The recycle man came by and took what he could 

 In the eve, when went to the river for some more “play in the sand” time, to enjoy the breezes of the water side and watch the boats go by.. 🚤 🌊 As darkness fell, we loaded up and drove to Bisho Rd for fuska, chotputi, and fallada

Sun Oct 18

 Lonnie went with Lamar and his higher up, that’s currently in the country, on a little scouting trip.

15 min before lunch, I told Lonnie he was welcome to invite the men to take lunch break at our house. When they agreed, I had to remind myself… Keep it simple!.. when I wanted to quickly stir something up to make it a little more special. And stay relaxed!..it would be enough food.. I asked Dipti to watch the littles for me while I finished putting lunch on for guests. When they pulled in the gate, Jaira came down from school and asked if I needed help🩷

We very much enjoyed our lunch hour.. relaxed fellow Southerners, that’s soul food too 😌

Sat Oct 17

Waffle breakfast

Laundry

Naps for the littles

 Lunch at Domino’s pizza 

And normal shopping afternoon/evening

Fri Oct 16

The last stretch of the road to our church building is now a framework of stringed lights making a tunnel. The School yard where a Hindu temple with the gods and goddesses lit up in green lights is right next door to where we have Sunday school. The school yard has a big tent set up with chairs

It is *Sharadiya Durga Puja* — the biggest festival for Bengali Hindus.

In Bangladesh this year Maha Shashthi is *today, Friday October 16*, and it runs to Bijoya Dashami on Wednesday October 21. Mahalaya was last Saturday, October 10, which marked the beginning of Devi Paksha.

*The Goddess is Goddess Durga.*

She is worshipped as:

- *Mahishasura Mardini* - the slayer of the buffalo demon Mahishasura. The gods created her when no god could defeat him alone. She rode into battle on a lion and after 9 nights defeated him, which is celebrated as victory of good over evil.

- *Shakti* - the divine feminine energy, the source of all power and creation.

- *Uma / Mother* - in Bengal tradition she is not just a warrior, she is also seen as a daughter returning to her parents' home on Earth with her four children - Ganesha, Lakshmi, Saraswati and Kartikeya - for 5 days. So it is both a religious worship and a homecoming celebration.

*What does she stand for?*

1. *Protection and courage* - she stands for strength that protects the righteous

2. *Justice - good over evil* - her victory over Mahishasura symbolizes truth winning over tyranny

3. *Motherhood and compassion* - she is the nurturing mother who cares for her devotees, brings good harvest and prosperity

4. *Unity* - the puja itself is now recognized by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage for its art, community participation and craftsmanship

This year Bangladesh is holding puja at 33,851 mandaps nationwide, with public holidays from Oct 20-22.

 Sunday School this morning here in Choygoria was 18 boys and girls that showed up.

Chakrakhali Sun school was canceled because it is at the home of a Hindu family and they are busy with their celebrations.

Shotti and Antoor didn’t make it to church due to migraine, etc. Shanto was quite emotional as he shared at prayer request time. We invited him and Spondant(youngest son who can interpret for us) in after church to share more of his burden… life is not easy for these natives, aspects of their culture add complications that seem so unnecessary,…

Wed Oct 14 back home 🚙 💨

 Last night, it was Gentry’s turn to cause the ruckus in the middle of the night, escaping the little rattan baby bed and wandering into the fellow missionaries room! Jaira returned him and I didn’t know what had actually happened till the next morning🫣

After a leisure breakfast, the Dhaka family and us packed out. As we were pulling out of the drive we realized we were missing an actual person from our crew! Gentry was still napping in the teacher’s bedroom🫣

Brian’s and us met up with Shanto and Pinky in Gopalgonj town. We had dudh cha together before we parted ways with Brian’s taking Pinky back to Dhaka where Rhidoy is working and us bringing Shanto back to Khulna with us.

 I hadn’t realized how much I had been needing the interaction with our fellows, but we came back with renewed courage💛

Tues Oct 13 CSI worker’s mtg

Ground floor, is where the teacher’s quarters, classroom, and guest bedroom is, with Maddie and Jaira on the floor in the main area partitioned off by a freestanding privacy wall. In the middle of the night,  the wall came crashing down when somebody accidentally bumped it in their sleep. Soon there was a 4 yr old escapee from the guest bedroom with Maddie capturing him and returning him.😅 

Started off the morning gathered upstairs in the living room for scripture reading and singing a couple songs from the booklet Miss Aleigha compiled for the occasion. Soul food.. lifting our voices in beautiful harmony😌

The children were sent outside to play and stay cool with a water hose and whatever buckets and tubs they could round up

CSI mtg commenced with topics that each post had submitted..

Sheema(maid) soon had lunch well under way

After lunch, littles were put down for naps

Some went out to the canal for boat rides

Krystal, Kaylee, and I went for a walk in the village

 Kokhon and Beauty, Both of their children who are mostly grown.. (their son Opu is living with them again after a stint in Jashore/Kaligonj area), and Ripon came around 4:00 and spent the evening. Staying for supper.

Mon Oct 12 Canada Thanksgiving

 After school, with everything but the kitchen sink loaded🤪, we went to Gopalgonj for Canada Thanksgiving and CSI workers mtg.

It was a lovely holiday spread on the table that evening complete with pumpkin pie and icecream. 🦃🍁🥧 

Sun Oct 11

 These days have been busy with normal life and getting ready for Thanksgiving/CSI gathering

Fri Oct 9

 A larger turnout at Choygoria S.S. this morning.. handed out all 35 of the pictures to color. 

At Chakrakhali S.S. there is now a picture of a Hindu goddess hanging on the wall in the shed where we gather🤔

After church everybody came in for awhile and then the natives wanted to go spend some time at a local Christian “revival?” here in Mulican Mor just down the road from CSS, by the river.

We didn’t feel like we needed to go but in the end we were glad we went.

Very Bangali style… lights lining the path as we approached the Huge tent, chip and jhal muri vendors at the entrance, quite a few on stage, charismatic worshipping.. preaching…singing… ceremony of draping strings of marigolds over a cross… But in all the clamor and activity of a different form of worship there was large banners over the stage with pictures of Jesus!🤍… such a rare sight in this mostly Muslim and Hindu country. We enjoyed visiting with different ones there.

After awhile our group all walked out to the river side. Jaira managed to get really muddy by walking down too close to the water’s edge.. Shotti and Pinky found a place for her to wash up. The dhokans out there had such loud music blaring we could not enjoy nature. Lonnie played a little carrom at one dhokan and we walked all the way out back past CSS to the main Highway to catch an easy bike home. The last stretch of the walk, all sudden Espondant, Miss Christina, and Jaira took off on a foot race… with Maddie kindly (But to her chagrin) staying back with Annslie as she always takes off with them and then starts yelling when she gets left in the dust.. It’s tough being only 3 yrs old with big sisters that are 10 and 12…