Friday, June 08, 2007

Bangladesh Journal: Sunday July 2, 2006

Well today is Opposition Day, meaning there is protesting and riots all over the city. This means for us that we cannot leave Grace House, which might be a good thing because it is so hot. This also means that almost no one drives because the Police and RAB (Rapid Action Battalion) are out in massive force. So after breakfast this morning, Beth and I looked from the roof to the street and for once there is no honking, empty streets and barely any people walking about. The dance floor has cleared for a brief time.
Due to this we have had a lot of time for site prep, which starts tomorrow. We opened our group time with prayer. Today I was more focused or tried to be, but I had woken up with a headache. It was really good to pray before diving into some things. From there we did a group devotional led by Zach. This was cool and fun. It was great to hear people’s opinions on Bible stories from the Old Testament and their thoughts on Mark 6: 1-6. It’s amazing to see how much faith people have had in God, yet how little those that had known Jesus growing up had faith in His power and authority. I fear that coming home might be like this. That they may not believe in that change that has happened to me and the gifts God has blessed me with, simply because they know who I use to be.
After devotional we started ESL (English as a Second Language) training. Sarah got to lead it since that is her major. The activities they planned were fun. We then had lunch, which was followed by more ESL training. We then were told to read our Bangladesh packet that was filled with info. I discovered that WILLIAM CAREY started the first Non-Catholic church here, thus leading me to think of and miss Carey.
We broke up into groups of two, so I guess pairs to present a portion of the information. I was with Beth and we covered the Dos and Don’ts. Lauren and Adriel wrote a song for their info. I thought it was awesome. Then we wrote a ‘testimony’ or rather a response for people who ask ‘Why are you here?’ This all took a really long time.
Then we got back together with our site leaders; they had been having meetings and preparing for tomorrow pretty much all day. Our group prayed for Danielle; she has a heavy heart and she broke a tooth on a piece of pita bread; that’s talent. It was weird because all day, if I saw Danielle leave a room suddenly or look saddened or whatever, I just automatically assumed it was about a baby and I have no idea why. I think I’m going to share this with here at some point.
We then went to dinner. Afterwards, we had a whole trek meeting. Marie shared about people’s sarcasm really hurting her. Some people apologized, which was good. It was then time to head to our rooms. I saw Sarah looking sad. So I went to talk to her and cheer her up. We talked and laughed a ton. I whipped out my man voice for her. She has decided to call that persona Biff. But it made her happy and that was awesome. It was also great to get to know her better. We also started a quote wall, which I love. Then we all went to ‘bed’. Lauren, Rachel, and myself talked until 12:30.

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