A Bangla Thanksgiving

Being on the other side of world for the family centered holiday of Thanksgiving left us both missing home even more than usual. Thanksgiving is not celebrated here in Bangladesh; so, we decided this year it would at least be celebrated at Bangla Hope. A package from Logan and Mrs. Carter had arrived in the mail a few days previous to the holiday and to our delight it contained numerous Thanksgiving decorations and sweets to help us feel a bit closer to home.

Thanksgiving began earlier in the morning than we had anticipated. The pastor's wife, Lichil, was pregnant and we often spend time at their apartment which is right below ours. We had given her our cell phone number in case she ever had an emergency or needed something. Both of us were groggy and disoriented when the ringing phone awakened us at 2:30 a.m. Pastor Panuel was on the other line. He said Lichil was crying, screaming and unable to sleep because of the excruciating pain she was experiencing. Quickly, we threw on clothes and stumbled out the door and down the stairs. Unfortunately, there wasn't much we could do to make her misery subside. So, we offered the one thing we could, prayer. Afterwards, we sat and talked for about an hour. Thankfully our prayers were answered and Lichil began to feel slightly better. We made sure she was comfortably settled on her bed, then headed back to our room to get a few more hours of sleep.

Soon we were awakened again. This time by the familiar tune of the alarm. We hurried down to the kitchen and

whipped up some mini pumpkin spice cupcakes as a special surprise for our classes. We also made a math color by number turkey worksheet, read a fall book, and showed dried leaves sent from home. Our students were delighted to take part in the celebration and thoroughly enjoyed the whole event.

Shati, the head cook here at Bangla Hope, knows about Thanksgiving feasting and worked hard to make us feel at home. She prepared a beautiful dinner for us complete with staple pumpkin pie. We used the decorations from our package to spice up the table setting. One of the families on campus joined us for our meal and we were happy to have some extra company.

In the evening, when we had finished all our duties and teaching for the day,

we stopped to check on how Lichil was feeling. She had stayed home from teaching that day and was therefore feeling more energized and positive. As we were getting ready to leave their home, Panual asked us if we could all have worship first. We then proceeded to have a nice little "family" worship.  At the end, Panuel said he wanted us to give a middle name for their baby girl on the way. Both of us felt so blessed and honored. These are the moments that will be forever cherished and remembered. Sometimes it is especially difficult to be away from home, and it seems as though we aren't having any impact at all. Then in those times of fellowship we can clearly see that God did indeed send us to Bangladesh. So, this Thanksgiving, though far from home, we gave thanks for the opportunity of a lifetime. 

Here are a few things that our students said they were thankful for:

"I'm thankful for smiles!" -Shonna, Class 1

"I'm thankful that I can come here at Bangla Hope" -Amy, Class 1

"I'm thankful that I stink" Johnny, Class 3 (In reference to his reoccurring gastric distress)

"I'm thankful that Jesus gave me life." Joni, Class 3

"I'm thank you to God because this is my first time to learn recorder and I'm thankful to Cassie and Elise for these cake pumpkin and to teaching us recorder. Thank you!" -Kakoli, Class 4

-Elise & Cassie