This story was recently posted in CRC news; it happens to be about some of the people, the Mizo church, that CRWM Bangladesh is partnering with. So I wanted to include it in our blog as informative about one of our partners here and also as an inspirational story about sustainable ministry, and about giving regularly for the gospel, even out very slim means. The Khasi people also contributed to the growth of the Mizo church in its early stages.


A handful of Rice

August 24, 2009 — One day, after years of helping her husband nurture the growing church in the small state of Mizoram in India, Katherine Alen Williams was pondering how they could support a Bible Woman (evangelist) who had almost no income.

Then she recalled what members of the Khasi tribe in another area had done. It had to do with setting aside a handful of rice – for Jesus.
As the wife of the missionary who began working in that part of India in the late 19th Century, Williams remembered the teaching that Jesus is the unseen guest at the table, and, following the lead of the Khasi, began putting aside a handful of uncooked rice for Christ at every meal.

At the end of the week, she had a kilo of rice which she sold in the market and gave the proceeds to the church to help support the Bible Woman.
After all, who would miss one handful of rice?

She taught all the other Christians in the area to do this, and the custom caught on with great enthusiasm. This was something everyone could contribute to pay the salaries of Christian workers. As a result, Williams began a tradition among Mizoram Christians that dates to 1910.

"Yes, it is true that they do this. I have been there and witnessed it with my own eyes. It is remarkable," says Joel Hogan, director of international ministries for Christian Reformed World Missions, which partners with the Presbyterian Church and Mission India in the area to conduct work.

Lying in the northeast corner of India, Mizoram is isolated by hills and forests. This area is home to just under one million people, and making it unusual is that virtually all of its citizens call themselves Christians.
The rest of India is primarily Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Seikh and Jain. The west and north of India has very few Christians, while southern states like Kerela are about 20 percent Christian. The country as a whole is between three to six percent Christian.

The Presbyterian presence in Mizoram can be traced to English and Welsh missionaries who came to the region at the end of the 19th Century. The Mizo people, although dirt poor, responded to the gospel gladly.
To this day, the Mizo people still contribute a handful of rice for Jesus at every meal. On Saturday it is brought to the market and sold at a fifty-percent discount to the poor. (Mizo average income is $300 per year, less than one dollar per day.)

Christians also tithe the firewood they cut, and find many other creative ways to give to the church. In fact, 46 percent of the Mizo Presbyterian Church budget goes to missions. This is their highest priority.

This church has more than 500,000 members and nearly 1,300 churches. It now sends over 1,700 missionaries into India, Nepal and other parts of Asia.
Last year, these Christians raised $1 million for missions, about $2 per person. The custom has spread to tribal Christians in neighboring Myanmar, who are even poorer.

But in Myanmar, Christians of the Matu people have already been doing what they can, in dire circumstances, to help one another. "They (the Matu people) said that God had given them healthy bodies, so the women and young men hire themselves our as laborers one day per year to work in the fields, and all the proceeds go to missions," says Joel Hogan.

P.S., this note was also recently given to me by an Indian man, working in Nepal, married to a Khasi woman:

“…in Mizoram for instance, the Khasi contribution is noteworthy. Along with the first Welsh missionary, D.E. Jones, was a Khasi Evangelist, Rai Bhajur, who sacrificed a high ranking government job and a good salary to serve in Mizoram at a minimal income. In addition to the work of a few Khasi missionaries, Khasi Christians who worked with the British government in Mizoram made significant contributions too. As a reputed church historian of Mizoram, Saiaithanga said, ‘In the establishment of Mizo churches, the Khasi played a significant role, we do not forget them.’”

Lalsangkima Pachuay, Church-Mission Dynamics in Northeast India (Missiology for the 21st Century) South Asia Perspective, Edited by Roger E. Hedlund & Paul Joshua Bhakiaraj. 2004, p. 218. Submitted to Troy by H.S. Dan.

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The following is just a note on what's up for this week, as an example of what's going on lately in addition to, and as a part of, continual Bangla learning:

I'll try my hand, (or brain and mouth), at preaching twice in Bangla again this month. Basically I prepare almost word for word the entire sermon and then preach it. Someone helps me translate it from English first. My own translations would still turn out mostly unintelligible because of word order and style differences. Then I read it/preach it as best I can. A certain illusion occurs when preaching like this. It appears that I know more Bangla than I actually do. Since I'm using sentences constructed with the aid of a translator--sentences I couldn't possibly construct myself yet--it seems that I'm rather accomplished in Bangla. Of course this illusion is quelled rather sharply in any post-sermon conversations:-) Nevertheless, the last time I preached in Bangla I did break off of the manuscript on a few very short occasions, which at least granted me the confidence that not every word needs to be in place beforehand.

In addition to preaching preparations, I'm planning on two out-of-town visits for Bangla, culture, and church exposure. The first one is just for a day with a friend. We'll go to his hometown for the first-year death anniversary of his father. For Christians it's a time to remember their loved ones and pray for the surviving family members and descendants.

After that I'll head to a conference for a couple hundred pastors from the Assemblies of God congregations. This will be a great opportunity to meet pastors and promote CCTB, as well as get a huge earful of biblical Bangla. A pastor from New Zealand is the guest speaker, so I'll get the benefit of hearing it first in English and then translated into Bangla.

In addition to this, I'm helping to facilitate the initial Timothy Leadership Training (TLT) conference in Nepal. This is a really exciting opportunity for equipping both pastors and lay leaders in churches in the basics of pastoral ministry, such as stewardship, preaching and teaching, pastoral care, etc. The genius of TLT seems to be twofold: First, it uses SMART goals so that participants create action plans to carry out what they have learned and provide accountability to the group. Second, TLT is designed to quickly attain a life of it's own after the materials have been translated and the initial trainings have been completed. Then a TLT institute in the new country, such as Bangladesh and Nepal, will carry on the continue expansion of getting training throughout the country.

The first module has recently been translated into Bangla and is underway in Nepali. As a result of this upcoming training, thousands of people will benefit in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Thailand. More details in a few weeks.

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Nepal was good. Considering the trials we went through for a vacation one would wonder how we could say it was "good," but I guess we're starting to get somewhat accustomed to the way it goes in many developing countries. We went to a few different resorts where our Nepali friends, Arbin and Bimala Pokharel, managed to get good deals for us. First we just kicked back for a few days at a resort in Kathmandu, which was the most expensive bit of the trip, but really enjoyable. Then we headed for Pokhara--a touristy city about 5 hours drive from Kathmandu... that is, when the road is open.

Arbin and Bimala took us because their kids were on vacation as well and they also wanted to go, so it worked well to spend the week vacation with them. Yazzie could also play with Alyssa and Nuel, their two kids. The first day we headed for Pokhara and got about two hours out of Kathmandu before hitting the traffic jam. The road was unusually busy (basically a mountain pass not unlike parts of Colorado by the river). Then we sat for a couple of hours. It turned out that a truck lost a wheel on a bridge, so only one lane could pass. Add to that one lane the total chaos of no traffic control and it took forever to get through. Adults and children alike were not ready for another 4 hours, so we stopped at a nice river side resort a bit down the road that's designed for rafters. It has a wonderful pool, which the kids love, and it wasn't a hard decision to stay there for the night instead of driving on.

We left the next morning anticipating arriving in Pokhara after three or so hours. We arrived just outside of Pokhara into a traffic jam. Again there were no alternate routes available. Everyone was milling about on the road outside of their vehicles, looking ready to wait for quite a while. We filled up with fuel and a Nepali man started talking to us. He suggested that while we wait for the jam to clear we go up a side street 6 kms to a mountain top resort that he knew of where we could eat and the kids could swim. It was time for lunch, hotter than ever in the car, and we gave it a try.

We arrived at the Tiger Top resort to find it closed for monsoon season. Nevertheless, we asked to use the bathrooms and take a look around. It's a really cool place, which if we get the chance, we'll go again, but not for long because it's a bit higher end, run by a British fellow, at 95 bucks a day full-package. We ate lunch at the staff quarters below and Bim had been talking to the police on the phone. They told her that private vehicles could get through the jam, which although we weren't yet sure what it was about, knew that the army and the UN were on the scene, and that it was a road block caused by locals. So we tried again, and the police were wrong, so we ended up waiting for about another hour down in the heat with three kids... There's only one way in or out of Pokhara on that side, over a bridge. It turned out that a local young man had been killed in an accident a day or two before. Apparently he was on a tractor on the road that was struck by a bus. In lieu of any trustworthy insurance policy, people take things into their own hands and strike while the iron is hot. (The drivers of buses/trucks in such cases usually jump and run. Staying on the scene means getting beat up at best, or killed by a mob of sympathizers to the victim, even if it's not necessarily the fault of the driver). So, family and friends make a road block by parking trucks cross-ways on the road so only foot traffic can get through in order to enforce their demands for money from the bus company to offset their loss. They blocked the bridge off on one side, and about 3 miles back on the road blocked the other side. So for about 3 or 4 miles there were thousands of people walking along with their umbrellas and gear, having left motor transportation behind. Close to a hundred motorcycles were parked on the bridge, their operators having left them and walked.

We debated about what to do and finally left Arb with the car and starting walking with the kids for the resort taxi, which would wait for us on the other side of the blockade. I carried too much stuff, including Nuel, their 3 year old, and ended up getting sick from dehydration the next day. It took us a bit more than an hour to get through the blockaded road. Usually Arb says, the blockers and bus companies reach an agreement before sundown. If not, people on the road start to lose their patience and they force the blockade out by throwing rocks, etc. Bim was arguing with the police telling them to do something about it, but the guy said to her, "What, did we make this blockade? No, so why are you calling us to do something about it?" We finally arrived at the resort. After about 40 minutes Arb also arrived; the blockade had opened up. So, we expended ourselves in the heat for no reason, but who knew if it would open or not? We enjoyed that place for the next two days and then set out back for Kathmandu, thankfully, with no more adventure than Nuel getting car sick on the way back.

We stayed with Arb and Bim for the next two nights and spent time talking with them and going to church at Cross Way on Saturday morning. They were having water problems, like usual, so we showered and flushed toilets minimally and out of buckets. We saw their new church property, which seems like a really swell place for the church. Now we're back in the Bangla heat and trying to get back into life here. The water is plenteous in Savar, but the electricity is not. The AC doesn't have enough to go on for the first and worst/ hottest hours of the night here, which means lying awake in the heat for expats and Bangladeshis alike. But the breeze is usually good here, so today I'll try to install some mosquito nets around our beds and we'll just open the house up at night. In Dhaka they solve the power problem by cutting the power from sectors for an hour or two. But here it seems that they solve the problem not by cutting power, rather by lowering the voltage available to more people. Fans will still run a bit and so will lights, but the AC can't make a go of it. Yes, living in the developing countries. A lot gets sucked up in the logistics of life, most things we would even call "logistics" stateside.

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To those of you out there who actually check this blog... hopefully I'll be a bit more regular now after our move and vacation over the past two months. Here's an entry below, FYI, for any librarians out there/ to pass on to any you may know of who you think would be interested. Sometime this week I'll give an update on ministry and life.

July 13, 2009 – The Christian Reformed Church, in conjunction with the Reformed Church in America, is seeking mission-minded, volunteer librarians to work in evangelical Christian colleges and other institutions in developing countries.

Called “Strengthening Christian Libraries Internationally,” the program currently has openings for librarians in Nigeria and eventually hopes to work or has already worked in Mexico, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, India, and Uganda.

In Nigeria, professional librarians or library technicians are needed at three seminaries and a Bible school to help them develop their libraries.

“There is an enormous need. There are lots of places we could work,” says Albert Hamstra, director of special projects for Christian Reformed World Missions.

The countries where they can work are many if they can find the volunteers. “We could probably tailor this to the volunteers if there is a country in which they would want to work for a few weeks,” says Hamstra.

This venture began in 2007 as a joint project of CRWM and the RCA. The denominations undertook the effort because no one else seemed to be filling the need to re-vision “what access to information means to learning in an institution” in a developing country and then providing the means to make that vision reality, says Hamstra.

A significant element of the program is to link libraries and students to the Internet, which in turn allows them access to libraries and other sources of data around the world.

“Our vision is that our partner educational institutions receive the assistance and support of a network of Christian professional librarians and services so that their libraries are accessible, organized, and an information-based component of their educational program,” says Ray Bouma, who helps coordinate the program with his wife, Barbara.

The Boumas live in Chicago, but travel the world assessing the needs of libraries in evangelical Christian institutions and helping serve as mentors to librarians. They have also held seminars as well as worked with individual libraries.

As they travel, Ray Bouma says they see that Christian institutions are beginning “to more fully understand the necessity of having excellent information age library/information centers to support and enhance the education provided by their institutions.”

Potential volunteers must fulfill a few qualifications:

Mature Christians committed to Christ and respectful of other cultures.
Flexible, adaptable, and able to view life with a sense of humor.
Professional librarian or library technician.
The actual job is fluid and is based on the volunteer’s availability and on the specific opportunity. There is flexibility for the time of year and length of time that a person can serve in one of these roles. The specific qualifications necessary for these volunteer opportunities will vary by assignment. Although the guidelines are flexible, says Hamstra, “we are finding challenges in finding the highly skilled volunteers that we need.”

In 2003, during a visit to Asia, CRWM’s Director Gary Bekker and then Asia Regional Director Hamstra realized that many of World Mission’s Bible school/seminary partner libraries were under-resourced and underutilized. Some of the challenges that these libraries faced then and still face today include the need for:

Developing a book collection that is of sufficient quantity and quality to support the curriculum as well as the interests of the students, staff, and accreditation agency.
Developing selection policy guidelines.
Suggesting reference materials that are generally understandable to students and staff who speak English as a second language.
Implementing a computerized cataloging/circulation system for the library holdings.
Establishing a non-book collection, including CD-ROMs, DVDs, video cassettes, audio cassettes, etc.
Making arrangements for in-depth, on-site training by a professional librarian.
For more information on the program, visit www.crcna.org/pages/crwm_libraries.cfm and check out the links on the right-hand side for current volunteer opportunities and for Ray and Barbara Bouma’s blog. Or contact Lorraine Woodward at lwoodward@crcna.org

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Moving always sucks up a lot of time and energy and perhaps not suprisingly, it takes even more time and energy in a culture where you're still adjusting and learning the ropes. The past month has basically been focused on moving here to Savar and trying to get settled in our new flat. "Trying to get settled" because we had a fair bit of work we needed to do before we could settle in. About half of the outlets didn't function. It was pretty dirty, etc. But now that we're finally here we're really glad to be here for several reasons.

Our main motivation for moving out here was to get closer to the seminary. Where we lived before was about an hour drive in the Dhaka traffic, one-way. But that was a good place to start for language learning, etc. We also wanted to come out here while we still can (we'll probably need to move back to Dhaka in a few years when Yazzie starts school) in order to get a bit more of the village feel and language practice. Even here in Savar, which is essentially the suburbs of Dhaka, it's kind of between city and village and less English is available. There's also cleaner air and more space outside. The seminary has a nice bit of grass and a small football field where kids (and adults:-) can play around. Not much of that going on in Dhaka. This flat also has a smashingly great veranda that goes basically around the entire outside of the flat. We almost always get a fabulous breeze through the house and the view out the backside is still almost entirely a view over the tropical tree tops.

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Here's an update on Theological Education by Extension this year, taken from our co-workers' recent newsletter:

TRAINING BIBLE SCHOLARS

Theological Education by Extension, or TEE, is the College of Christian Theology Bangladesh’s (CCTB) program with the most enrolled students. TEE classes run all over the country in communities where the students live. This enables the students to study diploma-level courses and still keep their day jobs. This year about 600 students are participating in TEE courses.

The first week of May Jeff headed down to Barisal, a town directly south of Dhaka and a 7 hour trip by bus. He visited with the Barisal area TEE coordinator, joined a congregation for their Wednesday night revival meeting, and met with students from 5 different TEE groups. One TEE group meets at 4pm on Thursdays and is lead by Rev. Rangit Biswas, local pastor and graduate of CCTB.

The students in the group are all fulltime employed or housewives and not able to study residentially or attend seminars at the college. The group includes: A current employee for YWCA-Bangladesh, a retired headmistress of a YWCA school and church women’s committee chairperson, a housewife, a government employee, a school teacher, and a college student in management. The group has completed 5 courses in three years. Rev. Rangit supports practical learning of his students by including all the group members in their church’s preaching schedule.

Jeff asked the group why they are doing TEE courses. Here are some of their answers:

“I find the Bible difficult to read by myself and TEE books guide and bring light.”

“Even after years of Sunday school, there is more to learn”

“Muslim friends ask questions and I want to be able to answer. For example, ‘How is it possible for a person to rise from the dead after three days?’ In order to answer, I first need to understand.”

“In a few years I will retire from my government job. Then I want to be able to serve the church.”

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A couple of weeks ago I asked the question who the greatest prophet in the Quran is. Of course, Muslims still say Mohammad is the greatest prophet. However, the Quran seems to give higher position to Isa, that is, to Jesus.

Consider a few instances: Jesus is called the Messiah in surahs 3:45; 4:171; 5:17, 72, 75. He is said to be born of a virgin in surahs 3:47; 19:20-22; 21:91; 66:12. He is called a sign in 3:49; 19:21; 21:91. He ascended to heaven, 3:55. He performed miracles, 2:253; 5:112-115. He raised the dead, 3:49; 5:110. He was raised from the dead, 3:55; 19:33-34. He will come again before the final judgment, 43:61. He is pure, 19:19.

Not a bad track record. These are some verses that we can inquire about their meanings with Muslims we know.

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For the past couple of months I’ve been going to a Bangla church service before our English service on Friday mornings. I’m trying to learn worship, prayer, and Biblical language as well as get to know the church here better. The service that I’ve been going to is “majority” language, which means that they use much of the same Bangla that Muslims are accustomed to in religious dialogue. In other words a lot of Arabic and Persian words are employed. One of the Bible translations here uses majority language. Most of the believers at this service are Muslim background believers.
Each week I can understand a bit more. This morning when I arrived the prayers were underway. I was surprised to find myself able to understand most of what was being said and even more surprised by the content. The man praying was saying “Lord, please send rain. So many people are suffering under this heat in Dhaka city. So many people are sick and have to go to the hospital from so much heat…we need rain to cool off…” The temperature has been over a hundred during the day for the past couple of weeks (prediction for the next two days: 107 and 105) and stays above ninety at night. This puts millions of people in misery at night because not only is it extremely hot, but the power is shut off frequently in most places of the city. Lately the power has been turned off ten or more times each day—for an hour, half hour, hour and a half at a time—so that people can’t run fans at night for half or more of the night. Which adds a further complication because people need to choose between the extra heat of the mosquito net or no net and the mosquitoes. So people lay in bed and sweat and hope to have enough energy left over for the coming day.
As if this wasn’t quite enough misery, the frequent power cuts mean that water often doesn’t get to people’s houses. Instead they have to find a pump somewhere and fill up containers and bring it home. These problems will probably be increasing for a while since people continue moving into Dhaka. When we were in Kathmandu, Nepal last month the same problems were going on there. The infrastructure of these cities was designed for far fewer people than they need to contain presently. Kathmandu was apparently set up for about five hundred thousand or so but now needs to accommodate two million some. Dhaka has fourteen or fifteen million and judging by the standstill traffic and sheer intensity of humanity throughout the city, it’s safe to say that it’s a bit overpopulated for the original design.
So far things haven’t become too bad in our apartment yet. The power constantly goes off but we have screens on the windows to keep out most of the sceeters and the building has a generator to run a few fans in each apartment. But the water problems have started and we’ll see what comes of them. Sometimes we lose pressure, but so far things have been bearable for us. But we’re praying for the many others who are suffering bad these days, and the prayers this morning gave me insight for prayer into how much suffering people are enduring.

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Often we look for God’s will as thought it’s in one room among many. We think that we must find that room and enter the door so that we can know we are “in” God’s will. The assumption is that once we are safely inside the door of God’s will we are where he wants us. Usually the room has to do with circumstances or vocation. We want to know if it is God’s will that we get some particular job, or have another child, get married, or buy a house. Indeed these are matters for discernment, prayer, and seeking God’s will. But we often forfeit practicing God’s revealed will and purpose that most importantly we become like Christ, that we take on his character, that we practicing becoming more like him even, and perhaps especially, in times of choice and change.

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One of the components of our job here in this part of Asia includes connecting with other organizations that are already here in order to do ministry more effectively. The idea is to connect needs with resources and mutually benefit from each other's gifts.

Two main extensions from our field here in Bangladesh are Mizoram in India and Nepal. Our partner Jeff Bos has been mainly working with the Mizoram church and I (Troy) have been working with Nepal. Here's a brief overview of what's going on there:

Our connection to Nepal began several years back while I was in college. I met Arbin Pokharel (a Nepali) at Kuyper College and we became good friends and prayer partners for several years at college and then at seminary. Arbin had met Bimala (a Nepali going to Calvin college, who came to Christ from a Hindu background while studying there) during those years also and they married in the US. About 6 years ago they returned to India for a two-year internship after which they moved back to Nepal. They planted a church, Cross Way Community Church, Bimala has also started a micro enterprise work called Higher Ground. Higher Ground has a bakery, a coffee shop, and a jewelry making business. About 30 people or so are being trained and employed through the Higher Ground ministries.

Cross Way also has two church plants started through it, one on the outside of Kathmandu and another about 5 hours away in a mountain area, near a tourist trekking starting point. Both of these church plants started through personal connections with Cross Way. Recently, in connnection with Back to God Ministries, Arbin's sermons have been airing weekly on the radio in Kathmandu. He is also serving as the president of Evangelical Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Kathmandu--when he has time:-)

I had visited Nepal with Arbin and Bimala while on my internship in the Philippines a few years ago and was encouraged about the possibility of doing ministry there eventually. Since arriving in Bangladesh last year I have made two short trips to Nepal. The first was mostly just to see the ministries and try to think about where specifically we might best collaborate in ministry from here. The second was a couple of weeks ago, piggy backing on our South Asia mission retreat which was also in Nepal. After so many years of praying with Arbin and for Nepal it is truly amazing and encouraging to go there now and see what God is doing through their ministries and througout the country of Nepal.

The church there is growing rapidly and like many places in the world has a need for mature leadership to match the growing numbers. One thing that we are planning to collaborate on so far is with Timothy Leadership Training (TLT). TLT is basic pastoral training for lay leaders who haven't had the chance to receive theological education. My CRWM partner Jeff has already started preparing to implement TLT in Bangladesh. I'm still focusing on learning Bangla for the time being but will probably start TLT so that I can get trained as a trainer also in the coming year. Another area of collaboration is probably going to be with EPT Seminary. CRWM has librarian volunteers who travel to places around the world to help with organizing theological libraries. Hopefully they will also be able to reach Kathmandu this coming year. EPTS recently acquired several thousand books from the Theological Book Network in Grand Rapids and can use some help sorting them out.

I can't wait to see what the Lord continues to do in this remote--yet major tourist destination--and mountainous country.

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Do you know which prophet is given the highest honor in the Quran? Here's a hint, it's not Mohammad. Answer forthcoming, insha allah.

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One day during our village stay I traveled with a local Lutheran Pastor Rai to visit one of the church groups that he does pastor work for. In a small predominantly Hindu village there was a house fellowship of about 13 families, all baptized believers. The members of this group were new converts from Hinduism all within the past five years or so. Presently they don't have their own pastor but one of them does preach. I asked Pastor Rai how many of these house fellowships he visits on his motorcycle, "37" he said. Wow! Needless to say, he can't visit them all each week but he tries to get to them every couple of months for pastoral concerns and administering the Lord's Supper. We can pray that God continues to raise up leaders and pastors for these groups.

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Our stay in the village was really helpful for Bangla. "If only" we had a few more months to do it. Perhaps we'll wait until this December-February (cool season) to get a couple more months in at the end of our official language learning period.

The village was also a great cultural experience. I'll elaborate a bit more on this piece from our recent prayer and newsletter:

We find that outside of Bangladesh most people refer to this country as “that really poor place where it floods a lot.” It is true, and we often hear about the flooding in Bangladesh that destroys crops, etc. What we realized in the village area is that the annual flooding is actually necessary for the majority of the year’s rice crops. During the rainy season the rains keep the paddies watered. Massive rivers fill up and overflow watering the land as the rain water from the north comes south. Fish begin roaming across the paddies where people can catch them for food. The fish also take up residence in the thousands of small private ponds where they become a source of food for several months. Praise God for sustaining Bangladesh with His rains!

The flooding is necessary when it happens gradually and in the right proportion. What we hear about in the news is when the floods come at the wrong time or too heavily. One of the sights in many village areas is a riverbed that has been flattened on the bottom during the dry season. (The massive rivers also slow to a trickle so that the large flat areas near the a river's edge can be used for a rice crop). The semi-dry riverbed provides a (almost) perfect place to grow another crop of rice during the dry season. It's both an ingenous use of limited space and a great risk to the farmer. It's perfect because it's a free place for another crop but it's obviously going to also be a periodic hazard when too much rain periodically comes during the dry season before that crop has been harvested.

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unfortunately I forgot to post before we left for the village... but in case anyone is checking up, we're finishing a one-month stay in a village for Bangla practice. More details in a week or so.

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Through ministry shares the CRC raises millions every year for cooperative ministry. See the link below. Many people don't know what these are, so here's a brief summary on the video.

http://www.crcna.org/pages/ministry_shares.cfm

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one of these days I hope to blog more on diglossia, church matters in Bangladesh, and a recent visit to a Garo (an indigenous people group in Bangladesh) church community that we work with, etc., But for now I'll include a brief meditation that has been encouraging to me for the past couple of days... especially as I prepare to preach my first shaky-short-simple- and probably-riddled- with- errors- Bangla sermon tomorrow in chapel at school.


A meditation by Archbishop Oscar Romero

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.

(Oscar A. Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador, in El Salvador, was assassinated on March 24, 1980, while celebrating Mass in a small chapel in a cancer hospital where he lived. He had always been close to his people, preached a prophetic gospel, denouncing the injustice in his country and supporting the development of popular and mass organizations. He became the voice of the Salvadoran people when all other channels of expression had been crushed by the repression).

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We continue learning Bangla and making our mistakes as we go. Here’s a couple that I (Troy) have made so far with words that sound similar to each other. (These are pretty tame; hopefully I’ll have some better ones in the coming months!). When we first arrived in Bangladesh, I tried to say to someone "Good morning." Instead I said "Good government." When someone asked me “How long have you been in Bangladesh?” I said, “For five fish.” (the words for fish and month are similar). When someone asked me “Is it closed?” I said, “No, I don’t know him.” The words "friend" and "closed" are similar, so I got confused about the question when I thought I heard "friend." The guy I was trying to talk with was obviously rather confused by my response as well. We are still working with a tutor for the next few months but we also plan to make some more extended village stays in the coming months. In late February we will probably start with Joyramkura, the village that we visited for language practice a few months ago. After that we will try a couple of other places as well.

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Manoj is a pastor in the Garo Baptist Church of Bangladesh. He lives in the village of Joyramkura, near the middle of Bangladesh’s northern border with India. During the week he spends much of his time visiting the hundreds of patients and their families at the hospital compound in Joyramkura. People come to this hospital not only from nearby but also from hours away because they will be treated even if they are unable to pay. There he ministers to Muslims, Christians, and Hindus in his pastoral care. Manoj is also one of the 50 or so TEE volunteer tutors for Christian College of Theology Bangladesh (CCTB). He is presently tutoring about 8 of the pastors from this area. When I asked him what the greatest need for the church in his area was, he responded immediately by saying “that the people would know God’s word.” He went on to say that many of the people don’t know God’s word well, often because the pastors and leaders also don’t know it well. Some of these leaders are eager to learn more, some are not, but through leaders like Manoj, the vision and opportunity for knowing God’s word is spreading throughout the church in Bangladesh, a church in a harvest field of more than 140 million unbelievers. CRWM has two theological educators at CCTB where leaders like Manoj are growing theologically and teaching God’s word throughout Bangladesh.

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I'm still learning a lot about the partner organizations that we work with here in Bangladesh. Part of our job (15-20% or so) is with CRWRC, helping with the theological aspects of training for the work they do. The following blog is a segment written by Kohima Daring, the CRWRC director in Bangladesh, about one aspect of CRWRC's development work in Bangladesh. We are blessed to be a small part of this work:

Sathi is one of the eight partner organizations that CRWRC works with and is unique as it is an urban based program, working in the slums of Dhaka. Sathi now works with over 5000 men, women, adolescents and children in five slum areas. They help to form self help groups where they involve community members in income generation, literacy, health, and leadership and justice activities. Dhaka is a crowded and fast growing city of over 15 million people. Many come to Dhaka from the village in hopes of finding jobs and more security. However, most end up living in bad conditions in over-crowded slums and have little hope for their futures. Sathi tries to respond by carrying out transformational community development.

On a recent visit I was able to meet with many community members involved with Sathi. I listened to many participants share about changes that they are seeing. The Maniknagor slum is in the center of the city and where many live who are the sweepers and drain cleaners of the city. They live in one-room tin shacks and have little access to water and steady electricity. I sat with members of the Shurjamukhi women's group. Nurjahan and Rabea, two members of the group shared "We are so thankful that we have learned to read and write. Before, it was like being blind. Now, we can read to our children and help with their education. We have a community box library so we can get books to read. Our group can keep records of our savings and loans and we are not being cheated because we can read the records now. Also, our children are getting healthier. We weigh them every month and are seeing them grow. This is something we are very proud of in our community." Muslima, a young mother added "My child is doing so well. I attend the health classes and the monthly growth monitoring. She is now 4 months old and her weight line keeps going up--no decrease at all."

The Shurjamukhi women's group is one of 40 groups in the overcrowded slum of Maniknagor. These groups have developed a People's Institution (PI) to oversee their work. These People's Institutions consist of representatives from the self help groups.

Nurul, the leader of the PI told how they are taking responsibilities for their community: forming adolescent groups, tutoring for children, having emergency funds for medical needs, collecting savings to send children to school, educations parents and adolescents on dangers of early marriage and dowry, meeting with Government for providing water and sanitation to the communities.

These are just some of the many, many stories of change. As I went around to the many different self help groups that Sathi works with in Dhaka I heard many similar stories of change.

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Now that Faith and I have entered the realm of parenthood we're discovering the challenges of fruitful and routine devotional time. We're also thinking about how to shape our devotional time for more than just the two of us. I recently received a few good ideas from some Bangladeshi Christians. I was at a seminar for lay church leadership. During the seminar we had some small group activities, one of which was focused on family worship/ devotions. When it was my turn to ask a question I asked "what are the most important parts of family devotions?" I was suprised by how quickly they agreed on the component of "sharing." In other words, the key factor is sharing what happened during your day and taking it to the Lord. They suggested a format like this:

1) What happened today?
2) What did God do in/through it?
3) What does God's word say about it?
4) Pray for each other

They also emphasized to "keep it short" :-)

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Muslims in Bangladesh are making preparations for Eid al Adha (December 9 this year), known here as Qurbani Eid, which means "sacrificing" Eid. This festival is in memory of Abraham's willingness to offer his son Ishmael to Allah as a sacrifice. Muslims are supposed to sacrifice an animal that is dear to them in order to please Allah.

As a result the streets of Dhaka have cows moving along with the cars for the next couple of days. On Eid Day, thousands of cows will be sacrificed and the meat given away to friends, relatives, and to the poor.

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A few short months ago Bangladesh newspapers would average 3-4 articles each on how Bush and his administration have basically undermined hope in the world. Now since Obama has been elected the papers average 3-4 articles on how great and hopeful the world's future is with Obama. Obama has already become an icon of newness and wellbeing.

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this is from our co-workers' recent newsletter regarding the scheduled upcoming elections in Bangladesh:

Christians in Bangladesh are concerned about elections set for December 2008. Bangladesh remains under emergency rule by a caretaker government, backed by the armed forces. There are fears that emergency rule, which restricts civil liberties and political activities, will prevent the holding of fair and free elections. In addition, many are concerned about possible post-election violence during the Christmas season. Dennis Datta, President of the National Christian Fellowship of Bangladesh, who recently spoke at a CCTB seminar on Christian faith and politics, said "From our experiences there is always post-election violence on the minority communities, and we are apprehending that this situation will repeat again."

Elections are scheduled for December 18; Pray for a peaceful and fair process

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Last week our work permit was rejected with the assertion that we pose a "religious and social threat in Bangaldesh." On what basis? None has been presented so far. It's hard to tell what threat we accomplished in 8 months of language learning, but we'll see what happens. We have heard of a few other foreigners' visa applications being rejected recently. A coworker, Terry, at CCTB also had his work permit rejected two times recently, which means that he needs to now "reapply to reapply." As I understand it, he will have to leave soon if this reapplication is rejected. For us, we're still in the first round so we will reapply and try again. (At present, we have "entry" visas, which means we can go in and out for three years, but we are not allowed to begin work at the college under this visa status).

A Bangladeshi staff at CCTB manages the visa work for foreign faculty and he is confident at this point that the application will be accepted in time. Please pray along with us (and for Terry as well) that our work permit will be granted and we can carry on with the work.

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As you know most of our work revolves around learning Bangla, but here are some other items of current importance and prayer worthy. I copied these from our CRWM partners Jeff and Missy Bos' recent prayer letter:

CCTB is still searching for someone to fill the job of college principle. This post has been vacant since last May. Pray that a willing person will be found to fill this leadership role soon.

One CCTB foreign faculty’s work permit has been rejected, which means he may have to leave the country in November. We're in the processing of "applying to reapply" for his work permit. We are still waiting for Troy Bierma’s work permit to come through as well (the Biermas are our CRWM colleagues here in Bangladesh). Pray that the government officers and our college liaison work well together to get these permits accepted and processed.

Faculty at CCTB are planning for 2009 academic year. Pray for clarity of thought and good teamwork as they make decisions for the coming year of course offerings.

CCTB will be hosting the Disciple Nations Alliance “Vision Conference” in November 2008. Praise God for this exciting opportunity to work with an international Christian organization. Pray that all logistical issues will be resolved so that the conference can be pulled of with efficiency. For more on this conference and the Disciple Nations Alliance, go to www.disciplenations.org

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The Muslim period of Ramadan came to an end last week. During the month many Muslims fast during the day, some even refraining from drinking water. Tea shops along the side of the road are covered with tarps during Ramadan so that those who choise not to fast can eat without doing so in front of those fasting. As evening approaches the streets come alive with Bangladeshis buying all sorts of food for the night. When the sun goes down the daily fast ends and feasting begins, traditionally starting with dates to break the fast.

Many Muslims stay up late into the night eating and socializing with family and friends. As an obvious result, during the day they are often tired from the night's festivities.

Each night at about 3am Faith and I were awakened by a man driving through the streets on his rickshaw with a megaphone. He reminded all who could hear that now is the time to enjoy one more meal before the day light would break.

The Id holiday ends the period of Ramadan. The weeks leading to Id are major a major shopping time for Bangladeshis--not unlike Christmas in the US--with new clothes being the most important expenditure.

A Bangladeshi that we know bought us a package of the dates that were being sold everywhere. Our package was particularly special. It was blue with a picture of underwear on the outside and labeled "Knockers." Yep, it's true, our dates were packaged in an underwear bag... Anything will do the trick. No doubt the bag came from among the excess of a garment factory that ran a line of undies. They were dates to remember.

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I blogged several weeks ago about praying to the dead. In a newspaper recently I read the following obituary "Today is the first year death anniversary of Mr. .... On the occasion all are requested to pray for eternal peace and rest for his soul."

After a conversation with a friend about the blog a few weeks ago, I committed to adding a bit more to the discussion about prayers for the dead and why I blogged on it, so here's part of our discussion:

I was actually surprised to find prayers for the dead functioning within a Muslim worldview. I'm still learning about Islam, but was under the impression that death is perceived somewhat similarly to the Christian worldview, in that after death one meets judgment (see Hebrews 9:27 and surrounding context) and the time for mediation has already come and gone, but perhaps I was wrong about this impression. Some have described Bangladeshi Islam as "folk Islam" (I haven't been here long enough to say, although the mainstream here is definitely a moderate, "liberal" Islam), which implies some incorporations of pagan (and/or Hindu) practices from earlier times before Islam was on the scene here. Many Bangladeshi Muslims are also nominal, not truly trying to practice Islam. There are also many nominal Muslims who freely say that faith in general is the most important factor, whether Christian or Muslim it doesn’t matter.

I’m not yet sure where prayers for the dead fit in—are they mentioned in the Quran or are they part of this “folk Islam”? In other words, is this a Bangladeshi thing or is it an Islamic thing? For example, there is a common practice among Filipino Catholics holding parties in the graveyard (seriously, for two nights a year the graveyards are packed out all night with whole families hanging out, eating, burning candles, drinking, etc on their family's graves) on All Saints Days. The purpose is for praying to and for their relatives who are now "closer to God" and can pray to God on their behalf. (Another interesting one among the Filipino Catholics is the practice sometimes observed of putting a bucket with water and certain leaves outside the door of house in which there is a dead body (in the house rather than using a funeral home). As I understood it, visitors’ hands are dipped into this bucket before entering the house so as to ward off any evil spirits that may be attracted by the dead body. Although these people would say that they are Christian, this practice is clearly not a true Christian practice). Although the practice of praying to the dead is incorporated by many Catholic "Christians" it is nevertheless a false practice, that is, it is inconsistent with the true biblical worldview (for ex., see Isaiah 8:19; 19:3; 1 Timothy 2:5). In other words, the problem for this practice is that it simply doesn't fit into the biblical worldview, namely because Christ is the only mediator between God and humanity, and he reserves the exclusivity of his mediation—(incidentally, this exclusivity therefore also excludes the Virgin Mary from being a valid mediator, contrary to popular Catholic teaching). So, the choice is like this: one can either have a paganist worldview and pray to the dead asking for help and not have the Bible, or one can have the Bible and be a Christian and not pray to the dead, but one can't truly be and have both at the same time, even though they may claim to.

While I was visiting with some of the people in the graveyard during one of these occasions, I asked them if they were Christians and they said “yes.” I asked them if they believed the Bible is true and they said “yes.” I asked them if they knew that the Bible teaches that praying to the dead is wrong and they said “no.” They nevertheless insisted that because praying to the dead was their “tradition” they were right to do it as well as claim to believe that the Bible is true.

For some reason, the attractiveness of praying to the dead has widespread appeal and in many Christian traditions is practiced with reference to the "saints." This practice is also errant, however, and is not a valid Christian practice even though it is widely popular in many places throughout the world. In addition to the texts mentioned above and many others that disqualify the possibility of some other mediator in addition to Christ (namely, dead relatives or “saints”), something should be said about the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox et al distortion of the biblical concept of "saints." (I'm not saying that Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox concept is exactly the same). The Greek word that is often translated "saints" in the New Testament literally translated would be "holy ones." This is not an adjective for “elite” Christians, rather, it is the biblical description of believers in general, which flows logically/ and theologically out of the meaning of conversion—that is, Christ is holy and his holiness is given to believers when they believe/ are born again in the Holy Spirit, and as such become "holy ones" and therefore, have the calling to be holy. If someone is a follower of Christ, they are one of the saints/holy ones. I'm quite certain that every single instance of the word "saints" in the New Testament is in the plural form. The consistent use of the plural form further emphasizes that the concept is not an adjective for describing the individual Mother Thereasas of the world who manage to get to “sainthood.” Rather it simply refers to believers in general. (The implication is of course that a believer should act like a saint, because after all, they are one). Furthermore, no provision whatsoever is made in the New Testament that leaves any room for praying to the saints in any way, but the Bible throughout entirely disqualifies praying to humans, and even angels (see Acts 14:13-17ff; Revelation 22:9). I'm carrying on about this point just to say that many of the practices of "Christianity" that have to do with the dead mean a lot more than just remembering dead relatives and friends, and are in fact paganistic practices that are incompatible with the biblical worldview, and not merely other legitimate ways of practicing Christianity.

So when I first observed this praying for the dead among Muslims I was surprised by it, thinking that it would be incompatible with the Islamic worldview. And maybe it is, properly understood; but this I still need to discover as time goes on.

But your comments spurred some additional thoughts about my reflections. While it is inconsistent within the biblical worldview to pray to or for the dead, Christians have perhaps not allowed enough reflection and recognition of those who have died. In the United States in general, our culture is quite dead to the dead—sorry about the lame pun:-). In general, we don't really know what to do with, or how to remember those who have gone before us and as a result, we often don't do anything more than perhaps mention something in passing about someone who has passed (another lame pun!) Americans tend to be deathly afraid of death, even talking about it or mentioning someone who has died. It's a society that focuses on the youth and on vitality. It would be good for our culture to perhaps have death anniversaries when we can actively remember those we love, their life, their love, and their example of faith without this practice degenerating into prayers to them.

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After getting back from the village we had all these emails that said things like "hope you had a good vacation/break, etc." After rereading the email that Faithy wrote before we went, including lines like "lounging in teashops," I knew where these emails were coming from. Indeed it was a bit of a break from Dhaka--it was so quiet in the guest house where we stayed that you could hear the cows chewing grass outside; I'm serious--but the main point of our journey was to work on language everyday. This we did.

Although I still don't know all the ways that one can ask "where are you from/ when did you come/ how long are you staying?" I think I have about 20 of them down. Usually whenever you meet people in Bangladesh they ask "what is your country?" followed by "how long have you been here?" They then respond with complements about how good our Bangla is for only having been here such a short time, but the real truth doesn't take long to come out regarding our linguistic limitations. After Bangladeshis have met you they almost invariably ask "How are you?" followed immediately by "How's the baby? How's the wife?"

We hope to head back to the village one of these weeks for another shot at language practice. It's a bit challenging with Yazzie's age right now, especially for Faith, to move around the village in the hot sun and practice. We'll probably go for a longer stay when the weather cools a bit. While we were there it averaged 88-90F and super humid every night. When the power goes out (which it does for a few hours every night), we just laid there and sweat. This of course, makes a person tired after a few days, and reduces the energy for foreign language conversation during the day.

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We mentioned before going to the village that our work permit had been denied. As it turns out, ours had not actually been denied. Rather the government had confused it with another faculty from the college whose initials are also TB. We're not sure why his was rejected since he's been in Bangladesh for a long time. However, apparently several agencies have had visa rejections lately, so we're not sure what's going on. As a result of the confusion, our application also needed to be resubmitted; so we'll see what happens.

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Faith and I are happy to report that we've had our longest stretch of health this past month since we've arrived in Bangladesh. It's been a month now since we've had the "big D" and we must admit not missing it. This is a definite answer to prayer by our supporters for which we're really thankful.

Some have wondered what's been causing our health problems... well, in a nut shell, Dhaka is a small (geographically speaking) city with ten million people packed in. Add extreme poverty, intense heat, flooding, poor sewer systems and drainage, bad waste management, massive air pollution, etc. to the packing in of millions in a small place = health problems, not just for expats, but for Bangladeshis as well.

One of the biggest problems is a lack of clean drinking water. Often the water supplies are not entirely clean--I won't mention exactly what is in the water that makes it unclean... This problem is solved in part by boiling the water. However, often people don't boil the water. Water for tea is usually boiled enough to kill anything harmful, however, the cups for tea are often rinsed in unboiled water. So, someone may give you a cup of tea and the tea itself is no problem, but the cup has just been rinsed in unboiled water and has water droplets mixed in with the tea and on the rim of the cup... uh oh.

Another common practice is what I guess you could call "communal rinsing." I stopped drinking the tea at church because I noticed that this practice was going on; after multiple sicknesses, you could say that I've been trying to cut down on the potential hazards.

Communal rinsing is when "clean" water is in a large bucket for public rinsing. At the street shops they will often offer tea to customers. After one customer drinks tea, they dunk the cup in that bucket of water, swish it around a bit, and reckon that it's ready for the next tea drinker. Do this twenty times and I don't even want to know what's in that bucket. Likewise, at church, fifty or a hundred people might have tea. The tea itself is probably no problem, but grabbing the dirty cups and swirling them around in the same bucket...

Culturally insensitive or not, I'm becoming a bit more select about the tea I'm willing to drink. The other day while I was in a shop practicing Bangla I was offered the customary tea. I thought to myself, "How can I be culturally sensitive and accept this without getting sick? I know, I'll ask for a coke instead and I can drink it straight out of the can." So I asked for a coke and set my heart at ease. But when it arrived, it had not only been poured into a cup that had just been rinsed, but it was filled with ice as well. Ice can also be a source of problems since freezing doesn't always kill all the harmful critters like boiling does. What did I do? I drank it, and by God's grace I was spared this time.

So, we're trying to avoid some of the hazards and thankful that for the past month God has given us some momentum without any big D toilet action.

Thanks to all who have been praying for our health!

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The distinctly Muslim character of Bangladesh became more apparent to me last night than it previously had. To be sure, in the everyday life of Bangladesh Islam is evident everywhere. The calls to prayer begin around 430 am each morning and echo from multiple mosques within earshot. Its not uncommon to see women wearing the burka, some with their faces covered, but most just with the heads covered. Muslim men and boys wearing the tupi (cap) and punjab (long shirt) are always visible in the streets. Young boys can be seen in the mosques swaying to their studies of the Quran, and beggars chant in the streets Allah, Allah, Allah

But last night's experience opened my eyes more intimately to Islam here. Faith and I were invited to a 'death anniversary' at a neighbor's apartment. The apartment is actually two that can be joined by opening a double door inside. The women went in one apartment and the men into the other, so we could see each other, but were clearly separated for the occasion. (Yazzie got to go to the womens side). I entered the men's side and took my place on the floor with about forty Muslim men.

An elderly man was chanting into a microphone and periodically everyone joined him. I couldn't understand the Arabic chants, but wasalam made frequent appearance. No one seemed to be particularly sad or happy; rather it seemed to be a matter of fact occasion, performed with some element of respect. This ritual lasted about one hour long enough for my inner rejoicing whenever the standing parts arose because my legs were sleeping like mad from sitting cross-legged on the tiles. The chants were intermingled with short sermons in Bangla. No one seemed to mind my being there even though it was clear that I'm not a Muslim. Faith told me later that meanwhile on the women's side they were mostly occupied with passing Yazzie around to each other, but also participated in the prayers and posturing that went along with it. Every woman, right down to the girl toddlers had their heads covered for respect. After the ceremony was over, we had a huge feast of rice, goat, and chicken.

We left that evening not entirely sure of what had taken place. Our language tutor is a Muslim and when she arrived the next day Faith asked her what a 'death anniversary' was for. She said it is a ceremony of prayers for the deceased, for the forgiveness of their sins, so that they would find peace. She said that when you die, you can't pray for yourself anymore, so your family takes up the torch for you. She pointed out to Faith that Muslims have a distinct advantage over Christians in this regard since they can pray for their deceased relatives any time they want, but for Christians it's all over at death. I'm still not clear on what advantage the living have over the dead when it comes to prayer in the Muslim worldview, but perhaps I'll learn more on the topic over time.

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We've acquired Yazzie's passport from the embassy and can commence with other visa paperwork for him. He's growing like a champ. Although he's only two months old now, he's wearing 6-9 month old clothes. They're a bit loose, but he doesn't fit into the younger sizes anymore...

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A note on the photos on our site:

Most of the photos in our album so far are complements of Jeff and Missy Bos. They are our ministry partners here in Bangladesh and have been here for about five years. Thanks guys!

The photo of Faith and Troy on the home page was taken by a friend of ours in Grand Rapids, MI, Daniel J. Pesta. http://www.danieljpesta.com/

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So far, Yazzie doesn't exist on American paperwork. So we have to do some ground work here. Fortunately the first steps in the process have been surprisingly easy. First I needed to return to the hospital for the hospital birth certificate. Having acquired that, I could proceed to the local government office for a stamp on a form (that's about as specific as I can be) that would enable us to get the real Bangladeshi birth certificate at a more central government office. Since I didn't really know what I was doing or where I was going, a Bangladeshi who works for our office took me to both of these offices. The first office is only about 8 blocks from our apartment, but invisible to the naked eye (or at least to the American eye). The second office was much larger, but likewise invisible without a guide, being tucked within the depths of Dhaka's central market--an action zone of cars, trucks, rickshaws, goats, people, dung, vegetables, and more. With the Bangladeshi birth certificate we could go to the American Embassy in Dhaka to apply for a certificate of birth abroad. This is necessary to acquire his passport and social security number. Along with the completed forms for a birth abroad and passport application we were asked to submit a number of other items, such as family photos and prenatal birth records. But most interestingly, parents are asked to provide "Evidence of physical presence together at the time of conception." We brought Yazzie along. No further questions were asked. After two trips to the Embassy and lots of waiting, we think we're on the road to getting the passport. Next, we'll start work on his visa, as well as continuing to wait for our own security clearance and completed work permit to remain here in Bangladesh. These we anticipate being completed within the next couple of months, God willing.

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Greetings from a new dad. Yazzie Philip Bierma was born on Sunday night 4kg and 54cm. He's featured here FOW (fresh outta womb) in Grandma Hogan's arms. We're adjusting back at home to the joyful jetlag experience, not to mention the small collection of paperwork needed to make the little guy exist with American credentials.

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