Bangladesh in the Rear View

Back in India and Bangladesh is behind me. I am currently sitting in a guestroom in humid Kolkata trying to piece together the last month of my life for your sake, but also for my own. Looking backwards I would have to say my time in Bangladesh was an experience, and not an easy one at that. Many times all I could simply do was crash on the bed and ask “am I crazy?” Yet there are amazing moments of beauty that keep my head above the water and propel me forward. I guess to say it in the famous words of Pastor Chuck that I was defiantly “making memories.” So if you are interested and have a moment to spare, here is a brief recap of my time in the country of Bangladesh…

Ministry

• Our time in Bangladesh started off by running two 2 day pastor seminars with around 25 pastors in each seminar. We taught the same thing in both seminars, but in different locations to different groups of pastors. The first day of the seminar we covered eight hours of Bible Overview, namely the seven major steps of God’s redemptive plan after the fall from Genesis to Revelation giving the pastors a big picture frame work of how scripture fits together and giving them illustrations and hand motions for each step so that they can easily pass on the information to their congregation literate or not. The second day included eight hours of seminar on the inductive method of Bible study – an overview of the three steps of Bible study (observation, interpretation, and application) and then taking them through the letter Philemon using the three steps. We did the same thing for the second seminar, except the two days where twice as insane. We would wake up at 5:30 am and go visit a village, return eat breakfast then teach for three hours, eat lunch, visit another village, return and teach for three hours, eat dinner, then preach for an hour at night at conventions, go to bed then do it all over again.

• After the pastor seminars we stayed in a guesthouse in Dhaka and did a few half days of mercy ministry while prepping to teach the book of Kings the following week at the SBS (School of Biblical Studies) in the capitol city Dhaka.

• Team taught the book of Kings for a week. I taught the first hour on the Basic Required Information for understanding the book of Kings covering the dating, authorship, original readers, main idea, reason written, and crucial literary context to understanding the message of Kings, namely the covenant blessings/curses, the laws laid down for a king in Deut, and Davidic promise of an "eternal kingdom" in second Samuel i.e. the overall story of the book of kings is a playing out of the covenant curses found in Deut 28. Then I taught two hours on the message of the prophets in Kings, one hour on Elijah and one hour on Elisha. The two prophets dominate the center of the book and the center of the authors message to the original readers; that 1) the Lord alone is God (the name of Elijah) and that 2) God is salvation (the name of Elisha).

• Traveled to Rajshahi and held a four day Inductive Bible study seminar for the YWAM staff and a few other local college students came. The four days included a general intro on the IM method and then we took them through all three steps through the book of Philemon for two days. Upon finishing Philemon we transitioned to the book of Jonah with an hour intro on the different literary genres in the Bible and tips on how to approach each one. Then we spent two days going through the book of Jonah. For me this was the highlight of our time in Bangladesh. Our time spent there was almost to good to be true. Everyone caught on so quickly and God really did some teaching that week. At the end so many people gave feedback to the effect of saying that they never understood the Bible, or never understood that they needed to read the books as a whole, or interpret them in light of the original readers. For many people that week the Bible become approachable and the thought of studying it and understanding it became a reality! Praise the Lord!

Struggles & Frustrations

• Teaching -> If you would have told me when I was 18 that in four years I would have just studied the Bible in Montana for 9 months straight and was traveling around India and south Asia teaching it for a year, I would have told you that you were sick and I probably would have never wanted to follow God if that’s where it led me. But in due time God took someone who’s worst part of his day was school to someone who is choosing to spend every waking second studying and teaching. Strange, miraculous, only God can change someone that drastically! I was talking to my mom on the phone about a month ago describing exactly what sort of ministry I was doing and how much teaching I was planning on doing this next year and she just started laughing saying that God defiantly has a sense of humor and that never in a million years would she have guessed that I would be doing this…every day its pretty surprising to me as well.

• Age -> I am only twenty one and am teaching pastors and missionaries in a culture where age is very respected. That is a challenge to say the least. But I know God is in the business of using the weak and unqualified, so I am in good hands. Daily I cling to this verse - “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching” (1 Timothy 3:1).

• Culture – can be one of the most beautiful aspects of missions work, but at times one of the most draining as well. For instance yesterday our team was enjoying a day off and took the metro to the Queen Elizabeth Memorial in Kolkata city to walk through the gardens hoping to find a nice grassy area to settle down with a book for the day. I had found my spot, a pond overlooking the memorial and I sat down to read. Within minutes I was surrounded by at least twenty people who wanted to ask me a million and one questions ranging from politics to how the differences between America and Indian movies reflect the differences in the mindset of the people. Looking back on that instance it seems humorous, but at the moment it was the cherry on top of two months of similar experiences of just not being able to be alone.

• Travel -> constant travel on trains and buses, living out of a backpack and not staying at a place for longer than a week. Constant blatant corruption from the minute we crossed the boarder to the minute we left. Bangladesh has to be the most fertile nation I have ever been to. Yet it remains one of the poorest because of the corruption from the bottom to the top. P.S. the boarder crossing to leave the country took five hours…

If you have read this far I am sure you have realized that my list of frustrations and struggles is quite extensive. I just wanted to be honest with guys and let you know that I am not walking on cloud nine, but I struggle, I have doubts, I worry, I get stressed out, frustrated and yes I sin. It is amazing what creeps out when nothing is familiar, the temperature is sky high, beggars are constantly grabbing you, you are constantly traveling, preparing, and teaching, everything smells, everything is Muslim, its Ramadan, etc...Let’s just say Bangladesh is a great way to have some intense sanctification sessions with the Spirit. But it’s not about me, or how good I am, or how educated I am, it’s about him! His glory! His strength! His majesty! His name! Let’s stop believing that we need degrees upon degrees to do ministry, or that understanding God’s word is only for the elite! I invite you to join me in stepping out in faith and saying yes I am weak, yes I am ____ (fill in the blank), but I believe that HE is strong and can even use the weakest of the weak. The more and more I follow God the more and more I find out just how desperate I am for him. I have not arrived, I do not have everything together, the only thing good in me is Christ and I will be just as desperate for him the day I die.