Hi everyone
Firstly, apologies for the Twitter feeds that appeared on our blog, some of which contained offensive language. We're not sure how that happened but we've now blocked all twitter feeds.
So, since we last wrote we've had another women's get together, a youth group gathering, Andy's visited a group of young believers living just outside Dhaka, we've eaten our first Mince Pie and we've decorated our apartment (oh and we've done some work in between).
Women's Gathering
Another really good morning with the women from the church. There was a great turn out this month and we had a really fab time of fun, study and fellowship.
Two of the women brought their babies (1 yrs old and 9mths), who were toddling around all over the place, putting everything they could lay their hands on in their mouths and generally enjoying being fussed over by a group of very doting women. They were particularly intrigued by the bubbles I ended up having to blow all morning.
One of the sisters led a short talk about living as a woman in Christ, which seemed to go well, although not really understanding what she was saying, it was hard to tell but the rest of the women seemed to be engrossed.
We also had fun making gift boxes out of decorative card / paper. What was great about it was watching the passing on of skills. So, for some of the women, particularly those more eager I taught them how to make the boxes and then they took responsibility for teaching some of the others, who were a bit less forthcoming. It was really lovely to watch this process happen.
Victory Day Youth Gathering
On 16th December it was a public holiday on account of it being Victory Day, so we had the young people from church round for a get together.
A missionary from Australia led a bible study on Acts, which was really interesting. He introduced us to a technique of bible marking and picking out themes through Acts, which was really helpful for getting an overview of Acts. It was particularly interesting to see how the early church grew – from 120, to 3000, to 5000, to 7000, all from that early group of believers meeting in the upstairs room in Jerusalem. Amazing what you can achieve through prayer and dedication.
After some food we had lots of fun playing the ‘Animal Game’. It was very amusing to have 27 Bangladeshi folk packed into our living room making animal noises and actions!
It was a real time of blessing to have so many young people in our house. What was particularly lovely was to have a group of young lads, who had travelled from Savar (just outside Dhaka) to join us. These lads are very inspirational – having gone through an orphan program run by one of the sisters in the church, they are now living together in a tiny house and studying at University. They are really keen bible scholars and just wonderfully amazing people. They are very gentle, very humble and so eager to learn and develop. They were so keen to come to the gathering that they set out early and arrived an hour before it started, so we were able to spend some quality time with them (and enlist their help in moving furniture!). They truly are examples of young men filled with the Spirit of Christ – we’re learning lots from them.
In the evening we attended the Christmas Do for one of the English Christian Schools in the area (Grace School) and Andy did the calling for their Barn Dance, which was lots of fun.
This weekend we dressed our apartment up in some Christmas finery, so it’s looking very festive and really getting us in the mood for Christmas. We even managed to find some appropriately tacky tinsel to put up (who would have thought – tinsel in Bangladesh).
Over the past couple of weeks we’ve also been reflecting on the message of Jesus’ birth, which, despite being set in Spring time seems appropriate to think about now, as lots of people around the world are doing so.
What has really stood out for us is the contrast between Jesus’ birth and the usual way we celebrate Christmas, which has become even more noticeable since being in Bangladesh. At Christmas time we tend to be at home with family, everything comes to a stop, we have wonderful food, lovely gifts, beautiful decorations and the like.
Jesus was born away from his home, in a feeding trough, in an animal shed, probably with chaos going on around – people shouting, talking, carrying on with their lives, blissfully ignorant that the Saviour of the world had just been born. He would only have his father and mother for company (other than a few excitable visitors); no Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles or other relatives.
Being in Bangladesh, with very few references to Christmas going on around, being away from our friends and family (albeit most of them) and certainly with no sense of the country coming to a stop we can really relate to that first ‘Christmas’.
In amongst the continuing chaos of Bangladesh, the strange smells, the different culture and religion, this lack of festivity has enabled us to recognize more clearly that, actually, over 2000 years ago a baby was born, who would live his life with the same humility as he began it and yet would become the man to free us from a life of captivity – King of the Jews, King of Men, Saviour of the World.
By the way, please don't think we're passing judgement on the way people celebrate Christmas, we're very much looking forward to a traditional English Christmas next year, we simply wanted to share with you the way in which the Nativity Story has impacted us, being in a different context to normal.
Wishing you a time of blessing this Christmas.
Love Andy and Nic x
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