Living the Dream

My wacky week with music and magic tricks traipsing around rushing rapidly playing and praying going going talking truth and teaching jumprope and Jesus but then Bangladeshi bongo drums on the roof in the moonlight and much watermelon and wishing on stars that this stellar weather would never vanish into vast desertness but would stay forever free from dust and dreadful dirt that rains mud but keeps all cool for our continuous cooking marathon for fifty guys who are grateful for real food and movies in their language and in movies I can see caves and snottites and slimy glow worms with wet silk and hundreds of feet of feces in caverns large enough to fly a jet plane through in Borneo bringing bugs and bats and beautiful cave crystals created to be beauty and me one more night out laughing and Living the Dream.

Notification.... vote for me.

Hey! I'm in a contest for blogs of little readership and small renown. Kind of fun!

YOU ARE A BEST OF BLOG FINALIST!!! Congrats on making it to the final round and remember to tell everyone you know to head on over to www.thebestofblogs.com to vote for your site. Oh and don't forget to enter our Exclusive Lijit Contest for another chance to win some fantastic prizes. Winners will be announced June 2nd so gather up your faithful followers and tell them you want to be one of this year's Best Of Blogs!

Bill Beck
Project Mgr.
www.thebestofblogs.com

What!!!!???

So I'm sitting here and there are 150 Bangladeshi men on the roof. I don't live in Bangladesh or anywhere near Bangladesh. Yet, there they are. They are having a magic show and some singing I think. I'm not going up there... too many men... aiba.

I'm so tired.

Zzzzz.....

For a New Christian

So, I've been pondering lately, what are the first things you should teach a new Christian? What are the most pivotal things? Say you have only a month to teach them? What should you focus on? What are the basics that they need to know? I've thought about holiness, prayer, confession, the character of God (really a million topics here), Bible study, faith and works, persecution, and probably a thousand other things. But where to begin? Where would you begin? I would love to hear from any of you!

গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ

I've been learning a bit about people from Bangladesh lately. There are many men here from that country involved in some sort of worker trafficking that often ends up more like slavery than a working abroad project. It has brought many groups of people together and God is working among us and them for better conditions physically and spiritually. What an amazing thing! Who is this God of ours that takes people who have been sent miles away from their homes and have suffered terrible things and uses it so that they find truth and can become truly whole? This is a redeeming God, who turns trials into gold.

A Little Piece of My Local News

Soma Newspaper---at the Chaikhana (tea-house)

On the back page of every paper, these two men have a chat about...well, everything. Their conversation rambles and jumps and rabbit-trails, never to return. But sometimes they really nail a concept or the cause behind something that everyone complains about. Here's part of one...
read the whole bit here.

JWAMER
Come on Bayiz who am I to give advice to those professional people!

BAYIZ
But I have seen school children giving advice to the government.

JWAMER
School children are advising the government?

BAYIZ
Yes and so many times.

JWAMER
Oh my God, why?

BAYIZ
Don’t ask me, ask democracy. Sorry, sorry, I think its real name is chaos.

JWAMER
Bayiz do you have a handkerchief?

BAYIZ
Yes, but it is dirty. Why?

JWAMER
I want to cry, we must all cry, cry for converting the ideal of democracy into a chaotic situation.

BAYIZ
I have no objection. I will cry with you, but it is not only us that should take responsibility. Others are responsible, too.

JWAMER
Do you mean our kind neighbors?

BAYIZ
Definitely not. I mean those who liberated Iraq. They brought us the food but they didn’t teach us how to eat it.

JWAMER
Don’t simplify the matter Bayiz, it is a multi-faceted one. But the bulk of the responsibility falls upon us. We failed in all the exams, let us cry.

BAYIZ
I hate exaggeration but since you insist on crying take the handkerchief. Here it is.

The Wierd Things I Do

So I turned off the lights last night as I brushed my hair. I know, I know... you all think I'm crazy. Maybe I am, but not for this... The dryness of the air created a lot of static electricity. I first noticed as my hairbrush shocked my head... ouch. But then I remembered that the static electricity does more than just make my head hurt and my hair stand out from my head. So I turned off the lights and had my own fireworks show. Pretty cool.

Rather Wordless...

Perhaps a better title than wordless is topic-less... I have plenty of words flowing about in my head (some of them aren't English, though), I just don't know which ones to use or what to talk about. I could say I went to the bazaar on Saturday and bought a red bedspread which is rather pretty, at least compared to the blankets that it covers up. I could say that I learned yesterday that there is no word for patience in Kurdish. They use the Arabic word, but a Kurdish word doesn't exist to their knowledge. I suppose I am saying these things--not just that I could.

I am frustrated and confused about my role as a young single female among long term missionaries. How strong ought I to stand on issues of importance and issues of little importance? I (and in God's abundant blessing, others on my team and around me) have been impacted by the importance of prayer. I love how God leads people in the same direction individually--how cool is that!

I have done a lot of grading today. I taught classes and was terrified to have a guest come in and videotape part of one of my classes as well. Wow was I freaked out. Oh well...more footage for our next training video "How NOT to Teach 101".

My feet are dirty... I understand so much better in the Middle East the concept of washing feet... the dust the dirt...it's everywhere.

Now I am becoming rather wordless... snippets in my life... and my encouragement to you all...PRAY.

A dilemma and a request

I have recently been a part of a conversation (or actually, I just listened) concerning the passage in 1Timothy 2:11-15. I know that I have distinct views on this. I also know that I approach Scripture in a certain way that only allows for a limited interpretation of most things. My first request is that you send me your thoughts on this passage.

My second request is caused by the situation behind the first request. In that conversation many other topics came up that I saw as far more important than the issue of women and yet I still disagreed with many who were there. I am a young woman... in a general conversation on a Biblical issue with older Christians how should I be? Part of me hesitates to contradict those who are older and have more experience than myself--after all, what if I am wrong? But I don't think I am wrong. I don't see how I could be wrong in light of Scripture. What then should I do? Should I approach these people? Should I ask them to clarify? Should I rebuke them (I don't feel that I could!)?

Thanks for your prayers.