It has been too long since our last blog post. In the meantime we had a wonderful Advent season here in Bangladesh! We decided as a Medair team that we wanted to do a Advent devotional together, and found one written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer! Many of the writings were from Christmas sermons he had given, then complemented by writings to family, friends and his fiancée from prison before he was executed by the Nazis. This was really a meaningful addition to work and a great preparation for Christmas. One of the things that Christine & I love doing is adapting Christmas traditions to wherever we are living. So it was fun to find a Christmas tree of the same variety that we once had in Benin! |
| Our colleague, Robert (from Uganda), has pizza for the 1st time! |
On of the benefits of having a few days off around the Christmas season (primarily because our programs were shut down for a week because of elections here in Bangladesh) was that we were able to talk with all three of our kids who were in Minnesota over that time period. Anna's parents live in the Twin Cities, so Nathan and she were there for around 10 days. And so for around a week we talked with various combinations of kids each morning and each evening (we are currently exactly 12 hours ahead of MN, so our day was happening during their night). This was so special for us as we miss them so much! It was difficult to be away from them this Christmas, but speaking with them so often helped dull the pain of the absence a bit! This is a picture that we took on FaceTime during one of our conversations.
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| (from left to right - in case you don't recognize them) Lydia, Annika and Nathan |
You may have been read about the Rohingya in international news over the last 3 months as well. There was an aborted attempt to resettle a first group of Rohingya back in Myanmar when they simply refused to go. There was an outcry from the international community over what appeared to be a rushed effort (https://www.medair.org/42-ngos-warn-return-refugees-myanmar-now-dangerous-premature/). There have also been persistent reports of repression of their people in their home country and settling of other ethnic groups in Rohingya villages that were burned during the crackdown of 2018. All this has had a very sobering and unsettling effect on these people alongside whom we are walking.
Please pray/praise:
- Praise God for a wonderful Christmas time and relatively uneventful elections here in BGD.
- Pray for last issues to be resolved with our new landlord as we need to move into our new office/accommodation nearer the camps by the end of the month.
- Please keep the Rohingya in your prayers, that God's vision of shalom for them would be accomplished!
Always interesting to read about your adventures. You and Rohingya are in my prayers. Many blessings. N
ReplyDeleteThanks so much N! The situation of the Rohingya hasn't clarified itself at all, so your prayers for them are so appreciated!
DeleteGlad to hear about your Christmas, Phil and Christine! Praying for safety, health, and continued good team relations for you. And for your kids, as you miss each other. And for the Rohingya, for peace with God through Christ and for their own land.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the prayers for the Rohingya. Just learned last night that there is some perception among the Rohingya that childhood vaccines cause their children to become Christian. Interesting, and distressing, from both a public health and faith perspective!
Delete"...adapting Christmas traditions to wherever we live." That so illustrates the hospitality and cross-cultural gifts that we so admire in you two. We pray God's blessing and peace for you in 2019. W&A
ReplyDeleteW&A - we learned from the best! Thanks for being a part of that great cloud of witnesses that have encouraged us to be people of extravagant hospitality. We are still trying to live up to the example of our African brothers and sisters - and people like you!
DeleteLoved reading about your Christmas and so glad you were able to Facetime with the kids! Technology makes the thousands of miles seem less distant. Grateful, too, for your willingness to serve. Christie
ReplyDeleteC, you have no idea how much your comments and prayers sustain us! We are incredibly grateful to be here, and just received word from Medair that they are extending out contracts to at least the end of the year! So we will be here a bit longer! So thankful!
DeleteJust to have you appreciate where you are, we were at La Farm in northwest central Minnesota last weekend and the temperature got down to -16 F (about -27 degrees C!) Prayers for your health, safety and success in all the work you do and for the Rohingya people! ❤️
ReplyDeleteBarbara, we have plans to come to MN in May, so we hope the thaw has at least started by then ;). Ahhhh la Farm. Glad that you were able to enjoy it!
DeleteHi Phil and Christine, Thank you for your blog. It is so interesting to think of you in Bangladesh and not South Africa or the US. Also thanks for sharing the picture of the kids, who are so very grown up now. Blessings on your work and will send on our Christmas letter as it appears I failed to send it to you. Take care/ Joan
ReplyDeleteJ&J, as usual we lapped up the information about your life, work and family in the annual letter! So great to hear where the Lord is leading you these days. May he sustain you in the wonderful, and the less wonderful, so that you can continue to be a blessing to the nations (can be translated "families") of the world!
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