Adventures in Bangladesh: A Summary

I met God in Bangladesh, expecting my mind to be blown. On May 1, 2013, I had left Canada with visions of incredible experiences and encounters that would result in radical transformation. What I received was less extravagant. Transformation was evident but it was much more subtle than I had imagined it would be. It was continued in some areas, set in motion in others, but never immediately produced or completed as I had hoped. Let me tell you how God opened my eyes to the way that He works and taught me many things about His Kingdom and His plan for me.   

Our team of seventeen students and four staff was split up into four groups. Each group was assigned a placement in which they would volunteer for the entire month we would be staying in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. My group was given an entirely new experience away from Dhaka. During the first week, we traveled on a twelve-hour train ride to Khulna in which we met George, the Bible Students Fellowship of Bangladesh (BSFB) staff member for Khulna. For the next week he led us around Khulna to different village Bible study groups. We sang, shared testimonies and fellowshipped with the people as they shared their homes with us. The warm welcome and hospitality we received was so humbling and such an encouragement. We saw the joy of the Lord in those villages, even amidst the surrounding poverty. This first week was so exciting for me. I was enjoying our experience so much. Despite these pleasant feelings I was not free of personal battles. I had entered the trip with fears that leaving my comfort zone for the sake of personal growth and helping others was something with which I would struggle. And struggle I did. I found that opening up to my group-mates and confidently stepping up to certain tasks was a challenge for me. Much to my dismay and irritation, it would be a constant battle during the entire trip. 

There were tears in my eyes as we made the long train ride back to Dhaka, where we would stay for the next three weeks. I truly loved the people I met in Khulna, and knowing I might never see them again was difficult to bear. For the next two days I was very unhappy and just wanted to be back in beautiful Khulna, with the wonderful people, the open spaces and greenery, and those exciting CNGs that didn’t have cages on them like in Dhaka (CNGs are somewhat like a golf cart and function as a sort of taxi). It was then that I began to realize that not only was I sulking but that I was also neglecting the community of my fellow mission-mates. I had thought that I had understood the value of community with believers, but I found myself disengaging to maintain my own pride and comfort. I disliked the group “therapy” sessions and found it difficult to remain attentive during the manuscript bible studies. I became very annoyed with myself and wondered why God brought me on the trip if all I was to see was my own withdrawal and failures. I began to meditate on Psalm 139, which talks about God creating, knowing and loving me. It wasn’t easy but reminding myself of these truths helped me to be more intentional about engaging with community and looking more intently to see what God desired to teach me.

During the next three weeks our group conducted a few English-speaking workshops at different universities in Dhaka and helped out at the Salvation Army Leprosy Clinic. It was a challenge for our group to come up with a lesson plan for the workshops when we knew little about teaching our native language. What we finally prepared was well received and it was wonderful to see the students desire to learn and make a difference in their country. The fact that they were pushing on ahead despite the hardship some of them faced, was inspiring and humbling. I was sad that we didn’t get to carry on relationships with these students but I knew that we helped motivate and inspire them.  

At the Clinic we were taught about leprosy, tuberculosis and the cycles of poverty in slum life. Joya, one of the nurses led us around the surrounding slums and we met previous or current leprosy patients. The poverty that we saw was heartbreaking. I remember seeing children whose ribs were showing or who were wearing very dirty, worn clothing. Filthy streams snaked through the garbage littered streets and pathways and the shacks they lived in were very worn down. Despite this the smiles of the people lit up their faces. They loved to talk to us and we conversed with the little Bangla that we knew. One day we went to a skin clinic, set up by the Salvation Army Clinic staff. People came for free diagnosis and treatment of skin infections. I saw family after family come in and leave with medication. I was so glad to see that their needs were being met to some degree, but was saddened by the fact that the cycle of poverty kept them from the education and work that would keep them from malnourishment and diseases. I felt so useless sitting there watching all of this happen, being able to do little else than smile and converse in limited Bangla. 

It was times like these that I wondered how we were helping these people by being there. I asked God in frustration, “What am I doing here? And what’s with all these issues of mine rearing their ugly heads?” I can look back now and see how my experience stimulated such growth in my heart. It pushed me to step outside my cushioned existence, to care about the plight of people who live far from my home, to embrace the Christian community around me and to look beyond my comfortable career goals. God reminded me to value each day, holding Him in highest esteem, throwing my life, not to ruin but to the sovereign hands of the One who made me. I look back and my mind is blown by the simple truth that God loves us enough to bring His children together even across miles and miles of land and sea to lead us into the truth that will transform our lives. It is often difficult to see Gods work in the small disappointments, feelings of failure, the hardships and the monotony of some circumstances that we face. This was often my lot in Bangladesh. But the comforting truth is that He really uses those situations for our good. I came back with a new perspective, a heart for oversees missions, a love for the people I left in Bangladesh and a desire to use the abundant resources here at my fingertips for the glory of God and the advancement of His Kingdom. I would like to encourage all of you to seize each day and to hold high the interests of the Kingdom of God above every dream and every comfort you possess. It will be worth it in the end.