New Friends

Yesterday, Lindsey met some girls about our age in a beautiful park near where we are living. They invited all of us there today to join them in a picnic. There were several girls there in the "women only" benches of the park waiting for us. After visiting a while, we began to eat. Now, I must tell you that it was 1:30 and we had already eaten lunch. Why, you ask? Well, our house helper was planning on fixing us lunch and we didn't have the language nor the heart to tell her that we would rather have dinner fixed for us. So, we arrived at the park already full from our lunch and then we were fed their food. When I say, "we were fed", I mean that literally. They actually scooped up the rice with their fingers and put it in our mouth. That was a bit strange, but I have heard it is part of the culture here. Thankfully they didn't feed us the whole time and I was allowed to eat some independently. Listen to what I was presented to eat on an already full stomach: at least 2 cups of rice, chicken, two types of fish, fish eggs, and a duck egg. Then, they gave me some Pepsi…talk about a full stomach. I have never been happier in my life for someone to take food away from me than when one of the girls asked if there was a problem and I said I was very full.
After lunch, she and two of her other friends took us to her office where she worked and we met two of her bosses. Of course, being such hospitable people, we were served more Coke and chicken crackers…somehow I squeezed some in my tummy, but that Coke about put me over the top. When we walked into where all the cubical were, it looked like the commercials from the show "Outsourced" on TV. It was pretty funny! This company produces BD food and sells it to several different countries (not the US). It was nice to get to know some nationals that are about our age. I hope we can continue this relationship. I think we are supposed to go to her house Friday and eat with her family. Intercede for us as we go that we will have wisdom of when to speak boldly of the Father and His Only Begotten Son.

Rewinding back to while we were eating at the park, I ended up sitting next to a shundori (beautiful) girl who wasn't there with Lindsey's friends, but was there on her lunch break. We talked for a while. Bengalis get a big kick out of hearing us attempt to speak their language. It is good practice for us and they seem to enjoy it! Anyway, Neebo, the girl I was sitting beside, spoke English pretty well, so we began to visit. I asked her about the upcoming holiday of Eid. She explained her family traditions of being with family and having a lot of food. Then I asked if there was a story about why they celebrate Eid. She began to tell me the story of Abraham sacrificing his son (Musl.ms believe the son was Ishmael, not Isaac, but otherwise it is the same story). I was amazed that she knew the story because many of the young people I have talked to do not seem to know the foundations of their religion. I thanked her for telling me the story and then asked if I could tell her a story. She readily agreed and I basically told the back half of C2C (the life of JC) trying to draw a comparison between JC and Abraham's son. She listened attentively and even told some of the people who were feeding me that I would eat after I finished the story. I asked Neebo if she had ever heard this story before and she said she had heard the Musl.m version, but nothing like what I had told. Please lift up Neebo as she was presented with Truth today. Ask that she will see the difference between her religion and a relationship with JC. Ask that she would have a dream or vision of JC telling her He is the way (often many Musl.ms come to JC this way).

Neebo and me in the park