Bangladesh is Pretty Nuts

I have arrived safely in Bangladesh. Matt told me the country was random and crazy and he was right.

It became real to me that we were actually going when they started serving the meal on the plane from Thailand to Bangladesh. It was a choice of chicken or lamb with curry and unidentifiable vegetables. We were also separated on the plane so I was only sitting with one of my students instead of the whole group as we had been.

We got to Dhaka and it was quite different than Thailand. Thailand is much more like America than Bangladesh is. I have been presently surprised by the amount of English writing on signs around town. It makes things easier. All the educated high society people seem to speak English, which is nice.

The place we are staying is very nice- a lot nicer than where I lived in Maui. We even have a tv. We had been quoting lines from Kindergarten Cop for the last two weeks and I was aching to see it. Today it came on tv. So sweet! I think it was no coincidence. The Lord knew I needed to hear the lines, "I don't want to be a policeman, I want to be a princess!" Priceless.

We have been here only a day and a half so we are just getting acclimated to our surroundings. We had to get clothes right away. We wear these things called- Sala Kameez. It is a long shirt/dress thing with matching pants. The most important part is a scarf that covers your boobs, called an ulna. Despite being fully covered, without an ulna, you are pretty much topless. It takes so getting used to for sure.

The culture here is very different and all of us are suffering from varying degrees of homesickness and culture shock. I am doing okay right now but I can forsee getting sad sometimes during the two and a half months. I did get to see Lindsay Lieser, one of my favorite students from the last team Matt took to Bangladesh. She is pretty much my hero as she has committed to being here in Bangladesh for a year.

It is so nice that Matt has already been here. It makes stuff so much easier. He makes sure the drivers of the mini-taxis and rickshaws don't rip us off. It is pretty obvious that they, along with the beggars, see dollar signs when they look at our white skin. People stare at us quite a bit. It really doesn't bother me too much but it is really getting to some of the students.

The traffic here is the craziest I have ever seen. We thought Thailand was bad but it was nothing. THe sides of all the buses are all banged up from being hit so much. There are lanes but no one seems to care. I pray a lot as we travel.

Overall, Bangladesh is weird but good. We meet with our contact tomorrow to discuss the overall outreach more. That should be good for all of us.

Thai Massage

I had never had a professional massage until just the other day. I heard how cheap they are here and was determined to give it a go. There is a place right by the YWAM base that charged 200 bhat an hour (about five dollars). How could I pass this up? Matt took the boys on our team the day before so I decided to take the girls.

The ladies could not speak much English but they spoke enough to make us understand that our guys had made quite the impression on them. Apparently they had Matt take off his shirt and were quite amazed by his girth. The Thais are a small people. And they had giant crushes on Eric.

The massage was good but a bit odd. They do a lot with pressure points and use their elbows and feet to massage in addition to their hands. They also massaged my butt, which can't help but be awkward.

A little bit longer this time

I know I just wrote yesterday but my time got cut short and Matt and I had to come to the internet place to email our contacts in Bangladesh. My post yesterday was painful short and undescriptive and I hope to rectify the situation now.

Yesterday we went to this giant market for our day off. Ashley, who is leading the nepal team, had told me about this place from her previous visits to Thailand. It was much crazier than I could ever imagine. It is a giant maze of shops and booths. It is very hot and very crowded and very AWeSOme! We spent about six hours there and probably saw about one fourth of what it had to offer. There was a pet section that had to be seen to believe. My favorite things in that section were the chipmunks they had for sale. They were wearing little leashes and sitting on top of their cages. To be perfectly honest, they kind of scared me. i felt that they might leap onto me at any moment. My experience with squirrels and the like has been that they are skittish and unpredictable- not the best pet. My friend, Todd, was much braver than I and actually picked one up. He didn't get to hold the one he wanted. That one was wearing a little beret. That's right- one of those floppy french hats was perched on a chipmunk's tiny head. But much to Todd's dismay, the fancy chipmunk was tied down and could not be cuddled. Todd had to settle for holding a much less fashionable rodent.

I bought a decent amount of stuff but nothing above $15. If you like to shop, Thailand is a great place. Besides shopping, we have gotten to do some ministry in addition to hearing lectures. We went to the prostitute area of bangkok. It was so hard to feel compassion for all the older white guys there. We walked around and prayed for the girls and the guys who were using them. I wanted to talk with the girls but the translator we came with was really nervous and uncomfortable. She is a strikingly beautiful Thai girl and the lustful men look at her as a possible purchase. In order to protect her, I just treated her to Pizza Hut. Thai people love pizza. Little do they know that their pizza pales in comparison to the United States. it tasted like a slightly fishy tomato sauce with weird cheese and meat on a saltine cracker. And they serve ketchup on the table. Strange!

Things are going well but I am getting anxious to go to Bangladesh and get things started. i will definitely miss the nepal team while we are apart, though. I love those guys.

Experiencing Thailand

I have been in Thailand for almost a week now. The purpose of this time is to be a kind of "pre-outreach." The students have lectures and ministry times. They are getting used to a new culture and we as staff still have other YWAM Maui people to help us deal with stuff. Unlike a lot of leaders, we have already had to deal with a lot of CRAZY stuff on our own while our school leader was gone.

We went on a tour of the Budhist temples here. There are many really famous ones in Bangkok.
I thought it would be fun and I could take funny pics of me pretending to hug Budha statues but it was a lot harder than I thought. I found it interesting but also really sad to see all the ways people were trying to earn God's love when He wants to give it to them freely.

I am really bad at learning the language. My student, Kelli is really into it. But instead of saying How are you, she said May I fart. Haha.

I am in Thailand (How about that for an original title?)

I have now experienced Asia. After an abnormal amount of flying and chillin in chilly airports, I am finally here. The flying actually was not too bad. It sure beat the packing beforehand. I procrastinated so much that I only got two hours of sleep before we left. In fact, I am still quite tired. I slept on most of the flights. Each time I woke up it was like taking sleeping pills and waking up after only a few hours. I was in quite the fog. Most of my companions were in the same shape. We had a long layover in Taipei and almost all the students slept on ledges and the floor by the gate. When we first got to the gate, there was no one there but when they were waking up the area was brimming with Asians. It was quite fun to watch them emerge from their sleepy caves made from "borrowed" airline blankets. Their expressions were priceless.

Thailand is cool so far. It actually reminds me more of home than Maui. This is mainly because of the extensive freeway system. There are a decent number of things in English and we are all practicing our Thai. I am not very good at it. I like saying English words and adding the word, "kah" at the end. That is what you do if you are a woman. The guys say a word that sounds like crap at the end of everything they say. PRetty sweet. This place also reminds me a bit of Mexico. THe place we are staying is right across from the biggest university in the nation. I though UT was big with 50,000 but this one has about 600,000. I guess we should start saying Everything is bigger in Thailand!

Synopsis of Craziness

I haven't written in a little bit because things have been so crazy. I wasn't sure how to explain what has gone on. I tend to include too many details so I will try to consdense this as much as possible. I am also getting tired of talking about it.

Last Thursday started out with all but one of the girls being late to lecture. Not good. Then we had a prayer time and one student ran out after getting upset at another student. Definitely out of the ordinary! Later it became apparent that one of our student's had had a very serious mental break with reality. She had been sharing some strange "visions" with the other students throughout the DTS. They didn't tell us so we were clueless. Well, she essentially went crazy. I believe there may have been some spiritual aspect to it but there was definitely something psychological going on as well.

We questioned her through lunch about some rules she had broken but she was unresponsive except for yelling at another leader at one point. We had to involve our base director. To make a long story short, then she ran away. I was so afraid she was going to hurt herself. With such eratic behavior, I did not know what to expect. She ran down Hana Hwy and I chased her. It was so much like a movie. Unfortunately I was not dressed for the occasion. I would have killed for tennis shoes and a sports bra instead of sandals, my bathing suit, skirt and tank top. But alas, when chasing a student who has gone crazy, there is not much time for wardrobe changes. As I ran, I just prayed that I could catch her and that she would not run in front of a car. It must have looked hilarious to anyone driving by. There was a little Korean girl running from a girl dressed for the beach(me), followed by a giant red-headed guy(matt) and then followed by two small people, (Ashley and Josh- her leaders)

My working out paid off and I caught up to her as she tried to hide in a sugar cane field. As I was walking her back, she passed out and because of a lady who stopped to help, we ended up calling an ambulance to pick her up. The emergency room evaluated her and recommended that she see a psychiatrist the next day. Her behavior became stranger and stranger. We had to isolate her from the other students as her behavior might upset them. Someone had to "babysit" her at all times. It was pretty intense. She gave long diatribes about how she wasn't crazy. This is pretty scary. She at one point said she was "channeling" another student and tried to convince us that she was that student. So weird! We booked her on a flight home the night after her big chase. She actually escaped once more before getting to the airport but another student caught her.

Now she is back with her family, pastor and counselor. They are working with her and I pray that they can help her. It was too much for us to handle especially so close to leaving for outreach. So, now the Nepal team is down one member and actually we lost another member in the process. One of our students made some very poor choices in the midst of all this drama and proved himself less trustworthy and forthright than we had hoped. He will not be coming to Bangladesh but the base is letting him be a mission builder and then attend the next DTS. I am glad because he is an awesome guy but he is a new Christian and needs more discipleship before he can handle Bangladesh.

Our base director, Tom, was a saint throughout all of this. He is one of the most upright and godly men I have ever met. He brought us fried chicken when we were interrogating through lunch time. He even personally walked the student to her gate at the airport and made sure she got on the plane. Without his support, I don't know how we would have done it. I would give that man my first born.

pray

please pray for us. will share more later.

Money, Money, Money

I realized today that I forgot to write about some fun and amazing things that happened on base with regards to the money students still need to go on outreach. So, here it goes:

On Thursday night Maria wrote the amounts that students still needed to go on outreach. Then she had all the students and staff pray about whether or not we were supposed to give money to one of the people and how much. It was cool to see the students step up and give about $6000 total. After each pledge was made, we changed the students' totals on the board. One student came to me because she had received a lot more than she needed and was trying to figure out who God wanted to give it to. I prayed with her and she came to a decision. The girl she had decided to give the money to was not in the room when we changed her amount owed. It went from about $1900 to $221! I was getting really anxious to see the girl come back. I watched her as she looked at her new total in disbelief. It was priceless!

There were still a lot of students who needed money even after so much was given. Maria initiated another giving time at base worship on Friday morning. Kelli needed over $2000 for her outreach and really doubted that God was going to make it happen. This time I got to be the one who read the little slips of paper with people's pledges on them. Someone gave Kelli $200 and then I read one that said- "I want to pay for Kelli's outreach." So awesome! It was with much excitement that I wrote PAID! next to Kelli's name. She totally started crying.

Another really cool thing happened. There is a hippie family in town with a five-year-old son and an infant son. They came to worship and during the giving time, the little boy (whose name is Collie Love), came up to me and put $6 in my hand. It totally reminded me of the story in the Bible about the widow who gave her last mite. $6 is a much bigger deal when it comes from a family whose only place of residence is the local beach. Powerful.

My weekend at a glance

This weekend has been very chill so far. Last night we finally had our team dinner, which was postponed when we had to take our "cook" to the emergensy room. For more details, see last posting. It was a very fun time with my team. Our team is random, loud and quite hilarious. Some of the students from the Nepal team told me that during their team meetings, they sometimes just sit and wonder what we might be doing. Our team's rambuctious, free-spirited nature is fun except when I am trying to maintain some kind of order. For the dinner, I didn't even try to make them settle down and just enjoyed the ride.

On Thursday, our team had a little photo shoot and Abbey followed us around and took pictures. I thought it was pretty fun but the students' reactions varied. Some could have posed all day and some were over it after the first 10 pictures. I wanted to take a lot because the odds of getting a picture where 12 people all look good are pretty slim. I have posted the shots on my website, if you want to check them out- www.ywamconnect.com/sites/hightower

Back to last night-after our team family dinner, I hung out with Abbey and Bethany. We created a MySpace for Abbey that is pretty stinkin' funny. Almost all of it is a big joke. And today she had all these messages from crazy weird men. The best included a picture of one of the crazy men stretching awkwardly in tight biker shorts. So funny! I don't see how a guy like tha can stay single.

I ended my evening watching the movie, Brokedown Palace. It is about two girls getting wrongly imprisoned in Thailand. It was cool to watch knowing I would be going there in only two weeks. My friends I watched it with had already been to Thailand so they told me which sights in the movie I would get to see in real life.

Then we watched this DVD that this random old guy, Jerry gave Matt. It was of him doing all these weird karate-like moves and using medieval weapons resembling pitch forks and giant butter knives. This stuff was PRICELESS!

Back to the Emergency Room

Well friends, in case the meaning behind this title eluded you, I visited the Emergency Room again today. The joys of being a leader! Actually it was not too bad. Francis, our Swiss team member, cut his foot and it got infected. It was looking pretty gruesome and was bloated like the foot of a 600=lb man, which he is not. For some reason, Maui is a breeding ground for staph infections. There are very few people on staff who have not had one or the boils that often accompany staph. Luckily my mom has told me that I am not boil people. I hope that holds true because these things get pretty gnarly.

Anyway, enough about boil people and back to Francis- so, he was supposed to cook dinner for our team tonight and we were going to have a bonding family-style dinner. His alarmingly swollen foot put a stop to that and Matt, our student-Eric, and I took him to the emergency room. It was not a dire emergency but since he is Swiss, his insurance only works at the emergency room.

The emergency room is painful and fascinating. I always wonder exactly why people are in there but you can't just ask everyone who comes in. We met a nice Christian college kid and his mom. The guy had some severely swollen tonsils. We also met a strange man who seemed high and homeless. He had clearly had a rough night and a rough life. He showed us scars from knife wounds and told us stories of being shot. He looked like he had been in a fight but said he cut his head after having a seizure.

Francis got treated, got a perscription and will need to go back in a few days. Apparently he has cellulitis, probably caused by staph. The whole process took four hours but it wasn't too bad with Eric and Matt to talk to. It was especially good for me to get more time to talk with Eric. I spend most of my time with the girls on my team so I haven't been able to get to know my guys as well.

Now I am about to go to sleep. When I came home, all the junk on my bed had been cleared away and there was an encouraging note on my pillow from my team. Not too shabby! It was a much better ending than when we brought poor Emily home with a broken ankle and she puked all over the place as Matt carried her into the living room.

Handful of Cheerios

This weekend has been really good. I have done stuff but also relaxed a bit. I went running and walking a few times. It is harder to motivate myself without Amy to take me to the gym. I am trying, though. On Friday night, I watched Dave Chappelle's Block Party with Bethany and my student, Kelli.

On Saturday I had coffee with Matt so we could talk about our team. Then Abbey and I went tanning in front of Mama's Fish House- this super-expensive restaurant I will probably never eat at. The beach there is really nice even though the weather wasn't. It would be cloudy and windy one minute and painfully scorching hot the next minute. Maui has a lot of this bipolar weather.

At night I went over to my friend, Kristy's place. She cooked me dinner and we hung out. It was nice to be in a non-YWAM house. After that we went down the street to her parents' house for ice cream. Kristy had been watching their dog, Rascal and when we brought her over, Kristy's mom asked, "Did you feed her?" Kristy told her that she had given her a handful of cheerios. Kristy's mom was appalled and asked, "And now you are giving her dessert?" It seemed weird to me that she would care so much about the dog eating dinner vs. dessert. Then we realized that Kristy's mom was talking about me and not the dog. She thought Kristy was talking about me and that Kristy had only given me a handful of cheerios for dinner. Pretty funny.

And then there were 10

I definitely feel that there is never a dull moment here. Just about every day I have to confront someone on something or make a big decision about something. It is intense. Sometimes I wish all I had to do was disciple my girls. For you non-Christians, that is teaching and helping people to mature in their faith.

I have never really been discipled myself until now. Our school director, Maria, pushes us out all the time. She definitely makes me get out of my comfort zone. I really enjoy pouring into my girls. It is hard work but a lot of fun. This seems like something that comes natural to me, which makes it even better.

One of my girls will not be coming on outreach. She broke her ankle last Sunday at a hotel pool. This resulted in me and Matt staying in the emergency room until 2:30 am. It really felt like we were her parents. Some people say co-leading a DTS is like a marriage without the sex. THat is probably fairly accurate. So, we as a staff have decided that primarily because of the broken ankle but also for other reasons that she will not come to Bangladesh. It has been a hard decision but every day something seems to happen to confirm it. She flies home on Monday. I am going to miss her but I really think this is for the best.

Falling and Bawling

This week has been just plain crazy! There are so many things that happened that I won't be able to write them all down. I will try to hit some of the high and low points.

I, along with my fellow DTS staffers, decided to fast this week and pray together for the students at times we would normally be chowing down. I decided I would fast for a week. My friend, Abbey, advised against this since before this, my longest fast was 24 hours. I am stubborn and since I would be drinking juice in addition to water, I would be fine. The first two days weren't too bad. I had a constant headache and my sense of smell was heightened. Going to Costco was slightly painful with the smell of pizza permeating the entire store and samples at the end of each aisle.

Amy, my best friend here, left to go home for a wedding this past Sunday and I won't get to see her again until I see her in Bangladesh three months from now. She is so important to me and there were definitely some tears when she left. Little did I know, that was just the start of the large amount of crying I did this week.

On Monday, we had our staff meeting that we have every other Monday. These meetings have become hard for me to take. As DTS staff, we don't get much time to ourselves and one of our times off is Monday afternoons. The ending times of these meetings vary greatly and it is hard for me not to think of my free afternoon slipping away as the meeting goes longer and longer.

Before the meeting started, our fearless DTS school leader, Maria announced that we, along with our students would be reading through the New Testament on Wednesday into the night, therefore taking away the usual night off for staff and students. This was too much for my emotional, food-deprived body to handle. Also earlier that day we had a meeting to talk about who on our team would be going on outreach and who wouldn't. I really don't want to tell anyone that they're not ready and can't go. So, after my night off is stripped from me, my right eye starts tearing up. It is everything I have not to start bawling during our staff meeting. Unfortunately the seating for the meeting is a big circle of chairs so all my friends can see my very obvious "about to have a breakdown" look. Our base director had me and my fellow DTS staffers come in the middle and the rest of the staff prayed for us. It was so good. We really needed it and I bawled.

After the meeting, I just wanted to run to my room so I could finally cry in private for the two hours I had till I had to be at night lecture. But Maria stopped us and made us meet again. That fact alone almost made me lose it. I don't even remember what she was talking about and then she said a few magic words- "Liz, take the night off." This made me bawl the hardest. I was just so exhausted.

Then on Wednesday-Day 3 of my fasting, we were doing the dreaded all-day New Testament reading. It wasn't actually as bad as I thought. We only got through the gospels but it was cool to see the disciples' different points of view and how it all fit together. In the morning, I had drank plenty of juice and water but I felt weird. I went to the bathroom and as I was locking the door, I got a head rush. Then I felt like I had a full dream and I found myself sitting on the floor with my back against the door and my head hurt slightly like I had hit it. I didn't know how long I was out but none of the students said anything when I came out so it musn't have been too long or loud. I decided at that point to break my fast for health reasons. Pretty weird.

A summary of my time in Colorado

I have been back from visiting my brother in Colorado for about a week but I haven't had much blogging time. Here's what happened:

I had a few goals in mind:
-obviously to spend time with my brother and his wife
-to go shopping at a mall since we have such a limited selection of stores here
-play disc golf
-go to Sonic (for some unknown reason they do not exist here)
-watch cable tv

Thankfully I got to reach all of my goals and also got to play laser tag and ride go-karts. I also got to eat at Pei Wei, eat lots of fresh berries and have my sister-in-law's delicious homeade lasagna. I took pictures of me wearing Andrew's army gear. The army has changed their camo to this graph/ pixilated looking stuff. It is pretty cool. There was some good quality time with my brother. I thought I was going to get really upset since this was the last time I was going to see him for at least 14 months and he'll be in Iraq for a year of it.

When I left we hugged and told each other, "I love you." I took a set of his dog tags that I am going to keep with me as a reminder to pray for him and Shella. I feel like I am suppressing my emotions about this whole situation but I don't know how to fix this. Hopefully I don't freak out in Bangladesh.

Mainland is Good

I am writing this from Colorado! Yay! I am hanging out with Andrew and Shella and watching cable. Does it get any better than this? We went to a mall and played disc golf already- two of my main goals. The flights went better than any I have been on in a long time.

My first flight was overnight to Phoenix. I was a bit nervous because I normally try to get a window seat so I can at least lean against the window and sleep. I even brought the pillow from my bed for maximum sleeping. Now that I had an aisle seat, I was afraid I'd have to lay my head down on a stranger's lap in order to get the much needed sleep. The plane was getting really full but the two seats next to me remained empty. I tried not to get my hopes up. Then they closed the door and I knew that my wildest dreams had come true. I had three seats to myself despite almost every other seat being occupied. And then I found a brand-new US magazine (trashy celebrity gossip) in the seat pocket in front of me. I thanked God for these wonderful blessings.

I slept until Phoenix and then then barely had to wait at all for my next flight to Denver, which I slept through as well. Sa-weet! Then we went to a mall in Denver. We were thinking of eating at Cheesecake Factory and I noticed a Toni and Guy salon across from it. After a double take, I realized that one of the hairdressers was Michael Berman, a guy I did my DTS with in Maui. I knew he lived in Colorado and did hair but I had no idea where. How random is that! I had a short convo with him and let him resume his haircut.

The Amy Kirk Weight Loss Program

I have started trying to become more healthy/ get in better shape. Amy used to train for fitness shows with a personal trainer so she knows how to train me with weights at the gym. And lately I have decided to be more careful about what I eat. I try to make good eating decisions all week until Saturday, glorious Saturday when I get to eat whatever I want. How I love cheat day! No guilt. Yesterday I began my day with gummy bears and a doughnut.

People say I look like I have lost weight although the scale says the same thing it has for a while. That's why I hate scales. Anyway, I think the perceived change in my appearance is because I am exchanging fat for muscle. Either that or there is a base-wide conspiracy to butter me up for some reason.

Right now on base, there is a group of Amy followers. Amy is my best friend here so our relationship is different. But a bunch of people on base see her as this diet/ fitness guru. It's pretty funny. Currently Amy has gone back on her fitness show training meal plan in order to fit into an awkwardly styled blue bridesmaid dress she is wearing in her best friend's wedding. She believes losing weight will make the dress look less awkward. I happen to think the dress will look weird no matter what.

Anyway, several girls on base are following this meal plan now too. I personally can't handle it. It is a very planned and regimented diet with lots of cottage cheese, salads and tuna. I get slightly depressed when I have no say in what I eat. Anyone who has gone to a convience store with me on a road trip can attest to my unpredictable taste in snacks. For my own morale's sake, this strict choice-less plan is not for me. The other girls seem pretty into it and Amy is constantly fielding questions like "How many grapes can I have in my tuna?" or "Can I substitute oatmeal for the morning protein shake?" It is pretty amusing to me. Amy should start charging for the use of her diet consultation services. She could have her own line of pre-packaged mini-meals and create a line of lulu lemon workout gear. (A Canadian brand she constantly sports)

Bye bye Katie

So, my life is hectic! I know I say that a lot but it is. Katie H can attest to that! I am sad that I didn't get to spend as much time with her as I would have liked. When we scheduled her visit, I hadn't started DTS staffing so I didn't know what my time would be like. I got to spend a little time with her but a majority of her time was spent with "babysitters." I hooked her up (not that kind of hook-up) with various friends of mine with less crazy schedules. She went with Abbey to Hana, the beach with Bethany and to the gym several times with Amy. Katie was so good and didn't make me feel guilty for not having a lot of time for her. She was super-flexible and made some new friends.

I got really stressed out when I wasn't allowed to take her to the airport because we had a coffee night with the returning teams. I even started crying. Amy took her for me, which was nice. Almost every night I have had something I have to do. Next week is New Hearts week. This is the most intense week, as the students deal with emotional issues. And right after that, I get to see Andrew for about 48 hours. That's better than nothing.

I think this post may have sounded negative but I am really happy. I know this is where God wants me. I just have to stop trying to do things myself and surrender myself to God. It is easier said than done.

Weekend Adventures

I feel like life is just going non-stop these days. I have had an ear infection for a week and a half and I think that may be contributing to my moodiness. Tomorrow I am going to try to get a doctor's appt. Despite my busyness, I did have fun this weekend. I got to talk to some of my favorite people from the mainland, which is always a bonus.

On Friday afternoon, I decided to take Katie hiking since I had sort of neglected her because of my busy schedule. I took her to the Bamboo Forest. I was concerned that I would not be able to find it since my memory of it was that the entrance was just a random opening in the brush on the side of the road. Well, I found the entrance just fine but my memory definitely failed me when I got on the trail. Looking back, I think we probably spent about five minutes on the actual trail before we got hideously lost. We joked around for a bit about our free-style hiking. We climbed over and under "jungle gyms" made of giant gnarled tree limbs. We could not find the trail again and after several hours of being lost but okay about it, we were no longer feeling so good. We could hear cars through the brush and decided we should head towards that noise even though we could not really see where we would be ending up. I did not realize that we were basically setting ourselves up to scale a cliff. In an example of amazing fortitude, I managed to reach the top and I ended up on the road. Katie was not blessed in the height department and did not make it to the top. So, I was next to the car without keys wondering if Katie was going to make it out alive. I finally decided to head to the river to see if I could find her. Luckily I found her and we made it out alive. Katie came out alive but covered in mosquito bites. Her legs look like she has a severe case of chicken pox. Amazing!

I love baptisms!

Yesterday we had baptisms at the beach for the students who wanted to. Some had been baptized as children or infants and wanted to recommit. A few were being baptized for the first time. I have recently started becoming emotional about spiritual experiences. An example is when our student's dad became a Christian and we were supposed to cheer. All I could do was cry.

Matt and I were supposed to go out in the water with the students from our team who wanted to be baptized. Our speaker for the week, Waxer, is a pastor and he did the actual baptizing. It was cool because he had the students tell how they know they are a Christian and then say a short prayer. I felt lucky to be a part of it. One of our students can be pretty stubborn at times. I, too, can be very stubborn so I can relate. Anyway, his prayer was so sweet and sincere that it made me cry.

Ashley and I went out in the water for Tammy, one of our mission builders. We came along with her husband. She only recently became a Christian. Even when we were walking out there, Ashley and I both started tearing up. Her prayer was so beautiful and sincere.

The funny part of the whole thing was that the waves kept getting bigger as we were out there. People were getting kind of "pre-baptized" by the waves. Overall, it was a beautiful day!

Now the students know I am going to Bangladesh with Matt

My free moments feel like gifts these days. I never know when to expect these free times and sometimes they are taken away from me when I do expect them. Last night, I had a long talk with a student, which is a great thing but it makes me tired the next day. Being DTS staff is more intense than I thought. I feel such a burden for these girls and I know it will be very hard for me if they don't succeed. God has given me a heart for them.

Today we announced who is on what team. I am excited that they finally know. It took longer to figure out teams than I thought it would. We had already tried to figure out between ourselves who we wanted on our team and I think that screwed me over. There was one girl I felt a connection with that I didn't get on my team. That was a bit disappointing. I know that I can still talk to her here and be there for her. I am excited to get to know my six girls and let them get to know me.

My friend, Katie, comes tonight. I am excited but I am nervous about finding enough time to spend with her. She is pretty laidback and she's renting a car so it should be good. She likes to work-out and so does Amy so they can be buddies.