of Danny and lazy Sabbaths

Allow me to introduce you to Danny. Mind you, if you were here in person, Danny would be one of the first to run up and introduce himself to you. He is always trying to practice his English and whenever we need something translated he is always one of the first that we ask. I taught Danny grade one last year and, while he was a pill sometimes, he's a really smart kid.

Danny is almost 8yrs old and has been at Bangla Hope since he was about three and a half. Danny was brought to Bangla Hope by his father after his mother died of liver cancer in the hospital. Danny's older brother was sent to boarding school but since Danny's father had to return to the fields to work, he couldn't take care of little Danny. Thus Danny has been with us since. Mrs.Waid has told me that Danny has memories of being with his mother which is unusual for most of our kids. I think it just makes it all the harder too though...

I feel like I've said this before, but even though Danny is a trouble maker, he is one of my favourites. I don't know why I seem to be drawn to the kids that push their limits, but I am. Danny is one like that. One moment he will be translating for us as we explain why we are punishing another kid for hitting and the next moment we will be punishing HIM for hitting. You can tell though that he knows when he's messed up... He just gets a stubborn look on his face and shuts down, like that night he stole Luke's slice of lime. Danny's different though in that the next morning he will usually say sorry and tell you how much he loves you. He's a really really really good kid--just needs some direction and discipline.

Today in Sabbath school we covered the 5th commandment: Honour your father and your mother. How do you explain this one to orphans...? I mean, the underlying concept of honouring your elders is easy enough but the literal text is hard to explain especially since most of these kids DO have parents. It's just that the parents aren't able to provide for them and thus had to give them up. Anyways, I kinda glazed over that since I know Mrs.Waid has been talking to the grade one and two kids about that stuff at worship and moved onto respecting teachers and caregivers.

After church we buzzed out to the Gohara school for village Sabbath school. I told the story of Jesus feeding the 5000people with 5loaves and 2fishes. Afterwards, Josiah got up and told a story about not having food and praying that his gift card would work in order to buy him a bagel. It sounds simple but to these kids, hope means the world. I want to avoid giving them the picture of a Santa Claus Jesus and instead showing them that Jesus loves them so much and wants to provide for those who believe in him. The kids were so excited to colour a picture of Jesus breaking the bread. I think next week at our last village Sabbath school I'm going to tell them about Jesus dying on the cross for them in hopes that something will really jump up inside of them.

This afternoon after dinner I lugged a quilt, pillow, and a couple books up to the roof to soak in some much needed rays. My poor skin has been so sheltered in this conservative country that I feel the need to slowly introduce sunlight in before I get to Thailand and lay on the sandy beaches... Mmm... I ended up taking a little nap in the sun and woke up feeling so refreshed. I journaled for a little bit as the sun went down and sang praise songs as the last few rays of sunlight disappeared into the haze over the horizon. It was a great way to end the day.

Ryan is leaving tomorrow for Dhaka. He's the first to leave. Then the big American group is coming next Friday to do a medical mission trip. Then I pick up my dad on Sunday (ONE WEEK). Then the Waid's and Brittni leave to fly to Hong Kong around the 25th. Then Dad and I leave for India on the 26th. Then it will just be Josiah here for a couple weeks. Crazy. That's the only word that will adequately describe how the next two weeks are going to go down. Well that and maybe BUSY!

I'm hoping to get a lot of cleaning done tomorrow though, get some stuff ready to go home and such. Really it's the grey fuzz of dead bugs swirling around our floor that is annoying me. That will be gone tomorrow if it's the last thing I do! We are in the final countdown!
ami tomake bhalobashi