Window on the World
Window on the World From Randal Dick
Superintendent of missions
Part 2
After a refreshing sleep we loaded into a van and headed for Sathsimulia, the first place the church became involved in Bangladesh and location of the largest congregation.
We drove for a couple of hours on roads that became progressively narrower until our driver stopped at a dirt path. John Biswas, who directs the church's efforts in Bangladesh, explained that we had to go about three miles along the dirt path before we came to Sathsimulia.
Rod Matthews, regional director, and I were game for the walk, but John had arranged for bicycle rickshaws to transport us. The drivers had been waiting for us and were anticipating income from this job that would be more than they might otherwise make in a week, so they were not about to allow us to walk.
When we finally arrived I could see the training center through the trees. As we approached the building I saw several hundred people, about half of them children, all dressed in their best, sitting waiting patiently for us.
I had asked John earlier who would be present when we arrived. He said that the group would be a mixture of baptized members, their children, interested people who were studying and learning from our gospel workers and some curious members of the community.
I could not differentiate between the various groups. I realized I was seeing something important here. The unbelievers seemed to feel at home, coming and going in and around the building, and participating in the activities as much as anyone else. The gospel had no barriers--no legalistic behavioral patterns, dress patterns or vocabularies that caused the unbeliever to perceive that he or she was an outsider.
I was seeing one of the important factors that accounted for the marked increase in baptisms in the area in the last two years. It might also partly explain why a group of fundamentalist Moslems who came to burn that building down were stopped by residents, who told them to "leave that building alone--those people are doing no harm."
I was impressed with the size and quality of the training center the Canadian brethren provided for the Bangladesh church a few years ago. It is not pretentious but it is well built and is put to excellent use as an elementary school during the week, a ministerial training center and worship center on weekends and, in the flooding about 18 months ago, it became a life-saving shelter.
The building became home and lifeboat for about 100 people for about three weeks. More than 100,000 people died in those floods, and no doubt some of the people who stayed in our building would have died had they not had access to the shelter we provided. I found myself thinking that the building cost a little more than $20,000. It helped save about 100 lives--that's $200 dollars per life--quite worthwhile.
Having seen the tremendous contribution that building makes to the gospel efforts of our Bangladeshi brethren, I want to thank the Canadian members for their foresight and generosity. It is truly a sacrifice that God has multiplied many times over in value.
We decided to visit one of the nearest beneficiaries of the goat project that John started earlier in the year. We walked nearly a mile farther into the countryside. A runner went ahead and soon returned accompanied by a woman who was obviously poor. Her sari was clean, but old and tattered. Distress showed in the woman's eyes. John spoke quietly to the woman, who left and returned leading a feisty little goat on a leash.
John explained to us later that even one little goat gave a family such as this woman's a great deal of self-respect as well as respect in their community. It was almost equivalent in our context of being a homeless person who is given a home.
We walked a short distance farther to the woman's home where she was joined by her husband. Both expressed their thanks for the church's generosity.
The woman and her husband wanted to express their thanks by sharing some refreshment with us. We wanted to be gracious, but John explained to them that we had to get back into Barisol before it became dangerous.
Rod and I were secretly relieved because well meaning as the couple may be, cholera and tuberculosis are widespread, and sanitation could not be assured.
We had walked about a half mile when the woman came running out of breath with three coconuts that she gave us, kneeled and touched her forehead and the toe of our shoes in a sign of respect. I was overwhelmed that she was so full of gratitude for that little goat that she had run all that way to catch us.
I was even more amazed and greatly humbled later in the evening when John explained that the woman and her husband had given us a gift that was worth nearly two days wages.
At that point, I realized that these goats were accomplishing much more than just helping poor people have a little better standard of living. In the case of this couple they had relieved the oppression of their poverty to the point where they could possibly receive the gospel. Furthermore, the couple had a profound regard for those who showed them such love, opening the door for them to hear the message of life that could transform their present and their eternity. I want to thank everyone who donated to the goat program. I can assure you that it has been $40 well spent.
On the way down the path we passed an old man lying on a thin mat on a mud floor about six feet wide and eight feet long. The raised floor was made of packed mud, with no walls, just four bamboo posts with a woven grass roof. I thought this was some kind of outdoor relaxing area.
John talked with the man who, at the end of their conversation, bowed and touched John's shoes and his forehead. As we walked farther down the road toward the vans, John said that what we had seen was the man's only home--where he lived in sun, rain, heat or chill. We saw cows with better shelters than this old man.
John had told him that the church was saving its money and that as soon as they could, the members would buy some tin sheets and help the man enlarge his house a little and put a permanent weatherproof roof over his head. Moslem unbelievers are seeing the love of Christ manifest among them.
We made our way back to Barisal, stopping briefly while John described a few smaller projects that had been started. The next morning we met our mission pilot friends at the airport and flew uneventfully back to Dhaka.
On the next day, we paid a call to the offices of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, where we had a tentative appointment with one of the senior justices. It turned out that we met and visited three of the justices. As we were leaving, our host asked us to detour to the office of the second-most senior justice. We were graciously received and spent 15 minutes or so getting acquainted.
Rod and I appreciated the fact that they were gracious to us, and we hoped that we had represented the WCG well, and that being known might make it easier for the church's application to the government for recognition to be approved.
We had no other expectations. So we were somewhat amused when John told us that as we left he had invited the two most senior justices to join us for dinner that evening. I think I laughed out loud. You don't just meet a high government official in a courtesy call, and casually invite him to dinner.
I asked John if he thought they would come. He said no, but it was good to make the overture. He said that both men mentioned that they had appointments that evening, but thanked him for the invitation.
That evening we did gather at a restaurant with John, his brother and sister-in-law, and a few other friends. We had just received our first course when we heard a commotion in the front of the restaurant. The manager came bustling up to our table escorting none other than two Supreme Court justices.
One justice and his wife sat where he could talk to John. The other stood behind Rod and me and said: "You must move so I can sit between you. We must talk." We had a wonderful visit that evening. I gained a new perspective on Bangladesh and a respect for the sacrifices these two men make for their country, and I hope that the WCG has been given two more friends in the government.
The next day I said good-bye to Rod Matthews and John Biswas, who was staying a couple of weeks to minister and teach. I was glad to get home, and although tired, I was overflowing with joy at having made contact and fellowshipping with the new brethren in Bangladesh.
REFUGE FROM FLOOD--More than 100 found
refuge in the church's training center during severe flooding
that took more than 100,000 lives.
GOAT PROJECT--Grateful recipient
with goat given to her by church.
[Photo by John Biswas]
SHARING THE WORD--Rod Matthews speaks to schoolchildren,
members, gospel workers and members of the community.
[Photo by John Biswas]
Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 2001