Hope - it is a concept that we often cling to with little understanding of its source. Yet as we spent time imbedded in a subsistence oriented culture we found those who have hope because of the message of truth.
On previous projects our teams had been exposed to nationals who were somewhat reluctant to be actively sharing their faith. This reluctance can be a result of persecution from other established religions or from a cultural mind set that often views a persons religion as what they were born into and converting to a different religion brings dishonor to their family, especially their father.
During this recent project we were able to meet, work, and pray with men like Khokhon, Master, and Joe. who live in more remote areas of the country of Bangladesh. All three of these men come from a Muslim background but have found the truth of salvation in Christ. They all share a passion and zeal for sharing this message with those that they live with and meet on a regular basis. It was humbling to serve alongside these men and to be used of God to provide them some encouragement.
These men have a lasting hope that is found in the truth of the gospel and this is the message that they desire to share with others. This is the message that we endeavor to share as we look to strengthen our partnership in this country.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Bangladesh Reflection from Ben Cornatzer
The day did not go exactly as planned. The drive from Dhaka to Noakhali took most of the day. We arrived after dark. But still—the gospel was being proclaimed in a Hindu village. As the people of the village watched the Jesus film at our roadside theater, I noticed a small oil lamp burning inside the nearby house. it was the only light in the room.
As I looked at the little lamp sitting on the table singlehandedly lighting the room in that house these words from John, chapter 1, came to mind: "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."
I thought about the handful of Christians living in the area standing firm in their faith. I thought about how the Word of God was being visually presented in the language of the people as the light from the projector pierced the darkness. And I thought about how God goes to great lengths to save even just one lost person. He had sent a team of American believers to join with their Bengali brothers to share Christ with the Hindus in this village.
As Derek shared the gospel after the film, our team was scattered throughtout the crowd praying. God was with us. We knew it. We felt His presence. That night the light shone in the darkness, and by faith we know that the darkness will not overcome it.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Video from Parkway South Asia Project 2011
Click Here for a video from the Parkway South Asia Project. From the first 5 days of ministry. More posts to follow.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Bangladesh Mission Update 6
Hey everyone!
The Bangladesh team has made it safely back to their homes. Thank you all so much for your prayers - they are greatly appreciated!
The Bangladesh team has made it safely back to their homes. Thank you all so much for your prayers - they are greatly appreciated!
Bangladesh Mission Update 5
The Bangladesh Team has landed back in America at the JFK airport. They are not completely home yet, but praise God for bringing them back to the United States safe and sound. They will be back in Richmond this evening. Continue to pray for them and their families, and check this blog out in the future for further updates and stories from the team!
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Bangladesh Mission Update 4
Hello prayer partners and families!!
I just had the opportunity to speak with Derek, and he wanted me to relay to you all that he and the others have arrived safely in Barisal. The launch ride went well, and they will be boarding a ferry very soon to cross to the other side of the river. (about a 20 minute ride). They then will take a bus for approx an hour to actually reach the village where they will set up the medical clinic. God has and is continually blessing them with safe travel. Praise the Lord!! Hopefully we will be hearing from them again in the next two days, while they are in Barisal.
Thank you all for the continued prayers for the four of them and for their families. I know I can personally feel the prayers you all have given in me and my family's behalf. We all are looking forward to a very sweet reunion on Wednesday. To God be the glory!
Melissa
I just had the opportunity to speak with Derek, and he wanted me to relay to you all that he and the others have arrived safely in Barisal. The launch ride went well, and they will be boarding a ferry very soon to cross to the other side of the river. (about a 20 minute ride). They then will take a bus for approx an hour to actually reach the village where they will set up the medical clinic. God has and is continually blessing them with safe travel. Praise the Lord!! Hopefully we will be hearing from them again in the next two days, while they are in Barisal.
Thank you all for the continued prayers for the four of them and for their families. I know I can personally feel the prayers you all have given in me and my family's behalf. We all are looking forward to a very sweet reunion on Wednesday. To God be the glory!
Melissa
Bangladesh Mission Update 3
Update 3
Good morning to you brothers and sisters in VA and beyond. Wanted to let you know we arrived back from Noakhali late yesterday, and are preparing to leave by launch (big boat traveling overnight) in a couple of hours to Barisal for a 2 day medical clinic. We will most likely be unable to send any correspondance over the internet during that time. We'll be flying back via a float plane on Tuesday, a few hours before our flight back home, so it is likely that this will be our last email.
Here's a report on what happened in Noakhali.
We arrived late in the day on Thursday and after much prayer and creative directions we found the village we were showing the J-Film in (more appropriate to say - the pastor found us). We set up with headlamps alongside our company worker. About 200 Hindu's showed up to view the film. (I don't know that they know the word for "hundreds"...if you were to do the conversion of $200 American to Taka - it would be 1,400 taka...maybe that's what the local meant by thousands would show up - but it doesn't matter the number...the message was heard by many who had never heard the message before).
Afterwards people were given the opportunity to receive the gospel and some did. God be praised. The translater "Matthew" was amazing. Please, be praying for the Pastor of this small and now growing church in Noakhali. He faces much opposition. During the last Hindu festival, the Hindu leaders set up a small Hindu temple right beside his house, where he would have to walk through it to get to and from home. This pastor loves his community and his people, but he is one of less than 20 believers compared to 2.6 Million Hindus. These new believers are in need of discipling and for people to come and teach them the Word. Won't you pray about coming to Noakhali to teach them the truth.
The blessing of being there was more than seeing people come into the family of God, it was seeing the look on the Pastor's face and another believer's face and their encouragement to meet believers who were willing to come. They were so encouraged.
Be praying for the next two days of medical missions. Thanks guys. Ben, Steve, Daniel and Derek appreciate your payers.
Also, please continue to encourage people to give to the Global Missions offering so that we can support our workers in the field and also the projects that Parkway is partnering with the field to do.
Bless you all.
Derek & Team
Good morning to you brothers and sisters in VA and beyond. Wanted to let you know we arrived back from Noakhali late yesterday, and are preparing to leave by launch (big boat traveling overnight) in a couple of hours to Barisal for a 2 day medical clinic. We will most likely be unable to send any correspondance over the internet during that time. We'll be flying back via a float plane on Tuesday, a few hours before our flight back home, so it is likely that this will be our last email.
Here's a report on what happened in Noakhali.
We arrived late in the day on Thursday and after much prayer and creative directions we found the village we were showing the J-Film in (more appropriate to say - the pastor found us). We set up with headlamps alongside our company worker. About 200 Hindu's showed up to view the film. (I don't know that they know the word for "hundreds"...if you were to do the conversion of $200 American to Taka - it would be 1,400 taka...maybe that's what the local meant by thousands would show up - but it doesn't matter the number...the message was heard by many who had never heard the message before).
Afterwards people were given the opportunity to receive the gospel and some did. God be praised. The translater "Matthew" was amazing. Please, be praying for the Pastor of this small and now growing church in Noakhali. He faces much opposition. During the last Hindu festival, the Hindu leaders set up a small Hindu temple right beside his house, where he would have to walk through it to get to and from home. This pastor loves his community and his people, but he is one of less than 20 believers compared to 2.6 Million Hindus. These new believers are in need of discipling and for people to come and teach them the Word. Won't you pray about coming to Noakhali to teach them the truth.
The blessing of being there was more than seeing people come into the family of God, it was seeing the look on the Pastor's face and another believer's face and their encouragement to meet believers who were willing to come. They were so encouraged.
Be praying for the next two days of medical missions. Thanks guys. Ben, Steve, Daniel and Derek appreciate your payers.
Also, please continue to encourage people to give to the Global Missions offering so that we can support our workers in the field and also the projects that Parkway is partnering with the field to do.
Bless you all.
Derek & Team
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Bangladesh Mission Update 2
Update 2
Just a quick update today.
We're heading out right now to Noakhali.
Please, be praying for the 5-6 hour ride, and the showing of the Jesus film tonight to potentially thousands of Hindu's. (Should be around 6/8am Thursday morning your time - will be Thursday night for us).
Then, we head back to Dhaka on Friday morning (which will be late Thursday night for you all).
Thanks so much, and bless you all. Can't wait to be with you all again and share what the Lord is doing.
Derek and team.
Just a quick update today.
We're heading out right now to Noakhali.
Please, be praying for the 5-6 hour ride, and the showing of the Jesus film tonight to potentially thousands of Hindu's. (Should be around 6/8am Thursday morning your time - will be Thursday night for us).
Then, we head back to Dhaka on Friday morning (which will be late Thursday night for you all).
Thanks so much, and bless you all. Can't wait to be with you all again and share what the Lord is doing.
Derek and team.
Bangladesh Mission Update 1
Greetings Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
We arrived safely in Dhaka yesterday/Tuesday morning around 10:30am (about 11:30pm your time Monday). Got out of the airport around noon (all luggage/supplies made it...yay), met two field workers, exchanged money, bought a local sim card, had lunch at the guesthouse in Dhaka that our friends help manage, did orientation to the Bengali people and went to a local University area here that has many young college students milling around. When we got to the area near a couple of Universities, we started engaging people in conversation (many spoke a little English, but understood most of what you said).
Very quickly a crowd gathered, and we had 75-100 people gathered around us, listening to our conversations. At one point, asking about our education, when it was discovered Derek was a music major they asked him to sing. He sang a couple of songs, the 2nd being Amazing Grace. One man, Raju said he had never heard Amazing Grace before and said it was his favorite song of those sung, but it sounded hard to sing.
This prompted a conversation about Grace, and what that was. At the same time, Ben was engaged in conversation about love, Daniel was talking about Christianity (about how Americans are not born Christian) with another man, and Steve sharing his background, each with a crowd of 10-20/30 people around each person. All were Muslim young men.
All of this happened in about an hour, and honestly we were leaving the guest house in order not to fall asleep, so we could sleep well that night. When we arrived, most of us had passed out in the van (in the 20 minute ride to the University), and were very groggy going out to talk. But amazingly, as conversations happened, the Lord gave us each much energy to carry on our conversations. To the point that none of us were tired (even though we had been awake for close to 48 hours by this point - Saturday night your time was the last time we had slept in beds and it was now around 5am your time on Tuesday morning). God gives you grace for the time you need it - because we came back to the guest house for dinner and passed out not too long after that.
TODAY AND PRAYER
We are headed out for our first full day of ministry. We are going to Dhaka University (different place from yesterday) and will be engaging college students. Zach is the strategist here working with collegiate students.
* Later this week (Thursday night - Thursday morning your time 7/8am) we will be showing the Jesus Film in the Noakhali region. We've been told by a local there that there could be thousands of Hindu who show up to watch the film. Be in prayer for this time. Just to give you some perspective of how many people are in this region, here are some numbers for you. Noakhali region has 2.6 Million People (343 Christians - most nominal Catholics). The geographical size is smaller than Chesterfield county in Virginia. So, to break it down for you, there are less than 30 Evangelical believers in this region which has 2.6 Million people (mostly Hindu). That is .00000115%. MUCH less than 1 percent believers.
Please pray that the Lord would go before us. (He already has, but that story is too long to tell, maybe we'll shoot a video and tell that and send it).
Pray for clear communication.
Pray for open hearts.
Pray for our families. We'll probably not be able to skype. They are working on the internet (under the sea) fiber-optic line from Bang. to Thailand. We are able to send email, and that's about it. Praise God for that!
So, we probably won't be uploading video, it would take 20 hours just to upload 1 video less than 5 minutes long.
Pray for the workers here to be encouraged while we are here.
Pray for vision to know how to plan future projects here.
Thanks & bless you all!
Your Parkway South Asia Bangladesh Vision Team
Ben Cornatzer, Daniel Dejarnette, Steve Eddy, and Derek Futrell.
We arrived safely in Dhaka yesterday/Tuesday morning around 10:30am (about 11:30pm your time Monday). Got out of the airport around noon (all luggage/supplies made it...yay), met two field workers, exchanged money, bought a local sim card, had lunch at the guesthouse in Dhaka that our friends help manage, did orientation to the Bengali people and went to a local University area here that has many young college students milling around. When we got to the area near a couple of Universities, we started engaging people in conversation (many spoke a little English, but understood most of what you said).
Very quickly a crowd gathered, and we had 75-100 people gathered around us, listening to our conversations. At one point, asking about our education, when it was discovered Derek was a music major they asked him to sing. He sang a couple of songs, the 2nd being Amazing Grace. One man, Raju said he had never heard Amazing Grace before and said it was his favorite song of those sung, but it sounded hard to sing.
This prompted a conversation about Grace, and what that was. At the same time, Ben was engaged in conversation about love, Daniel was talking about Christianity (about how Americans are not born Christian) with another man, and Steve sharing his background, each with a crowd of 10-20/30 people around each person. All were Muslim young men.
All of this happened in about an hour, and honestly we were leaving the guest house in order not to fall asleep, so we could sleep well that night. When we arrived, most of us had passed out in the van (in the 20 minute ride to the University), and were very groggy going out to talk. But amazingly, as conversations happened, the Lord gave us each much energy to carry on our conversations. To the point that none of us were tired (even though we had been awake for close to 48 hours by this point - Saturday night your time was the last time we had slept in beds and it was now around 5am your time on Tuesday morning). God gives you grace for the time you need it - because we came back to the guest house for dinner and passed out not too long after that.
TODAY AND PRAYER
We are headed out for our first full day of ministry. We are going to Dhaka University (different place from yesterday) and will be engaging college students. Zach is the strategist here working with collegiate students.
* Later this week (Thursday night - Thursday morning your time 7/8am) we will be showing the Jesus Film in the Noakhali region. We've been told by a local there that there could be thousands of Hindu who show up to watch the film. Be in prayer for this time. Just to give you some perspective of how many people are in this region, here are some numbers for you. Noakhali region has 2.6 Million People (343 Christians - most nominal Catholics). The geographical size is smaller than Chesterfield county in Virginia. So, to break it down for you, there are less than 30 Evangelical believers in this region which has 2.6 Million people (mostly Hindu). That is .00000115%. MUCH less than 1 percent believers.
Please pray that the Lord would go before us. (He already has, but that story is too long to tell, maybe we'll shoot a video and tell that and send it).
Pray for clear communication.
Pray for open hearts.
Pray for our families. We'll probably not be able to skype. They are working on the internet (under the sea) fiber-optic line from Bang. to Thailand. We are able to send email, and that's about it. Praise God for that!
So, we probably won't be uploading video, it would take 20 hours just to upload 1 video less than 5 minutes long.
Pray for the workers here to be encouraged while we are here.
Pray for vision to know how to plan future projects here.
Thanks & bless you all!
Your Parkway South Asia Bangladesh Vision Team
Ben Cornatzer, Daniel Dejarnette, Steve Eddy, and Derek Futrell.
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