Whirlwind Missions

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Bengalis

Tim A. Cummins @ 7:49 pm  

About half of the kids who come to my mission at Azalea Place are from Bengladesh and are Muslim.
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Although we have had many of children accept Christ over the years, we’ve made little in way into their community.  Language can be a big barrier to communication, that’s why I put such a high priority on knowing other languages.

I grew up in Kenya, the son of Southern Baptist missionaries.  In those days the missionary kids (MKs) would call the adult missionaries “Uncle” or “Aunt” even though there was no true blood relation.  So I grew up thinking of Harold as “Uncle Harold.”
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He’s been a big influence on me over the years. Especially with the thought that you can learn anything if you can find a book on it and are willing to work.

So I spent the day with my two sweet kids and Uncle Harold.  We also met up with Cathy Palmer and Harold’s wife Phyllis.

I enjoyed taking my friends to Cafe Istanbul for lunch.  It’s such a cool place.

Then I left them in Clarkston and drove back to Stone Mountain to do try and get Kathy’s phone fixed (I hope it works right) and do some grocery shopping.  After that I dropped Ashley and Jesse back at our house to put up the groceries while I went back to Clarkston to pick up Uncle Harold.
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His big interest now is in Bengalis. Remember our need for a Christian that can speak Bengali to my neighbors at Azalea Place?  I see my Uncle Harold as a direct response to that prayer request.

God has His timing.

But it’s hard to be patient when I see so many people that we need to reach NOW!

Perhaps you might think, “What’s the rush?”

Last week we actually had a plane crash about a mile from the mission at Azalea.  It’s on the flight path for the pilots landing at Peachtree Dekalb Airport (PDK).

Bottom line is we don’t have any guarantee on how long we’ll live.

Life is fragile.

I worked in the News industry for years.  If there’s one thing I learned it was “life is fragile.”

It’s the sense of urgency that I feel in my gut that drives me to keep looking for the best people to come help us in Atlanta.  We have extraordinary talent in our team.

I’m glad YOU are a part of it!

I hope that Harold and Phyllis will sense a strong sense of the Lord’s direction to spend more time in our area working with us.

Uncle Harold seemed to have a wonderful time practicing his Bengali with the kids.
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One of the moms invited us up to her apartment for some Bengali dessert. Uncle Harold just seemed so completely happy and in his element talking with the lady with her kids in Bengali.

My favorite part of my job is finding a person that really feels a call to do a very particular mission: like work with people from Bangladesh.  Then taking them over to the exact people group the wanted and watch them plug in.

It’s supah coo.

We also picked up Andrei Palmer, Cathy and Tim Palmer’s son–our missionaries in Clarkston. He’s really talented and makes cool cars and cakes.
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One of the ladies from FBC Doraville made some beautiful doll blankets for the children at the missions.
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I can hear Jesse playing guitar above me.  I dig that.

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