Bright green rice fields surrounded the village. A barefoot man spread harvested rice on a plastic sheet to dry it in the sun. A woman tended to two infant goats born the previous day, while other women hand-embroidered shirts for their children.
Women and children in a northern Bangladesh village crowd into a room to hear about Isa (Jesus) from visiting Baptist volunteers.The Bangladeshi village was not on the volunteers’ itinerary. They had only stopped to take photos of some colorfully dyed fabric drying on lines strung along the railroad tracks.
When South Carolina volunteer Nina Sexton went across the street to take pictures, the sound of the weaving looms drew her down a dirt path, across the tracks and into a small factory to take a few more photos.
Making the most of the time, South Carolina pastors Lynn Peters and James Rodgers, together with two Bangladeshi Christians, gave out copies of the gospel of Luke in the Bengali language to curious Muslims who gathered alongside the road.
Before long, Peters, Rodgers, Sexton and their two Bangladeshi friends were honored guests in the village. A table of fruit and caramelized rice was set before them. A boy shimmied up a tree to retrieve fresh coconuts for something to drink.
That morning, the South Carolina volunteers had risen before dawn to visit a village where they would answer questions about a Christian radio program. Matthan*, a Bangladeshi Christian translating for the team, had called ahead to let the villagers know to expect the Americans that day.
This second village, however, had no advance notice that this would be the day they would hear the Good News of Isa (Jesus).
“That was a complete God thing,” Rodgers said. “It changed the dynamic of the day.”
The village elder, Ubaidah*, stood before Rodgers and urged him to speak.
Men and women alike halted their work tasks. Most of the villagers are farmers, though some are factory workers. No matter their age or occupation, they listened intently as Rodgers told them stories about Isa healing the blind, the lame and the leper, and raising the dead.
“It excited them and it excited me,” Rodgers said.
One 12-year-old girl stood out. Ansam* clutched a pink sweater to her chest to add modesty to her school dress. Her complexion was radiant, her smile crystal. In her hand was a copy of Luke that one of the volunteers had given her.
Rodgers explained to the village that the stories he was sharing were in the book that Ansam held. Their excitement grew. Ansam’s face lit up even more when Rodgers asked her to read the book aloud each night to all who wished to listen.
A couple of days later, Matthan called Nasiha* in the village to see whether they wanted him to come and answer questions about their readings.
“She said that they watched the ‘Jesus’ film and the other video that evening,” Matthan said. “They watched the videos, all those villagers together. After that, Ansam read the scriptures until 11:30 at night and everybody listened to it. They were very excited.”
Sexton noted that the second Muslim village had gone unnoticed by the team when they passed by early that morning. “God is in control and orchestrates divine encounters,” she said. “It was definitely something that God arranged, bigger than anything we could arrange.”
Peters added, “That, for me, was the high point – . What’s scary is the thought that if we hadn’t stopped, it’s very possible they may have never heard.”
*Names changed for security purposes.