Bandu arrives!

This last week was a very exciting one for us. A pastor friend of ours from Sri Lanka came to stay with us. I (Stacie) have only been in contact with Bandu via email, so it was very thrilling to finally meet him in person. Unfortunately, the night he got here, the entire family got the rotovirus (along with 70% of Jeremy's family - Jodi thought he had the stomach flu - she thought wrong). So we spent his entire first night here cleaning up vomit. We slept about 1 hour that night. Poor Bandu! Welcome to America!!! Elena was so tired, she curled up into a ball on the leather chair and fell asleep. She has NEVER done anything like that before. We spent the rest of the week introducing Bandu to our friends, our church, and our community. He was surprised to see all the boats in Gig Harbor. "Are these owned by private people?", he would ask. Coming from a third world country, things like private boats and planes are a bit of a shocker. Bandu even got to teach a lesson to Emma's 1st grade class. he told them all about Sri Lanka and then took prayer requests and prayed over the kids (and it was no ordinary prayer, let me tell ya - he prays with vigor!). Ah, the joys of private school. We also introduced Bandu to pumpkin carving! It was exciting to think that his first pumpkin experience was with us. As you can see from the pictures, he thoroughly enjoyed himself - especially with the pumpkin innards. (Did I mention he has an hysterical sense of humor? We laughed A LOT). We also cooked Indian and Sri Lankan food together that night. I ordered some food from Sri Lanka, so he cooked that up. I cooked him a recipe I got from my days of working at Shamiana. On Sunday, we took the ferry over to Anderson Island to drop Bandu off at his next stop. The church there was having their annual cider squeeze and potluck, so they graciously welcomed us. The girls had a blast! They also had fun playing down on the beach. There was a really cool rope swing and plenty of sticks and rocks to keep Elena busy for days. We learned a lot from Bandu while he was here. He is a man who loves Jesus more than you can imagine. It's all he can think about. We walk into a room and he prays over it. We part with friends, and he prays for them silently as they walk away. He kneels at the foot of his bed numerous times a day to discuss life with the Lord. And he comes away with amazing insight from the Holy Spirit. He challenged us, laughed with us - and mostly ... loved us. The joy and laughter that filled this home while he was here will not be forgotten. And I look forward to the time that I will visit his family and the orphanage in Sri Lanka. That will most likely happen in March! Blessings to you Bandu. We love you!