Ruth and Boaz

The woman in the photo is closely following the hired hand who is gathering the rice from the field after harvest. It was evident that she was running to be right behind him in order to gather as much as she could.
When I asked another woman who had been with her in the field, she told me they could gather between six and seven 'se-er' close to as many pounds or three kilos of rice in a day.
I explained that there is a story about what she was doing in the 'Tourat', the Old Testament, and asked whether the labourers would ever leave any straws for them on purpose.
This 'Ruth' laughed at the idea, the owner of the field would be very upset if anybody did.
I guess what Boaz did in the Old Testament is still surprising today.

Visa

Praise God for a visa for 2010. Our dedicated staff at the office in the capital Dhaka finally got my visa for 2010 this Wednesday, 19 May. While this might sound backwards, the practical implications of this is that I am now free to leave Bangladesh again. While the application process was running I would have needed special permission to leave Bangladesh, now I can come and go - or at least go.
I have planned a home assignment from July through December this year. My family and I were looking forward to the first Christmas together in nine or ten years. My new visa expires on 26 December 2010. This leaves me with a choice to either return to Bangladesh before Christmas and apply from here, or risk not being able to return until another work permit and visa can be issued. Given this year's experience, that requires a little bit of faith and a great miracle by God.