Adventures in Bangladesh! Part 1 with Missionary Johnny Garcia

Follow Johnny Garcia as he shares the incredible story of spending a year in Bangladesh with his wife and small child, serving on the mission field and witnessing powerful moves of God. From planting churches and leading youth ministries to seeing healings and answered prayers, Johnny recounts unforgettable moments where faith turned into miracles.

In this episode, he tells the story of a Bible study that transformed into an all-night prayer rally, spreading from house to house throughout the community and igniting a wave of revival through the miraculous power of the one true God. Johnny also shares how the youth ministry experienced rapid growth and how God opened unexpected doors along the way.

Through challenges, miracles, and everyday life in a new culture, this episode stands as a testimony to God’s faithfulness and the power of stepping out in obedience.

Join us for an inspiring journey through the Garcia family’s Adventures in Bangladesh!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Middle of the Fire podcast. I am Steve, and I have in front of me my very good friend, Johnny Garcia. Johnny, welcome to the show. Welcome back. It's been a while, but as always, it's a pleasure to have you.

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Thank you, sir. It has been a while. I'd say about a year. You've been busy. We've been a little bit busy.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Yeah. And that's uh that's what we're going to be talking about here today. Uh Johnny is our the missionary to Bangladesh out of New Life UPC. And so you were gone for yeah, it was a year, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_02 0:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

And um a lot of things have happened along the way. Expecting another kid? We are. Congratulations. Yes, thank you. That's exciting. So um, but yeah, we're just gonna be talking about uh Bangladesh and uh what the Lord has on your heart for the people of Bangladesh. And uh so you were talking, we were talking we've been talking here now for about an hour before before we even started recording. And uh we should have been recording because this is it was a good conversation that we had. We missed that. Oh man. But anyway. Um so you were talking about building all these churches while you were over there. Now, obviously, that's got to be a monumental undertaking of four churches being built. So I just want you to go ahead and uh take the wheel here and uh explain to us what's going on over there in Bangladesh. For sure, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Well, thank you for having me again. And uh yeah, Bangladesh is in revival, and it has been um ever since the Lord gave that vision, and so we are grateful for the million soul revival that's happening in Bangladesh. But uh, we had the opportunity uh to sit with our supervising missionaries during our AIM term a few years back now, not this last term. And uh Brother Corbin and Sister Corbin, they allow uh missionaries, regardless of um whether they're AIM, AMP, or fully appointed, to develop a burden for a certain district. And so um by the time he approached us, we had been praying and we had felt a specific district. And so we told him it was the Dhaka district. I think it's the Dhaka division as a whole, 36.6 million, and it may be more. Just this past year, Dhaka was moved up to the second most populated city of the world. Oh my goodness. So it's up there, second only to Jakarta, I think. And uh so that's just one city? One city. That is that's nuts. Yes, it is, it is a big, big, big city.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

And how many was it again?

SPEAKER_00 2:49

Uh 36.6. In one city. Uh-huh. My goodness. Extremely, extremely large, extremely uh populated. And so uh we told them we said we parade and we felt that we needed to be in Dhaka. Now all missionaries are in Dhaka, they live in Dhaka and we all work out.

SPEAKER_02 3:07

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Every missionary gets to serve in a different area, as the Lord has placed upon their hearts. And so he told us that he felt the same thing. And so we created an initiative to see 10 churches planted in one year. That was the goal. Wow. And so we went to work, we went to work, we went to work. And uh at the end of that aim term, those 10 months that we were there, uh, we successfully planted one church. And so kind of felt the weight of that, you know, going in there. We had done so many Bible studies, so many prayer walks. We met so many fantastic people. We saw people healed. I mean, I got stories that we can go into. Um please do.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

If one if one specifically, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Um we'll go to the big one. Um, our my one of my favorites. Um, we went into Ghazipur, and it's an area north of Dhaka. It's still in Dhaka, but it's a northern area of the Dhaka Division, Dhaka district. And so uh our valedictorian of that year invited us to go to that area, and so we go for Bible study and we get there, and it's a small house. I would say in the room we're in, from that wall to this wall, maybe a little bit less is about how big that wow that house was. A very small house.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

So 250 square feet, maybe less, honestly, maybe less.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

It was really just one open room with a bathroom.

SPEAKER_02 4:30

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

And uh yeah, maybe this plus a little. And uh they were so excited for us to have a Bible study. And we got there and they brought out the special silverware, the glasses, plates. You could tell it was for special guests, and they honored us, and it was an honor for us to be there. And they gave us tea and biscuits, tea biscuits, fruit, snacks is what you'll get when you're visiting homes.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

No, are the are they the biscuits like we have in the states?

SPEAKER_00 5:03

No, this is the British biscuits. Okay, the cookies pretty much short bread cookies, butter cookies. I don't know. I've tried looking for at the aisle, and unfortunately, uh the uh Walmart does not carry biscuits. Get on that Walmart. Yeah, I'm just like it's just not the same. Uh, and I do prefer uh the biscuits more than the cookies, and I'm a Chip ahoy Oreo guy, and so I do it goes well with coffee as a Latino. We dip. I dip bread and donut. Yeah, so um tea and biscuits, they bring it out, we drink it, we eat it, spend time. Somebody comes to the door, and then the person, the host, the sister comes up, and she's not uh she comes up and she says, uh, Brother Garcia, I know we've invited you to do a Bible study here. Would you mind coming and praying for somebody? Then we'll come back and do the Bible study. I said, sure, absolutely. Uh we're always ready. We're always ready to to be the hands and feet, to do what God has called us to do, no matter where we're at. So we get up and we walk, and it's still daylight, and everybody sees us. Now I'm a little lighter than Bangladeshis, but I can blend in a little bit. Um, but my wife and my daughter do not. And so everybody's bideshi, bideshi, bideshi, bideshi. And they're coming and they're taking pictures and they're stopping us and taking selfies and high-fiving us, and we're having a good time just talking to the people, getting to love the people of that neighborhood. And so we get to the house, and there's a man. He had had a seizure, had injured himself uh physically. He was pretty he was pretty banged up from the whole incident. I don't know if he's working and he fell, but he's bandaged up on his head and on his arms, and he was in pain. And I remember uh we got there and there was a little bit of a crowd, maybe you know, uh 10 people. And we get there, and they sit us down, and we see we begin to talk and get to know them, and I talk to him, and you can tell he's he's in a he's in a little bit of a state, and he uh we go into it, and they said, All right, let's pray. We had the Bible study after, so they're like, Let's pray. And so, man, just the faith in that that we walk in, um, that we are always ready to be what God needs us to be in that moment. We're just walking in that. It we don't turn it off when we get home, we don't turn it off after Sunday, we don't just save it for altar calls, but wherever we go, whether it's the store, the gas pump, we're just always ready. Even if I'm walking down the street, you would a conversation can strike up like that. Right. It's very different from here. Everybody's in their cars, right? You don't have it, unless you're in a bigger city, but there you can walk a few blocks and there's half a dozen tea stalls. You can just sit and chat. And because I'm a foreigner, it's eat I get easy conversation. And so I asked him, I said, We're gonna pray. And I the first question I asked him, I always ask, I said, Do you believe Jesus can heal you? And he was kind of like, you know, doubting, must have been battling with this for a while.

SPEAKER_02 7:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:54

And I said, Um, you know, I believe Jesus can heal you tonight, and I believe he can take away your pain. He is a good father and he loves his children. And I said, Do you want to be healed? And he said, Yes. I said, Do you believe Jesus can heal you? And his tears started streaming down, and he said, Yes, I believe. And I said, All right, I'm gonna pray for you. So, right there in that room, I laid hands on him, must have prayed 30 seconds max. Very quick. I didn't feel to let it linger. And we pray, and everybody's praying, and you can just feel the atmosphere shift. And then I stop because I know I'm done. I said, uh, I know when to be quiet. And so I asked him, I said, Where's the pain? Because I knew he had seizures and I prayed for that, but the pain is what I wanted him to see. And he began to move his face, he began to move his shoulders, his arms where he had was injured, and his smile came up, and another some more tears came out. He says, I don't feel the pain anymore. Wow. I said, You're gonna go to the doctor, and uh and he's gonna give you a clean bill of health, and you let us know when that happens. And I said, Give praise God, and we begin to praise God there. They brought out more tea and biscuits at the end. So they were happy, they sat down with us, tea and biscuits came flooding in. We eat there. Now, what I didn't notice was that what I noticed, but I didn't really realize it, is that somebody had slipped out as we're done praying. And she came back in after we're finished with tea and biscuits. And so the host of the Bible study comes back to us and says, Brother, I know we have a Bible study. Is it okay if we go to one more house? And I say, Yeah, sure, absolutely. We've got time. I checked my clock. I said, We got time, you know. Uh, I don't have to be long-winded uh on a Bible study night. Uh-huh. And I said, We can we can go. And and so we go to the next house. We leave, we pack up, we hug everybody, you know, and then we walk down the street, and everybody again, bideshis, foreigners, foreigners, bideshis, bideshis. Again, high fiving, more kids, more people are coming, and they're seeing us. They just want to know what's going on and why we're there.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:02

And so we get to the next house, and there's three people, three women. And uh, and so I said, All right, what are the knees? And the first one comes up, she sits down in the chair in front of us, and um she says, I have extreme back pain so many years, you know, I can't do that. And the same question I asked him, uh, the guy prior, and I said, You believe Jesus can heal you. This time she said, Yes, I believe Jesus can heal me. And uh, and I said, All right. And I asked my wife, I said, What put Ashley put your hand on her back and let's command the pain to leave. Yeah, speak healing in the name of Jesus. Again, 30 seconds stop in the name of Jesus right now, for the glory and honor of your name. God, we speak healing right now. It was done. And she looked at me a little weird. I said, Stand up. And she stand up, and I said, Where's the pain? And uh, can you look for the pain? And she said, I said, because I said it's not there anymore. And she said, immediately knew what to do. Yeah. Because she reached down and bent her toes to touch her toes. Oh, okay. She knew exactly, and then tears began to flood. She said, Well, I haven't been able to do that for years without pain. Praise God.

unknown 11:15

Weird.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

So I mean, she's just, and I said, Praise God right now. Let's thank him. And we thank God and we pray for her. And uh, of course, the other two ladies that were there, they saw what happened, and they came. And the next lady came in, she sat down, she pointed to her knee. She said she wasn't able to bend it like it should bend without extreme pain. And again, I had we prayed, laid hands, spoke to spoke to the pain, this the infirmity, and commanded it in Jesus' name, be healed. And she knew she got up, she knew what to do. She began to kind of bend down and lunge and bend that knee, no pain, just lifted her hands. You can tell she was a believer. Yeah, lifted her hands and began to glorify God. And the next woman woke up, more back pain. She wasn't able to do something and the same thing. We laid hands and God healed all three of them. And that man, we were just praising God in that house. They brought out more tea and biscuits. So we're eating another third round of tea and biscuits. Yeah, and we're eating, and we're just praising God. Now, this time my eyes were a little bit open, but that same lady who had creeped out the first house creeped out again. She creeped out again and she came back and she talked to the host of the Bible study. And she came up to me and she says, Brother Garcia, maybe tonight we don't have Bible study. And I said, That's fine, sister. What do you need? Can you come to another house? I said, All right, let's go. So we go to another house. And uh this time everybody's outside at the high-five bideshis, bidesh foreigners. Yeah, you know, we're going through the whole spill again. And but as we get to the house, there's a crowd outside.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

Oh, word has spread.

SPEAKER_00 12:53

Yeah. And as we get into the house, it's full. It is full of elders, of men, of women, of children. And I looked at my wife and and I said, Let's go to work. Let's go be the church. Again, we walked into the house, they're waiting for us. They've got a chair set right in front of us, so that they knew she had that lady had saw. She went and told everybody. Wow. And so for 45 minutes, we were in that house praying for the sick. And people were there was a line through the house. Again, now our space here was about the size of the house. So just go out that door and just go down. There was a line. There was a line of people, and one by one, they took steps, and we began to pray for 45 minutes. People had heart issues, people had diabetes, people had we had someone come with the migraine. And we had so many people, so many of the ladies of the women with issues in their backs and then their legs, just pain from different things of life. And and man, one by one, they just begin to be healed. And for 45 minutes, we just begin to work. And God ordered our steps. He he told us, he was instructing us on what to do. When something didn't happen the first prayer, God would tell God would speak, and my wife would be like, No, you need to pray. It's not it's not the lower back you need to pray for, you need to pray for her neck, vice versa, whatever. Um, so we God was just giving to us what we needed in that moment. Now, we would have liked for greater things to have happened, we would have liked to have you know seen uh other miracles or prayed people through to the Holy Ghost, but the door that God gave us was what we He gave us, and we walked through that. And um, man, just 45 minutes people coming and going down that line, and we prayed. And so we finished more tea and biscuits, and uh we prayed for many people, several of them got healed in that house. Um, I don't know, maybe it was it was quite a few people, and um the lady comes back again and she says, the local Baptist pastor um has asked if he opens his church and people come there, will you come and pray for the sick? Um, because there's more people that he wants you to pray for. Uh, and I said, Absolutely. I said, We'll pray for anybody. That's amazing. And we get there and we meet him, no one's gotten there. We get to the sanctuary, they've got chairs set up again. The first person we pray for is his wife. Wow. The first time, and so in that moment, I'm telling him, I'm gonna, you know, I begin to speak to them on the name of Jesus. And we kind of begin to talk a little bit, and she's crying from her infirmity, and we begin to lay hands. And as the doors open, just people begin to come. People begin to come. We didn't spend too much time there, but people begin to come as they were needed. He must have known there were people in his congregation that were sick, yeah. And as a good shepherd, you know, you want to be where the fire is. And so we pray for him, he let us pray for him. What an honor a young missionary to be asked to bless. What an honor.

SPEAKER_01 16:11

The name of Jesus does not know. Yeah, it doesn't know any difference of denomination.

SPEAKER_00 16:18

And so we were we were with Leia that whole night, also, so she was with us, and the pastor's wife comes in with a bag and she gives it to us, and it's a gift from Leva, and it's a hand woven. I don't even know if that's the right way word to say, because there's so many ways to make a piece of cloth or um an accessory, a scarlet. Handmade, also handmade, yeah. And she gives it to us. Now, the reason why I emphasize on how it was made is because what she gave us was of many colors, and what she gave us was not something that you just do in a short amount of time, it was an expensive piece. And my friend there, he told me, he says, Brother, this is a special gift that a person who makes these does not give away unless it's absolutely to honor someone or to a special occasion. And she gave it. So I have a picture with Leia wearing it, and we have it in a bag of special gifts that we received as we've traveled through the areas, and so she gave that gift to us, and and we left. And the lady of the house, original house, is we have one more house. And so, my one of my favorite verses, we went to that next house and we prayed some more. Whole bunch of new people, people we haven't prayed for, and they were welcome to more tea and biscuits. We do the whole thing again. And when I think about what happened in Ghazi Put that night, um I remember Acts 8, chapter, chapter 8, verse 8. Um, and there was great joy in that city talking about Philip. I'm a huge fan of the story of Philip and his whole from his calling to what scripture gives us at the end. And um, but he goes into Samaria, into an area that nobody wants to go to. Nobody volunteers. But if you know Philip and his calling, Philip gets called for a special need, chosen amongst a certain number to to be a really to do the food distribution ministry. It wasn't praying for the sick, it wasn't preaching in the nice places, it wasn't being with the big shot, you know, the head honchos, if you can say, of the Peter and John and the disciples, but he he's serving the people, he's serving the church. And then later, as things come, as Saul comes and persecution begins, he's like, I'm going to Samaria, and nobody wants to go there. Of course, we know throughout the gospels what we hear about Samaria, and then of course, if we look at the history and everything we know, there were problems, and so nobody wanted to go there. So he goes by himself, uh, and he goes and he begins to preach. People are healed and people are delivered. That's what the book of Acts tells us. People are getting healed, people are delivered, and he baptizes them, but the Holy Ghost doesn't fall. And so at the end of that little portion there, uh, all the hard work that he's done, all the getting in the dirt, being by himself, not having the support of the bigger guys, uh of you know the big names, he's there and he's he and he's seeing revival, and it says, and there was great joy in that city because what happens, and as God calls him away um to do something else, he walks out, and Peter and John are walking into the city, and then the Holy Ghost falls. So, you know, he does all that, and then God calls him out to the wilderness for one person. And I talk about this in one of my sermons, but uh, and so he goes and leaves the revival of hundreds and of thousands to just be with one person in the desert.

SPEAKER_01 19:41

Do you think that was hard for him to do?

SPEAKER_00 19:44

Being filled with the Holy Ghost, I would say no. Um, but we never know. Yeah, I know today, by today's standards, the average person would not uh you know, if if they're not in tune with what God is doing in their life and what he's promise and his will is. And that's not just to put a broad sticker on to say, oh no, but uh it's harder nowadays when you when I've heard testimonies and I've talked with ministers where like God has pushed them and nudged them on stuff, and usually the initial answer is no, like no Lord, like even with me when God first called us to missions, you know, I was I was pastoring a small work and yeah, and I hadn't really considered it until God called me, and so there was a whole process there. But uh I I I'm sure it wasn't easy, but the scriptures don't tell us there, so I I you know I can't speak too much into that, but I want to believe that him being filled with the Holy Ghost, being that he was called to Samaria, his calling and his actions are a little bit different than everybody else. He's quicker, he's going, and he did the work. I'm sure it was hard. You know, nobody enjoys the part of doing the hard work only to have to be moved and watch only to leave it. Yeah, but if you're kingdom-minded, right? It's not yours to begin with, it's no problem whatsoever. So I don't think so. I personally don't think it was hard for him. Um, and so uh just based off of what I do with myself, I just how I imagine myself, I don't think I don't I think him full of the Holy Ghost. If God can whisper him to the desert, he would he was walking with God. Yeah, and of course we'll never know until we return to glory. But he said, and the scripture says, and there was great joy in that city, and so that's what I call that story in Ghazi Pudd. When I think and I remember that there was great joy in that city, and uh we prayed for it, we believe a church, and it's crazy because uh Ghazi Pudd is one of my target areas for a new church plant, not because not just because of that. Uh, I believe we planted seeds and there are seeds there, and we're gonna see a harvest in the future. But um with everything that happened this year, because that was in 23, 24, now we just came back from 2024. 25, 26.

SPEAKER_02 22:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:01

Everything happened in this year. While we didn't get to go back to Ghazi Pur, we tried several times, but by the time we left, we had at least two to three uh requests from different families and literally different neighborhoods of people requesting for us to go into Ghazi Pur. And we tried so hard. The last little bit of time that we were there, that we were able to, after Christmas, there was the election there in Bangladesh. So that made it a little bit harder.

SPEAKER_02 22:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:29

And then everything that went down with Iran made it a little bit harder. So our leadership was like, hey, we we just need you to stay, stay for a minute. You know, we don't want you guys to be in any trouble. And we greatly appreciate that and we honor them. They always love and protect us. And so um we didn't get the opportunity to go in there, but we had two to three offers. And even now, God is preparing uh He's preparing couples during this last year, not only planning the churches, but we also um tried to recruit from DACA for Dhaka, uh, should the Lord will it, God can may call them anywhere, and that's that's okay. Um, but we recruited at least six uh Bible school students from Dhaka. So not only that, but God gave us the harvest that we walked in. Yeah, and then He gave us for the harvest of tomorrow. And we know even this year, we haven't even dove into the four churches yet, but we know even this year. I'm I'm expecting news every day, every week. I'm saying, God, you're gonna add a church. You're gonna just because the Garcias are there, are not there, doesn't mean we need we want any everything to stop. Like, no, it's gonna keep going. Of course, yeah. They're kingdom-minded people, the rest of the missions team is coming, and I know that they're gonna be active. There are doors that are wide open, there are people that are being prepped so that they can be placed. Uh, there are Bible studies and conversations that are that were happening when I left, that are probably happening now, that it's just a matter of time. Um, and so we we're we're on track to continue to see growth in that city of uh 36.6 million. And so when you go back to when the Corbans felt that we should be in DACA, and when we did it, you know, we had the Capitol District Church, and uh, which is where the headquarters is at. And um, and so now seeing the young the new churches that have been added, we are seeing that growth. We're seeing um we're seeing just God continue to expand there at the Capitol District Church. Um, Bible studies are being held with people in the in the area. Um, so we're seeing growth. We're seeing growth there, and we're seeing growth in the other churches, and it's a time, it's a time of growing and a time of molding and of discipling. And you know, it may not be smooth or easy, but it's gonna happen in Jesus' name. I refuse. I refuse to say that the enemy is gonna take anything because he's not, and God has equipped us for this moment, he has given us a vision. Dhaka is part of the million soul revival, and Dhaka is going to be uh uh uh is gonna be a part of that in a major, mighty way, not just for Dhaka, but for the other areas and the other metro cities. Like we've recently started praying for the other metro cities in Bangladesh. Uh, I did a post recently on our Instagram page and we're highlighting how the other metro areas uh where we uh some of them we have churches, some of them we don't. And so just seeing those continue, we're praying for that. We're praying that God would bring a revival um that needs to come, and it is coming, and it's happening in Bangladesh. And so, you know, we we we're expecting reports all the time. I always expect Brother Corbin to say, hey, Brother Garcia, you know, this is happening. I just want to let you know this is happening, this is happening, whatever. Uh, we're always expecting Dr. to continue because not for one second do we expect for it to stop, to pause, to slow down, because it doesn't need to wait on the Garcia's revival's already there. And so uh, yeah, I'm excited for Ghazi Pur, and I have not forgot it. Um, I have not forgot it, even though it wasn't we weren't able to go in. Um, there's a couple, there's a couple that's from that's from that area. And uh if if if things, if God allows it, we may be able to send them in finally when they graduate, equipped, they have a burden, they're hungry, and I'm praying for them that God would raise them up, that they would learn from their teachers, that they would learn from the pastoral team there, that they would get a burden, that they would hear the voice of God, that they would walk and see what God is gonna give them. It's gonna take hard work. Yeah, it's not gonna be easy, it's not gonna be easy, but they're gonna have what they need to see it happen. And in this day and age, if you're plugged into the kingdom, man, there's no telling. There's no telling what gotta happen. So uh yeah, we broke off into that story before getting to the to the church plans. But I I don't know if there's something else you wanted to pick on that before we continue.

SPEAKER_01 26:54

No, that was fantastic. I loved every minute of that. But we were talking earlier about um things that you did with the youth while you were there, and we are starting to run out of time here. We might need to make this a two-parter. Actually, yeah, we're gonna make this a two-parter because there's just so much to talk about in in in general. But uh go ahead and hit on a little bit of what's been going on with the uh the youth ministries while you've been on the yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:22

So um this year, the our supervising missionaries, brother and sister Corbin, had planned for a national youth conference, and so we begin to do work as we did village trips. We begin to make that make that um known. Two things we we actively promoted outside of our regular schedule what we were doing, and that was youth conference is coming and bible school.

SPEAKER_01 27:50

And had a youth conference ever happened before? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:52

Oh, it had we've we've done several other things. Uh AYC is about to happen in Bangladesh too. Oh, really? Okay, good. It may not be a youth conference, but there's things that are gonna happen. So, yeah, we've done them before, and it's been phenomenal. The young people young people in Bangladesh are very hungry, and God is moving amongst them. And so um, yeah, he he put that on the schedule and he told us before they left um uh in 2025 that hey, there's later this year we're gonna have him, we're gonna have brother DJ Hill, Jeremy Stafford, our national youth ministries leaders, they're gonna come in and it's gonna be great. And so uh we tried to be proactive as we were to to tell, hey, young people, mark your calendars, save you your money, whatever you can do, you gotta come, you gotta be there. And the same thing for Bible school. And so uh we worked our way to there. Finally, we got around the time. The Corbens had come back for that, and we be and we went to work, we got everything ready. Um, and uh we were honored. Um, you know, they uh they let they let us uh kind of lead in that a little bit more um than we had led anything in the past, and so we kind of got to put some stuff together, kind of how we felt that God was leading us, and at the same time, they would give us what they want felt in the Holy Ghost, and so we just end up coming with it and putting it all together. Um, and then we the theme was to every generation, and so we we went through everything now. Being from Tennessee and Tennessee youth camps, to me, Tennessee youth camps are legendary and the uh sure are the um what do they call it tribal wars, you know, getting to see that here, and so we took a we took some of that and we were like, let's do something, let's do something new and let's try to implement well for people who don't know what tribal wars are, give us a quick synopsis. So, from what I understand, and we've wanted to be uh counselors at youth camp, but it seems like every time we try to, we we end up having a schedule build up against us to be to serve in there, just because we're always trying to pick pick people's brains, watch how things are done so that we can grow in what we're doing. And so uh they do tribal wars here in several camps now, and it grows and it evolves. But um usually they'll divide the whole camp into certain groups. I think it's four here in Tennessee, and so each one is divided, they get colors, they're allowed to bring stuff, you know, kind of just dress up. And so they have the camp, they have services and stuff, but throughout the day, and I think especially at the night, they might do special games, special times for them to do these compet competitive games, competitive times of uh fun. And so everybody's doing trying to win games, win points, and at the end, the winners declared the winner of the tribe of wars and whatever team it is, and so we introduced that, and so we presented to him, and he he, brother Corbin, Sister Corbin allowed us to do it. So we created a team. Uh, you know, we had the bears, we had the wolves, the eagles, and instead of the lions, which I believe is what we do here in the states, we did tigers. It's Bangladesh. That makes sense. I thought about trading the bears for elephants just because we have more, or you know, or monkeys, and I should have, uh, but we just tried to keep it you know simple. And so uh, you know, we did that, and so everybody came in. We had different color shirts, everybody was assigned to a team, and um I bet they ate that up, didn't they? Oh man. Oh, that's so cool. That was so much fun and getting to do that for them and allow them to be a part of that. And I I would imagine that as we go forward, we kept everything, kept all the banners, all the flags, uh, the the designs, the national uh pastors there, they got everything so that if we can decide to do it again, we can continue in that. So we had special games and stuff, and man, I mean, it was on fire. We we saw people come to the camp later in the camp because news must have spread, and people were just coming to what check out what was going on. Nice, and I would say that we're that was top tier, not because we did it, uh, as the UPC of Bangladesh, everybody came together, put in everything that they had to do that for the young people, and it I just it was top tier. The pastors were getting into it. Oh man, if you see the videos, you'll see Pastor Rang Tangma, you'll see Pastor Topon just there, and you can tell they're they're wearing colored shirts, they're a little prejudiced. Yeah, but they were getting into it, and and brother DJ and Brother Jeremy were plugging in as well into the games, and so that was very unique. And at the end, the Bears end up winning it.

SPEAKER_01 32:13

And so um Congratulations, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:14

Go Bears. So um, you know, getting to see that that was fun, but um, and so I imagine that that'll be have that'll continue and hopefully. Um, and so but outside of the games and the fun, um, while that's good, that's not our main focus, of course. And uh Brother Jeremy Stafford and Brother DJ Hill came prepared. We had selected some of the team there. Brother Corbin allowed us to speak, he allowed some of the other pastoral staff. Um, our general secretary, brother Peter Bischoff, a man who we love and honor and appreciate very much. They allow, we asked him to do Bible school because we were so focused on recruiting. We wanted to let him know that we have a place that they can come. And if God is calling them into the into something deeper that they could come and they can learn. And so we had him do that session. Uh, one session that I heard a lot of feedback from was Brother DJ Hill had done a class on our doctrine as the oneness of God, and the feedback that I heard was phenomenal. I mean, he that classroom was packed. They said there were people standing in because there were no more chairs left, yeah. And so many people went in to hear that, and so um it was just phenomenal, phenomenal getting uh to hear those reports. We had uh sessions on prayer and we had sessions on worship, and uh brother uh brother Corbin also was able to speak at the last session, and so just a phenomenal time. I think it was uh 97 people, 97 students that were uh was testified of receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. And so come on now.

SPEAKER_01 33:57

That is come on.

SPEAKER_00 33:59

Praise God. And it was just man, the altar is people were praying through, young people. We had uh prodigals that showed up nice that we hadn't seen in a few years, and they're in the altar. Yes, and uh some of them would say, Brother, I we missed we missed the fire. Their words, not mine. We missed the fire. Nice. And I said, Come home. I said, come home.

SPEAKER_01 34:23

Great way to put it.

SPEAKER_00 34:25

Man, I said come home. And and boy, it was it was something. And I have a video on my phone where brother Corbin, man, he does the call for baptism, and you just see people leaving their chairs. I have the number on my phone, I can't remember off the top of my head how many people we baptized. Wow, and the very last person, Pastor Tolpon from Kulna, he comes up because his son said he wanted to get baptized. So the last video I have is of that man baptizing his own son in the name of Jesus, and you could just see his face, how proud he was. And so um what a special, what a very, very special camp. And I believed that set a foundation um for what came and what is coming. And so at the end of that, uh another missionary, I'm gonna call her uh Sister Amy. I won't mention her last name. Uh I know she's doing other work uh in some other areas, and so I want to be respectful of that. Sure. Um but Sister Amy, um, which if you go online, you'll see it anyways. Um she was uh elected or chosen to be the uh uh I don't want to say youth president, youth director for Bangladesh. Oh United Pentecostal Church of Bangladesh Youth Director. And man, she began to plan, she began to launch, and so we launched uh um BYM, Bangladesh Youth Mission Ministries, and it launched, and she's there every Tuesday doing Bible studies online, and she's doing uh so many things. She's plugged into the new church plants there in DACA. She's doing things in the villages that she wants to promote youth ministries, and so she's there actively. So we launched that. It was a big uh it was a big surprise and launch for everybody. And so now we have people connecting too. We had people who were said they were interested in being a BYM leader, and we had it, we held a seminar later on, and so they were able to come and be taught, and she went in there and she just began to teach uh not only them, those who were interested, but the the national leadership, the pastors that all came to that, so that they could if they were interested and continue that, you know, receive training and teaching on that. And so, yeah, at that conference, the BYM was launched and it has continued going forward. Um, Pastor Babla had posted uh one of his church works because he's got several under him, and he shared some pictures. Uh, and I sent it over to her really quickly, and he was the first one that started BYM youth services on Friday night, and so it was phenomenal. Uh one of our church plants there, uh, Vatra, they started doing and they're still doing it now. Uh, I got some pictures the other day and um with the young people there in the Vatara church, and so it's growing. And I know sister has a great vision and she's a great burden for the young people there, and so man, all together we had some fun, we had uh a mighty move of God, and then again, it's like the whole year. It's not just been about what we were in right there in that moment, but God was just showing us hey, what's coming after? Yeah, you know, I talked about the four churches, the what's coming after are being prepared in that Bible school right now with the with the youth conference. Man, to every generation, it was perfect, it was a launching point, and we had felt that in the spirit. It was a launching point of what was gonna come, not just to the generation that was there, but to the next one and to the elders. Everybody collectively got to see uh God move amongst the young people and see that there is a voice coming from the young people of Bangladesh. And so um God began to lay the steps for even after. And so now we're expecting great things coming from uh uh the BYM and the young people of Bangladesh, man. So all kinds of exciting stuff.

SPEAKER_01 38:14

Man, I cannot wait to hear updates about that. Sounds like faith is exploding in Bangladesh. That is amazing, and the word of God is going forth, and God will always blow our minds, even when we think we've seen it all, won't he? Yeah, it's amazing. It's amazing. Well, Johnny, we gotta bring it to a close here. There but uh be on the lookout for for part two because there's just too much to go into. There's just too much to go into. So uh guys, with that, uh we're gonna call it. And uh Johnny, before we do, please give everybody your socials, tell them what what you got going on and uh where they can donate to the uh uh Garcia Family Ministries.

SPEAKER_00 38:56

For sure, for sure. So uh we're on Instagram and we're on Facebook. On Facebook, we're at Familia Garcia uh in Misiones. It's it's a Spanish page, and we try to do bilingual as much as possible, but we're really trying to spread the word out to our Spanish brethren, uh the Latino communities, not just in North America, but all over the world about what God's doing in Bangladesh. And so um that one's we're on there. And then on Instagram, if you type in G Fam104 G F A M M104, you'll find us on Instagram. That one's a little bit more active. We try to be more active on there, uh, where the cool kids are, I suppose. Before going to TikTok or anything else, it's just too many accounts there. But um, you'll find us on both of those platforms, and so we we try to keep up, you know, with what's going on in Bangladesh as well as while we're here, fundraising um and getting ready for the next step in our missions journey. And so um you can find a link on our Instagram if you find us. Uh, you can find a link on our Instagram for uh ways to partner with us. We're looking for partners. Um, you know, we're getting ahead of what's coming our way and raising monthly partners. If that if that means five dollars, hey, come on now. Five dollars. If you can give ten dollars, whatever it is, um, you know, we are greatly appreciated partnering with us and what's happening in Bangladesh. This is not just about raising, you know, a certain budget. This is about we want you to partner with us, and we're partnering with you, and together we're seeing a harvest in Bangladesh. Not every everybody might not be able to go, but we can all give. And I know we personally um are very good, uh, strong advocates for that in any way that we can. We try to be um givers if we can't go. And even in Bangladesh, we did that. So um, yeah, those are some ways that you can do that, and um, and so there's a portal there that you can get our link in our bio, and that'll take you to our portal.

SPEAKER_01 40:53

So, yeah. Excellent, excellent, guys. Yeah, give uh give generously to uh the Garcia Family Ministries. Um, of course, uh it's not cheap. You know, building building churches and and traveling and and uh and all that. So please uh find it in your heart to give generously. And uh with all that being said, as always, guys, thank you so much for listening and may God richly bless you. And I'll see ya on the next episode.