Shopping with Taseer

Taseer is like my father, heavenly Father too. 

I held my pomelo that I wanted to purchase, and stopped to look at the kitkats and chocolates. I thought about treating the team to chocolate as well as my pomelo. Taseer, the cook I was shopping with, walks past and says, “get anything you want.” I thought “nah, Taseer has already done so much for the teams he cooks for. I’m probably not even getting away with buying this pomelo myself, I shouldn’t get a kitkat.”

Taseer was willing to get anything for me. Especially chocolate. He added twice as much chicken to our lunch recipe because he wanted to bless us. We requested more vegetables because it had been a while, and he let us get all the vegetables we wanted. He made special tea on his off day our first week in the country because many of the team got sick. 

A week prior to the shopping trip I requested more fruit, peanut butter, and some oatmeal for breakfast at the center. Taseer went above and beyond. I don’t know how long it will take for us to empty the bag of oats he got for us. He even carried the bag of 40 bananas by himself, along with all the extra chicken, vegetables, and rice. 

He also doesn’t let his daughters carry anything heavy. He will sacrifice so we don’t get sore or tired. This means Taseer carrying 8 grocery bags while I carry my pomelo and the one bag of rice I grabbed before he could add it to his load,

He loves us so well. He got us all the ingredients for the curry we wanted to make. He let us join him in his kitchen. Then he also shared his heart with us after we broke bread by sharing his testimony. 

We learned today that he has two sons. He also says all the time that we are his daughters. so we asked him how many daughters he has, “maybe… around… 200?” We learned that he has no biological daughters but soooo many ‘daughters’ from serving at the center. Teams filter through and he loves them all as his own family. He cares for us so well. 

Taseer is also an example in his community. Everyone knows he is a Christ follower, and he is able to shine Jesus’s light. He is bold. Taseer hosts multiple bible studies to share the Truth amongst the lies that have planted themselves in the culture.

On the last day, he asked me how I was. “good, how are you?” “If you are good, then I am good.” Then I asked, “what if I am sad? I am sad to leave.” Then Taseer responded, “If one of my daughters or sons is sad, then I am sad. I take care of my family.” 

“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Philippians‬ ‭2‬:‭1‬-‭4‬ ‭

Not my will, but His,

Sarah