Adventures WorldRace SethBarnes Sponsorship Giving

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When we finally arrived at our village (after 20 hours in a cramped van), we marched up the stairs to our guesthouse to drop off our things before we were sent off to the church. We were late, so our scheduled rest time had been skipped. We were exhausted but trooped off down the street, then down a dirt road, under some palm trees and got to the church for lunch. Rice, some kind of greens called Morning Glory and some other strange looking and smelling so called edible food. I mostly stuck to the rice and greens. It was good and gave us some energy. But after a while someone went to get us some Coca Cola because we were so tired.

 
We were supposed to be spending time with the young church staff. (Or stave, as it was written on the schedule. Is that the plural of staff? Maybe just in Vietnam. Oh language barriers and all the laughs they provide.) All I could think about was how I wanted to go to sleep. I barely got any during the night because I’d been sitting up with my knees squashed against the seat in font of me in our cramped van. The staff had organized a worship time where they led a bunch of songs in Vietnamese. The band began to play and when the 30 young adults opened their mouths to sing and incredible sound came out.

 

I was practically bowled over by the noise. In all of my life, through all of my travels, I have never seen or heard a body worship this way. They were so loud! I mean, Africa is pretty loud, passionate and intense but they usually have ridiculously loud digital drumbeats from their keyboards blaring over their un-EQ’d microphones and loud speakers. But this was just so different! Each and every person was singing with all of their might. I watched them give their all and open their mouths as wide as possible to make the sound even greater. I’ll say it again, I have never in my life heard a church body (of any size) sing as loudly as these 30. They meant and believed every word they said. It blew me away.

I looked around the room and marveled at them and this situation. Here I was, exhausted. All I could think about was finishing up here and getting back to our guesthouse so I could sleep. But here were 30 young adults connecting with God in a very powerful way, giving him everything. It hit me quickly and profoundly once I realized what was happening around me. Completely unaware, it snuck up on me. I had just stepped into a holy moment.

My eyes began to fill with tears. Despite my exhaustion, or how I felt, God was here and was powerfully inhabiting the praises of his people. How could I think of sleep now? It was a beautiful and humbling moment. It filled me with  joy to see my brothers and sisters, who have lived a life so completely different than my own and don’t even speak the same language as me, praise our Father together. It was beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. My heart felt like it would float to the moon and back without any effort at all.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
To be continued…