Hi everyone!! We finally got some wifi! Abidjan has been treating us well! The weather is absolutely gorgeous and I found pizza last night for dinner so I am at home here. Below is my first blog written outside of the US that I finished about a week ago. Hope you enjoy!
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If anyone knows me much at all, they know that I love to dance. Whenever I hear music playing, I can’t help but to move to it. Dancing frees my soul. It is a way I express myself. Needless to say, it can be very powerful to me.
On our first day of ministry, we were invited to a concert that our host ministry was putting on. The lead pastor, Pastor Sam, asked if we would perform a couple songs at the concert because he knew that we had a few people on our teams who were musically gifted. We decided to all go up as a group on stage together and sing even though a majority of us do not sing and have never performed in front of an audience. At first we were all a little nervous because we had no rehearsal time and didn’t know what we were going to sing. We sang the first few songs and by the time we started singing our third song, I looked over and saw both teams on stage genuinely worshipping the Lord. We weren’t focused on how we sounded or what we looked like. It also helped that the crowd was just as into worshipping even though most of them spoke French and did not understand English. This experience was wonderful, but the real fun did not start until the other groups who were lined up to perform got on stage.
If you have never experienced an African worship service, I highly recommend it if you ever get the chance. When these beautiful people feel the spirit, they express it through movement. As soon as the first fast song was played, many got up and danced in front of the stage where they continued to praise Him. I was very quick to get up and join in. Eventually our whole team got up and joined in the worship. The pure, genuine joy and happiness that I felt while dancing and praising Jesus with these people was indescribable. I have never experienced these feelings when worshiping before. I was dancing with Jesus in that moment, a truly beautiful moment.
I just want to thank all of y’all for all the prayers and support that I have received!
