Please
note that I write this blog not as a complaint in any way, but rather so that
you would know what our ministry is like out in the bush.
The
people here have received the Word, and are eager to hear more. Unfortunately, they seem to want to hear it
all day, every day! This definitely
keeps us on our toes, as we’re never sure when we will be called on to
preach! Everyone on the team has a
sermon ready just in case. I preached
just last night on the topic of God’s love.
What’s especially crazy is that church services sometimes randomly start
at very early hours of the morning, while we’re trying to sleep!
This may
be an obvious point, but nothing here starts on time. Ever.
The service today started an hour and a half late. That’s just the way things are here, and we
go with the flow. It doesn’t matter much
to us. Oftentimes in service, we will be
told “Your team will preach after this song”, or “We want to see
some American song and dance!”
Since we don’t really put dance moves with 
worship songs, we ended up
doing the electric slide while we sang along!
There’s no rhyme or reason to the service, so we never know what’s
coming. Sometimes we’ll sit there for
hours and not get called to do anything, but other times, we can’t get things
together fast enough! Whenever there’s
an ‘awkward’ pause while we put things quickly together, someone from the
congregation always jumps up and starts singing and dancing. Never a dull moment!
In this
village, they really believe in community living. There are two large drums of water that the
entire village, small as it is, shares for cooking, cleaning, and showers. Someone regularly goes down to the large hole
dug by the river to fill them up. Since
we’re part of the community, they share it with us. This, of course, means that all our things
are up for grabs, no questions asked.
Finish cleaning one of the two pots we have to cook in and ten minutes
later it’s being carried to the other si
de of the village by some random
woman. It can take some time to track it
down again. I noticed our dinner pot was
missing this morning…I wonder who will be hunting for it later?
Probably
the strangest thing here is the miscommunication…or lack of communication all
together. Two nights ago, we were told
about an all day fast that was only for the women of the village. The next morning, after we’d finished eating
breakfast, we were asked why we hadn’t fasted the meal. Apparently, we were somehow expected to
although we were told to our faces otherwise.
Church proceedings have been miscommunicated, usually leaving us looking
clueless. There was even a day where we
were supposed to go minister at a school, but were told the wrong time to be
there. The children had waited for us
for a while before leaving.
Fortunately,
we were able to redeem ourselves at the school.
We went back the next day and did song and dance. We also played games and did a David and
Goliath skit, in which I was King Saul.
I think the kids were a little overwhelmed and a little shy of white
people. It’s been the same with the kids
in the village – we usually have to initiate contact with them, but they
quickly overcome any fear and join us in whatever we’re doing. When we’re not spending time with them, they
just stare at us from a distance.
Once,
when a group of us went evangelizing, we found most the village at a
funeral. The lady had died the night
before and they were about to bury her.
We showed up in time to walk with the village to the burial site. We stayed for the entire burial. The dead woman was covered in a sheet and
carried on a gurney made of sti
cks.
After she was lowered in, the gurney was dismantled and placed in the
hole with her. The dirt was put back in
it’s place and plants were placed over the grave. When we returned to her house, my teammate
Darci delivered a message on comfort.
This is
Africa! It’s a wonderful place, just a
lot different from home…and there’s nothing wrong with that. That’s just the way it is. I really do love it here, and I wouldn’t
trade this time for anything. God is
changing us and hopefully we will leave these people with an understanding of
how awesome and mighty our God is. I
pray that in all we do, whether struggle or triumph, that He be lifted high!
