Did All
That Seriously Just Happen!?
We, 6 people from the two teams here, decided to go to the
nearby village of Amatanda for one night on December 11th. We rode north for a little over an hour,
got off the truck, walked about a mile and a half and then found our little
village. I tried to set up my hammock between the one mid-sized tree there
and a pole and well, let’s just say gravity didn’t work well in my favor. The
dried up ground was cracking all the more at the bottom and the pole wasn’t
looking too promising! After a quick decision, I sat up my tent on the west
side (take notes my friends) of a grass hut to avoid the warm sunshine at 4:30
in the morning. Great idea! …or was it?
After an hour long, group wide massage session, my eyes were
heavy and I decided to lie down until dinner, that is, IF it was going to
happen…. I was woke up for dinner (nsima (boiled flour and water) and unidentifiable
goat organs) and I didn’t last real long. I was about to pass out and wasn’t
too hungry so I decided to head back to my tent. We were told that after dinner
there was going to be a church service. I wasn’t looking forward to it at all
because I was so WORN OUT but no problem I suppose…. Well, I just happened to be
woke up at 12:00am by BLARING music (2 HUGE speakers, a keyboard and a
synthesizer) about 20 feet from my tent. I looked up and saw about 100 people
dancing that evidently started around 11:00pm. Shortly after, I heard, “These
are our friends from America. Americans, please stand up and raise your hands
so they can see who you are.� “DUH!!!�, I thought…. Haha I immediately got out of my tent and stood up as I noticed all of my
friends at the front of the crowd. I walked around, took a bit of video
then returned to my tent to listen to Christi Zbylut (Team ‘Abundant Life’)
preach. That didn’t last very long at all…. I passed out by 1:00am or so, only
to wake up again about an hour later (2-2:30am) to more blaring music and dancing. They were
GETTING’ AFTER IT!!!
Well, it was time to wake up! It was 5:00am and the music
and dancing started all over again! Our contact, Peter, who is blind, walked
over with his helper and shook my tent. “Colby,� he hollered, “can you wake everyone
and tell them they can attend the baptisms if they want?� “Yes sir,� I said. “I’m pretty sure they’re awake (hence
the FULL VOLUME music) but I will tell them.� I got out of my tent walked over
to wake Lucas and the first words from his mouth were, “ARE YOU KIDDING!? He
can’t be serious! It’s 5 in the morning! …after 2 hours of sleep….� It was
HILARIOUS!!! Lucas finished with, “At 5:00am ON THE DOT I was awake! That’s
when the music started!� Wow!!!
We followed quite a few people to the non-flowing ‘river’
for a baptism service. The men cleared the stagnant water that was topped with
a thick layer of moss and sludge, the Zimbabwean preacher blessed and anointed
the water from all diseases and whatnot and in went the people! It was great! They practically threw the little boys in,
dipped ‘em and threw ‘em out. The blessing and cleansing of the water
lasted longer than the baptisms themselves! It was almost as if he had a hott
date to get to…. :/
After returning to the huts, we chilled in the grass covered
church pavilion for a few hours and waited for the communion service. I put on
some Christmas music while some napped and other chatted. It was an amazing,
relaxing time in the coolest part of the village! We reminisced on home as well as past Christmases and shared our
thoughts on what’s next…. Oh the spirit of Christmas!
It came time for the communion service and the pastor from
Zimbabwe got after it again! He was literally yelling at the top of his lungs
with a really funny voice and we all sat as he practically ran us through about
20 books of the bible (he was VERY WELL versed) and repeated himself about 3
times. (I give him props, you could tell that he was a revival evangelist and
did his studying.) As I sat back and listened, I began to make a bracelet out
of a palm branch that absolutely made my day! I LOVE IT!!! It kept me occupied
and helped me stay engaged at the same time. (make sense?) I’m not claiming it
but you ADD people know what I’m talking about! Haha It’s funny too because my
teammates said, “Man, we should give Colby leaves more often!� haha Good one! After
about a 2 hour service, we ate lunch, gathered our things and headed towards
the road and hit it back to Mafambisse (our village) wondering,
“Did all that seriously just happen!?�
