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“They don’t belong here! They aren’t our religion! They can’t be allowed to speak!” These were the cries from the opposing elders. Then the Catechist got up from his chair near the pulpit of the huge cathedral. Dressed in his colored robes he stepped near the stone steps and gave a talk that seemed to rebuke the shouts. “They should be allowed to speak! Christ was not of a certain religion was He?! We should hear what they have to say!” And these were the cries of the elders who supported us. Have you ever stood in the front of a big Cathedral in the middle of Africa, with more than 400 people sitting before you during the service, while an argument breaks out, that is about you, among the elders and leaders of the church? Let’s go back to the beginning for this story… 

 
 

“Aww sweet, we get to go from hut to hut in this small village in Tanzania and share the Gospel!? You know evangelism is like my favorite thing to do right Rachael!?” – Jedediah

 

“Sure do Jed. My favorite thing is to carry my guitar around all day. Wait you are supposedly a gentlemen. Don’t you want to carry it for me?” – Rache

 

“Hakuna matata Rachee Pagee, I’d offer to carry it ya know, ‘cept I’m on this cane, hmm, guess it has it’s benefits.” – Jedediah

 

“You always look at the glass half full don’t ya Jed” – Rache

 

                                        (Rachael)                                                                              (Jedediah)
 

After this they and the rest of team Dynami started spreading out throughout the village in 2’s or 3’s with translators and people from the nearby Christian church. From 11am to 6pm they would stay in this village meeting the people, sharing the Gospel and seeing people come to accept Christ. Truly a great experience. But after a week of this…

 

                                                                          (Team: Dynami)
 
 “You know I have met so many people recently that are apart of a Roman Catholic church here in the village. But as I’ve asked them questions about their faith, who Jesus is or how God wants them to live their life, many of them would answer with an, “I don’t know”, they would just tell me that they go to church on Sundays, and pray to Mary hoping that she would ask God to help them with their needs. When I would even ask them if they knew what sin was I would get blank expressions. It’s so sad to see so many people live in this way!” – Jedediah
 

“It is sad, I have been meeting a bunch of them too. It’s very hard to talk to them more about the relationship we can have with God when they think that being a Christian is just about the traditions and rituals they do. It is hard to teach them about a real relationship with Christ.” – Andrea

 

“Aww I Don’t know. You know what, I’ll see if I can meet the leader of that Roman Catholic church! Then I can see more of what they are teaching these people, aha! That’s what I’ll do, a great plan I do think.”- Jedediah

 

“You know what Jed, you should do that, go for it!” – Andrea

 

                         (Teammate Andrea)

After this I spoke with the pastor we were working with, I asked him if we could meet the leader of the RC (Roman Catholic) church there, he gave me the thumbs up, and said that the next day I could go and meet him. I told the team about this and instantly Rachael said that she wanted to come and meet the RC leader too. So with excitement and a little thinking of, “I wonder what I’m going to say to this guy?”, the next day came…

“So this cathedral is more than 50 years old?” – Jedediah

 

“Yes, missionaries came and built it, and actually just recently we had a RC leader stay for awhile working with this church that was from America.” – Catechist

 

“Wow, that is amazing, so what is a Catechist anyways, I really don’t know these terms” – Jedediah

 

“Well I am pretty much like the pastor here for now in this church, but I still have not gone to priest school yet.” – Catechist

 

“Oh who is that cute little boy over there? Is that your son! Oh he’s so cute. Oh he’s terrified of me. Don’t run away. Come back.” – Rache

 

“Oh it’s ok. He’s afraid of white people.” – Catechist

 

“Oh well I’m about as white as it gets, oh wait, I forgot about Andrea! Glad she’s not here. He’d be crying right now.” – Rache

 

                                                                                        (The Catechist)
 
Our first meeting went well with him, we both liked him a lot and saw that there was a difference with him. I told him that we were there for a whole month in his village, and we would love to support him and his church more while there, through teachings for his church or just visiting his home and talking with him more (his home was right outside the cathedral). He seemed to love this idea, and invited us to come to his church that Sunday and give a teaching also…
 

“Whoa Rache, did that just happen? That guy was amazing, I can’t wait to talk with him more, and to think he even invited us to come and speak at his church!” – Jedediah

 

“Ya that’s Crazy. Didn’t think he’d let us come and talk. Maybe we should not jump right into the nitty gritty right away or they might not ask us back. So maybe your message entitled ‘Saints are idols’ shouldn’t be used this week.” – Rache

 
 

“haha, right on sista, I guess I’ll just stick with the basics of the Gospel for now.” – Jedediah
 

                                         (Rache with a lady from the RC Church and the Quataquiste)

As the service went along in the RC church they had a grand choir that sang beautiful songs, all with elegant robes on (some of these ladies even had babies slung on their back as they danced and clapped!). They read some scripture, had communion, and then it had come time for me and Rachael to be introduced to the church. We walked up to the front, with Rachael looking a little shy (don’t tell her I said that!) and stood in a line with our translator…

“Pop click click snap (Praise God), My name is Rachael, Thank you for letting us come visit your beautiful church and be a part of your service.”- Rache

 

“Bwana asifiwe (Praise the Lord), My name is Jedediah, and I come from Florida in America.” – Jedediah

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Then a man stood up among the hundreds, who was sitting at the front of the pews and asked, “What Religion are you?” Me and Rache both looked at each other and thought it probably a good thing we both were from non-denominational churches back home.

 

“We are followers of Jesus Christ” – Rache

 
 

Then all hell broke loose it seemed…