A Day To Remember

Sunday was a day I hope that I never forget. We had the opportunity to go out to a small community church that is associated with the mission that we are working with. We all piled in to the van that morning and It was about an hours drive from where we are staying. When we arrived into the community, we drove to the little church. It was a building that had a thatched roof and open on the edges with several supporting poles down the center of the building. The floor was the red African dirt that we are becoming so familiar with. When we walked in to the church there were about 12 wooden chairs set up and off to the side were bamboo and reed mats. To the other side were a couple of rows of log seating, typically seen in places for gatherings here in the rural areas of Mozambique. We were asked to come and sit as the chairs were pointed out to us. It became apparent that the North American style seating had been put out especially in honor of the visiting Canadian Mazoongos (white people). The women came in and sat on the mats that were placed on the ground on the right of the chairs and the men sat on the log seating on the left side of the church. The last time I was here in Mozambique I was very blown away by the way the Afircans do church. I believe if everyone did church like this, there would be way more people that would come. For that reason, I was looking forward to seeing if I these folks would do it the same as I had remembered. The service started out with singing. Amazing singing…. and let me tell you that there is no one here that is too afraid to belt it out. Let me remind you that there are no pianos or instruments other that a drum and the clapping of hands, and the only thing that can top off the singing is the dancing. Wow...these people know how to shake their “Bon Bon” and they have no problem doing it. My favorite was the 4 year old little girl that danced like I have never seen. The joy on their faces was so apparent with praise and worship. After the preaching was done the pastor stood up and said that they were going to do a “Love “offering. I wasn’t too sure what this meant, but it started out with more singing and dancing and that was ok for me. During the dancing all of our girls got to get into dance along with the Mozambican people and during the dancing, 2 tied-up chickens were brought to the front of the church and layed on the floor. Also a bag of fruit was brought and placed near the chickens. This was a gift from the church to our team in honor of our visit. After the service we were asked if we would please come and join the pastor and his wife for lunch. Now under most circumstances like these, it is best to thank them very much but give excuse. It is not always the wisest thing to eat the meals that the Mozambican’s prepare as often the result will mean many hours in the bathroom. This time we were told that the meal had already been prepared and refusing the meal would be not polite, so we accepted with a little hesitation. We were led to the pastor’s home and at the door of his little 10x10 house, stood the pastor and his wife with a jug of water and basin that they used to pour water over our hands so we could wash before the meal. Then the 16 of us entered the small home and sat in a circle. Due to the cramped space we were knee to knee. We were served and ate the meal of rice and beans that had prepared for us. We asked why we were all sitting in the small house when we could have been outside a little less cramped. We were told that it was a great honor for the pastor to have us all in his home and not outside. He was trying to give us all the greatest honor he could. In addition to this honor, we were told that this pastor had been able to grow only 8 cobs of corn due to drought this past year. He was hardly able to feed his own family but it was important for him to be able to feed our team in honor. . Our good friend and co-leader Jeff, told us that after 18 years in the army and after many occasions of honor that he was a part of due to the service that he had given, he has never experienced the honor that was given to the group that day in a little church in Mozambique. It was a moment that I hope we all never forget and will be able to hold close to our minds and hearts for a long time .

Wendy