The first mission team arrived (from Desert Springs, Arizona) on Saturday night and that meant we were able to go to African Church on Sunday Morning!
I had never been to an African church so I got decked out. I put on my pair of khakis that I had been saving for special occasions and I even tucked my shirt in which I never do.
We went to New Life Church in Intabazwe, the smaller township that is right next to Harrismith. The Pastor was a big jolly looking man named Mbana who was in a Hawaiian style t-shirt that was loud and proud for Jesus. His bright gold watch and ring was a bit disconcerting to see in such a place of poverty but regardless this guy was completely sold out for Jesus.
The actual church building was barely larger than the one room in my home church that I helped teach sunday school in. However as we walked into to hear the music and singing we knew we were in a place of God.
It was a nice reminder to see people who were passionate for Jesus even though they did not have a million dollar building or even a building with more than one large room.
After singing for 15-20 minutes we had great joy when a bunch of the older kids from Hope House walked in. They seemed as happy to see us as we were them and one even came over and sat with us. Their smiling faces are a great joy for me here.
Singing is generally accompanied by swinging hips here and while I didn't get that far in my worship I did get started clapping my hands and swaying as best I could. I honestly love hearing the combined singing of others more than singing out loud myself. In any case the songs, a mixture of sesotho and english were great.
One thing I must point out is the absolutely crazy interpretation during church. Whoever is speaking is interpreted by someone but they change languages constantly. It is an interpreters nightmare I imagine. One second the speaker is doing sesotho, then english, then zulu. Its fun to behold.
African church was lots of fun and I enjoyed being more deeply in the culture and seeing how they worship. I look forward to returning.
Computer Issues
On a sad note my totally awesome laptop had its hard drive busted during an unfortunate accident by one of my fellow interns. While Ive only had it for a few months so I did not lose much data is it very sad. Right now I am typing this entry on a ghetto laptop that Thrive has as an extra. I hope to get my laptop fixed soon but until then Im stuck with this. I may not be as able to upload pictures as easily but I'll let you know about that. Finally I will probably start writing my monthly newsletter next week. Stay tuned!
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2 comments:
That's a major stinker about the computer, Matt. Now when you get it back, you can use the handy dandy USB stick I bought to you to save some of your best stuff in case something ever happens again! Maybe you have been anyways. Sadness though, really not much fun.
How would you feel about using this in the intern parent newsletter?
"Singing is generally accompanied by swinging hips here and while I didn't get that far in my worship I did get started clapping my hands and swaying as best I could."
btw, may I please sit by you this week at church. I would like to see this swaying in action...
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