Sunday, Nov 8 – Now THAT was church!!

From Debra: Sarah’s last in-country blog was as we were getting ready to leave in the vans for church, so I thought I would fill you in on that experience from my perspective.  Any other missioners – feel free to chime in!

We attended Hope Worship Centre, a church something like our own Christ Church in that it is located in the midst of a suburban, upper-middle class development – kind of Crosspointe-African Style.  Electricity is available (but no plumbing per se), houses are in various stages of being built, and the roads are, well, still in progress.  Kind of picture Crosspointe when it was being roughed out in the late 80′s-early 90′s except people are living there before the site development is finished.

Anyway, Hope Educational Centre is their “Promised Land.”  Construction and growth will happen as money is available; for right now, there is a concrete slab, a tent, and lots of extension cords to power the one electric keyboard, two speakers and a few microphones.  There is a small wooden lectern covered by a pretty white fringed cloth.  There are sprigs of greenery and red bougainvillea tied to the tent posts for decoration.  It is all actually very pretty and the tropical warm breeze keeps the heat manageable.

The keyboard and 4-5 singers are singing as we arrive. We are honored to be their guests and we are ushered to the best front seats of plastic picnic chairs.  Pastor Henry opens up with a greeting and then we stand and sing for a very long time.  No limit to the standard 3 songs — each song goes for at least 15 minutes and I think I stopped counting at 4 or 5 songs.  Singing, dancing, clapping, swaying — we all truly got caught up in the rhythm of it all.

Pastor Henry welcomes our team to his church

Earlier in the morning, PJ had asked for volunteers to share their testimony and impressions of the week’s experience.  John O’Brien, Amy Rosenberger, Kim Leavenworth and Don Christensen agreed to step forward.  While all of them did a great job of explaining what this mission experience meant to them, John’s and Kim’s words left awe and tears in their wake.

John read of Jesus’ miracle in feeding the crowds with only a few loaves of bread and fish.  He told how God had likewise performed a miracle of providing the medicines that we needed for this mission, and how each time we feared that we did not have enough, He would provide via a misplaced or forgotten suitcase of just the right meds.  He also reminded us how the 7 medical providers and 2 doctors were also “multiplied” through the gifts of their treating hands and knowledge.  Through them, we provided medical treatment to more than 2800 people in 3 days – more than these same people would normally be able to treat collectively in a month back in the US!  Thank you John!

John O'Brien sharing his mission experience and thoughts with the church

Kim shared how God has worked through pain and suffering in her life, stunning us all with a story of her youth when her arms and hands were so badly burned that doctors believed she would either lose her hands or be disabled for life.  She told us how her “daddy” worked on her hands every day to keep them moving in spite of the scars and burns and excrutiating pain that she endured.  She watched him cry as it pained him to hurt her, but that he knew this was necessary if she were to heal and have use of her hands.  In light of the pain and incredible suffering we had just seen in so many peoples’ lives, this testimony brought us all to tears!  What an amazing witness for the Lord!

More singing and not one, but TWO great sermons from Pastor John followed!  No one checked their watches but we all estimated  that the service had lasted over 2-1/2 hours and we weren’t in a rush to leave!  It was a blessed morning of worship to close out our week!

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