Four Churches

Sunday October 26

Ashlynn and I woke up, cooked some eggs, put them on some bread and ate our breakfast. At 6:00 we gathered the supplies to take to Alberto. Some Mantega beans and oil as well as salaries for the pastors and some audio Bibles. Janito drove and Frederico, the pastor over the district, sat in the front. Ashlynn and I sat in the bed of the truck and we were off. It was pleasant morning, even a little bit chilly. We drove through Balama and then headed South to Namuno. The dust was flying and people were calling “acunha” and pointing as we drove by. It could be because they rarely see white people or because they rarely see white people sitting in the bed of the truck. Either way, we were happy to have the best seats with fresh air, and a perfect view of the African wilderness.

We drove through Namuno and it was much bigger than I had imagined it to be. It is bigger than Balama and cleaner also. There are lots of coconut trees and lots of trees in general. Janito bought some bejias (fried bean patties) and they were fresh off the fire which means they were extra-delicious. He said Namuno has the best bejias and I agree although he does have more experience eating bejias than I do. The first church we visited is still being built. But we met under a mango tree to hold the services. There were about 15 men and one woman. I was shocked to see a father holding his daughter who was about two and she was entertaining herself with a knife and a green mango. I didn’t notice her making any progress in opening the mango but hopefully someone will take the knife away and actually help her open the fruit so she can eat it.

The second village was called Vitoria and they actually had a church building made of mud bricks. When we arrived there were a bunch of kids singing and dancing being led by a man and woman. I later learned it was the pastor and his wife. We went inside the building and they showed us their daughter who was laying in the front of the church sprawled out on a capalana(a capalana functions as a sheet, skirt, bag, baby wrap and many, many other things). The girl had been vomiting and throwing up. The mother picked the girl up, she was probably 8, tossed her on her back and tied her on with a capalana. Janito drove them to the hospital. After church we walked to Alberto’s house and visited with the pastor.

As part of this journey, Ashlynn and I went to find the bathroom (made out of bamboo sticks with grass tied to them as the walls and there is a hole in the ground). There were some cute baby pigs inside the bathroom and then I noticed the mother was there too. ‘Fred, we have a problem…’ Fred came over and he along with one of the boys chased the pigs out of the hole in the back wall of the bathroom.

We drove to the third village and they also were building their church. We met under a grass roof with people spilling out to the porch of the house next to it. We sang with them and then Fred preached again. As we were walking to the truck to leave one man came running after us and gave us a plastic bag with 5 eggs in it as an ‘oferta’. Some of those guys went with us to the next church.

The final church also had a building and it was the biggest with around 80 people in attendance. The singing was more energetic in this place. After the service we prayed for an older grey-haired man who was sick but I couldn’t quite understand what Fred said he was sick with, a blind woman and an epileptic boy. As we were leaving that place a man also gave a plastic sack of eggs and one of beans as an ‘oferta’.

As we drove home Fred bought some boiled corn on the cob for us to eat and we bought some cokes. It was a sweet day visiting and I do hope we get to visit those churches again as well as some others.

As we listened to the preaching in each church and understood none of it, I was grateful that God has provided His Word to these people in their own language and men who can teach them. My prayer is that the pastors will continue to seek God and to challenge their members to follow Him. And also that more men would follow God’s call to teach others of Him.