Sunday morning we woke up out of a dead sleep and experienced our shower for the first time. It wasn't nearly as primitive as I had been prepared for. Last year in Rwanda, Dan had a tub and a bucket - no shower nozzle. We at least had a hand-held shower nozzle. It is so difficult to rinse your head and face without getting water in your nose or mouth. I kept blowing water droplets off my lips hoping I wouldn't accidently swallow the tiniest drop. After showers, we poisoned ourselves with DEET spray. Although I faithfully swallowed a malaria tablet (malarone) every day, Dan chose to not go with the medicine. He claims (yet to be substantiated) that we were above the malaria line. And I'll admit we didn't meet or hear of anyone that had malaria where we were, but just to be on the safe side...we did see lots of mosquitoes due to the tropical climate, but they pretty much kept their distance. I wore my long black skirt, a long-sleeved shirt, white tennis shoes and black socks. Nice combination. We met the Mother Church pastor, Japhet and the Mission Point pastor, John D'Amour at the EER Guest House. They rode with us over to the Mother Church. The Mother Church was about a mile up a very rocky, rutted out dirt/mud road. All the way there, people stared at us. Not just because cars rarely are seen on that road, but because we were white. We were quite the novelty. All the people - women & children included, had either totally shaved heads or very, extremely close to the scalp, hair. Since they expected a larger crowd and also wanted to attract people walking by, we met outside the building. The people sat on benches or on the ground or just stood under umbrellas (shade from the sun). The first sounds we heard were those of people enthusiastically worshipping. There was a woman keeping rhythm on a giant drum which she beat with a mallet. She was also the worship leader. Each song seemed to be very long. Our Ministry Partners explained that a lot of the songs they sing tell stories of God and what He has done. Some songs had motions and dancing. It was very cool. All a capella with people clapping along and adding harmonies. We sat at the front facing the people. As the crowd grew, I started to get sort of nervous. I felt every thought leave my head. Great. Totally blank. I realized that anything I had to say would come from God because all my earthly knowledge, "wisdom", and experience had vanished. I was left completely vulnerable and utterly dependent on God's mercy for Him to be able to use me to share His message. It was unreal. This was the feeling that I carried with me everyday. Absolute brokenness and surrender. A deep sense of belonging totally to God and knowing I was in the right place at the right time for the right purpose and the results were out of my control. It was all about divine appointments, the outpouring of God's favor and the Holy Spirit, and my obedience to share God's message. The pressure was off. The results were up to Him. If He could use me, I was willing.
More later.
