Our 36 Day God Adventure in the Bandundu
Day 35 : Sunday, October 9, 2011
Definitely feeling much better this morning - a little weak and a bit of a headache - both probably because I haven't eaten much in a couple of days.
Took my bucket bath early in part so no one would see just how awful I looked (and smelled) and to get ahead of all the others who would be trying to get in later before church. Felt good but freezing at the same time. Oh well, I feel almost human again. Small price to pay for that I would say!
The team is being split up this morning at 4 different churches in Bandundu City. Pastor Muzau, Richard and I are at the church right across the road for which I am very thankful. Richard will be preaching. Our service starts at 2PM which won't be a problem for us but I wonder about the others who have gone off to other churches.
When we arrive at church, the musicians are playing, and singing and there are some kids and a few men. That's unusual because in most churches here, women far outnumber men. We'll see what happens over the next hour.
We, of course, are led up on stage which is a great honour. Personally I could do without the honour! I'm hoping I will feel ok throughout the service. At least if I'm not feeling well and have to leave, I can just walk back to the house where we are staying.
Little by little the church begins to fill up - it is an explosion of colour since all Congolese, men and women, love to wear bright colours. I really love to see the women in their bright array of outfits with every colour of the rainbow. Beautiful! I noticed that there were a lot of really tall women in the congregation - I'm not sure if they are all from one family or if there is a tribe in this area on the tall side of things.
Richard preaches a good sermon, reworking his message on Jonathan. Boy, was he ever sweating! The one arm of his shirt had totally changed colour, drenched in sweat by the end of the message.
We were back before the others so the pastor asked if we would like a little tour around. We eventually end up back at this house. One thing I've noticed is that the Congoses are normally not too strong in small talk.
Eventually the rest of the team came back and we ate lunch and then proceeded to our final training session. Most of it was led by Pastor Pierre though Richard had a small section to do. I'm rather glad to have already finished my part yesaterday in spite of feeling so awful at the time.
Finally the certificates are distributed and photos taken. Can you believe it? We've done all 9 trainings and tomorrow we head back to Kinshasa. In all we have trained 440 people this trip - 295 pastors, 14 student pastors, 31 deacons, 18 teachers, 15 evangelists, 67 other lay people.
The team has our final meal together. We are all happy though tired.
I pack up everything that I can in order to be ready for tomorrow's travel day.
I just can't believe that we have made it through our objective of trainings for all of Bandundu province. Now Lord we ask you to stir up those who have followed this and to guide us on the team in the next steps.
Definitely feeling much better this morning - a little weak and a bit of a headache - both probably because I haven't eaten much in a couple of days.
Took my bucket bath early in part so no one would see just how awful I looked (and smelled) and to get ahead of all the others who would be trying to get in later before church. Felt good but freezing at the same time. Oh well, I feel almost human again. Small price to pay for that I would say!
The team is being split up this morning at 4 different churches in Bandundu City. Pastor Muzau, Richard and I are at the church right across the road for which I am very thankful. Richard will be preaching. Our service starts at 2PM which won't be a problem for us but I wonder about the others who have gone off to other churches.
When we arrive at church, the musicians are playing, and singing and there are some kids and a few men. That's unusual because in most churches here, women far outnumber men. We'll see what happens over the next hour.
We, of course, are led up on stage which is a great honour. Personally I could do without the honour! I'm hoping I will feel ok throughout the service. At least if I'm not feeling well and have to leave, I can just walk back to the house where we are staying.
Little by little the church begins to fill up - it is an explosion of colour since all Congolese, men and women, love to wear bright colours. I really love to see the women in their bright array of outfits with every colour of the rainbow. Beautiful! I noticed that there were a lot of really tall women in the congregation - I'm not sure if they are all from one family or if there is a tribe in this area on the tall side of things.
Richard preaches a good sermon, reworking his message on Jonathan. Boy, was he ever sweating! The one arm of his shirt had totally changed colour, drenched in sweat by the end of the message.
We were back before the others so the pastor asked if we would like a little tour around. We eventually end up back at this house. One thing I've noticed is that the Congoses are normally not too strong in small talk.
Eventually the rest of the team came back and we ate lunch and then proceeded to our final training session. Most of it was led by Pastor Pierre though Richard had a small section to do. I'm rather glad to have already finished my part yesaterday in spite of feeling so awful at the time.
Finally the certificates are distributed and photos taken. Can you believe it? We've done all 9 trainings and tomorrow we head back to Kinshasa. In all we have trained 440 people this trip - 295 pastors, 14 student pastors, 31 deacons, 18 teachers, 15 evangelists, 67 other lay people.
The team has our final meal together. We are all happy though tired.
I pack up everything that I can in order to be ready for tomorrow's travel day.
I just can't believe that we have made it through our objective of trainings for all of Bandundu province. Now Lord we ask you to stir up those who have followed this and to guide us on the team in the next steps.
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