This morning was our first church service here in Gamboula. There is a french service from 7:00 to 8:30 and the Sango service is from 9:00 to noonish. We are going to the Sango service, in hopes that it improves our Sango comprehending abilities.
We had to sit in the front of the church this morning, since we were special guests. There are all kinds of rotating choirs in an African church. This mornings choir happened to have electric guitars and amplifiers, which were just behind our heads. This made for a deafening worship time but the words were nice and clear!
The service didn't really feel like 3 hours, probably because we were straining to hear what was going on, listening for familliar sounding words. Sentences containing french words I can get the gist of. Leanne also sat beside me and helped translate the basic idea of things. I think we heard at least 6 choirs sing. Men and women sit on seperate sides of the church and for the offering the men and women take turns walking up to the front of the church and depositing their money. Each week they announce the men's and women's offering totals from the week before, almost like a competition. Was pretty new to me. They also dedicated 3 newborns this morning.
This week the church is starting a 'True Love Waits' campaign among the 'young people'. The youth group consists of people age 5-30 something. It is nice to know that I still qualify for the youth group.
We were introduced to the church so we are no longer anonymous and mayhave many more people at our door with requests now. This brings me to an interesting quandry. Everyday we have someone come by asking for help. Most of the time we don't understand what they need, unless they speak frnech. But more often than not it is help in paying for a hospital bill, since the hospital is in our front yard practically. People here speak of those who are scamming you, saying they have a sick kid when they really don't. What is difficult is that everyone here is poor, whether they are scamming you or not, they are all legitimate needs. We have been talking to the other missionaries and are trying to formulate a plan of how we can help those who come to our door, without helping every single person. Just something to think about.
The missionaries also have an English church service at 7:00 in the evening. Roy and Aleta host this in thrit house when they are here I think. I am learning more and more about what it takes to be a missionary. They are extremely flexible, very helpful and compassionate, are willing to reform their agendas hour by hour as things come up and they are very generous. I have so much maturing to do in these areas.
God is so good to us here, giving everyone, including me, patience. If you can, please pray for a man in the church. He came to Christ only 2 weeks ago and came out of his life as a sorcerer. He and his wife came to the station and burned all their fetishes and started attending church. Well yesterday their house burned down to the ground due to a fire that went wild froma neighbours field. Pray that this man will find strength in Jesus to stay by his comittment and not turn back to sorcery. Thank-you.
We went to Kentzou, Cameroon for our monthly shopping trip yesterday. Was quite hot and dusty and a very long morning of shopping. It takes a long time in each shop to procure what you need but you eventually get it. I bought a lot of bulk things like TP, 100 tins of tomato paste (half the size of Canadian tins), 5 large tins of powdered milk, sugar, 20 kgs of rice and lots of fake orange Tang. Darren got us a rake, bucket and watering can for our new garden. He also tried Fulani cow on a kind of shish-kebob. He liked it but I wasn't a fan of how much chewing was involved. Managing a house in Africa and planning food purchases 1 month in advance will take some practice. In the meantime, we eat what I bought and take it from there.
Blessings on you, Ange
