On Sunday, we made a special trip to a village in Mchinchi. Both Ken and Pete were schedule to preach at a church in the village. Pete and Lori were dropped off at one church, while Ken, Hillary, Morgan, Betsy and I went to a different church. The church we were at was a small, outdoor service with only about 30 people. Ken spoke to the members about exchanging a lie for the truth and used the woman who poured perfume on Jesus’ feet as the example. After service was over, we headed over to the church Pete was to preach at as he hadn’t even made it to to the stage yet. This church was not like anything you would expect in a village. They had a sound system and musical instruments including a set of drums. There were about 5 churches in attendance that day. Typically these churches get together the first of each month for a special service but since the Azungus were in town, they moved it up a week. The church literally takes the bible at it’s word and brings their first fruits to this meeting. There were plenty bags of maize as well as other things to offer the church. It was really neat to see the enthusiasm in this church.
After service, we were to attend a pastor’s graduation. One of T.K.’s roles with African Leadership is to do a pastor training with people in the village. The class lasts about 2 years then they are able to graduate. For this graduation, we traveled very close to the border of Zambia. We drove to the border got out and snapped some pictures. This after about 3 men rushed our car. We weren’t sure what was going on, but apparently these men were money changers wanting us to exchange our money with them.
We were to be at the graduation at 1 o’clock and since it was approaching 2 o’clock, we thought we better scoot even though T.K. informed us that we were still on time. When we pulled up the next village there was plenty of singing and dancing to be seen and heard. You can tell that this was a joyful day for this village.
Two years ago, 12 men ventured on this journey to become pastors for their village and due to various reason, some dropped out, but 6 men were graduating. T.K. joked how special it was that even the azungus were making it to their graduation. That not everyone gets that honor and you can tell, they truly felt honored that we were there. Some even asking for us to be in their family pictures at the end of the graduation ceremony. Their wives were beaming with smiles because they were so happy.
By the end of the day, after all the travel, we were exhausted, but that didn’t stop us from stopping by at Cafe Delight to grab some pizzas for dinner. I think we all turned in early that night.
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