Sunday

Today we went to church at Garden Presbyterian.  We were told to arrive at 9:00.  Our group ran a little late and we arrived at 9:15.  We were ushered into the church where the Praise Band was in full swing to a crowd of maybe 6-10 parishioners.

We sat in the front 3 rows, displacing a few folks who were not in their seats when we arrived.  Long wooden benches with wooden backs were fine for the first 2 hours but at hour 3 our backsides were beginning to hurt.  

By 10:30, most of the pews were full. There was a lot of independent prayer where a keyboard played chords turned up loud while people prayed their prayers out loud. Some were shaking fists, wringing hands, covering their faces with their hands, pacing around... So very full of passion it was hard to take your eyes off of them. 

The service was in both English and Nyanja (the local dialect) and there were times it was difficult to follow except to watch the rest of the people. They only sang one hymn in English and several from a Nyanja songbook- I recognized a few of the melodies but could not match them with any words I knew.   By the end though, there were a fee that everyone just knew the words and were familiar. 

  The services were led by laypersons - and except for the scripture reading and a sermon, the pastor sat for most of the service.  She was a dynamic speaker though and I enjoyed listening to her.  When I find someone who took pictures, I will post one.

  After church we piled on the bus and went to lunch at a strip mall that hosts a craft market on Sundays. My chicken sandwich was disappointing  - this is not the place to order that kind of food. (I had forgotten). We got to sit with a delightful man who is an elder in the Garden church as Pastor Jane and her driver met us for lunch.

  We headed down to the grocery to pick up snacks for the trip to Livingstone on Tues. and then drive back to the house.  It was a quiet afternoon of baby holding and feeding.  Oh so perfect!!

  We got to spend the evening playing cards, FaceTime-ing with Mike/Dad/Son, folding laundry and generally just hanging out with our new friends.  Figured out the USA/Portugal teams game starts at midnight tonight... I'm fairly sure I won't see any of it. 

  I am looking forward to going to the Milk & Medicine program tomorrow. It is one of the things we were not involved in on my last trip here.