Through the Seasons

Church Day

Last night Jonathan and I decided to look at the churches that others have recommended and choose one to try.  It is fairly close-by and the service is reasonably short (about 2 – 2 1/2 hours).

The service is basically choirs, congregational singing, announcements, choirs, offering, choirs, sermon, choirs, congregational singing.  It is lively but not too much so.  By the grace of God, Asher did really well.  There were 3 little kids in front of us so he was interested in them.  He never left our pew (because we wouldn’t let him) and he just ate, looked at the Bible, and took in the people and activities around him.

The way offering works here is that you walk up front and put money in a box.  We had Asher give as well but I didn’t count on him crying about having to leave it there.  I figure he’ll get used to it after a few times.

We’re excited too because communion is next week.  That should be interesting to see what it’s like.  Apparently it’s a separate service.  This is something we miss a lot so we’re looking forward to it.

After church we ate lunch then walked over to our guard’s house to return the containers they brought food in on Christmas Day.  Oh but there was no dropping them off, chatting a few minutes, then leaving.  They were so happy that we came to their home that they wanted to serve us food.  We told them we already ate but they wouldn’t hear of it.  So we enjoyed our eggs, chapati, and soda.  Oh and Asher had a good time playing with their kids who range from about 4 to 7 years old.  When they weren’t running around chasing each other they were trying to teach him Swahili.

The odd thing is that they sat us down by ourselves with the food and left us to it.  Isn’t that something!?  While we were there they had two other guests come by.  They both asked us for money.  That’s something too.  It’s hard to know how to handle the requests but we don’t usually do things impulsively.  One request was from a church (wanting to buy audio equipment) and the other was from a girl who we know.  I missed the situation of the girl and now hope to see her again to find out what problem she’s having.  Hopefully God will supply another opportunity if it’s His will for us to help further.  We did give her the little bit of money we had on us but depending on what’s going on it may not have been enough.

All in all it was a good day.  I thank God that He has given us a church to go to and a way to be able to attend.  I am so grateful that I was able to actually be in the service and not just chasing Asher around outside.  It was a very pleasant experience.