church

sunday morning i went to church with rufus. not only is he the acting director of r.e.a.p. but he is also an ordained minister. he is the assistant pastor of the pagos island baptist church. this sunday he picked me up and we took a taxi part of the way to the church then walked up the muddy hillside the rest of the way.
i could hear music and singing from distorted speakers as we drew near to what looked like a large delapitated mansion. the front room of the house, which was only partly completed (like the rest of the house) and was partially open to the elements, was used for the church. a single medium sized room.
the three hour service started with only about twenty people but the numbers grew to probably double of that as the service progressed. the singing was exuberant and full-bodied. everyone sang with their lungs billowing with all the air they could muster. the drum and percussion loudly kept the beat. my body moved to the rhythm and i joined with all around me as we praised God.
rufus preached on prov. 31:10f. he talked about what qualities a godly woman should have to win the heart of a godly man. he did an admirable job.
the church at one point praised God for 10 new plastic chairs they had received as a donation and blessed the chairs to God's service.
the prayer requests were humbling and the praises too made the struggles of my life seem inconsequential.
at one point they asked me to stand and introduce myself. i thanked them and gave them greetings from my church and family. how exciting and interesting it would be to bring the two churches together. God is so good and he works differently with different people. as they sang"you are welcome" and danced and one by one greeted me, i prayed God's blessing on them.