After meeting in Pastor Simba's office with Dean Mofolo and other church leaders, Joe (who was preaching the sermon)was left in the office and Ellen, Susan and I were taken through the middle of the church to our seats right up front. I have never felt more welcome to a place. Everyone was so gracious and smiling and glad to see us. We tried to guess how many people filled the church, but gave up and just decided that it was over full :-). Keep in mind that many walk hours to get there, often barefoot.
Pastor Joe's (Pastor Simba thought he was a pastor and had him wear a stole, which was hastily removed when it was made known that he was not - gave everyone a few chuckles) sermon was about Jesus's compassion for people even though he was tired. Mphatso interpreted for the congregation and Ken and a retired pastor interpreted for us the rest of the service. He did a great job of linking our two cultures.
We received shirts made with he Malawi flag and a flag banner from the church officials. We also received cabbages, bananas, and papayas as gifts from the parishioners.
Pastor Joe's (Pastor Simba thought he was a pastor and had him wear a stole, which was hastily removed when it was made known that he was not - gave everyone a few chuckles) sermon was about Jesus's compassion for people even though he was tired. Mphatso interpreted for the congregation and Ken and a retired pastor interpreted for us the rest of the service. He did a great job of linking our two cultures.
The service was filled with music- about 3 songs to our usual one. They had 5 or 6 choirs, all with beautiful strong voices. It didn't seem like the service was 3 hours - it just flew by! Really :-) They had a pa that was hooked up to a generator so we could hear the band - a homemade guitar, drums and a bass type instrument.
The Sunday School children got up and recited Bible verses. Although we couldn't understand them - you could tell they were very proud of their accomplishments. We had lunch of rice, chicken, sima (a kind of hard mush made of ground maize that is a diet staple), potatoes and veggies at Pastor Simba's Parsonage (the building was funded by Glen Cary), lovingly prepared by the women of the church and his wife. An occasional chicken would wander in the house.
It was getting towards evening when we headed back to Masomphenya in Blantyre and a dinner of Lasagna and salad. We can eat the uncooked veggies here as they are organically grown on the premises. We enjoyed a couple of beers - Carlsberg is a Danish? beer that is the only beer available - that we have seen, anyway.
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