Short(ish) & Sweet

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Suzy's bit...

We managed a bit of a lie-in this morning. Breakfast with Evelyn and one of her Granddaughters at 8am.

Evelyn instructed Robert to wear a tie because he is a Pastor, but Tim was off the hook; He didn't need to wear a tie with his shirt. Our Sunday clothes were given to us beautifully ironed by one of Evelyn's ladies and Robert's shoes had been polished. Such a different way of life!

We were ready to leave for Church at 10am, arriving at 10.10 (as instructed again by Evelyn). The music and singing was already in full swing and we could hear the church just as we pulled into the car park.

Any hopes of lurking in the back row were dashed as a lady ushered us up and into the front row. We recognised quite a few faces, in particular Muriel, the Head Teacher at Grace Christian School. Muriel opened worship by introducing us and talking about God calling each and every person in the building to go out and bear fruit. She used the sowing, nurturing, growing and harvesting analogy, which is quite a hard one to grasp hold of in such a dry, arid and barren environment such as this area.

There were several young people on the stage leading the singing alongside several adults. It was hard to join in with the singing as we didn't know any of the words (or the tunes) and some of the songs were not in English.

When some late comers arrived, (making a little bit of noise as they got chairs), the lady leading the prayers encouraged us to 'Continue to Clap for Jesus' until they were settled. I wondered if Robert might try that tactic back at home one Sunday morning?!

Robert's sermon came near the end of the Sunday Service Programme. His theme was based on Galatians 3, verses 26-29. All people are one in Jesus Christ. He threw in a few provocative reflections about equality for men and women. Despite Robert's sermon being longer than usual, and with every sentence being translated, the service ended a whole hour earlier than normal!

We drove home in hot sunny African weather, got changed from our Sunday Morning Clothes and began to relax, planning what we might get done in the afternoon.



Tim’s bit…

Given the shorter than expected service (thanks again Rob) we arrived back from Church with just enough time for a quick raid on the Cash Build DIY store (it closes at 1pm on a Sunday). It had been more than 24 hours since my previous visit to the store and I was beginning to suffer from severe withdrawal symptoms! They recognised me instantly; unsurprising given the regularity of my visits not to mention my somewhat notable skin tone!

I bought all the things I wanted but got back 5 minutes late for Sunday lunch (sorry team) but my belatedness was quickly forgotten as we tucked into a delicious meal of fried chicken, rice and vegetables. Traditionally, Sunday dinner consists of “coloured” food – that is to say, food of lots of different colours i.e. purple beetroot, orange butternut squash, green cabbage etc.

The afternoon was filled with carpentry and painting. Our host did raise an eyebrow at us doing work on a Sunday but, as Amy pointed out, we were at least doing God’s work! So we have a few more benches and decorations for the school built.

Muriel, the head teacher of the school, is back in action tomorrow (having been away last week) and we have a meeting with her first thing tomorrow morning so early starts all round!

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