Let's have church under a Shea tree =]

And that's what I did this morning =]

We had church under a Shea Nut Tree... Which for all you girly girls out there produces the Shea Butter that we all love to have in our lotion.

It was amazing. We pulled up to church and there were only 2 people there. You see it rained last night and stormed (which was amazing) and when it rains the people take a bit longer to get out and about. We also had 3 women and a baby with us in the truck.

The church was set up behind Isaac's house (The Storyteller and Terry and Amy's partner in ministry) and we had chairs set up in a semi-circle around the tree. So the women sat to one side and the men on the other... But me? I got to sit in the middle, right next to Isaac so he could translate because I had no idea what was being said! haha!

We started service off with a time of testimony where anyone could share how God has worked in their life the past week. It was so cool! After that we go into a time of prayer. We had an individual leader for each prayer and they prayed for forgiveness of sins, for distractions to be taken out, for God to be glorified, and for the Spirit to be in this place. And what an amazing way to start off service. I mean, it really put my perspective where it needed to be. We then sang a few songs and and Isaac told today's story. It was the story of Jesus being brought before Pilate, which is a story I have heard at least 20 times (once a year at Easter every year) and he told it in the Gonja (pronounced Gohn-juh, with a long "o") language twice and once in English. We then split up into small groups of people.  Once we are in these groups we always try to have one person recite the story back... and it was amazing! That after hearing this story twice they could recite it almost word for word! Wow! After that we discuss 5 questions.
1. What did you like about this story?
2. What did you not like about the story?
3. What did you learn about the character of God in this story?
4. What did you learn about the character of man in the story?
5. How will you change your life after hearing this story?

And for me it was so cool to hear their responses to this story. For many of them this was probably their first time hearing it... ever. Their insights just blew me away. I wish that I could have my journal out and take note of all of their responses because it was so cool, but culturally I don't think they would appreciate that. So once we were out of our groups it was time for communion and offering. They passed around communion and it was a little different than what I am used to. It was made from leaves of a tree... which I am not sure what kind of tree. But, it was like a cold kind of tea and the communion bread tasted almost like Golden Oreos! It was crazy, but it again just puts the perspective back into place. Its not about the legalistic things ya know? Anyway, then offering was like a celebration! They passed around the basket and then put it in the middle of the circle and people almost danced to put in their money! So awesome!!!
Then they were about to dismiss and Isaac asked if Amy wanted to introduce me, so should and once the people heard that I am staying for 3 months they got all kinds of excited! I got to introduce myself as well and share with them how excited I am to be here and they then sang a welcome song to me... which was made up on the spot. That's kind of how they do things... Impromptu. haha! It was amazing. And such a blessing to me!
I got to meet several of the children but I don't know if I will be able to remember all their names... I am going to try! But, it just helped to confirm that God has me here for a purpose and there is a lot of work to be done!
So I ask that you all continue to pray for me. Pray that I can successfully carry out the mission God has called me to here. Also pray that it can only be done through Him and with Him so that I will see and the people will see that good things like this can only come from God!