Yesterday we visited our 14th church. We have three more to go, then we will have visited all the LDS churches in Tana. We tell them about the Perpetual Education Fund program (in Malagasy) very briefly in Sacrament Meeting. I have memorized my little spiel, so afterward people come up to me speaking Malagasy since they think I do, too! That spurs me onward to keep trying to improve.
The church was in Ambohimanarina, in a converted house. You walk up four steep flights of stairs, and step out onto a large balcony, from which there are faraway views of the countryside. Looking down, you can see this walled courtyard. If you look carefully, you can see chickens and ducks in the enclosure on the right.
On the balcony we saw a wire cage, about 4' by 6' and 5' high. The wire sides were lined with a sheet of plastic. There were two ladders inside. Sr. Florine said it was a baptismal font! The layers of dirt on the bottom indicated that it hadn't been used in a while...
This is Tahiry, an 8-year-old who sat next to me in the meeting. We shared hymn books. They have one in French and one in Malagasy, and they announce ahead of time which book the hymn will be in. The Malagasy one doesn't have so many hymns, but that's one they prefer to use. Not all members can speak French.
When the members walk into the room, they shake the hands of everyone there. Everyone, even the little kids. This church, which was the poorest one we have visited, had the strongest spirit. When they sang the hymns, they sang their hearts out. The small room was filled with the music.
Many people spoke to us after the meetings. They were so friendly, and so interested in us.
This is a returned missionary who served in Kenya, so she speaks good English. She was married a month ago. Now she and her husband want to apply for a PEF loan. The baby is her niece, and looks exactly like her father, who works at our office as a jack-of-all-trades. He's an awesome guy.
We had Relief Society meeting in the small garage. The floor was paving stones, and sloped downward. This motorcycle was right in front of me! The walls were dinghy plaster with cobwebs. 21 plastic chairs were jammed into that narrow space, all filled. We had a great meeting, talking about the health revelation which our church follows. It was a lively discussion and a lot of women participated.
We were so happy when we came out of church. What a great morning. Who needs fancy surroundings to feel the warmth of fellowship?
No comments:
Post a Comment