Church

Why is it that church in foreign countries always lasts 2.5 to 3 hours?  We always complain if our service goes longer than an hour and fifteen minutes!  We had church this morning at 9am, same as back home.  We are on the same time as Indiana.  The cutest group of kids came up to sing.  3 girls had solos and they really hammed it up!  How fun to see.  They had some teenagers playing instruments too-saxophones, trumpets, clarinet, drums, piano.  They played Lord I Lift Your Name on High.  They were fun to watch.  The most interesting part of service was the prayer time.  Everyone prays at the same time out loud, but they all pray their own prayer.  So 200 people are all praying at once-mass chaos.  The cool thing is that God hears every single prayer all at once with no problem!  How awesome is our god!  I bet that is what the people felt at Pentecost when they heard Peter in their own tongue.  Now I couldn't understand a lick of what they were saying, but you know what I mean.  5 women came up front at the altar call at the end of service to be saved.  Pray that it was sincere and heart felt.  Pastor Luke taught us today.  One of our interpreters from clinic interpreted while he spoke.  He talked about how humble Jesus was and how wise he was.  The communion had some kick to it!  I was impressed that the assistant pastor encouraged everyone to take the bread and cup carefully with right hearts and minds.  He explained that when we have unconfessed sins or habitual sins, they get in the way of our communion.  We can actually defile the whole act of communion if we come with the wrong heart.  We ate and drank together just like at home.  The offering is special too.  They pass a bag to give offering.  Remember that 80% of Haiti is unemployed, they make $1/day, but you still saw change going into the purse!  We just talked in church about how much more the poor person gives when they donate at church and have nothing.  The rich think that their money means more because they give more, but God wants us to give out of our poverty remembering that He gave it to us to begin with.  After service we spent time hugging and holding our Haitian friends.  A lot of the sponsored kids were there as well.  There is no sunday school-the kids sit in service and pay attention for the most part for the full 3 hours!  It is always good to worship with other believers.  Now to see 2 countries church services both unique but much the same, I am overwhelmed and lucky that God has so blessed me with these opportunities.  I can't wait to go to church in Nicaragua on spring break!  God bless you all and good night.

For Him,

Jeremy