Update from Paul and Marty Law

April 22, 2010

"Going to Church"

Dear Friends,

Since Paul is the District Evangelist for the Northern Lodja District, we decided yesterday to go visit one of the village churches and surprise them.

Several months ago some friends gave me a Congolese outfit-it is not typical because it has pants with it along with the matching shirt. They gave Paul a shirt to match it, as well. Since I had never worn my outfit and since we would be traveling by motorbike I thought this would be the perfect thing to wear.

The reason we chose to go by motorbike is that it is impossible to travel all the way to the village of Yolo by car. We took off with our Bibles, Otetela songbooks and our tithe. Our motorbike is a Yamaha 200 TW with wonderful large knobby trail bike tires which are great in the sand and of which we have an abundant supply.

I am sorry that I do not possess adequate language skills to describe to you the road we had to travel. At one point, the hill was almost straight up with washouts galore and hardly a place seemingly for Paul to place the tires. (I am sick that I did not take the camera!) Somehow, he was able to maneuver the ruts and we made it! Whew!

We came back down into a valley with lots of moist sand. We crossed two bridges (bridge is relative!) which were not wide enough for a car. We proceeded on and suddenly there was a ‘bridge’ in process; obviously being constructed by local villagers. At this point, it was impossible to go over even with a motorbike. On the left, there were some small logs lying across the creek. We got off the bike and a villager helped Paul push the bike across. Fortunately, I took off my shoes and crossed by foot. The logs were wet and slick. I was thankful I had taken off my shoes or I would have fallen in. I did however, step on one little log that gave way and it went into the water. Fortunately, the water was not too deep so I only got about 6 inches of my pants wet BUT my shoes were dry.

On the other side, we mounted the bike again and off we went through the villages of mud huts and thatch roofs with goats, chickens and many children playing outside. The path at times was small and Paul was constantly using his horn since it was so narrow and there were many folks traveling either by bike hauling their produce to market or many on foot. This road too, was washed out in places so it was up and down and weaving in and out which did not make for a very comfortable ride.

After having turned onto a small path toward the village of Yolo, we arrived at the church. The church has ‘previously used’ tin roofing which had been donated to them last year from a building that had been torn down. The roofing was on poles with few nails. The old walls were poles with mud stuck in them. At one point the church had been white washed but was now fading with age and wear. Inside there were about 600 adobe brick that the villagers had made themselves. They will need about 4,000 to redo the walls of this small church. Of course, there was no ceiling. Nothing but the poles holding up the roof. Fortunately, it was a slightly overcast day or we would have felt like we were in an oven. God was gracious!

When we arrived it had been decorated with palm branches and flowers. We asked the pastor if he had gotten word from the D.S. that we were coming but
he said,’ no. They decorate like this each Sunday,’ which is unusual.

We entered and were thankful that they put us up by the podium (podium meaning that the dirt had been built up by about 6 more inches taller than the rest of the dirt floor to make a sort of platform) and where there were old chairs. At least, we had a flat seat and back!

The members sat on small old logs that had been split in two with the bark removed. They had been placed in a Y stick on each end and that is what holds them up. They were so old and had been used so many times that they were slick and shiny with age.

The women sat on the right while the men were on the left. The two choirs were up front facing each other, the girls on the right and the boys on the left. Choirs are composed of younger folks.

Unfortunately, we arrived as they were getting ready to sing. There were 7 groups or individuals who sang. We sat through almost 40 minutes of singing. Most of our folks do not know about singing in tune so it was a challenge sitting there.

If the women like a particular special they will stand up and dance in
place or will take their francs (worth about one penny) and place in the
offering. They may stand up one at a time or several will dance in place to
the tune. I can just imagine what would happened in the states if women
stood up during the choir special and danced in place or went up to the
altar and dropped in some money because they liked the song!

The three guitars accompanying the songs were ‘home made’. The strings
were made from fishing string while the strap over the shoulder was made
from an old inner tube. The same notes were played over and over-guess there
can’t be much variety with such a limited way of stringing the guitar.

The girls had rattles made from gourds and woven jungle vine with beans inside to make the noise. Then one young man had a hole in the ground with several thick sticks laid over it with different lengths carved in them. It kind of made a drum sound. They do know how to improvise!

After the music, there was a testimony time. The Congolese are very honest with their testimonies. If a man has been a drunkard or a womanizer he will openly admit it and tell how the Lord has touched him. (Americans could learn a thing or two on this one!)

There was a small table between the choirs up front with three small plastic basins on it. These were for the different offerings. I guess the idea behind this is that the more basins you have the more you can give. Offerings are never taken before the sermon. Some people actually come in during the sermon or afterward. If the pastor waits for the offering then he might receive an extra penny or two by having waited on the late comers! At the end of the service they gave an accounting of the numbers who came, the number of Bibles, and the total of the offering. Paul and I ended up giving about 7/8th of the offering!

When the main pastor got up he said that he ‘forgot’ his sermon so he
asked Paul to preach. Paul can always come up with a sermon so he stood up
and read his scripture and preached on the Cross and Sin. He said we devalue
Christ’s death and crucify Him over again and again when we deliberately and
willfully sin.

It was a good sermon and he held most of the congregation’s attention without any problem. Paul’s head however was above the poles that held the roofing up but he managed to deliver his sermon anyway.

After the service, everyone filed out of the church and stood in line; shook hands with the person who went in front of them. Then turned around and stood beside that person and it continued until everyone filed out of the church and shook hands with everyone. There was a final prayer and the people dispersed.

They are very giving folks so they had us sit down and gave us a bowl of
rice, a chicken and a large pineapple. We hate to take from them as they
have so little yet to refuse their hospitality would insult them.

They then took us across the road to their mud hut dispensary. The ceiling was so short that Paul had to lean way over just to get in. I told the nurse then to come to my house this week and I would give her some medical supplies. She did show up today and I was able to send several things back with her. Little is much when God is in it!

And the adventures continue...

Paul and Marty