Sunday, June 16, 2013

Church!

I LOVE CHURCH IN AFRICA!!!!    Yesterday, Robert was stretching, and he said, "I'm warming up my 'ballon man' dance moves for church tomorrow!"  
 We went to Pastor Zach's church today. Many of you met Pastor Zach when he visited Dripping Springs in October of 2011. The short story is that Zach is known as the "apostle Paul of Uganda."  He is an evangelist in the truest sense of the word. He preaches a great deal to Muslims, and they have tried to kill him 8 times. Each time, God has protected him in supernatural ways. He told me last year, after the last attempt on his life, that in order to protect his church (the people, not the building), he had been advised to put some security measures in place. Today when we arrived, we saw a man with a metal detector wand. (This man came and greeted us with a huge hug!). I always say that I'm not sure if the safest place to be is right next to Pastor Zach, or really far away from him, and today I wondered, as we walked into church, what if people in America thought going to church was even a little bit dangerous. Would they go? I decided I would (and did today!). I think I'd rather meet Jesus because I risked my life to worship Him, rather than explaining to Him why I didn't.
That said, if you're looking for me in heaven someday, you'll find me in the Africa section. If I'm going to spend eternity praising God, I'm doing it their way!!   
Midway through the fourth chorus of "I will jump hosannas!", I began to get tired (we had already sung,and clapped, and waved hosannas). Then I saw this man, who is 71, still jumping (really jumping!!!), and I decided I should keep it up!
As it turned out, Pastor Zach was not there today, so the guest pastor was the man above... Pastor Zach's "spiritual father."  Y'all, this man can PREACH!  If Zach learned how to be an evangelist from him, you can imagine how he preaches!  We had already spent two hours (not exaggerating) in praise and worship before this man began his message, so we were ready. The presence of The Lord was all over this church. 

It was another fantastic experience for all of us, and I'm already looking forward to the next time I get to spend a Sunday in Uganda!  
After church, we saw Abraham, one of our translators from the medical clinics last year. When we met him, he was so excited about the baby on the way, and today we got to meet this precious child!  Kaitlynn has kept in touch with Abraham, and he even helped her with a school project she did this year about Africa!   Abraham is Pastor Zach's son-in-law, so this is his grandson!  We explained to Abraham what Father's Day is and wished him a good one!  
Happy Father's Day also to my father, who taught me to love Africa, my father-in-law, who supports my trip every year, and my amazing husband who faithfully lets me come here every year!  I love you all!  

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