Chickens at Church
We had the opportunity to attend church at a place that does not meet in a building. They meet under these trees. We were a little late in getting there (we were a little lost the and GPS wasn't working well) and we wondered if they had waited for us to arrive. No, they were waiting for the Bishop. The meeting started about 20 minutes late, typical African time.
We were greeted by missionaries and members of the little branch. They were all so happy to have visitors! LOL!! I was trying to be a little discrete and take pictures. Here they are setting up chairs.
The funniest part of the whole meeting was when we started to sing the opening hymn. All music is acapella. When the congregation of about 25 began to sing...so did the chicken. And that chicken was loud!!! The chicken sang through the entire song. I could hardly carry the tune because of the competition! When the hymn was complete and the congregation stopped singing, so did the chicken! Never made a peep for the rest of the meeting!
Of course the visitors...Elder Phelps and I...were invited to bear our testimonies! The meeting was actually very peaceful and reverent. It reminded me of when the Savior taught the people outside. It could very well been a setting such as this was! We loved being here!!
After Sacrament meeting, the chairs were rearranged in two groups under different trees. One for Priesthood and the other for Relief Society. There were only 3 children so they didn't have a Primary.
The sister leading the discussion would ask a question. All the other sisters would remain silent and then everyone would look at me. So I made a few uncomfortable comments. I could hardly understand what was said. Sometimes the sisters would speak in their own language and when they did speak in English it was really hard to understand. Hence, my uncomfortable comments. I didn't really know if I was answering the questions!
At the end, the teacher asked for someone to say the closing prayer. Of course, no one volunteered, but all eyes rested upon me. So I said, "Would you like me to say the closing prayer? That's fine, but I would like a picture of all of you afterward. Is that okay?" Of course they readily agreed!
The sister on the far left of the picture is 70 years old. She walks about 5 km (about 3 miles) to church every Sunday! The Elders told me that when they were teaching one man, he asked, "How far is it to church?" When he learned it was about 5 km (3 miles), his reply was, "That's too far!!!" and wouldn't listen anymore!
After the meetings I was talking with Elder Woolley. He said, "We had great attendance today! Usually there is only one chicken but today there were four!"
He went on, "And the dog here...he comes every Sunday! We've tried teaching him about the Plan of Salvation, but I don't think he understands it yet!
On our way home we finally got a picture of these trees that are in full blossom right now and they are everywhere!!! So beautiful!! They are called a Jacaranda Tree. Some of them are huge!
We also saw this ostrich, maybe a brahma bull??, and a zebra that I didn't get a picture of.
Just a side note: We were told that about one year ago this branch had an average of 80-100 in attendance every week, but since they didn't have a building to meet in, the attendance has dropped significantly. I can only imagine how hard it would be to have church in the blistering heat (October thru December) or during torrential downpours (January thru March).
A member of the Stake Presidency also just told us that they finally have approval to build a building here. The land has been secured. The building will be some kind of a prefabricated building and very quickly built!
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