Church

Sunday, April 6

After a terrible night's sleep and no hot water for a shower, we were needing to hear from the Lord!

We went to church and enjoyed a Malagasy Sunday school class. Ja preached with an interpreter. We were thankful to be able to understand the message.

Below are some pictures of the congregation at New Life Baptist Church.

Ja is preaching with LuCein as the interpretor and Nina (pronounced Ny nu) signing for their deaf ministry.

Then it was Walter's turn. He preached the worship hour - with an interpreter, of course. The interpreter's name was Ravo (pronounced Rah voo). He only preached for about 20 minutes. He said it felt a whole lot longer with an interpreter.

After church, Ja took up a special love offering for one of the families in the church that had just welcomed a new baby. It is Malagasy custom for the family's church and/or extended family to bring a special offering of money to the mother and father. It's kind of like a baby shower. So after the offering was counted, the church walked over to the family's home with the money and performed the traditional ceremony. Everything was said in Malagasy so I didn't understand it but I did get pictures of everyone walking to the home and pictures of the family. I only remember the wife's name - Madame Vula (pronounced Voo lu).

walking to the "baby shower"

the family was kind enough to pose for a picture with us

This picture was taken on the way to the "baby shower"
It's a Malagasy milkman! Walter, of course, had to have a picture!

The evening service was dedicated to the graduation of all the kids and adults that have been learning English at the New Life Learning and Educational Center that the Pritchards started.

It had been a warm day. The church building had both doors and all the windows open. They were expecting a large crowd of people. The building holds about 80 people. However, 144 people showed up! Nobody owns an air conditioner in a 4th world country! The building was stifling hot! I couldn't stay in there. It was unbearable! Not to mention the fact that the Malagasy people do not wear deoderant! The smell was horrible to say the least! So I stood in the doorway for most of the service. I did go in to take pictures of the crowd and then made my way outside.

After the jr. aged kids had graduated from their class, Walter taught them in kind of a jr. church setting with the help of LuCein. The funny thing about the Malagasy people is they don't ask questions. Walter would ask if they understood and they would shake their heads yes. He gave them the Gospel. He showed them from the Bible the meaning of salvation. He prayed with them as a whole class and they all repeated the "sinner's prayer." He asked them if they had any questions and they just looked at him with a blank look on their faces. It was so different from our own church kids back here in the states. They are full of questions!