Celebrate!

Today, our denomination celebrated 31 years of establishment in the UK.  Paul and Angelina and I went to the party.  It reminded me so much of many church events from my childhood.  

We were told the party was from 12-5 p.m.  We arrived at 12:20 and the decorating was only beginning.  We got home from the day at 8:30 p.m.  It was a great time, don't get me wrong.  I was just exhausted at the end of it all!  

When we arrived, we pitched in to help decorate.  After I worked myself out of a job, I asked someone what else I could.  She thrust a child into arms and said, "Hold her."  Irony of ironies.  I generally NEED help with babies, rather than be considered helpful with them.  I had Angelina capture this for my family's laughter.  To be fair, Tiana just didn't want to smile.  She didn't fuss at all while I held her, thank goodness.  I also didn't know whose child she was!  After about 45 minutes, her mom came to collect her :)

The pastors' wives

The choirs

Paul was invited as one of the many speakers

Auntie Ivy K was one of the original church members.

Angelina sharing our history and vision.

the original pastoral couple

The meal that followed was a truly African meal.  As the MC said, "It's our culture.  When we get together, we make sure we pray, we make sure we celebrate, and we make sure we eat!"  

There were many mishaps with the sound system, which left Angelina and I with ringing ears and headaches.  However, the joy and zeal of the worship teams was undeniable.  Some songs were sung in English, some in Ndebele, and some in Zulu.  The accents while singing were a bit difficult for Paul and Angelina to understand.  I had a good laugh when we sang a song I remembered from church in my childhood.  The lyrics say, "I am a winner with Christ my Lord."  I noticed that Angelina was clapping and moving with the music but she wasn't singing.  I figured she was having a difficult time with the words.  I leaned over and whispered, "The words they are singing are, "I am a winner, with Christ my Lord..."  Angelina looked at me in confusion.  "They're singing in English?"  Haha!