Holy Spirit filled the church in Africa this morning! The team was blessed to attend church where Dismas planted this church in Kigoma about 2 years ago. The tin-metal roof, thatched walled church with plastic chairs was filled with local villagers, faces we recognized from our VBS camps and family members of those involved with Hope of The Nations. Although worship was in Swahili, I heard the rhythm and was able to, under my breath, sing Waymaker. But it didn’t matter whether we knew the words or not, the worship was uplifting, joyful with dancing and swaying, bringing praise and glory to our King and tears to my eyes. The Holy Spirit was definitely moving in this humble church!
A powerful message was given by Hope of The Nations Executive Director, Harold Knepper, in English and translated by Dismas to Swahili, on comfort vs suffering. Often, we hear what our hearts need to learn from any sermon, so you could ask another member of the team what they got from this word, but for me, it’s that we are to suffer for Christ. He suffered for us and we’re told in that suffering, we build perseverance and character. Comfort is of the world, of things that will bring us joy. Wrong! Not only are the things never enough, it’s all temporal. We grow most in our suffering and we’re reminded He is with us in those times and the reward is eternity with Him in Heaven. AMEN and AMEN!
After church the team shared a joyful afternoon at the beach with sixteen from Hope of The Nations Kids Club team leaders, who have been by our sides these past two weeks. We swam, laughed, sang and shared over a locally-prepared meal. We were all blessed and returned home to a beautiful sunset.
We then did our nightly team debriefing, testimony then off to bed!
Susan Mister, team blogger
