Change of Plans

Its funny how when you decide to take on something new, you always have plans for how it will work out, and you always expect that it is going to go the way that you want it to go…all along knowing that it will not be anything like what you expect. When I was told that I would be working with different churches here and received my schedule of when I was to be at which church, I was excited to get to meet so many different people, and yet also scared out of my mind at meeting so many different people. All nine of the churches were given a schedule of when I would be coming to their church, and being the person that I am, I guess I just thought that they would all be waiting with joy for the weekends that I would be coming to their church. I guess that is a little egotistical of me, but it is what I thought. Then, the last 3 weeks, the churches on my schedule were not expecting me, and had nothing for me to do which will tend to burst your bubble.

But it has been good too, because I have gotten to go back to a church that I really enjoyed and also got to get to know my host family’s church a lot better. It has been difficult for me to feel at home in any of the churches just knowing that I am only there for 2 weeks and then won’t be back for like 3 months, so this has been a good chance to form a closer relationship with some people which is good considering the closeness of the church I am coming from.

Two weeks ago I was able to join one of the youth groups in a special dinner that they had planned. I arrive in my t-shirt and shorts to see all of them dressed up in nice clothes. I didn’t get the memo. But of course they wanted me to sing. I don’t know what it is, but I feel like everyone here wants me to sing. So I sang, then we all sang some. Then it was time for the games. First game…mummy race, which team can wrap a person in toilet paper the fastest. I bet you can all guess who got wrapped up in my group...yes, me. There must be something about seeing an American wrapped in TP that is hilarious! I wouldn’t know because my face was covered in TP. Then came the lesson, and afterwards the dinner which came at about 10pm. We were all starving by that time, but before we could eat, they gave us each a little key chain and a name and we were to say something nice about the person and give them the gift. We got done at about 11 and it was time to head home, or so I thought. As I was leaving, one of the younger girls in the church game and took me across the street to her house. It was her mother’s birthday and they wanted to feed me some more! They gave me a to-go bag and then it was finally off to my house…about a 30 minute bus ride away.

The next day I was able to spend with my host family’s church, who I won’t be officially working with until January. I spent the day with my family and then went to the service that night. It was a normal service, but afterwards they had what was pretty much a congregational meeting. They accepted two new members, so they now have 19. After that they had elections for church jobs. The normal ones for president, secretary, and treasurer, but then they voted for something that I found a little odd. They voted and elected who would be the Sunday School teachers and Youth leaders. I guess it is a luxury for us in the States to be able to leave those jobs open to volunteers who feel called to take those positions. Or maybe the people here are so confident in the roll of the church in choosing its leaders, that anyone who is a professing believer and member of the church is able to lead a Bible study. I was glad that I got to be a part of that process, even if it did last for 2 hours and I was at church until 11pm on a Sunday!

So while things don’t always turn out the way that I planned, or that the people here planned months ago, good things still come out of it. God definitely has His hand in things and I am learning to sit back and try not to screw things up!