about two weeks ago we miskins went out to the rural area, hamanskraal. my dad was going to preach in one of his student's churches. the student's name is oupa. dad preached two sermons, both of which were translated into Tshwana (im not exactly sure how to spell that...) by oupa.
the first service was at about... 9:00. it was in a small little room, that was packed to capacity. there was very little sitting space. our family was going to sit in the front row, on an uncomfortable little iron bench. there was, however, not enough room for us all. as i was looking for a seat, i noticed some frantic waving from the back from some youths. they were pointing to a small space on the bench, where i could sit. why not? i thought. so i headed all the way to the back of the packed little hall. the bench in front of me was almost on top of my knees, causing me to have some major claustrophobia. they did move the bench up however, so it got better. so that was a major... culture difference for me. it was good though.
the second service was at about 11:30 or so. this one was a longer one, since mom was doing a little talk on prayer for the youth after the sermon was finished. at one point in the service dad was talking about how Christ was beaten, and he asked "did He fight back?" which was translated. dad intended to answer the question himself. but one man, who was listening with rapt attention answered "NO!" :)and i failed to mention it was one of the hottest days of the summer. and all the black men in the congregations were wearing a suit coat. so it was a very interesting and good experience for us miskin youths to go out there and experience that.
it made me appreciate the fact that our church we have nice, relatively comfortably plastic chairs. that we dont have a little hall packed to bursting point, with temperatures akin to a pizza oven. it made me appreciate what all i do have. its easy for me to concentrate on what i dont have. to say "oh, i wish i could see so-and-so" or "i wish i had that" or something to that effect. but those people have so much less than me. and it opens your eyes and shows you that you have alot. and it makes you wish you had never moaned, coz you really have more than enough.
btw, i felt very pale that sunday...;)
