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Sunday in Mzuzu

Our mission team worshipped today at the first of three services at the local Presbyterian Church (where I preached)and then at the United Methodist Church (where Don preached). The two churches were quite distinct:

The Presbyteriana service was led by women deaconess today and lasted 1.5 hrs. The Methodist service was lead by a visiting Pentecostal evangelist and lasted 3hrs!

Several hundred worshippers--young and old--attended the Presbyterian church. Less than 100--mostly orphaned, abandoned and vulnerable children--attended the Methodist church.

The Presbyterian Church has been in existence for over 100 years and enjoyed a permanent structure. The Methodist congregation was two years old and worhipped in a temporary thatched roof stucture in the middle of a maize field.

It was quite an experience to worship in a new Methodist church made up of mostly orphans, sitting on rough, hand--hewn, wooded benches on a cleanly swept dirt floor, sunlight beaming through the planks of the walls and thatched roof, packed with poor but grateful people who knew how to sing and pray without ceasing.

I'll say more once we've processed all we experienced on this wonderful Lord's day in Mzuzu.
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