Hey! Happy belated Easter!
J and I spent Easter week in rural Cyimbili, with no real access to anything except coffee and rain. Just kidding. We also had some great hikes and home visits, and we made some great friends this week: Eriane, V, Anastasi and Nepo- all our ages, except Anasasi who had a decade on or two on the rest of us :)
With these four we shared every meal, most hikes, and all the hours of downtime watching the rain from the front porch:
Easter week was surprisingly quiet. There were no Holy Week events or services or even a Good Friday something-or-other! Most were celebrating the month-long break from school, which began on Good Friday. Jeff and I were a little sad about the lack of community commemoration, but found ourselves quiety observing things in our own way.
Then, out of nowhere- BAM! Easter Sunday was an explosion of colors and song and dancing!
The Service was 3.5 hours long, and celebrated the gathering of all the surrounding village churches in one giant service. The morning included a singing processional to the beach for 4 baptisms, 14 choirs from surrounding villages, 3 offerings (money, or for those without money, an offering of words or goods- beans and a chicken were offered on Easter morning!), praise and worship, sermon, announcement, strategic plan update, funds update, communion, and benediction. Whew! Below is a link to the Easter photo album, followed by three short video clips of the Kids Choir, some Easter Dancing and the Praise and Worship time after the offering was collected:
Easter Album click here.
Right after the service ended, the thunder rolled, winds picked up and it poured for 12 straight hours! We had a relaxing day on the couches of the front porch sipping hot coffee and tea and visiting with our friends. Not a bad East! (As Nepo kept calling it: Happy East! Happy East!) Kirisito yazutse! Christ is risen!
So beautiful!
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Wow! Pretty awesome!
March 31 at 8:00am
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Talk about an interactive service! We are such wimps in the US!!!
March 31 at 8:05am
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Wonderful …..Celebration DAY! Blessings and more Blessings to you, Brooke!
March 31 at 8:16am
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Thank you! Amazing… I can only imagine
March 31 at 9:09am
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Holy cow. Well, you guys sure win the prize for most exciting Easter on the WND team!
March 31 at 1:26pm
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Jesus lives in us. Happy Easter.
April 1 at 2:53am
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