Palm Sunday

This morning church was so wonderful! We didn’t think there’d be communion today because they usually have it on the last Sunday of the month, but I kind of thought they would today because everyone was wearing white, or their LCCA chitenges or their white and purple uniforms. It was such a wonderful uplifting service. The choirs outdid themselves today. After communion, the mixed choir sang 3 songs (in addition to ones they had sung earlier in the service) and it was the most joyful, happy thing I have seen! People were smiling from ear to ear, clapping and dancing and thanking God for his forgiveness. While I was taking communion, the kids’ choir sang. What a wonderful way to receive the forgiveness of sins; with the sound of children’s voices praising God, drums and a shaker made of bottle caps. The ladies choir also sang about 6 songs during the service. Pastor Mutentami is such a great preacher as well. His sermons make people laugh and get involved in the service, but they are also full of Law and Gospel presented in such a clear way. After hearing God’s Word and the beautiful songs, you cannot help but leave church so uplifted and happy and so thankful to God for his blessings.

I felt so happy after church that I think I want to join the mixed choir. I know we don’t have a lot of time left, but I think it would be so fun. They have practice on Sunday afternoons, and unfortunately we’re going to be out and about today, but next week I’m going to try. J

We had an hour after church to relax and plan and then we went to Dream Valley for the afternoon. We got a ride with the Birners and unfortunately, nobody else came. The weather wasn’t the greatest. It was raining and thundering when we left, and we hoped that the rain would stop. It’s been rare to have a whole day where it rains or is cloudy all day. Well today was one of those days. L Dream Valley is a really nice place, with 4 pool and slides etc. The landscaping is really nice. We got in the water, which was surprisingly warm and played a little volleyball, but then it started thundering pretty loudly so we got out. We play a round of bocce ball and then I read a bit more of my book while Mrs. Birner and Sophie got back in the pool for a bit. After that we decided we were all just too cold, so we left. The other missionary families stayed at the guest house and watched movies and played games. When we got back home I actually put on sweat pants and a sweatshirt and watched a movie! It was probably a blessing in disguise that it was raining—I really needed to get things done for planning for the week. The nice thing is that we have a four day week again because of Good Friday.

During the movie, Anne stopped by to show us some of her family pictures. It was so nice seeing pictures of her from years past. Lisa Martin also stopped by to talk to us about our teaching. Her husband is a missionary in Malawi, and they live on the LBI campus. She’s interested in maybe starting some tutoring or something in Malawi. It was really nice to talk to her!

For supper we had cereal with bananas and yogurt. A nice breakfasty supper. J

I tried to get some more planning done for the week. We’ve run out of ink though, and we can’t make any photocopies ‘til tomorrow morning so there’s not a whole lot I can do tonight yet.