judea church in zion

another journal excerpt

so. my first sunday at judea church in zion. not exactly what i expected. after we had tea this morning, we set off for church, gogo in her green robes, and zinhle and make looking like glowing angels in pure white, the children swinging their white outfits in shoprite bags on their arms, along with a frozen bottle of water wrapped in newspaper and some cornflakes, cheese pops and bananas. if the provisions didn't give me a clue that this was going to be a journey, i started getting the picture as we went out the back gate, toward the river. well, that and the fact that we were heading out at 9 and church doesn't start until 11.

anyway, as we took off across the river and over hillsides, i felt like we were in a swazi version of the sound of music. it was tempting to burst out with "the hills are alive...' because they were just so beautiful, the sun starting to break through what had been a cloudy morning. we crossed over hill sides on cowpaths, or no paths at all. we crossed two umfulas -rivers- which you could see from a distance because they were in little ravines marked by a ribbon of lush green twisting through the crackly brown grass that covers most of the landscape. then we literally climbed straight up a mountain, gogo leading the way with her walking stick. tema took turns ride-hopping, but wandile had her and was starting to cough (he's asthmatic) so i took her. it was fun to carry her on my back and truck up the mountain. it reminded me of benin. only here they haven't mastered the panya technique - maybe i'll suggest that next time.

after we crested the mountain, we came to a dirt road that seemd like a highway compared to where we'd been. we walked through a little village, including a solar-powered water pump which made the kids giggle because it sounded like crying. across a pasture scattered with cow droppings stood the little blue and white cement church building. after we unlocked it, as the children opened windows and swept the floor, we relaxed outside. they told me that although the bulding was built sometime in the mid-90s, the judea church is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.

after waiting half an hour, we started church with only one other member besides the nine of us. as we sang, four others trickled in. make led the service today, which meant that after every age group took the stage to sing a few songs, she got up and started the service off, carrying her staff painted white. i don't know why gogo didn't have one or why she was wearing green and had a black strip of cloth knotted around her neck. after make, gogo took the floor, speaking on the same passage - john 15:1, the vine and the branches. then i caught my name at the end of gogo's testimony, and looked up from reading the notes in my bible to see zinhle motioning me to the stage with her eyes. so i went up and gave my carefully rehearsed little speech in siswati, which was greeted after every hesitant line with loud amens and hallelujahs of affirmation. zinhle said it's always like that - somebody leads, opening and closing, but a variety of people share their testimonies. it seems like a good model, this way you can't get tired of a certain pastor's sermons. i just wish i could understand what they were saying.

when make took the floor again after zinhle shared, i was trying to compare the vine and branches passage in my bible to zinhle's siswati translation, but all i managed to work out was that "titselo" is fruit. which is a good word to know, i guess. throw in a couple prayers kneeling on the woven mats in front of the benches and a chanted amen chorus after each testimony, and there was your two-hour service. after locking up, we headed home. the hills were just as beautiful, but sunnier and hotter. tema had less concentration to hold on and a combination of that with my sweatiness meant she was a lot more slippery coming home. after rehydrating and eating a meal of leftovers, the homestead is now peaceful. even though this didn't go exactly as expected, i still got in an awesome hike. next time i'll wear my keens (super-duper waterproof odorproof walking shoes)! we take our shoes off for church anyway.