Day #9

I don't think you'll need your boots for today's post but keep them handy just in case.

Last night after blogging, I had the privilege of attending a church service in Mamelodi, South Africa (30 minutes from Pretoria). That experience in itself just made every other experience thus far seem extremely insignificant. For my American readers, Mamelodi is a part of South Africa that is dominated by poverty. I can not even fathom to you what I saw last night because I'm still trying to wrap my head around it myself.  I won't go into detail because my mom's reading... but Mamelodi is one of those places that makes you re-evaluate any dissatisfaction that you've ever had in your entire life.

The church that we attended last night was an extremely strict Christian church. The men are required to wear a suit-like jacket and the girls must wrap their heads with a scarf and wear a skirt or dress. Upon arrival of the church, I envisioned what I thought the church would be like in the process of preparing myself. What a pointless idea. The church itself was in a tin-like building, enclosing 8 small wooden benches, a table, a few chairs and three candles. There was no flooring and it was merely the size of my room.

There's 11 different official languages spoken in South Africa, only one of them which I understand (English). At least three of the ten that I do not understand were spoken during the church service.

BUT...even though I was completely lost throughout the entire service (and I mean the e-n-t-i-r-e service), I was humbled and thankful to have had the opportunity to experience it.

In Virginia, my church and I have been extremely blessed. Not only do we have great members, we have two large buildings (one old and one new) that we use. So as I'm sitting on this old rickety bench, in a cold room lit by three candles, I thanked God over and over again. For the past 19 years I've had the resources and luxuries that people often dream about and yet I still become frustrated with God when things don't go the way I would like for them to. I've sat in my nice church, heated in the winter and cooled in the summer with comfy pews, lights and advanced technology. I've driven my nice car; never having to rely on walking for transportation, had a roof over my head, name brand clothes on my body and a warm bed to sleep in each night.

So as I thought about all these things I wondered, "What on Earth could I have ever been upset about?".

Here are these people that have limited if any of these same amenities but worship God with the same if not more passion than I do. Here are these people that warm themselves by fire, don't have indoor plumbing and walk if ever they travel and yet still praise God as if they were rich. People that are not angry for what they lack but grateful for what they do have. The world has become so caught up on "me, me, me" that we often lose sight of how blessed we really are. I guess sometimes it takes going out of the country for the realization to smack you in the face.

And so the transformation continues..

xoxo
One blessed American