Local Happenings and Church

Well, yesterday there was quite the local event here in Moundou! The local cheiftain's father had died sometime ago, and yesterday was the day to enthrone the new cheiftain!

Now just a little bit about the infastructure here in Moundou. Moundou is the second largest city in Chad, with probably over 100,000 in all the suburbs. We are in one suburb, Koutou. Moundou has a total of 18 cheiftains and one mayor. This cheiftain was really a sub sub sub cheiftain; pretty far down the line of power.

I wasn't even going to bring my camera, since I would probably need to get a license to film such a public event. I can film in the mission and church context without too much trouble, but its when I got out in public that I run the risk of getting into trouble and having my equipement confiscated. But right before I was going to go over, I talked to Paul, one of the missionaries who has been here a while, and he said I might bring my camera, but I should ask him before taking any pictures. I prayed real hard that I wouldn't get into trouble, and then I made my way over to the event. When I got there, Paul motioned for me to come forward, and he talked to the Vice President of the Ceremony, and the VP said it would be fine, but that he wanted an electronic copy of the pictures, which was fine by me.

I talked with Paul and little bit, and he told me to "take some pictures confidently, but don't be too obvious and limit it to group shots, and don't do anything dumb". So I went and sat in the back row, and tried to look confident, meanwhile practicing my french phrase of the day, 'Je suis autorise', which means 'I am authorized'.

Officials continued to arrive, and finally the ceremony and procession started. The procession started off with people dressed in traditional ceremonial clothes, and there was music and dancing, people waving spears and shields...all rather exciting. I looked at Paul, and he nodded at me, so I lifted my camera and took a few quick, confident pictures.

Then the VP motioned rather obviously for me to come forward. Naturally I was terrified, but what else was I going to do? So I made my way around the dancing warriors, and Paul came over too. The synopis was that I should take many pictures, and get as close as I wanted, and get right in with the action.

Well, when the Vice President of Ceremonies tells you to take pictures, you take pictures! So I was terrified. Now I was the offical photographer, and I didn't even know the local customs. How close could I get? Who do I take pictures of, who do I not?

So I tried best to look confident and offical, and took lots of pictures and video. Then when the actual ceremeony got underway, I spotted another Chadian photographer. So I followed him around, took pictures of what he took pictures of, making sure that he got the best angles and shots.

All in all, it was a wild and crazy experience; a once in a lifetime opportunity to get in close on a local cultural event! I praise God that He orchestrated that for me!

That was yesterday, Saturday. This morning we went to church, and that was a good experience.

The church is about 45ft long, and about 15ft wide, a baked brick building with a thatched roof. There were probably over 80 people in there. We sat on stone and concrete benches. The whole event takes over a few hours, starting about 8am, but you can come and go as you please. So we arrived about 9am, and the church takes a break about 10:30. That is when we headed home, even though the service would continue for a few hours after that.

The whole service was in French, so I didn't understand most of it, but I recognized some of the songs, One was 'Stand up, Stand up for Jesus', but it sounded a little strange, since this culture has a 5 note scale, instead of the Western 8 note scale. But I recognized it and sang along what I knew in English!

At one point, they had 9 little children come forward, and one adult. I asked one of the missionaries what was going on, and he said that the 9 little children had recently commited their lives to Jesus, and the adult had recently come back to the faith. They read from Romans 10:9-11

'If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”'

The pastors laid hands on them, and prayed for them, and tears welled up in my eyes, as I could almost hear the heavens rejoicing that one had returned to the flock, and 9 little lambs were added!

It has been an exciting weekend so far! Tonight we will all go to the home of one of the missionaries, and we will have a church service in English. We sing a few songs, and listen to a recorded sermon of a preacher downloaded from the internet.
A few Prayer Requests:

-That God would strengthen the faith of those who gave their lives to the Lord
-That God would continue to keep me healthy, and would heal those on the team that are still a bit sick
-That I would continue to learn the languages
-That God would strengthen our team, through the language and cultural barriers

Thanks for praying! Your prayers really do make a difference for what is going on here...we here can feel when you are praying!

--Josh