Church

Today was my host sister, Sne’s, 17th birthday! However, it was also a Sunday so I had been preparing myself to go to church. As an atheist, I was prepared to sit through the process once. Luckuly my mother had spent years preparing me for this moment, by forcing me to go to the local Lutheran Church. That is, until she succumbed to the fact that she too was an atheist.

Anyway, I woke up relatively late and came out of my room prepared to go with Mama Busi to the local Roman Catholic church. To my delight, she said that she didn’t think she would have time to go, this being Sne’s birthday and all. Twenty minutes later, my friend, Amanda, who is actually Roman Catholic and living with a family of the same faith turned up. It turns out that Mama Busi was so worried that I was missing the service (for whatever reason) that she called their house and asked if I could join them.

Steeling myself, I headed out to church with them. The church took about 15 minutes to walk to from our houses and consisted of several open space buildings close together. The actual church part was very plain with tan walls and a few sketches of Jesus on the cross. And of course, it was not air conditioned.

The service was not two hours, like Welile, Amanda’s little sister had told us; it was three, and to make matters worse, Amanda fainted from the heat in the middle of the service. We went out to a side room and one of the acolites came to check on us. She told us not to worry and that Amanda should just sit down and relax. About five other women came to check on us during then next few minites, until the first acolite flew back in, filled with excitement. “The Father is coming! You must get back outside!”

Amanda, who still looked peaky stood and we went back to the pew, where we got water splashed on us by the preist. I couldn’t feel any of the divine light that my neighbors seemed to be feeling, but it was fine, they didn’t seem to mind that didn’t react.

After another 5 mintues of standing, Amanda excused herself again. I didn’t bother, as the thought of having the acolite drag me out for a second time would just draw more attention to us in the all-black (except for me and Amanda) congregation. It also appeared like Amanda's little siblings who are 6, 9, and 10 years old, enjoyed the service as much as I did, because a few minutes after Amanda left, they too mysteriously disappeared until after the service was over.

But it wasn’t a complete waste of a morning. The music was amazing. During the course of a song, many people would break off and begon their own harminiation, and somehow it always seemed to fit like a puzzle piece into the stanza.

In conclusion, I will not be going to church again here, but it was an interesting experience.