Galilea UMC

Today I had the honor of attending the church service at Galilea United Methodist Church in Blantyre. Kara, An old friend of Carl's from the GBOD was a missionary there for two years, ending in Dec. 2011. She was back on business for her new job through the GBOD and had noticed on facebook that I was going to be in Malawi during part of her travels as well. She picked me up and took me to church with her. Her welcome was very warm because the people of Galilea love her and her family very much. She was gracious enough to include me in her morning.

Church was a blessing. The songs of African churches are second to none and I was moved to tears on multiple occasions. They had a visitors welcome where we stood up in front of everyone and said our names and what we were doing in Blantyre and if we would come again. Then they sang a song for us and each and every person in the congregation came to welcome us and shake our hands. I noticed (and remember from Terry's advise) that Malawians shake with two hands. So I tried my best to say "Zikomo guambiri" thank you, very much. There was much singing which was fine with me, and then Kara spoke the sermon. She told a story which I am sure is an African tale:

There were two friends, a caterpillar and a snake. The snake was complaining, "Every time I go into the town, they try to kill me with knives." And the caterpillar says, "Yes, every time I go into town they try to collect me for relish. But I have an idea. So the caterpillar went into his dark cacoon and came out a butterfly. When he went into the village, everyone loved him and was following him and regarding him as beautiful. So he went back and told the snake "It was wonderful, they loved me." So the snake shed his skin, and went to the village. And they still tried to kill him. So he went back and the caterpillar asked him how it went, so he said "They tried to kill me!"

The moral of the story, as Kara taught it, is that you have to go to your dark place, and let God change you for the better in order for the world to see you differently. You cannot just leave the past behind, you have to be transformed.

At the end of the service everyone processed out, starting with the pastors and then the front rows going to the back. Once you were outside, you shook the hands of those in front of you and then stood next to them in the recieving line, so the last people out of the church got to shake hands with the whole line of people. This way, everyone gets to greet everyone else. It was so amazingly beautiful. What a warm welcome it was. I hope I can visit again, if not on this trip, someday. I have already been invited to Bible Study and more events. They sure know how to make an Azungu (white person, literally "someone who roams around aimlessly) welcome.