Tomorrow is Sunday 

which means I'm going to church, last year on this Sunday I went to church as well but I was in Africa. And church in Africa is a little different than our church in Canada.  I was in Zambia to set up the library at Grace Academy and the day after we arrived in Ndola we went to church.

Mainly, it's the singing that I love about going to church in Zambia. We usually visit Elim Pentecostal, this one church in a compound (township) that used to be called Chipolukusu-which means curse in Bemba (the local language). Citizens of the community decided to change the name to Mapalo which means blessing. Another story I heard was that years ago a white guy named Chip Lukas owned property near this compound and it was named after him. I really don't know if that's true.
There is so much singing at this church. First there is praise and worship, then the women's choir, then the youth sing and then the men. Then there is testimony time and some people sing a song as a testimony and we have offering and there is more singing. So many people are gifted with beautiful voices.
We introduced our team and there is a stereotype that white people visiting Africa take a lot of photos, which is true, we do. But this time it was turned around because as I was introducing all the team members they would stand up so everyone could see. One of our team members is almost 6'10" tall by any standards and the Zambians collectively ahh'ed and pulled out their phones and started taking pictures of this very tall man. It was a funny moment.