Day 60: Just Give Thanks!

It was Thanksgiving Sunday at United Baptist so Biana told me to bring extra naira. I think that church is by far the most expensive thing to do around here... Because our service doesn’t start until ten I was able to make myself some gluten-free pancakes, which, although they were particularly ugly from the beat-up pan I used, were delicious. Putting on my Nigerian clothes and quickly brushing my teeth Biana and I headed out the door to walk down to church. We arrived just as the doors were opening and were escorted towards the front to sit near Mary and Fatima. Everyone was dressed up and there were many more people there than usual. Mary told me quietly before the service got under way that this was the Nigerian version of our American Church’s Christmas--everyone shows up! There was a lot of singing and dancing, and the guest pastor spoke about how we as humans will never fully understand how greatful we need to be for what God has given us. It was so nice to hear a Nigerian refuting the Prosperity Gospel and reminding the congregation that yes, there may be hard times, but God is full of grace. THAT is something to be thankful about! After he spoke they said the congregation would enjoy a “ten to fifteen minute” time of thanksgiving offering. They asked every person with the last name beginning with A to go into the foyer and, when the music started playing, dance on up to the front to present your offering. Mind you much more than naira was being given. Farmers brought forth corn and sugar cane, families brought up bottled water, one woman even danced forward with a very large live chicken! The pastor would then pray over those people and that offering before they found their seats. After A came B through G, followed by the kids, then guests,... Once it reached two o’clock Biana and I decided we should scoot out as quietly as possible. They called T as we ducked out the door.

 

            Back at home we fixed hot dogs and baked beans for lunch (Fourth of July in Jos?) and sat around talking about our home church. It is so cool to be living with two people from the Fresno First Baptist family; we never run out of things to discuss and enjoy about our home congregation. Adrie and I went for our daily e-mailing (which has gotten a little more intense over the past week. If only there were some other way to communicate with the necessary people without the use of wireless internet on the third floor of Faith Alive!) and returned in time for a hodgepodge dinner. We hoped there would be a good movie on tonight (seeing as it gets dark earlier now and we can’t do anything outside) but all that we found were scary movies and news channels. We pulled out Adrie’s dvd of Singing In The Rain and enjoyed a night of Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds: now there is what classy looks like! It made me miss tap-dance lessons as a first grader. In honor of the fabulous dance moves (and the Halloween parties we missed out on) Adrie and I kicked our dance party up a notch with costumes and pictures. You know you are tired when... That got us tuckered out enough to send us to bed, ready for another brilliant week at Faith Alive.