Sunday was a first for a lot of things; my first time singing with the choir and worship team, my first time wearing Liberian clothes (see picture), my first time leading the Sunday school lesson, and my first time eating Liberian food.
As previously mentioned, on Sunday the church hosted an African dinner to celebrate the return of William Joe and his family from Liberia. To give you some background, William Joe has been in America for about 8 years now, separated from his daughter and wife who were still in Liberia. The reason for this was the difficulty getting the paperwork that would allow him to stay here as well as bring his family to America. During his time here he started serving as an elder and assistant to Pastor Morton at the church. Last June William Joe went to Liberia to get the last stamps for his paperwork from the government there which would allow him to live and work here as well as bring his family over. Unfortunately there was a big hold-up, and a lot of red tape that caused him to be stuck in Liberia until this February, when he and his family returned. He and his wife recently had an adorable little baby girl, expanding their family to four in total. So this dinner took place as a celebration of his return to America; finally.
This morning Mama Morton insisted that we all wear Liberian clothing to celebrate this special occasion. I looked a little like a giant white marshmallow with silver icing on me, but I have never received so many compliments on my clothing in my life. People were just tickled pink that I was wearing Liberian clothing to the service.
We arrived at church and after helping to set-up the last of the hall I went to choir practice. I am sure you can imagine in your head how I looked. When they swayed to the left, I was going to the right, and when they went right I was going to the left. The Liberian’s have this very special way of clapping, it is this unique three beat clap for every beat. I can’t for the life of me get it, although I do have three months to learn. Despite my awkwardness with the rhythm, it was great to worship with the church in this way.
My first Sunday school lesson went well. I had five boys in my class, and they were a lot of fun. It is nice to have the opportunity to reiterate what we learned on Saturday with some of the kids who are also there on Sunday.
After the service it was time for the food! Approximately 170 people showed up for the dinner, and we were greeting with 5 long tables completely packed with food. What I learned while serving those who came is that Liberian food is very spicy, their staple is rice and almost every dish has rice and then a sauce you put on top of it, and their delicacy is entire fish baked with all the bones in until it is very soft, and then they eat the bones and fish. Let’s just say after serving everyone I politely managed to avoid the entire fish that was staring at me, and focused instead of the rice dishes with sauce. It was quite spicy, but I really enjoyed it.
After finishing the dinner we stayed to clean-up the hall. It was a great, but very busy weekend, and I am looking forward to relaxing and catching up on things today. Now I know why most people in ministry take Monday off! The weekends are definitely going to be the busiest time of the week for me.
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