Spending A Sunday With The Assembly Of God Ngobe
Last Sunday, I finally got an invitation to the local Evangelical church, which happens to be an Assembly of God church.This church is the church that my family attends-actually, it´s the church almost everyone near me attends! I had been interested in going to a church here;howver, Westerners are not always welcome at some churches/events. Therefore, I needed a formal invitation.
On Sunday morning, my family told me that that afternoon, three of the church elders would be paying me a visit. I would be expected to play hostess-meaning, offer coffee with lots of sugar, and some other treat.My family would provide me with a girl in the family to help me serve and prepare the coffee. Providing a girl to help serve or prepare food is the custom here, and girls begin learning these duties from the age of six on up. My helper for this special event was a eight year old. I would also be expected to wear my traditional dress as a sign of respect.
The elders showed up at about 3 in the afternoon-one man was the head pastor, and the other two were assistant pastors. They sat down on the back porch, where all family and friends sit when they visit. We were introduced in Spanish, and they sat down and talked with Catalina, my host mother.
I was wearing the traditional dress of the Ngobe-it had just been completed the day before by a friend´s sister. I was somewhat used to wearing it by Sunday, as on Saturday night, I had had to wear it for a meeting with a local women´s group.
I was, however, still not used to walking in it! The dress is VERY ample, and is down to the ground. The day before I had struggled alot, walking up and down the mountain and on the dirt roads here.
I also was having a hard time with the colors-it is bright bright green, with red, light blue, and yellow zigzags. Compared to my practical travel clothes, It felt like I was a walking rainbow.
At any rate, the dress recieved many compliments from the church elders. I was glad I had had it made-once agiain, proving that adapting to a different culture is much more effective than insisting on your own!
The young girl in my family made the hot boiled coffee and I poured it into plastic cups for the 3 men. Then, I brought out a chunk of cane sugar, which we cut into pieces. This ¨candied¨cane sugar is considered a dessert here-and I had been given it by the women´s group the night before. It is eaten in chunks,or slivers, and very very sweet.
The three elders began talking about God, about Jesus, about Heaven , about everything you can think of. All three spoke with great fervor and excitement, for about 2 hours. The whole time, they were drinking cup after cup of coffee, and after two hours they had polished off all the sugar as well.
Frankly, I didn´t understand much of what they said-particially because they were sometimes speaking in their language, and particially because when they did speak in Sapnish, it was very fast. But I did understand that they were very excited, that they wanted to invite me to their church.
The invitation itself was rather formal-they asked my family to ask me, and then my family asked me.
Of course I said YES!
So that night,we prepared to go to the Asssembly of God church down the road. Maybe I shouldn´t use the words ¨down the road¨-that sort of implies ease. Rather, it was a half an hour walk in the pouring rain on a slick muddy road in the dark.
Accompanying us was a large group of neighborhood women and children-including one woman pastor from the church(who is my next door neighbor); a young woman, about 16 years old, with a baby;several elderly women; a rag-tag group of about 15 children; and my family.
I could not believe that we were all going to walk there, in the rain, in the mud, in the dark, with a little baby. The women had no umbrellas(they are a luxury here for some people); they were wearing the traditional Ngobe dress down to their ankles; and flip flops. I could hardly walk in my high tech sandals-I had to hold on tightly to the shoulder of Arturo, the boy that lives at my house, or I would´ve fallen. There were also frogs everywhere-and I mean everywhere! (it doesn´t normally rain this time of the year, so they were all out frolicking in the mud!)
In my country, people would never take a little baby in their arms and walk to a church(or anywhere, for that matter) in the pouring rain, on a slick muddy road. They would have the perfect little carrier or stroller for the baby; sturdy shoes; raincoats; umbrellas; and probably take a car to begin with. But here, people have nothing-and they make do with nothing.
We hiked up a hill, rounded a bend, and came upon the church itself.
The church was basically an enormous, open on all sides, carport-like building. It was not even a building-more like a cement slab, with posts around it, and a very nice metal roof. It had no lights, and only a few benches for people.
As far as people, there were at least two hundred people there, and more coming by the minute. People were coming with their entire families, babies, small children, women, young adults,men, old people, sick people on stretchers-you name it. There were also quite a few dogs running around; cows grazing right next to the church; horses tethered to the posts; and chickens and their chicks in boxes.
We sat down on a roughly hewn bench, held up by a few cement cinderblocks,and I got a chance to look around.
One thing I noticed immediately was that there was a large space in the middle of the church-much larger than an aisle-and this was full of people, who seemed to be swaying back and forth in a line. The second thing I noticed was that on the right hand side of the church there was only one pew-or rather, bench. The entire right hand side of the church was taken up by families and their posessions-and I mean everything, from cooking pots to chickens to blankets. Catalina told me that these people had basically been camping out here, waiting for the church service-most of them had walked over ten hours to get here from the campos(farms), in the mountains of the Comarca.
The service began with the lead pastor calling out for a prayer. A man offered to come to the front and begin the prayer, and as soon as he started praying, EVERYONE in the entire church started praying also. Everyone was praying differently, calling out, singing, reciting..it was impossible for me to distinguish any one prayer in particular. The women that had been standing in the middle of the church, swaying back in force, were particularly fervent.
After the prayer, they did a reading from the Bible. They read from the book of Job. The reading was donw by seven different pastors, including a few women.The only light used in the church were flashlights, so the reading of the Bible was done by flashlight. People in the congregation would call out ¨Gracias Dios¨(thankyou God) alot during the reading.
Also during the reading, life went on as usual-children did no sit still, they ran around, played, slept; people ate; diapers were changed; greetings were exchanged between adults.
After this, the singing began-every age group took turns singing songs. All the singing was accompanied by musical instruments: a guitar, a whistle; a gourd full of dried maiz,shaken like a rattle; a drum, of animal skins; and a conch shell.
Halfway thru the singing of one group of children, the women in the middle of the church started swaying and dancing faster and faster.One woman´s body began shaking violently, and people began walking her up the front of the entire congregation. Once she was in front of everyone, her dancing and shaking and speaking got faster and faster-and people were calling out ¨Gracias Dios¨and so on. The woman danced, whirled, shook, and spoke rapidly for more than 5 minutes. When she was done she collapsed near one of the pastors, and immediately the entire congregation broke out into wild applause.
People continued taking turns singing, including a particularly beautiful song sung by a blind girl who was about 12 years old. Her singing was interrrupted occassionally by another blind girl at her side, who would begin speaking rapidly, or alternatively, calling out prayers of devotion. People went wild in the congregation when the two blind girls were walked off the stage.The applause, the prayers being called out, were incredibly fervent for the two girls.
I myself was simply blown away by the beauty of their singing.
At this point, the main pastor announced I was in the audience and requested for me to come forward. There was thunderous applause for me as I came up to the front of the stage. I was pretty nervous, and I had no idea what was expected of me at all!
I went up to the front, and they proceeded to ask me if they could lay hands on me. I said yes, and immediately people in the congregation were singing out prayers and praises-there was alot going on at once. Suddenly, at least half the congregation got up out of their seats and came towardsme. I had no idea what to do, so I just stood there!
They all began laying hands on my body, taking turns. As they laid hands on me, they would call out, tremble or pray. By the time they were done, almost every adult (more than 200!) had laid hands on me in the congregation.
What did it feel like? Well, first off-it was different! I´ve never had an experience like that before-with so many people. Secondly, I would say it was a very moving, deeply spiritual experience. Although it is not something I have experienced before( I have been to similiar churches in the past, but none with this degree of fervor and prayer, expressed in such a uniquely Ngobe way), I have no doubt that the presence of God was there. The people approached the stage with such joyfulness that it astonished me.
When I left the stage, I felt significantly different than when I first walked up to the front-I felt no nervousness, no anxiety(social situations on stages make me anxious!) and felt a true sense of peacefulness. Interesting.
Everyone came up to me and shook my hand, and it was as though I was part of the Ngobe who were there.
We all walked home in the pouring rain, Catalina using my umbrella to cover the newborn baby.
Definitely, a very beautiful memorable experience for me.
gg
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