Manga, Manga, Laranja

Today we went to Mudzingadze church. This is the normal church we have been attending here in town that is actually on the outskirts and very much a village church to us. But today I found some interesting comparisons as there were many visitors from actual bush churches from outer villages. We live in the capital of Manica Province, the city of Chimoio. The others that were visiting for the seminar today came from up to 3 hours away from surrounding churches that are from village areas but not cities. So it was interesting to see the differences. Here are a few:

• The women from the villages all wore head wraps and kapalanas (wrap skirts).
• The village children were anxious to touch us and be near us as they have not seen many white people.
• The women all sat on one side of the church (except for me who is required to sit up front with Marc and the pastors) and the men sat on the opposite side.
• The women with babies were outside the church under the trees sitting on grass mats.
• Each church had to send a few people to the front of the church to sing a song to represent them. Those from the outer villages sang in dialect while those from in town here sang in Portuguese.

It was super hot inside the church today with so many people packed in, temperatures in the 90's and the sizzling tin roof. I took the opportunity once the preaching began to go outside to check on the boys and get some air. I also wanted to observe the Sunday School time since I was asked to come up with a lesson plan for the next few months to help the teachers out. Once the Sunday School teachers had finished up teaching their lessons to the children as they sat under the mango tree on grass mats I asked in my broken Portuguese if the boys and I could play a game with the children. In my head I knew I wanted to teach them Duck, Duck, Goose as we have taught that to many children here in Moz and they love it regardless of age. Everyone was excited and a little timid at first but it didn't take long for the children to quickly pick it up. Of course because of my limited Portuguese and to make it cultural relevant I had to do some quick thinking so at least at the Mudzingadze church it is now knows as "Manga, Manga, Laranja" (Mango, Mango, Orange). Even the adults standing around watching had a good laugh, especially watching Micah play. I think they would have joined in if they didn't think I would have noticed.