One of the churches embraced us wholeheartedly. They are having a revival this week and invited us to come back. The one day we did they had changed the schedule and so finished before we arrived, but we hung out anyway and got to know the pastor more.
The whole thing reiterated to me that church is not a building. The church these people worship in is made of mud and logs - there is a gap between the wall and the roof for the wind to come through. 250 people pack into a room I thought might fit 40 comfortably. And they truly love God and loved us because we do too.
That's the thing I keep coming back to - living without, or living simply sometimes can mean living more. These people are poor, they struggle to provide for their families, their children attend public school because it's free and their parents can afford that. There life is filled with struggle and pain. Yet the kids gather at the church for choir practice during their holiday. 20-somethings sit under the tree and practice too. They find a simple, yet profound, satisfying and comforting hope in God that gets them through. He is their provider. He is their hope. They worship God in that location because that's where they come to meet. The would probably sit under the tree if they could all fit! The building is secondary to why they are there - to meet their God. To be refilled, to worship as a community, to be in community.
It's amazing.
