The Hunt For a Church

These last two weeks have been full of adventures and I hope to be able to share them with everyone. I have been "church shopping" these last few weeks and the church services are as diverse as the people who attend them. There is a book in the Mid-Ship Lounge that list churches that crew members attend. They give a description of each church: local meaning Liberian, Western, or African meaning you will probably not know what is happening. The book also tells the means of transportation used to get there: foot, taxi or Mercy Ship vehicle. And it tells the length of service, which ranges from one and a half hours to four hours. Then you can sign up on the list of people who will attend for the week.

Last week I attended a local church that a number of Mercy Shippers regularly attend called the Mount Sinai Temple Pillar of Fire Mission. The congregation meet in an abandoned building that the government lets them use until they build a church. The people were very warm and welcoming and the congregation has grown over the last few months. Pastor Sam speaks English understandably well (a description of how well the English is understood is often included in church descriptions). He and his congregation are eager to grow in their relationship with the Lord and it was an amazing experience. One of the main things I noticed was the very traditional Western service structure. From the reading of the opening scripture to the benediction you could see how Liberia's roots are non-African. Yet the music was definitely African influenced and one of my favorite songs right now is a West African song "There is no one like you, Papa".

Here are a few crew members with Pastor Sam (middle Liberian) and some youth members. You can see the building where they meet in the background.

Pastor Sam and the congregation saying goodbye to Kristin.

The church I attended today was Monrovia Christian Fellowship. It is the most popular Western church in Monrovia and is attended by a number of people from Mercy Ships and other organizations, including the UN, World Vision, and Samaritan's Purse. The congregation meets in a large, beautiful building that was able to withstand damage throughout the war. The pastor spoke very clear English and the people sang songs that you and I would sing at church back in the States. They even have an overhead projector to show song lyrics! I was amazed at the differences of these two churches. At the local church I often felt like I was watching a performance because of all the singing and dancing that I am not use to. And today's church made me feel like I was actually back home, minus the fact that the people were Liberian and dressed in traditional African clothes. After church ice cream vendors gathered on the street and sold small cones for 10 Liberian dollars (approximately 16 cents). The conversion rate is $1 US for every 60 Liberian dollars! Everything is priced in US dollars, but you can also use Liberian bills which is always interesting when someone pulls out a humongous wad of money to pay a bill at a restaurant. These ice cream cones are oddly inexpensive, even to the Liberians, and we greatly appreciate this cheap treat.

Oh, I forgot to mention the drive to church. The rainy season has made getting around a very interesting adventure to say the least. The above picture is one of the main roads that we drive to get to church. This taxi that we were following eventually had to pull over because it could not handle the mud and trenches that have developed everywhere. Not only do we have to avoid splashing mud onto pedestrians but we also have to not stall in the mud and not bottom out in the ditches and pot holes. It is definitely a bouncy ride!