Day 7 - Havin Some Church up in Here

Sunday greetings from Arusha!  Fantastic day today as we were able to visit 2 churches and bring them some New Harvest love! 

We were picked up early (6:45am) this morning by Pastor William Msuya from the Pentecostal Assemblies of God Church. (Yep, Mitch going back to his roots!)  He took us across town to the church he pastors.  What a delightful man with a sweet spirit!  When we arrived, church had already started........worship that is!  We entered the building and took our places in the front row. 
 

Mitch with Pastor William

We were really trusting God to bring us an interpreter who could speak good English and worked well with Mitch.  It's very different preaching with an interpreter.  GOD CAME THROUGH!  Pastor James Kesanta worked with Mitch and did a fabulous job giving the people Mitch's message in their native tongue, Swahili. 
 






Mitch encouraged the church with message of finding God's purpose in their lower story to fulfill His upper story.  If you have been attending New Harvest, this isn't a new concept!  It was received wonderfully and really impacted Pastor James and led to some wonderful post-church conversation!

 

What a blessing to be a part of people who worship with their whole body! 

 

After church, we went to Pastor William's home where his wife, Mary had a wonderful meal for us.  We shared some African tea (with milk & sugar), a peanut butter sandwich, avocado, hard boiled egg, sausage (aka hot dog), and banana.  Their hospitality was so beautiful! 

 

 

Afterwards, we got in the car and traveled to our 2nd house of worship -  Njiro Pentecostal Assemblies of God Church.  Pastor Steve Gobrey greeted us and took us inside.

 

 

 

 

 

Mitch, Pastor James (Interpreter) & Pastor Steve

 

Once again, AMAZING!  This church had a very young feel to it!  The worship team was made up of teenagers, including the keyboard player and bass player.  We heard from the kid's choir, and the teenagers.  It was so encouraging to see the YOUTH leading the charge!!  Before we got there, they did worship that consisted of HYMNS so the people were getting a great taste of all generations!  I was very impressed with the 1st row of kids under the age of 5!  They had to be at church for at least 3 hours.  They were SO well behaved and absolutely adorable!

 

 

I hope these videos give you a good taste of the incredible morning we had!  I picked up a few good moves from the younger kids and Mitch can dance with the best of them.  Anne was movin and a shakin AND even Lee was tapping his toes!  There's something so refreshing about freedom in worship! 

After the worship service, we went to Pastor Steve's home where his wife, Paulina prepared a wonderful meal for us!  The food is never ending here!  We had beef stew over rice, spinach, watermelon, bananas, oranges, and avocado.  Again, wonderful hospitality! 

Pastor William then came to pick us up and off to the hotel we went.  Tomorrow, Mitch is leading a Leadership Conference at that church for all the church leaders in the area.  We are looking forward to seeing our new friends again tomorrow!  Good night!