On Tuesday night, the friends I was visiting took me along on their weekly hike to a neighbouring village. There, they have a little church service in the home of an old man who is too sick to make the 45 minute walk to church.
We left shortly after 4:30--four people and four dogs. We walked up & down a hilly trail, which
in some places had a deep groove (often close to a foot deep, sometimes two feet) carved through the clay by motorbikes. Fortunately it wasn't raining, so wasn't too treacherous.
We arrived after 45 or 50 minutes, and made our way to the old man's house. There, we sat on the porch & visited for a few minutes, then changed into our swimming clothes & headed down to the shallow river to bathe our sweat away. The dogs also received a good washing there. We returned to the house to dry off & change into fresh clothes, then visited until it was time to start.
The day I was there, the man's daughter had prepared rice cooked in bamboo stalks, which she served us with sweet coffee.
Several others arrived to the house (including us, there were 10 adults and 4 children), and then we began. We sang together, prayed, and the missionary brought a message. After another couple songs & a prayer, we were done. We chatted a few more minutes, then said our goodbyes & headed up the trail.
By now it was well after dark, so we made good use of our flashlights and/or headlamps on the way home. When we arrived back at their houses, we took turns showering while the ladies warmed up some food, then we ate supper at about 8:00.
It made for a long day, but this is what it's all about!
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