Church Visit

We visited a new church on Sunday. It was small, as I'm pretty sure all Christian churches are in this area. The Philippines is a predominantly Catholic region, so the non-Catholic churches are few & relatively small in size. (Atleast in this area of the country.) But, we went with a FedEx lady (I wonder if they call us TI ladies?) and I think her invite was just the push we needed to get us off our lazy rears on Sunday morning!

As I said, it was small. Their auditorium was about the size of a large classroom at our church in Richardson. And, they had a band on the stage with large speakers set up on each side. So, it was LOUD! Sydney covered her ears during most of the praise & worship portion. She said it was "too loud". I couldn't blame her.

I had a hard time focusing on the singing during this time because there were about 4 little boys standing 2 rows ahead of us who kept turning their heads to watch us & would laugh uncontrollably. Then, I would look at my own kids, who were standing in a daze with their mouths hanging open. They had never seen such movin' and groovin' in a church service! And, the little boys ahead of us had never seen so many white people in their church. It was pretty comical.

When the music ended, it was time for the kiddos to leave for Bible class. Luckily, all 3 of mine are taught in the same room (ages 3-6 are all together... small church!), but only Nick & Samuel were willing to go. So, the boys attended Bible class together, while Sydney stayed in the auditorium with us & colored. Near the end of class time, Sydney whispered that she wanted to go with Bub & Nick. So, her Daddy took her to their class and she stayed until it was over.

Afterwards, they all came back out to the auditorium to join us for a couple more praise & worship songs. This time, both boys felt the spirit moving and started groovin' right along. It was quite a sight to watch two little white boys dancing out of rhythm! Adorable!

After the service ended, so many sweet & friendly strangers came to welcome us to their church. They invited Sam to a men's Bible study the following day. They invited me to a ladies' fellowship event. And, they invited our entire family to an upcoming sports day. They were so hospitable & loving.

The best part of it all is that Sydney announced that evening that she wanted to go back to church in the morning. She said she liked her Bible class. When shy, timid Sydney declares that she enjoyed a new environment, you know that it was good!

As I told my mom on the phone last night, if we continue to attend this church, my kids are going to think our church services back home in Texas are completely boring! No band... no dancing... boring!! Maybe on our return, we can shake it up a bit at RE!