I am a church person

If you sat in the front of The Beast in the mornings, you would inevitably hear gospel or praise music pouring out of the cab through the small access hole between it and the passenger compartment.  While not in English you could still tell.  Towards the end of the trip, we asked our driver, Dan, if he was indeed listening to church music. Enthusiastically he replied, “yes, I am a church person.”  We told him that we too are church people. This led to the discovery that Dan is also a Presbyterian, affiliated with the Presbyterian Church of East Africa, attending a small church in his village outside of Nairobi. 

Before we parted ways with the intrepid travelers, we mentioned to Dan that we would like to find a church before leaving Zimbabwe tomorrow. In that we are traveling on Sunday, we found a service at a Seventh Day Adventist Church this morning and Dan asked if he could join us. We stopped by the campground this morning to pick up Dan and we walked through town to find the Vulindlela Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Information online was spotty so we didn’t know what time the service started. Out of an abundance of caution, we went on the early side. This meant we were there are morning, participating in the singing and prayers, community announcements, roll call, church school, and finally the service. All told we were there for 2 1/2 hours. The congregation was kind enough to conduct the service in English instead of Ndebele, which made understanding possible. The church did not have a choir or any musical instruments, both of which proved unnecessary as the congregation sang beautifully. 

After lunch we meandered through town for lunch at the Three Monkeys restaurant, the most touristy place we’ve eaten in months. We had a good lunch and made it back to the hotel mid-afternoon having decided to skip the 2-5 pm session back at the church to which we had been invited.  We spent the remainder of the day resting or napping, making our way to the hotel restaurant for dessert.  We leave Zimbabwe tomorrow morning, and the end of our adventure seems close. Stay tuned for the South African adventures to follow. 

Dave