Evening Meetings

Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights we have meetings from 7:30pm till about 9pm.  Thursday night is cell group night, so there are little meetings being held all over the village.  The other nights we have everybody together in the Training Centre.  At 8pm, the little kids all go off to bed.  They gather at the foot of the stairs (which is basically the platform area for songleaders, preachers, etc), the songleader prays for them, then they scamper or drag themselves up the stairs to bed, girls to the left, boys to the right.  We can then watch them trotting back and forth with toothbrushes...  One night a small boy's voice shouted from a bedroom and there was a ripple of laughter from below.  Someone translated for me: "You never brush your teeth!"

Watching them go up the stairs during the meeting always reminds me of a scene out of "The Sound of Music", as the von Trapp children said goodnight and left the adults' party.

As the meeting continues, the adults who are room leaders gradually return from checking on their young charges, quietly stepping around the preacher and joining the 200 or so people sitting on the floor.  The only meeting for which we have chairs is the Sunday morning service, and sometimes the rows are so close together there's hardly any room for my legs!

Sitting on the floor certainly saves set-up time.  The Westerners, particularly the older ones, often grab a chair at the back.  I switch, depending on how my limbs are coping.  If a child particularly wants to sit with me, then I sit about halfway up the room with my back against a wall.  Any closer to the front (and to the speakers) is too loud for my ears.  The volume does vary a bit, depending on who is songleading, but it's always very loud up the front.