Attending a baptist church in south africa

Today it finally hit me. I’m really in South Africa… We spent the entire morning at Sivuyile First Baptist Church in Gugulethu for praise and worship and it was by far one of the more life changing experiences I have ever had. The town of Guglethu is quite impoverished and the people there literally have nothing. The cross in front of the church was literally two pieces of plywood, and the homes surrounding the church had tin roofs and barbed wire on the fences in front. Despite all of these hardships we were welcomed with open arms to a community filled with faith and joy. The name Sivuyile means “rejoice” which is exactly what I experienced today. The choir was a group of youth singing and harmonizing beautifully in Xhosa while dancing and swaying in jubilation. When the church filled up a group of men were gathered in one area, the youth choir in another and all of the women and children were situated in the pews behind us. When the first choir member opened her mouth to sing and worship, tears filled my eyes. The emotion and enthusiasm in the group of people around me was almost too much to handle. These people who have so many hardships and burdens put them all aside and come to the Lord for relief and strength.

As each hymn was sung the 15 of us became more and more comfortable with the congregation and started to get into the dancing and rejoicing that was happening around us. It was so amazing how welcoming the congregation was they started teaching me their sweet dance moves and welcomed me with many warm smiles.

Afterward, we got to chat with the Reverend and a sister (nurse) who helps run the church and gave us many helpful words of advice about nursing in South Africa.

The most touching part of the day was the fact that this church which had so little had started a fund to raise money for a school not too far away where children do not have shoes to wear. They asked for donations and I gladly donated. It’s so amazing to see the kindness and selflessness so apparent in this culture…

I know I’m gonna love it here.