Strange Easter

     This was the strangest Easter I’ve ever experienced.  Not bad, just strange.  The morning started by giving our kids their Easter baskets.  But instead of baskets all we had were Tupperware containers.  And instead of Easter candy, a chocolate bunny, etc, we could only find some general gummy candies and chocolate bars.  After breakfast we all dressed up in our special African outfits: Jen and Abi in their custom-made dresses, and Nathanael and I in our special shirts.  We then drove to church.  As we’ve mentioned before, the services can sometimes be long.  Since it’s Easter this one was even longer.  From 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., we all sat in the crowded, hot sanctuary dancing and praising the Lord.  There we even more special songs than usual, as even more people felt like expressing their individual gratitude to God. 

     Then we moved on to the sermon. This is where things got especially strange.  Instead of your usual Easter-resurrection sermon, the whole message was about betrayal.  We started on the topic of Judas’ betrayal of Jesus, moved to the Old Testament studying various examples of betrayal like Delilah’s betrayal of Samson, and Absalom’s betrayal of David, then passed on to everyday life examples of betrayal, finally arriving at the main point that all of us should be careful not to betray one another, and not to betray Jesus.  It was a decent sermon, just not what we expected on Easter Sunday morning.  There wasn’t anything about the good news of  the resurrection, Jesus’ victory over death and sin, or any of that.  Just “don’t stab your neighbor in the back.”

     Following our marathon church experience (I know other African churches can go even longer, but when you have a wife who doesn’t speak the language, and two little kids without nursery care, it felt like we had just run a marathon) we drove to the Snetselaars’ for a somewhat last-minute Easter lunch.  I say somewhat last-minute because we were expecting the church to provide a meal according to their tradition, but they ended up using the money they had raised for other purposes, leaving them without a budget for the party.  So as a team we ate African food prepared by Corrinne’s neighbor.

     Finally our day ended with some grading and lesson planning, Jen and I getting ready to go back to school the following day.  As I said, it wasn’t a bad day, just a very strange way for us to spend our Easter.  In some ways, I feel it just goes with the territory.  Missionaries have to be flexible, adaptable to the local culture, willing to go with the flow.  Holidays overseas are often the toughest, as we usually look forward to our regular traditions and customs.  But at the same time this type of out-of-the-ordinary experiences make for great memories.  I’m sure next year we’ll look back and laugh at the “strange Easter” we had in Guinea.

     In conclusion, we praise God for His death and resurrection.  We thank Him for His blessings and faithfulness in our lives.  And we rejoice at the fun ways He has taken us out of our comfort zones, granting us the gift of new, and strange, experiences.  Thank you Lord!