Baptist Women's Conference

Today was the last day of the Baptist Women's Conference. It was held in Beria this year, about a 45 minute drive from Dondo.

It started on Thursday afternoon and ran though Sunday ending with a church service.

There had to be 250+ ladies at this conference, and at least a third of them brought their youngest child with them.

 

Thursday they registered and settled in.

Each women had to bring their own bedding (a straw mat). They needed to bring a plate, spoon and cup. Also each women had to bring 2 Kg of rice, 1Kg of sugar and 1 liter of oil.

Some slept outside, others in an old building across the street from the church where the convention was held.

The ladies from Dondo have been planning and taking extra work to raise the money needed to attend. They all needed to buy capulanas. Once they decided on the design they each bought 2 capulanas, one for their headdress and one to wrap around their waist. 

This is a big event for the ladies of Dondo Baptist Church. They have been getting together with the church plants ( Centro Emissor, Mafarinha, Savane)  for many weeks to plan and practice their songs and dance routines. 

Each church has an opportunity to perform. It was so great! But when Dondo Baptist Church got up there, all the other churches paled in comparison! Our ladies were great!!! There had to be 60 women up there, all dancing in perfect unison, singing and worshiping and praising Our God! 

Each church that attended had their own design, unique to their church. They each had the opportunity to present, between bible study and devotions. 

Saturday as Kathy and I were preparing to leave we were asked to meet a couple of the ladies from Centro Emissor church.

Someone had observed that one of the babies and a 3 year old boy had paraphernalia from a witch doctor on their bodies. So they asked if Kathy and I would speak with them.

We know these ladies, we go to the same church, we felt the Lord encouraging us to speak truth and wisdom into their mother's lives.These young women told stories of family traditions, and beliefs and then went on to tell us the health problems their children have experienced. 

It was quite powerful and I thank God that His perfect plan allowed for us to be a part of that encounter. We shall continue to pray for them and encourage them to trust in the strength of our Lord. It was one more time where God had a perfect plan in place and we were a part of it. 

Today was fabulous, the last day. More dancing more singing, it was all just perfect! 

We stayed back to make sure everyone had a seat on the bus. If they ran out of room we were ready to transport. That's what we do best!

While we were waiting for the bus, we just hung out with our sisters from Centro Emissor. Learning their dance steps, what a blast! We are actually starting to get the steps down, but make no mistake we are NOT Mozambican and it's made quite clear when we dance beside our sisters.

Praise God that they love us and want to teach us. Praise God that they are blessed by our desire to learn and our multiple attempts to do things their way. Praise God that they know we love them, Praise God for the life He has given me and Praise God that we are here to show them Christ's love and help them walk in His way!

The bus finally came and almost everyone fit. We filled our truck with many belongings and all the people that would fit and headed home.

One last thing needed to be done. The ladies from Centro Emissor needed to get from Dondo Baptist Church home. So we called for Todd to help and the 3 of us transported our ladies home. 

They were singing, and literally dancing in the back of the truck as we made our way home. We drove through Centro Emissor horns honking, ladies singing, there was no doubt that they were home! All the children can running to the church to greet us.

Trucks unloaded, everyone exhausted, but still energy enough for a few more songs and dancing!! 

Finally, time to say good bye. We invited all the children who had gathered to watch our celebration to come into the circle we had formed. We then prayed, for the children, the ladies, the church...what a perfect way to end. Praising God!

Go to youtube and type in:  Baptist Women's Conference Beria Mozambique