Choir of Angels

At school today, Sesso was busy installing the new bookshelves with his two helpers. They really add a lot of color and pizzazz to the rooms. It is so exciting to see them being put up.


We left school early for a special item on our itinerary today. We walked into the bush on a long dirt trail lined with houses and a fairly steady stream of “hellos” from nearby village children and their parents along the way. The dirt trail was frequented by bicycles, people carrying large bags of grain on their heads and learners in uniform walking home from school. When we neared the church, we heard a truly heavenly sound. It was the Malika Church Choir singing, “You are welcome”. Each member of the choir lined the steps of the church and greeted us with smiles and song. One member of the choir hugged each of us and said, “I love you” as we walked through the door. If churches in the USA greeted newcomers with such genuine smiles and gladness, the pews would be filled each time the doors are opened.

The choir consisted of men, women, girls and boys, each fully engaged in songs of praise. A director stood at the front and he did an excellent job in connecting with each of us during the choir performance. One little boy climbed upon the lap of one of our students, Lauren. It was so sweet. He stayed with her the entire time. The choir was accompanied by a group of boys and young men who played the drums. They had prepared 8 songs for us. One was “We are walking in the light of God”, which is a personal favorite. They sang songs about God’s forgiveness, their desire to grow closer to Him, and about His character. If the song praises of the angels and saints in heaven are only nearly as lovely as the singing we heard today, I can’t wait to hear it!

A little group of small children settled themselves near the doorway of the church during the entire performance. They sang and watched and a few even danced. It was precious to see them enjoying it all as much as we did. At one point, I looked behind me on the seats, and my little friend Geraldi and his buddies has snuck in. He looked at me and said, “shhhh” and gave me a wink. They had followed us there, all the way from the school! I’m going to miss that little fellow and his antics when we leave next week.

Following the performance, the leader of the church, Luke, thanked us for taking the time to come and visit with them. He said it was a blessing to have us there (however, I think it was US who were the blessed ones today). They then presented our group with gifts, which was unexpected. They presented us bags of rice, stalks of sugar cane, cassava, bananas and sweet potatoes. It was completely humbled. They had given us TRUE gifts -- gifts of the heart – the very best they had to offer. I can’t think about it without crying. I will never forget my afternoon with the Choir of Angels at Malika Church.