Sunday, February 13, 2011

Today was enlightening, breathtaking, and fun.  This morning in church we had an alter call for prayer requests.  One teen girl starting speaking in tongues and I had never seen it before.  I had heard of it and I know it is of the Holy Spirit but it was my first time seeing it in person and it was a little strange.  Then, another woman fainted!  I totally thought she needed medical help but Kelsey could see that she was breathing and the congregation just ignored her.  I was in medical mode and very confused.  Here was this woman on the ground passed out and nobody was doing anything about it!  After a short time the woman got up and walked back to her seat like nothing had happened!  Maribeth explained later that she did not faint, she was struck by the Spirit.  This happens when a person releases a big burden or prayer request, the Holy Spirit comes over their body, causing them to fall to the ground.  Thankfully, in the woman’s case, someone caught her.  Then the person is completely consumed by the Holy Spirit and experiences complete peace.  Other than those two things, church was uneventful.  The sermon was good, it was about how prayer changes our heart, not God’s. 

After church we came home, ate lunch and then climbed a mountain.  We have a mountain in our neighborhood and we call it Prayer Mountain.  Like in Bible times, the people here climb mountains to get as close to Heaven as possible and pray to God.  It was a steep climb up, but I made it!  The top was amazing!  There were other people up there praying and singing to God out loud in Chichewa, it was really beautiful.  And the 360 degree view was amazing, no, it was spectacular!  We met a white Canadian man and had an interesting conversation.  Kelsey and I ended up sharing our testimonies with him.  After taking in the view for a while, we separated and spent some time alone praying and worshipping God.  It was really amazing and refreshing to spend some special time with God while admiring His handy work.  Surprisingly, I managed to climb back down the steep mountain without falling!  What a miracle, considering my perfect balance and coordination skills! ;)

 Prayer Mountain

 (this picture does NOT do the steepness justice)

 Starting the climb

Victory!



In the evening we roasted marshmallows again, but not with the mbowola, but with candles!  Yes, candles!  We did not want to deal with lighting the mbowola and wait for it to warm up.  Besides, I have always wanted to try using a candle!  Haha! It ended up working well and we managed not to burn the house down! J