New Year's Report Part 1: Church!

So, we recently had our second experience at the churches of two families in our village. The first was at the Baptist church attended by our neighbors across the street, which we attended at their request; it seems an important preacher, who had studied in America, was “guest preaching” that day. The place was full, there was a special segment for the kids to get up and sing, and we got a taste of fire and brimstone Togo-style. I think you could kind of tell the guy learned his technique in the States – his animation (excitement? fervor?) really reminded me of those guys you see on TV who really have the “spirit,” and it was kind of fun to see something that was reminiscent of that - in French. The downside, of course, was that the service was three and a half hours long! Yikes. Here’s a picture I took of the congregation that day; see if you can find Joe amid the sea of faces!

The second church experience took us back to our friend Amelie’s Catholic church for her baby’s baptism. About 30 women had their babies baptized that day, and they went up to receive multiple blessings (a candle once, holy water another time, and something else after that we couldn’t see) in a nice orderly line (I guess church is the one place where line order matters, ‘cause it certainly doesn’t matter at places like the bank!). The priest at that church is an old Italian guy, who has clearly been in Togo an unfathomable amount of time, as his Ewé is damn near perfect, so perfect, in fact, that when we approached him after the service to take a picture with our newly baptized friend Natalie, he said to us inquiringly: “Yovo?” I had to ask: “Did we just get yovo-ed by a yovo?” I guess he really has been in Togo too long. I think the most disconcerting and ironic part of the experience was that two Americans met an Italian. In Africa. And they spoke French to each other. Yup. Internationality is interesting, isn’t it? Anyway, nice priest, nice service (only two and a half hours this time), and a little calmer than the fire and brimstone we got with the Baptists.

I rather appreciated this second, more peaceful version of worship, but Joe says he couldn’t sit still and much preferred the vibrancy and liveliness of the Baptist preacher. Two unique experiences, either way! Also, here’s a picture of us with Amelie and her family with the Italian priest after the service.