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Dark Skies Bright Hearts
The second Sabbath of Auburn City's visit to Praia was celebration Sabbath - the exciting dedication for the church they'd just completed. As many Maranatha staff as possible journeyed the three hours north to experience the happy day with the volunteers and Praia members. Traveling up in the Friday evening darkness proved to be a tad too 'exciting' (coming suddenly upon large dark trucks broken down in the middle of the road, people, bikes and cars without lights or reflectors moving slowly along the roadside, the occasional police roadblock, and for our truck, a pickup loaded with people pulling suddenly across the road in front of us - there was just enough room to ease quickly past), many reasons to praise God for our guardian angels! The morning of the dedication we had drizzling rain, but the showers failed to dim the spirits of the worshippers who began gathering in front of the beribboned door, waiting to enter the brand new building. The church was soon packed to the brim, even without the children gathered for their own Sabbath School classes in an open room close by. To me the highlights of the day were watching the huge group of Vacation Bible School children sing their hearts out to Jesus while their leaders beamed back at them, the excitement of the volunteers and the members worshipping together in the new building, and the special ocean baptism of several young people following the service. The sun came out halfway through the morning lending a heaven-kissed touch to the picture perfect ocean waves, bright blue sky, and symbolic burial beneath the gentle waves of young people determined to follow Jesus.Susan Woods Chronicles her family's African adventures in her blog on Maranatha's web site.
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