Going to church

This past Sunday I had my first experience at Church in Bawjiase. Pastor, who runs the orphanage is Pentecostal. There are a few Pentecostal churches in Bawjiase and then once a month all of the smaller churches meet in the big church in the center of town for church on Sunday. This past Sunday, the church was at a smaller church. The service was help in a school building, with about 50 plastic chairs set up. They have speakers set up and microphones and there are 2 people playing drums. People get to church between 9-11 am and then church goes anywhere from 12-1 pm. The women wore beautiful handmade dresses in colorful pattern fabrics and almost all the women have their hair covered because that is considered, proper dress. The beginning of the church service is a lot of singing, Most people stand up in their seats and clap their hands and sing along. When a song was finished, another person would stand up there and either talk, or begin a new song. It was difficult to understand anything they were saying because the whole service was in Twi. They had someone translate the readings from the Bible in English since "Obrunis" or "white people" were there. The whole experience was so much more informal than church services in the United States, but everyone seemed to be so much more prayerful and involved in the service. I saw someone fall to the ground in prayer and a few people were crying while they were praying. I wish that I had been able to better understand the service and what was going on.
This upcoming Sunday March 6 is Independence Day in Ghana and there is a parade a festivities planned for the day. I will make sure to blog about it!