Soleil Goes to Church

About a week ago we had a worship service called a "Kobimisa Mwana", in which after 3 months of staying at home, a new baby is "brought out" of the house and prayed over by your pastor. It's similar to a baby dedication, but more like a prayer and blessing service. After this you can take your baby out and about, and it especially means you can now bring your new babe to church. Though Soleil had technically already been out of the house- on a trip to the neighboring country no less- we thought it would be best to keep with tradition as best we could. So we invited 20 of our closest friends and colleagues to share in this celebration with us.

Praying on the back porch

Of course it started raining at exactly the hour we had planned to start, but true to Congolese culture, people just came later. So, we gathered together in worship, singing and praying together. We carried Soleil into the house accompanied by a seemingly random group chosen from the "congregation" outside for more prayer.

Praying in our living room

Then Aaron and I went outside and everyone still inside marched out in a line singing with Soleil being carried at the head. Strangely the person that our Pastor asked to carry Soleil out of the house was a new missionary with the Covenant church that had just arrived in town and whom we had met a few minutes before the service. She also found this strange and had no idea what was going on seeing as she didn't speak Lingala.

Marta bringing Soleil out of the house

CECU VP Badi praying for Soleil

The Pasteur Responsible ( Pastor in charge of the region) gave a short sermon about Jesus growing in wisdom, stature and showing kindness to others, charging us to pray for and raise Soleil in the same manner.

The PR giving the mini-sermon

Now that Soleil had been "bimisaed" we decided to bring her to church for the first time. That Sunday also happened to be a special outside service to raise money for the roof of a new church building. We were quite the sight as we walked the 1.5km. I was carrying Soleil shaded by our new blue leopard print parasol, which I could not leave the house without for fear of being chastised by every mother on the road and probably also some small children. Aaron was carrying on his shoulder a great sheet of metal roofing as our offering for the special service.

Off to church

Bible and manzanza in hand

Now here's where things get strange. We had settled in for what we knew would be a long service but there would be lots of singing and dancing. The service was held in a yard with chairs set up under several tarps supported by sticks staked into the dirt. About an hour after the service started, and one impromptu diaper change in my lap, signs of a storm began to show. I was holding Soleil close to my shoulder when wind started whipping things around, the tarp over us collapsed and the heavy support post in the center smacked me in the back of the head. My mothering instincts and the shock of the hit kicked in as stunned I tried to cover Soleil from anything else. (Also, I had no idea, but Sarah told me later, that a startled Congolese child was clinging to my legs.) I was immediately whisked to sit with a group of ladies who took charge of Soleil. The signs of the storm did not let up and Soleil started crying because of course church is during nap time. So I'm bouncing Soleil next to the road with a whole congregation of people watching when it starts to rain. This is how I found myself standing in the house of I'm not sure who, trying to rock Soleil to sleep; there are chickens in the corners and a duck walked in. A woman who I think lives there came in and asked if we could trade babies. It was then that I realized my head was throbbing, my eyes couldn't focus well and my ears felt "funny". I hadn't seen Aaron since the smack in the head, but then he walked in to save the day saying we should just go home. So, we walked home to nurse my mild concussion.