Stuart and I and our two children were the leaders of a Study-Service Term group in 1993, the first unit of Goshen College students and faculty to study and serve together on the continent of Africa. Our family had only been in the country for a few days, and none of the students had arrived yet. We were invited by long-term missionaries James and Jeanette Krabill to spend Easter morning in the village of Yokoboué, several hours from the city of Abidjan where we were living.
The sun was shining brightly even as we struggled out of bed, jet-lagged, yet full of the exciting sights, sounds, tastes and feelings that accompany immersion in a new country and a different culture. We arrived in the village about 8 a.m. Easter morning. Instead of going directly
to church, we first visited one of the church leaders and his family. He talked with James and Jeanette about the time they used to live in that same village.
The minister of the African Independent Harist church and his family were preparing for the service. We took off anything that was not white and put on all white clothing.
Going to church was a little like going to a wedding.
Outside, I joined a long train of women and girls and sang along as we danced our way through the streets, waving white handkerchiefs. Our job was to sing the preacher to church.
The white church almost sparkled against the brilliant blue, cloudless sky. The women gracefully scattered flower petals on the dirt road to prepare the path for the minister.
The worship moved from respectfully quiet to joyfully noisy. Even though I did not understand the Dida language, I could still piece together the familiar story of Jesus bursting from the tomb and from the fetters that bound him. I too felt free. The Being he gave us neither death nor difference in culture can destroy.
On the faces around me I saw the joy of the resurrected One and, more fully than ever before, I felt the resurrected One inside me. I had come many miles to learn more fully what I had learned every other Easter of my life.
Hallelujah!
