Lovely Ladies!

Despite the appalling rain, seventeen of our ladies turned out this afternoon for the meeting. We have a tradition that when it is someone's birthday, they choose a 'promise' from the box. We were all highly amused when Kathy ["Chatty Kathy" as she is affectionately known] pulled out a verse from Zephaniah...

"The LORD your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love"

We all agreed that it is only the Lord who has the power to keep Kathy quiet!! She was giggling about it for the rest of the afternoon.

Our speaker was Jenny Few, a local minister who went out with 4 other lady ministers last year, to Angola. this was organised by the Baptist Union and BMS. There are currently only 5 lady ministers in the whole of Angola, even though they have more Baptists and more ministers than the UK.

Jenny told us about the trip and showed us the lovely fabric she had been given and the skirt that the Angolan Baptist women had given her.

The name for a lady minister in Angola is a Reverenda - and Jenny was very proud of the wooden carving she had been given - a Reverenda holding her Bible and preaching.

Isn't she absolutely wonderful?

All the Angolan women are so open about their faith, as they rebuild their country after years of civil war.

Jenny shared lots of stories with us, and showed pictures of the people, their church buildings and the beautiful scenery and plant life.

As you can see in Jenny's skirt, they are fond of fabric which is printed with bible verses and symbols of their faith.

The ladies choirs all wear bright matching skirts and turbans. At communion, all the deacons [male and female] dress completely in white. Jenny said how amazed the British women were by the way they managed to keep their clothes pristine and fresh despite the red clay soil and the humidity.

Here's some of the lovely fabric, and here is another picture of the Reverenda.

What a wonderful statue to have on your mantelpiece - a woman preaching from the Word of God.

In my book, that would beat an Oscar any day!!

Jenny asked us to pray for these women as they seek to teach, and share the gospel.

This Friday is the Women's World Day of Prayer - and what I have learned today will be in my thoughts then I am sure.

But now I am off out [again] to our Churches Together Lent Event. This may be a small village, but there's certainly a lot going on round here!