Holy Ghost House International Ministries

So we had planned on going to church with our host sister Doreen one Sunday. The night before, she convinced us to go to church with our friend Erica. Erica was going to visit her host mother’s church for the first time as well. Her mother stayed up all night cooking for the birthday party they were throwing for the pastor. So we figure we can get some cultural experience and maybe get fed afterwards. Sounds good. Plus our host mother Ellen attended the church as well.
We arrived late to the Holy Ghost House International Ministries and it was already pretty intense. I think we saw 2 pastors preach during the service and that did not include the birthday pastor. There was always an interpreter but it was still hard to keep up sometimes. Sometimes we had to stand up, then hold up our hands, then turn around and kneel on our chairs. Sometimes we would have to pray but everyone prayed out loud. So it sounded almost like chanting; everyone was praying for different things. At one point the pastor asked anyone new to the congregation to stand up. Thankfully it was more than just the three white folks. After we were introduced, everyone in the congregation gave us a hug which felt pretty good.
After some sermons on fear and savior, we held hands with our neighbor and prayed for them. As were standing, women of the church would go around and take our chairs away and put them up against the wall…Then the doors were closed…Then it got a little crazy….
The pastors began placing their hands on people and the people would collapse. Only they didn’t just collapse, they were convulsing. Women were jerking back and forth. I saw one old woman laying face down on the cement crying and drooling. This didn’t happen to just a few folks. It was happening to EVERYONE. I saw a teenage girl rolling around on the ground and biting the pastor’s ankles. I saw another girl running with her eyes closed away from a pastor. Then she started throwing punches. These people would roll around for 5 minutes, their eyes rolling in the back of their head, rolling over people’s feet. Then they would get back up and start signing like nothing happened.
At one point a pastor grabbed Lucas and I and started praying for us. Then he pushed on me and told me to lean back. Maybe he was trying to release the demons or something. When I wouldn’t fall he started spitting on me until I sat down to make it stop.
After about an hour, it was over. And people were holding up offering and it was time to go…