Me: Hello, Good Afternoon sir,

Guy on the other side of the call: Hello, How are you today?

Me: I am okay, Am i talking to Denis Makhande ?

Him: Yes please, How may i be of help to you?

Me:  Hey, my name is Penny,  i got your number from #Obadz of WHkati Kati . I need a recommendation letter for a job I am taking , will you help me ?

Him: How urgently do you need the letter

Me : By tomorrow afternoon

Him : I guess its addressed to HR, (and something else about what location i attend ) cool come to the hub at 11 am , i shall have your letter.

My jaw dropped !!! I was like noooooo wwwaaaaayyyyyy!!!( Please note that i had called and asked three pastors prior to this phone call and all were either too busy to give a letter or unavailable – and these were not just any pastors, they had raised me!!) ……….Enter this Guy… he doesn’t even know me , like is he not going to ask me to bring a letter from my cell leader or call Obadz to verify i wasn’t a thug, as in sooooooooooooo many questions were going through my unbelieving mind. So i wake up the next day and i’m looking for the hub ( i was not your regular church attender, had given up on church business like two years ago and had resorted to pastoring myself and attending phaneroo once in a while to hear the word).,,,, getting lost upon getting lost then i land at Donna Mwine’s office … we hardly knew each other but she offers to leave her desk and take me to the hub. am thinking kale these people have mob kajanja . because riyale i wouldnt have done that. long and short, i got the letter , missed the deadline but got the letter …in one day… of how ???

Amani Engole had been inviting and  insisting we go to worship harvest naalya prior to that phone call and i had jam, i had been visiting kati-kati for about 3 months and i was comfy there, did not want to get noticed, or to be part of anything, just wanted to blast away in the praise and worship, pray, feed on the word and leave ( minding my own business really).  Then one day i visited  Naalya….Deno was leading praise and worship ….all i remember is i was sweating by the time the preacher came on  ….so at the end of the service i asked if he was “the Denis Makhande” walked to him to thank him for the letter munange (i had not met him at the hub but he had left the letter behind) ..so i tap his shoulder and introduce myself…he hugged me so tight and said yo the one !!!! ohhhhhh welcome welcome .Hmmmnnnn what do these guys smoke ???

Anywho so i kept visiting naalya and later the next month i text Deno some Monday evening and tell him i love music and would like to know the procedure for joining the music team( please understand i was used to introduction letters and auditions) and he says no proceedure, just come to naalya at 6pm on Thursday. And just like that,,,i joined the music team. A short while after that , there were on-going preparations for #Anniversary.  Because i had volunteered to be part of the planning team (i llloooooovvvveee organizing things ) , i managed to hook up a few interviews both on radio and Tv and we did an article on gospel news ……so in the preparation meeting  @Bee3 asks, are you a teacher ? i”m like no but i like making sense  of things and explaining them (i guess i was over yapping in the meeting), she goes,,, so yo are a teacher . i’m like no , i’m an activist.  (in my head i’m like waz going on……just stop talking ) but she kept saying i’m a teacher….hihihihi,,,,,, i guess i am yet to discover the teacher in me ?????!!!!!**** The next day she sends me a message saying” where have you been all my life you ka gal, i love having you on my team.” Shy caught me because these expressive feelings that were everywhere through everyone i met were not common to me, it was a little alarming.who are these people , whats wrong with them?

Anyway anniversary came and went and then came #FNL  where i was tasked to help with coordination. In my head i’m  like these guys do not know me, how can they trust me this much? of i’m handling all the money , making decissions, i am giving opinion  ,,,,like how !!! Then that night Angela’s hand bag went missing for like an hour and i was there saying this is it, just what i needed ….why would someone steal a bag o my watch? i had been careful, locked all the doors, taken care of the artiste’s bags and now one was missing…..howly???……..of i had taken all precaution, everything had gone so well, only for the devil to bring a hiccup  at the end …nedda we were going to find that bag and find it we did eventually!

what am i saying in all this ….Here we are now…love sought me , found me and has kept me. I have been allowed to be me and give my best while at it. I am loved , i am trusted . i know that i can rely on this family 100%. ….of they stop and listen , and admonish and care and give and notice and pay attention and give and give and give. They give,,,,,,of their time, their money, their spaces, their lives!! The friends i have made here challenge me , they call out greatness in me, they check on me and its intentional, They love me and i know it.

I am not wrong to say love found me because in all love’s splendor , it sought me out and found me. I have found a family that draws from a spring that wont run dry, they keep giving and giving and never run dry!!! This love , it found me, it took me over and it is now flowing through me. I celebrate you Worship Harvest. I honor every leader that makes ‘Church begins on Monday’ a reality and not just a mere tag line . Here is to many more years of resourcing people in worshiping God and serving others Meaningfully for community transformation !! ssssshhhoouuuuppppp sssshhhhhoooooouuuuuuppppppp !!

#MyWorshipHarvestStory  #WorshipHarvest11th