(Published by the Sioux Falls Argus Leader)
Nine years ago, while I was a participant in a short-term mission from our church to Bolivia, the bishop of the Bolivian Methodist Church hosted us for a visit.
Back in the 1960s, First United Methodist Church of Sioux Falls had built a high school building at the American Institute, and the bishop was there to celebrate all of the contributions the graduates of that school had made to their country.
One of them asked the bishop: “I have noted how worshippers in the churches down here always seem so happy and full of joy when they sing and dance and worship. Most of them are so poor, I don’t understand what they have to be so happy about. Why do you think that is?”