I recently was invited to attend the Hmong Alliance Church in my hometown. First I guess I should explain who the Hmong are, since some may not have heard of them.

The Hmong are a tribal people from the mountians of Laos. They were recruited by the CIA to help American troops during the Viet Nam war. Currently WI, MN, and CA have large populations of Hmong immagrants and their decendants. The leader of Viet Nam wants to see all the decendants of the men who aided the US during the war, so these people are literally fleeing for their lives.

For my religious studies class, I was supposed to attend a church that I did not participate in. Since I wrote my cultural diversity paper on the Hmong culture, I wanted to know more about their religious beliefs. I called the church, thinking it was based on the indigenous beliefs that they brought with them to the US, but I was in for a suprise. This is a Christian church, but it is all said in Hmong.

I was fortunate though, a woman there offered to translate for me. With her help I was able to understand the basics of the sermon, and got to meet some great people. It was an interesting experience to be able to sit there and listen to how musical the Hmong language is, with its changes in pitch, tone, and rhymithic cadence.

For hymns, they sung modern Christian songs. They even had an eletric guitar, bass, piano, and drum set on the altar. These modern songs were followed by a more traditional Hmong song that was chanted by another woman. It was really great to see the mix of the traditional with the modern.

The congregation was extremely friendly and open. Almost everyone there came and introduced themselves to me. They were very patient in answering my questions. And were offering invites to all of the activities sponsered by the church. Honestly, it was the most friendly church I have ever attended.

The only draw back was previously mentioned, the service was mostly in Hmong. Unfortunately, I don't speak or read Hmong, so it was difficult to follow the order of the service. I accidently missed a prayer, and felt very disrespectful, since I was trying to gather some money for the offering plate. Ooops. I think that they understood though, since most of them speak English as a second language. I am sure that they felt just as lost before learning to speak English.

All in all it was a very positive experience, and I would recommend that everyone of us attend a service in another language. It is really eye-opening to how immigrants feel before they learn English in America.

Rev. Kelly! That was very interesting and insightful : )

Thank you, Rev. Kelly, very informative. Did the lady who was translating, translate any of the sermon?

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She just translated a basic summary of various sections. It was enough that I got the idea, but not enough to really capture any of the details. I can tell you that the sermon was based on Matthew 27:11. It was an interesting experience that was a really eye-opener and is something that I cannot completely explain. I think this is one of those situations that you need to experience it yourself to understand.

Very interesting, and yes the people have been persecuted in their home land for ages.

revpo

Unfortunately, they are persecuted here too. It amazes me how cruel people can be when they percieve something to be different.