Unexpected church-goer…

Had a strange visitor to the church yesterday.
The rainmaker.
Yeah, Mama Justina showed up at church.
The surprises keep coming!
It was a little awkward, as it was pretty obvious the entire sermon was preached directly at her. (She was sitting right behind me, so I can say with a lot of confidence that if not the message was pointedly addressed, then at least Pastor’s gaze, haha.) They definitely made a big deal about her being there. Not sure yet how exactly I feel about that.
Then, stranger yet, we had tea and lunch with the rainmaker. She was an honored guest at Steve’s place after church.
Lots of the team was there, and a handful of churchfolk, and we were just chilling most of the time. Then Steve and Pastor gave an appropriate speech, thanking her for coming, telling her we appreciate the welcome we’ve received here (she’s pretty much the Mama of the whole of Lopitland) and telling her about the message we came to share. She was attentive and gave her own little speech back, recalling the days when the missionaries first came here, what they and the government brought to the Lopit people—a clinic, a school, a church and clothes. (She focused a lot on the clothes—once, we were naked, then you gave us clothes.) She even talked about fellowshipping with the missionaries at the church.
It’s all very strange. Just strange.
But it was nice for her to come, nice to hear from her, nice to be completely bewildered at what could possibly be going through her head.
Teamfolk have been greeting her now and then, and she’s told them she doesn’t tell the people to bring her things, doesn’t tell them to work for her, etc. I dunno, the whole thing is nuts and I haven’t figured it out, though I hope we can get a glimpse into it someday.
But at least for this day, I can say we had lunch with the rainmaker. After church.
Weird.