So, it’s been a great morning! Forget that I’ve been up since 4, I was still heavily rested! I was really happy that I left my tent this morning to see Mike and Jim awake and coffee already on the table! I get a real kick out of having coffee ready for me in the morning instead of the usual I make coffee for everyone else.
Sharon and Jan and I were up a bit last night, heard some noises, and Sharon informed us that they’ve had a guard (or, a few interchanging guards) that have been staying up at night to make sure we’re safe. I’m really touched that they would go through that much effort for us!
In other news, the team had to help teach children’s ministry this morning. So, we ate breakfast (eggs, toast, and pineapple) and Jan and I practiced the puppet show that we were planning on putting on for the kids. Sharon had lessons plans ready to teach, so she kind of delegated the puppet show to us. All was fine till Brad decided to break out his video camera and film the first rehearsal. Sorry, he didn’t call it rehearsals, he called it “outtakes”. The rest of the childrens ministry went well. Judith (Pastor Protus’s wife) taught the class first. She had the kids sing some incredibly cute songs (in both Kiswahili AND English- I’m impressed!). I’ve noticed that they really love their worship here! The voices of the kids- it was so cute! They pronounce their English very well, and speak in what’s similar to an English accent. Let me tell you, I’ve never seen smiles as big in America or Panama as I’ve seen here in Kenya! These kids really amazed me today!
Back to lessons- Sharon taught the kids about Noah, and Jan and Sharon taught them a song about Noah’s ark, Brad filmed through the window, and Mark, Mike and I conveniently hid ourselves until it was time to put on the puppet show. (That was great though; because I got really absorb what was going on, instead of fretting over a lesson.) I’m pretty sure it was around this same time that I discovered that Mark doesn’t like kids. That’s going to make this trip quite the adventure for him, don’t you think? Funny stuff ;)
The puppet show didn’t go as well as I had hoped- I let myself get in the way which affected how well I played the character in the puppet show. I kicked myself a bit because I could have made it so much better than what I did….. Jan and I then took the puppets around the classroom so that “they” could say hi to the kids. I made some kids cry, and it really broke my heart.
Luckily, Brad bought a soccer ball for the kids to play with, and Sharon had more outdoor fun and games for the rambunctious group of Sunday schoolers. So, they played merrily outside, and I took the opportunity to give Judith one of the aprons that I made.
God had to work with me on that, because I was really struggling. I know I’m not the best seamstress, especially considering how well they do sewing stuff here, so I know that the apron I made wasn’t exactly up to their standards. I actually considered not even giving her the apron, but God tapped me on the shoulder (as he’s famous for doing) and told me to give what I had, regardless of how much I feel it’s worth. I hope I figure this lesson out soon because it’s one I’ve struggled with before, this whole “not being good enough” thing is entirely cliché and I can’t wait till I find a way out of feeling this way.
Anyway… after the apron giving, I went back to watching the kids play with the parachute and soccer ball. With the way they keep bouncing it around, I’m waiting for one of the three year olds to get hit in the head! It’s making me kind of nervous…. Spotted some smallish children watching everything from inside one of the classrooms, so I went over there and introduced myself. The older one (who was maybe 8?) smiled, got all shy (as the kids often do) and shook my hand. She was a very sweet little girl! Her younger brother (who looked no more than 18 months) started to cry. The SECOND child I’ve made cry today! I’m not liking my statistics so far. Not long after I was surrounded by a small herd of children, and that’s when Jan and Sharon joined my side and we started taking some pics of ourselves with the kids! They were so cute and got so excited and happy over seeing the camera!
After Sunday school, we were the “honored guests” (a title we would hear much more of, as I’ve come to find out). It was our first real time seeing the worship team, and I loved it! Some of the dancers (there are 6 of them, as I counted) got REALLY into worship! It was incredible! The whole church was singing and dancing for hours, I was impressed!
We listened to Jim preach a little bit. He was preaching about Change, and for whatever reason his sermon really affected me. I unwillingly broke down in tears, was mad at myself for crying, and Sharon saw me. She was supposed to have her eyes closed in prayer (like I last saw her doing) like everyone else and I was supposed to get myself under control by myself. She talked to me a bit about it, I told her very little about why I was crying, and she understood. I’m happy that Sharon came on the trip now, because It’s looking more and more like she’s going to be the one I follow on this trip. To top off this wonderful morning, we had to go up on stage and introduce ourselves to the church. It was fun, though. They introduced me as the “youngest one of the team”. I guess that’s a big deal here ;)
Someone named Esau is a dance teacher for the church, so at the end of service he brought the dancers to the front of the stage and they performed a show for us. That really made my day! You can really see how much the girls (all the dancers were girls) loved the dancing and singing! Their happiness made me happy! After the service was done, and team got to do a “meet and greet” with the church members. Then, we went back to our tents and had some lunch (grilled cheese and goldfish). Brad and I did Dishes, Jim went to fix the toilet, and Mark, Mike, and Sharon went to pray for a lady in the church. I did my bible study, and had a long and wonderful chat with Judith! She really is a sweet lady, I’m glad to have met her!
Webb, Protus, Brad, me, and some other guy all went into town. I was pretty much riding along because I had nothing else to do, but the adventure was fun! Brad charged my ipod for me, and we got to meet Webb’s wife, Mary! Meeting Mary was a big deal because she works as a nurse, and we were the first people in a long time to meet her. (Sharon hadn’t even met Mary yet, from my understanding, and she has been to Africa for the last 6 years in a row!) Brad and I made their grandson cry, because he had never seen a Mzungu (white person) before. Count this, everyone- this is the THIRD time I’ve made a child cry today. Really, I would much rather stop childrens ministry and keep the kids happy and smiling than to be the cause of their tears.
Moving on…
It was here that Brad and I were informed that if a person offers you something in their home, it is rude to not take it. I’m glad I learned this lesson now, or I may have offended a lot of people on the trip. Before leaving, we prayed over and anointed Webb’s daughter, Emma. She was sick with malaria. We stopped at the store on the way home, and Brad was kind enough to share some chocolate with me. He’s turning out to be a much nicer person than I thought; for some reason I had him pegged as being a little more… harsh. I would rather him nice than otherwise, so I won’t complain!
Once back home (as in, camp), the team had dinner (chicken soup and coffee! Nice!) and prepped for the youth outreach. We are introducing SMORES to a bunch of kids who have never had them before. This is going to be entertaining ;) Jim’s wife, Michelle, found a bunch of glow bracelets, so Sharon and I started getting them pre-set up for the kids. The rest of the team focused on putting the smores ingredients together and building a fire on the edge of the compound (for perfect marshmallow toasting!!!)
REWIND<<<<<<<<<<>>>>
Some of the manly men around here took 4, 6-7 foot long sticks of wood and sharpened the ends of them so that we had something to toast the marshmallows with. Anyone toasting marshmallows had to really watch that we didn’t hurt someone on accident, but we got quite skilled at stick handling by the end of the trip. In the end, Brad was “toasted” the marshmallow king, and I the marshmallow queen (we were the only two that toasted the entire time.) Sharon had hands that were absolutely covered in sticky marshmallow goo, Mark re-emphasized his dislike for children, and jim and Mike were on crowd control. I don’t know who passed out the glow bracelets, but I feel sorry for them because they were flooded! Later that night, Pastor Protus broke one of the glow bracelets and his shirt (and hands) were glowing green! It was so funny! We made a ton of jokes about how he’s the “glow in the dark pastor” and how “this is the only way to find and African at night”. It was quite a humorous ending to my day :)
I should also brag a bit that this was the third night of having an enormous star-filled sky! I wish I could take it home with me :)
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