Sunday in Kenya

Saturday was a quiet, restful day for me and was much appreciated. I enjoy getting here a couple of days early so I can adjust to the 9 hour time change before going to work. On Sunday morning, I traveled about a half hour to a local country church for services. It is always a joy to worship with the believers here. They are so open in their worship. I estimated that there were well over 100 people in the small building with over half of them young children. The service started around 10 am and we had singing, praise, prayer and more of the same for over an hour. Then small “choirs” as they call them, sang special numbers, starting with the little kids first and working up to the young people and finally the adult women. That took another hour. Then I preached with translation for about 40 minutes and the pastor added on to the end his own comments for another 15 minutes or so. Then, they had announcements and some more singing for another half hour. We finished around 1:30 pm. That takes some stamina. I was very impressed with the fact that many of the younger children, 8 to 10 year olds, were still paying very close attention to the end. Obviously their attention span is much greater than that of our children. I am forced to wonder if television and video is one of the main culprits in this difference.

On the way home, after dinner under the mango tree, I rode back to the highway on a motorcycle. Then I hitched a ride with two guys in a small truck back to town. They asked if I was a pastor, since I was carrying my bible. They said one was a Christian and one a Muslim and that they worked together in this small business they had. Life continues to be interesting on the road.

The pictures are of the church building, the inside before the service, during the service while a children’s choir was singing, and the pastor’s wife counseling a woman before the service.

Thanks for your continued prayers,

Al