African Church Round Two

This morning I woke up to find my legs covered in bug bites; I look as if I have chicken pox or some strange rash. I will have to do some investigating to find the cause of these bites. I really hope there are not bugs in my bed.

Same as last Sunday, Karen picked me up for church. This week we had to arrive extra early since Karen was singing in the choir. I found a seat near the back by myself. I found it interesting how the spaces next to me were the last ones filled. I feel as if I am scaring people away or something. I hope I don’t look that intimidating. However, once the service began we were squeezed in shoulder to shoulder. I wonder what people thought about the splotches on my legs. Maybe that was scaring them away?

The service began the same as last week. These church services I am attending are filled with so much passion. This is the main difference between the services here and those in the States. I have found that the services in the States are more conservative and praise is given through silence, whereas in Kenya the praise is given aloud with lots of singing, dancing, and even some crying. For instance, once the opening songs were done, a girl leading the service went to say a prayer. Someone in the front row was so passionately in prayer, the girl gave this woman the microphone and she continued leading the prayer for the entire congregation.

This Sunday was “Youth Sunday”; a special week where the youth lead the service. Their definition of youth must be different from my own interpretation because all of the children left for Sunday School and a man maybe a few years older than me led the sermon. This wasn’t what I was expecting, but I suppose it was fine, other than the fact the service lasted for three hours again. Honestly, I do not know how people can sit through services that long every week. About two hours into it, I get an urge to move around, which there is no room for. Also, Africans like to talk. The church lets pretty much whoever would like to share their testimonies to the entire congregation do so. This would be great except half of the service ends up being in Swahili. The Swahili speaking makes the service seem even longer.

Since Karen was singing, I had to stay for the beginning of the second service. After an hour of hearing the same thing again (but all in Swahili), I left to wait outside. Karen came out as soon as she saw me leave. I told her I was going to go and buy some fresh fruit from the local stands for lunch. While she went back in to finish her singing, one of the guys that goes to the church took me. The guy that took me didn’t know what a tangerine was. Tangerines are sold at almost all fruit stands; maybe this is a westernized thing as well? The produce in Kenya is substantially less expensive than in the United States. I bought an avocado, three tomatoes, and six tangerines for about 75 cents. Eliminating all of the packaging and transportation really cuts down on costs. While we were walking, some boys ran out of a house with some furniture. The guy made a comment about how they were stealing from their neighbors. No one tried to stop these boys or said anything. Eventually Karen finished and we left. My afternoon was spent preparing for my upcoming trip to Kakamega which I leave for tomorrow. I also switch projects—this coming week has so much learning and exploring in store.

This morning while waiting for my ride to church I took some pictures of the beautiful flowers here. Enjoy!