Sunday – Bwana asi fiwi

Pictures of Sunday at Bomas after church

Bwana asi fiwi – that refrain was heard numerous times during this morning’s worship – Praise the Lord!  Songs of praise had already begun as we entered Judy Mbugua’s home church in Karen, many in Swahili and some in English.  You can’t remain still to this kind of exuberant worship!  A visiting Christian music group was leading the worship today, and they certainly had the joy of the Lord.  Praise and worship isn’t just the intro to the sermon here; it lasts a good full hour.  Then there was a beautiful time of child dedication where about a dozen families brought their children forward to be dedicated to the Lord.  After a congregational prayer time, each family had a time of prayer with one of the pastors, evidence of the importance of children in this church.  Then came the announcements of upcoming marriages, with prayer for those about to commit to one another.  All this seemed fitting as the pastor began his message about the importance of vows, promises, and the responsibility we have to fulfill them.  He cited Jacob and Hannah and the vows they made to the Lord – Jacob didn’t fulfill his right away, but Hannah did, even though it meant sacrifice and separating from the beloved son for whom she had long awaited.  It was a strong reminder to all of us about the promises we all make in our lives, whether to a spouse in marriage, promises to our children, friends, and especially our vows to God. These are not to be taken lightly.

Worship services in Africa are not confined to time schedules……it would be quite a jolt to most Americans for a service to go on two and a half hours as ours did today.  Would we be constantly checking our watches?  Wondering if the crowds were still heavy at the restaurants, or if we were missing the ball game?  These things don’t matter here; it is a time of worship and bringing glory to God.  It’s about Him.

However, since the service did go a bit longer than even usual here, we had to scurry through lunch in order to arrive at the BOMAS cultural show we had planned to attend this afternoon.  Various tribal dances, songs and costumes are demonstrated by a talented group of dancers and musicians.  Of course, drums are prominent.  Each one represented a particular tribe or region of Kenya, showing its great diversity of people groups.  Perhaps the highlight of the show was the acrobats who demonstrated great skill, shimmying under bars on fire, catapulting through metal hoops, and creating a number of intricate pyramids.  Quite the crowd pleaser!  It was a great time of appreciating more of the customs and culture of this beautiful country and its talented people.

Jet lag is still dogging us, I’m afraid.  We seem to fade as the afternoon wears on, so by the time we returned to the retreat center this evening, we were bushed.  It’ll get better as the days continue, but for now, we are all ready to call it a day and gear up for tomorrow when we will go to the neighboring community of Limuru to encourage and share with the women. They are mostly grandmothers, poor, in ill health, and desperately poor, but have taken on the responsibility of raising their grandchildren because their children have died of AIDS, other illnesses, or been unable to raise their own children.  Quite a challenge.

Internet is still sporadic, but we will try to get postings out daily if possible.  Pictures will have to follow when we can get better service….sorry.

So please continue to pray for us as we join in with our ministry partners to participate in their important ministries, that God will use us in a special way to bless and encourage those who are very much in need.

 Diane