Sunny and Singing Lessons

We arrived into Kapenguria on Thursday evening after a long but uneventful drive. Things began happening almost at once, however -- Sunny, one of the compound dogs, managed to slip through the gate and got hit by a car! He's a lovely big lab -- very friendly and affectionate. Margaret Russell and Kathy Walker share a walled compound, a night watchman, and three dogs as protection from . . . . (I haven't been told yet what all the dangers are!) Anyway, Sunny was hit in the abdomen (if that's what you call it on a dog), and he was vomiting and seemed to be in a lot of pain. Thankfully, he seems to have picked up a bit in the past two days and is more in his usual form, although still finding it a bit difficult to eat.

Yesterday (Thursday), I spent the morning helping to get stuff ready for the BCFC Academy official opening which takes place next Friday. Sounds like it's going to be a big event! The former president of Kenya -- Mr. Moi -- is attending as well as some other officials, or maybe they're just his aides. Then there's a group of 22 people coming out from some of the Free Pres churches, and then of course a lot of parents and church members from here. Everyone has to have a name badge -- i.e. "guest", "special guest", "parent", "host", "steward", etc. So I spent a couple hours hot-glueing some badges together yesterday. Then we went into Kitale for a few hours to run some errands and for Kathy to do some business at the bookshop. Kitale is the nearest good-sized town (about half an hour away from Kapenguria), and it's also where Noreen McAfee and Rev. Dave DiCanio live. (Gillian Gillespie lives about two hours away in Mumias.) We ended up going to Dave's for dinner -- pizza which he made from scratch. Yum! Must say I was impressed with the cooking.

Everything takes so long here! Mundane things like going to the bank etc -- you feel like it's wasted time I suppose, but it's very necessary. I guess when we think of the "hardships" that missionaries put up with, we don't think of these very ordinary, day-to-day chores as being part of that, but in a real way they are because sometimes it seems like everything is a hassle. Somebody said yesterday that if living in Kenya teaches you nothing else, it teaches patience.

I'm going to be filling in for Kathy while she's home on furlough -- she leaves in a couple of weeks and will be away for 4 months. Of course, I won't be able to do some of the stuff she is responsible for -- for one reason or another: I don't know the language, I wouldn't have a clue how to begin running a bookshop, etc! But I'm supposed to take over her piano students and at least keep them moving in the right direction if nothing else -- she has 10 students at the moment -- all adults, because there's no way to choose between all the kids who want to learn! So she's begun only with adults. Kathy also trains the choir directors from several different BCFC churches -- she meets with them once a month. Today was one of these meetings. It was supposed to start at 1pm, but at 1pm no one was there yet! So around 1:45, we commenced. It was certainly an education for me. All the Kenyan believers who were there (approx 12 or 13) could "lead" music better than me (since I'd never tried it before) in that they knew how to swing their arms etc. So I pretended to concentrate on singing the Swahili words while watching them out of the corner of my eye until I had gotten the hang of it a little. Then one of the choir directors, a man called Francis who would assist Kathy, taught us all a little of the "do, re, mi" system. This was also completely new to me! I was very relieved when Kathy told me that I should probably let Francis lead the choir training meetings while she's away (since I can't speak Swahili); so my responsibilities will be to play and chip in with suggestions etc. Sounds good!

I was supposed to go with Kathy as she taught one of her piano students this morning. The lesson takes place every Saturday morning at 8:30 am -- on the side of the road! Kathy couldn't find a central location where she could set up the keyboard, so she pulls off the road at a certain point, opens the boot, and sets up the keyboard just outside it. Then Emily walks out to meet her, and they sit in the open boot and have the lesson. Only in Kenya!! I would have taken a picture for you all, but sadly Emily never showed up this morning. Whoops!

Kathy and I are going to the church in Emboghat tomorrow; Alec Wallace from our Randalstown church is going along to speak. Brian Lorimer and Jonny Blaney from Ballymena (both of whom are getting along fine by the way) are going to the church in Moi's Bridge. Jonny is due to preach. Pray for these services, that God will help the fellas as they preach, and that His Name will be glorified.

Was trying to put pictures on here, but having a bit of trouble due to slow connection. I'll try again!