Today
I went with Father B and our bishop to a prayer house where over 140 children
were confirmed! It was a beautiful mass
and celebration! There were about 30
women waiting on the road for our vehicle to arrive and when it did they all
began singing and dancing and waving palm branches to lead us to the church?
Needless to say I jumped out of the car and danced and sang with them as we led
Father and the Bishop to the church! It
was beautiful and I felt so much a part of their celebration!
Oh,
and one tidbit about the ladies who were waiting for us to arrive. They had been sitting there on the side of
the road in the blazing sun, all dolled up for at least 3 hours as we were 3
hours late! No one else even thought
that was inconsiderate or rude it's called Kenyan time and when I mention it to
Father B he told me "take off your watch you are so concerned with the
time". That’s right, me the queen of being late is a stick in the mud here
about time. Anyhow these ladies did not
complain at all. They were jumping up
and down when they saw us all smiles and thrilled. I would have thrown rocks at our car.
The
mass was long (over 3 hours). But I'm getting used to lengthy services and
pretending that I understand the readings and the homily (which I totally do
not as they are often spoken in kimeru!). I nod appropriately and laugh when
everyone else does...
At
least masses are the same everywhere and I know the right prayers to say at the
right times. My voice is a bit loud and
tends to carry so I'm sure everyone realizes that I'm praying in English- but
it’s the best I can do. I am trying to
learn Swahili and the folks here seem to get a kick out of my Swahili (I always
get big laughs). I am working on it I would love to become fluent in
Swahili--it would be too cool to come back to the USA and impress everyone with
my Swahili!
Tomorrow
the bishop will be coming here to St. Massimo to confirm another 300 children.
I'm sure it's going to be a long day! It
seems like I spend the majority of my days at masses and/or prayer services...I
guess that's not the worst thing I could be doing....
Please
continue to keep me in your prayers!
Love,
Kathleen
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