An Overflowing Cup (Sunday 6/28)

It wouldn’t be living in Paul’s house if music didn’t start blasting at 6:00am! I figured he had to make up for the fact that last night we had no music due to the power outage. I got cold again last night and I think it’s because of the drying clothes in my room. I’d hang them outside where they would definitely dry better, but I like the safety of the closed environment that my room brings (I don’t want to lose anything as I don’t have that many clothes to spare!). 

Paul ended up knocking at 7:15am to wake me up. I wanted to lay in bed longer as I hadn’t been sleeping for the past hour and asked what time we would go to church to gauge how much time I have to spare. He responded, “9:30am” which meant there was no reason for me to get up yet! I laid in bed for another hour with my eyes closed since the music did not cease (no complaints about the music as this is how he lives and enjoys his mornings). Eventually Paul came by and told me that he made me water for me to bathe (finally a reasonable impetus to get up). If he would’ve told me that he simply wanted company or for me to start boiling my water I would’ve gotten up! However since I was so tired still I didn’t see the point of me getting up to just sit around as I often do when I hang out with him. Something that has been hard for me this trip is doing things without a “why?”. I feel like I always want an explanation for what we’re doing and have been doing a good job at not asking pesky questions until today! Justifying less sleep needed a valid “why” this morning!

Slowly getting up and walking outside of my room I found that Paul boiled me a ton of water! This meant that I had to pour in a ton of cold water to cool it off (a good problem to have!). It looked like he put in around three kettles of water. For me, each kettle worth of water needs at least three cups of cold water to balance it out! With the water at the perfect temperature, I had one of the best bucket baths so far there! I felt at home with all of the warm water I was able to use; I could just keep pouring! After the bucket bath, I got dressed and ready for church. Today I made sure to pack shillings and TP in my pocket. Those essentials will get you through anything the village throws at you that day!

There was still a good chunk of time before breakfast was ready so I proceeded to sit around and wait in my room. You might think, why not hang out with Paul? My answer is that he’s working and on his phone the entire time so to me I might as well be in my room. This is not to bash Paul, it’s that he’s a very busy man who I don’t want to interrupt! Sooner or later, 9:15am rolled around and breakfast was ready. In hindsight I should’ve asked if there was anything I could do to help with the cooking even though I’m sure I would get a “no” for an answer! We ate rice, avocado with salt, and oranges for breakfast! Morrine is a fantastic cook and I will never cease my gratitude that she’s here with us.

After eating, Paul and I were on our way to leave the house! He wasn’t going to church but was escorting me to Mr. Chesco’s house with Henry. I wanted Paul to come with me but he needed to go to the village to purchase things for the house. It took forever to finally get out of the house (9:55am) and church “starts” at 10am. While waiting for Paul to finish whatever he needed to finish, I talked with a neighbor who was fetching water from the basin in front of the house. His name is Maximillain and is a teacher and a very nice man that lives down a couple of houses! 

When we finally left and arrived at Mr. Chesco's home we found that he was not home! A quick call to Mr. Chesco revealed that Henry had already left with Eli and Luka when they were passing by. Paul and I walked the rest of the way to the village talking about how much I’ve learned from being here! One thing I find funny is that Paul can’t keep up with me when we’re going up the steep hill into the village. He always tells me to slow down and perhaps I’m the one in too much of a hurry! We split ways and I walked by myself to the church.

Stepping inside of the church and walking to the front, I see that Eli and Henry are the only other ones to go today (no Michael or Miraclin)! They’re sitting in a pew in front of me as there was no space for me to fit in the front! The regular Sunday proceeds as normal; lots of dancing and worship! The sermon was given by the head preacher this time around instead of someone from the village. During a service he sits at the front of the church and somewhat leads things. All I know is that when he stands up, we all make sure to welcome him by standing up and clapping! 

The sermon was on a combination of books: James, Jeremiah, and Isaiah. Moses only translated for me a couple of times and to be honest, I did not get what the message was about. My Bible app failed to load my downloaded Bibles so I couldn’t read what was going on. I was disappointed to not know what was going on, but I took the time to be in the present and focus on the Lord’s presence.

When the service was over, we left to go to the regular house nearby to eat. We ate with Joseph and Moses again and talked about what we did earlier that week. Joseph promised last Sunday that he would dance with us and since he did not honor his word, we made sure to poke just a little bit of fun at him! 

For lunch we had ugali, greens, and cabbage. Luka must’ve informed the ones who cook the meals for us that Henry cannot have beans as it’s something we always have after church! The greens were great, but I was not the biggest fan of the cabbage (it was very sweet). As we ate, we talked about random things and watched Moses’ phone play some odd videos. You could tell that most of the content was AI generated and provided nothing but pure entertainment and no brain power! I asked Moses if he had a video of us dancing and he did! Eli had to download a weird app on his phone with his mobile data to be able to receive the large video file from Moses. I don’t think the blog can support videos but it’s a fun video to watch (excuse the poor quality)!

With the meal finished, Henry left so he could work on teaching tomorrow (I think he didn’t want to spend the rest of the day at church!). We all sat around for a good chunk of time where I took a small nap and Eli played on his phone. Eventually we went back to the church to mess around on the worship equipment. I played the bass while Eli tried to play the guitar. 

Moses and a couple of his friends were singing and another was playing the piano! Even though it was honestly just a bunch of noise, it was a blast. I could sort of hear my bass playing over the speakers through all of the noise, but Eli’s guitar would not work no matter how hard we tried. During our jam session, Eli had given his phone to a kid to take pictures of us playing and the kid ended up taking over 100 photos and videos of us killing his battery! 

After playing music, Moses had us practice two different dances for the upcoming church service (we were never told but it’s obvious now that we’ll be here all day!). There were a ton of small kids that danced with us as well and tried to copy the moves we were doing. None of the dances were deliberately choreographed, rather we (Eli, one of Moses’ friends, and I) just followed what Moses did to the best of our ability! The music and dancing was a ton of fun, but ended up before we knew it. One of the kids that was hanging out with us became friends with Eli and started calling us “mzungo” which means “white man” (the word used to mean wanderer then transitioned to mean white man or European)! For some reason that kid also thought it was time to start punching me as much as possible. Apparently it doesn’t matter if I’m on the other side of the world, kids always get violent near me! Moses told us that the kid’s dream is to become a boxer when he grows up and I believe he’s right on his way to fulfilling that dream!

The second service began shortly after and everything followed the same order! However, the power went out at the beginning of the service which revealed the beautiful voices of the congregation. When microphones and speakers are used, it sort of distorts and makes everything so loud it’s hard to really know what’s going on. In this unamplified environment, with only their voices and a drum, I was moved by the glorious music! Part of me wishes it was always like this, but I’m glad I got to experience both. Eli and I danced a ton and even performed one of the dances we practiced. It was sort of intimidating to go up there and dance for a crowd of people when it was only four of us out there! Yet when you remember you’re dancing for the Lord and the Lord only, that intimidation goes away. By the end of worship, Eli and I were exhausted. Following the worship, Eli’s host, Luka gave the sermon! 

Luka is one of the sweetest, kindest, and most caring people you will ever meet. His life has been changed by the grace and glory of God and given him so much. Luka’s life is prosperous and he gives all thanks to the Lord for where he is. It is amazing to see how Luka is on fire for the Lord and clearly lives from a cup that overflows. His sermon was on Ecclesiastes 7, and if I understood his brief translations for us correctly, it was about not letting Earthly things control us and to pursue wisdom over superficial pleasure; a very deep and relatable message! Even here it’s hard to not let our things control our lives, but it’s something I’m working on. One of the things that I loved about his message was that he ended it with a wonderful song and prayer. A transition that’s powerful and wraps up the sermon so well!

The sermon ended and we walked back to the office with Luka’s family. Unlike most journeys I’ve taken by foot here and raced through, this one was slow and relaxed. No one was pushing to get anywhere and enjoyed the journey for what it was. I love walking in this relaxed manner. I’m sure Henry and Michael would’ve hated how slow we were walking! Eli and I talked a bunch before Luka’s daughter, Comfort, broke her sandal and started to talk with us. She’s incredibly smart and speaks English very well for a four year old! From what I’ve been told, she’s at the very top of her class and wants to be a doctor when she grows up! We had a lot of fun messing around with her broken sandal and other little kid shenanigans. After we made it to the very top of the hill, Luka needed to pick up a bag of meat from Mr. Chesco as he has a refrigerator to keep food cold. On the quick detour to the house, Comfort was whipping around a stick and hitting Eli and I!

A little later, Eli and I parted ways from Luka’s family and went to the office to find Henry and Michael hanging out there. They seemed to be enjoying each other’s company even though the WiFi was still stuck at Paul’s house (that’s not to say that you need WiFi to enjoy time out here, of course not. It’s just that they were on their computers which arguably aren’t as useful without WiFi). I was hungry so I suggested that we go to the shop to buy some drinks and snacks. Eli, Henry, and I ventured down to the shop to get Embe and yummy mango crackers all for 2300 shillings (less than $1 USD). Even though we’re spending hardly any money in USD terms, spending thousands of shillings always feels like a lot! I’m starting to rack up change and getting a lot of coins that I hope I can keep when I go back (I remember reading somewhere that it’s technically illegal to leave the country with any of its money). 

We ate and drank our drinks back at the office and talked about a bunch of random things; a good time! Michael was supposed to take his final exam for his class, but since there was no proctor or WiFi, he would have to wait until tomorrow! Michael also informed me that Paul was expecting me for lunch and didn't know that I was going to stay all day (myself included! I never know how long I’ll be gone). Since there was no WiFi all day, Michael came back home with me to get some WiFi to message some people and download an episode of his show. We hung out in the main room of the house with Paul and Morrine until the music became so unbearably loud and escaped to my bedroom. I have no clue how anyone can casually listen to music that loud, but I enjoy not having my ears ring! Inside of my room we both played Clash of Clans and talked while the electricity was going crazy. The lights were flickering terribly for a couple of minutes until completely going out. The electricity grid here is something else to say the least! After a good chunk of time passed, Michael left and I continued to relax in my room until it was time for dinner.

Dinner was AMAZING! I’m so glad that Morrine is here to cook for us. Paul is a very welcoming and kind host, but it’s truly a woman that makes a house a home! We ate ugali, amazing beans, lunch left overs (eggs), and tons of avocados. 

I was completely stuffed! To start some digestion, we all danced for a while in the main room. Paul was kind of party pooper and on his phone the entire time so I eventually retired to my room. Before hitting the hay I blogged and prayed for a productive and fun day tomorrow!