Worshiping in Kenya

Happy 4th of July!

It is Sunday in Kenya and I had the opportunity to attend a church near the Brackenhurst compound. It was an interesting and fulfilling experience.

The pictures I have posted show some more views of the Brackenhurst compound taken this morning as I walked to the gate and then up the hill to the 1st Baptist Church of Tigoni. In one of the later pictures in the clip, you will see the outside of the church. My guess is it is a building left over from when this was a British club in the early 1900's - it was probably a storage building. It is about 30' by 50' - galvanized roof - rafters exposed - painted walls - raised platform in front. The pews are 1x12's on metal frames - no comfort here. But, there is a sound system - which is good because I have NEVER heard better music in a church service. Perhaps we have all seen footage of services in Black churches in America that were pretty animated - I'd put this at least in that category.

The service started with praise-type songs - only accompaniment was drums (bongo-type) - later there was an electric guitar. The songs have a cadence, rhythm, and harmony that is amazing! Eventually the music shifted to a hymn or two - in swahili. One song sounded a lot like Red River Valley. Oh Yeah - men sat on the right; women on the left. Of about 150 in attendance (at least!!), there were 9 whites. We introduced ourselves to the congregation - the other whites were missionaries from surrounding countries - one of the wives was from Miami, TX, and one of the missionaries had served in Perryton and Shamrock, TX. All were staying at Brackenhurst, but we had not visited up to that point.
After prayers at various times, some testimonies, and several songs from a couple of different choirs and individuals (all of which could have been recorded in my estimation - and all in swahili - so I don't have a clue what they said) - there was a sermon. The sermons was presented by 2 pastors - one would speak in swahili, the other in english. What was interesting is they would hand off to one another - you never knew which was going to speak in english vs. swahili. The message was from Jonah - which I can relate to given my early reluctance to make this trip.

Anyway - this was an amazing service - and being clearly in the minority added a new dimension to the entire experience.

As I start my second week I expect a routine to develop. I hope to go to the National Museum later in the week - Kenya is the place were the oldest hominid (human ancestor) fossils have been found. I also hope to take a safari next weekend. So I don't expect to be posting much til something new happens.

Byefornow - HDG