I scream! You scream, we all scream for ICE CREAM!

We began our day early and traveled to the university morgue to participate in funeral prayers for a friend of Pastor George and Florence. This one was even more emotional than the first one because the man that had passed away was only in his forties. Pastor George helped lead the prayers while Florence and I consoled the women of the family. After the casket was closed (aka the height of funeral wailing) the women were all emotional. The wife of the man who passed away ended up being carried out of the viewing bay by family members because she had collapsed onto the ground wailing in despair. Florence and I held the daughters and nieces while this happened. Seeing their mothers wailing made them emotional too. We sat on the ground with the girls on our laps while they sobbed. There were three of them who were all probably between the ages of five and eight years old. Florence was whispering to them in Kikuyu. I sat there searching for something to say - knowing that these girls didn't know enough English to understand whatever I would have come up with. I sat there stroking their backs while the cried into my shirt. That's when it occurred to me. Perhaps my physical presence was more important than trying to scramble for the right words. I'll probably never see these young girls again, but in a moment where they needed pastoral care, I was able to provide it. Bwana Yesu Asifiwe for that! We didn't follow the procession to attend the funeral service because it was three hours away and Pastor George needed to prepare his sermon for Sunday. Florence seized the opportunity to take me to the mall and we had a lovely time. We started in the supermarket and discussed all the different Kenyan foods we could buy. Then we went to Safaricom (aka the Verizon of Kenya) to get me an international sim card. It was about as exciting as it sounds..... We waited an hour to be helped and it was super cramped. Below is a photo for your enjoyment. Trust me, it was a blast.  

Here are some photos of the mall in case you were interested: 

When we finished at Safaricom, Florence led me into the food court. Fun fact: they actually do have french fries and pizza here. Apparently her kids love it. She treated us both to ice cream cones. If you know me, you probably know ice cream is my soul food. Fortunately it is one of Florence's favorites too. While eating this special treat we spent the whole time talking and getting to know each other better. We definitely bonded and I'm starting to feel especially close to her.  

This evening, we did more home visits and ended with a fellowship of all the families we've visited over the past two days (18 to be exact) in the Academy District. At the final house, everyone gathered for prayer, songs, scripture, and a very very very long sermon. They all know each other well because they are neighbors and meet with this group on a regular basis. It was like a family reunion: lots of handshakes, hugs, and kisses. With their permission I recorded a portion of one of the songs (click here to view it on YouTube).  After I stopped filming, it escalated to lots of dancing. This is a typical song format here. One person chants a phrase and then the rest of the group chimes in singing. These chorus' are typically in Swahili (as is this one), but tonight we did a few in Kikuyu. I still can't tell the two apart. I still sing along though and by sing along, I mean sing random vowels and try to change my mouth at the same time as everyone else. They have appreciated my singing and dancing efforts and have every intention to have me actually singing in Swahili by the time I leave. This was a special time of fellowship for the whole community and I look forward to doing more. It's definitely been my favorite thing so far. Fortunately, we will have these district fellowship gatherings weekly. ~ Sending love from a spiritually nourished Nell in Nairobi