Singing in Tongues

People around here keep telling me that if I have enough faith, I’ll be able to preach in tongues - specifically the mother tongue, Kikuyu. I do believe that God works in mysterious ways and me preaching in the mother tongue would be nothing short of a miracle. Well, that has yet to happen, but today I came close... Ever since I was little, I’ve loved music. From piano and voice lessons, to high school marching band and college choir, music has always been in my soul. So I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise that singing in Kikuyu is easier for me than speaking it. Kenya has always had an oral culture so most of the songs and choruses sung are from memory. This also means the retpotorire is smaller than a hymnal. It’s good news for me since I can’t speak or hardly read Kikuyu. We do the same 20 or so songs at every function so my brain is finally starting to catch on. For the most part, I know the melodies (some of which are familiar hymn tunes) and am slowly catching onto the lyrics. Today we attended another burial to support the one of our Parish members who lost her 81 year-old father. Everyone from Kahawa Sukari stood up to sing during the presentation time. As the chorus began, the Session Treasurer scrambled to find the lyrics on his phone for me to use. Much to his surprise (and mine!) I didn’t need the lyrics and was able to sing most of the song from memory. When I started to singing I felt someone’s arm wrap around my back. That’s unusual here because physical touch is limited to handshakes in pretty much every situation. I looked over to see the daughter of the man who passed on looking up at me with teary eyes. I embraced her too and we turned to the front to sway with the rest of our community. There we stood, in front of God and everyone at the burial singing a traditional Kikuyu chorus with our arms wrapped around one another. That was definitely a moment where the Spirit was at work..... Especially since I cant even remember the lyrics enough to share them with you in this blog post. Usually I mumble my way through songs in Swahili and Kikuyu. People applaud my efforts even though I’m clearly lost most of the time. But. Not. Today. I continue to be humbled by Spirit-filled moments like that one. ~ Nell in Nairobi PS: On the way to the burial I caught a glimpse of wild zebra, antelope, and camels. We were on the highway so I couldn’t get a good picture but they were beautiful! PPS: my WiFi is very hit or miss this week, thus the late post. Sorry! PPPS: Tonight at the Good Hope fellowship we did a baby blessing. This consisted of us dancing, singing, and passing around the newborn before we prayed over her. Isn’t she precious?