This morning I went to the Masai Market with Mama Faith, Elder Caroline, and her daughter-in-law, Faith. This is one of the major tourist traps in Nairobi, but fortunately Faith was an excellent negotiator. Lines of tents and merchants crowded the corner of the mall parking lot. Brightly colored jewelry and hand crafted art was displayed on blankets. Everyone was interested in making money off of me and the many other mzungus who came to visit this morning. I made lots of great purchases and I am officially done with Christmas shopping now.... Woo hoo! Also, my apologies, I totally forgot to take pictures!
This afternoon, I attended the weekly chapel service at SPSS (Sukari Presbyterian Secondary School). I thoroughly enjoy time with those young men and not a single one fell asleep (#preacherwin). Yesterday I found out I was teaching today and didn't have time to prepare very well. I literally wrote my lesson on the way back from the Masai Market. I talked about Cornelius in Acts 10 and tied in the monthly virtue of kindness. Somehow I stretched my notes to fill time. I guess that was just the Holy Spirit at work. Observation note: the PCEA has a fascination with the New Testament (all my scriptures I teach about are picked for me). I've been almost exclusively teaching more about Jesus and the early church.
This evening I preached at PCEA Zimmerman Parish. I knew that I was attending, but didn't find out I was expected to preach until about 2 hours before the service started. There was no way I could prepare a sermon in that time, so I used the trusty sermon from Sunday that was already a repeat from a previous sermon. I feel bad about that, but can now do that one in my sleep. I'm looking forward to next week because I have 1.5 weeks to prepare a sermon for my final Sunday here. Bwana asifewe! Hopefully, I can use that time effectively to put the creativity back into my craft. The actual service was the shortest I've been to and was structured more like a fellowship than a regular service. The church itself was massive and quite ornate. Unfortunately only about 30 people were in attendance which made the space feel even bigger. It was a faithful crowd and I am thankful I had the opportunity to preach in another parish.
~ Nell in Nairobi
