Church Dedication

On Sunday we dedicated the church.

When we arrived the children gave each of us a bouquet of flowers, I thought that was so thoughtful. I just loved the children and was sad that this was the last day that we would see them.

There were some ceremonial things that they did before they opened the doors. Not sure what they said because it was all in Swahili.

There were several groups that sang. This was a local school. They sang one song in Swahili, and then one in English. The one in English was "Give Thanks", it was so precious it brought tears to my eyes.

We were the last group to perform. We had practiced all week. Our first song was "Be Thou My Vision" and we tried to liven it up by using a drum and syncopation. Then we sang Niwango, a Swahili song our friends taught us. We put motions with it and it was pretty comical. I think the congregation appreciated the effort though.

After they introduced us we presented them with a scrapbook 1st Presbyterian put together for them. It was a neat book that will help them remember us.

Before the sermon, I read the scripture for the day. Luckily they let me read it in English:)

The pastor gave the sermon in English and then in Swahili, so it took quite a while. The service was about 3 hours all together and I guess they cut it short for us because we had to get on the road. Wow, that's all I have to say about that.

The music the Kenyans sing is incredible. To be modern for the service though, they brought in a keyboard, so all of the songs that day were accompanied by some random beat that didn't match what they were singing. Very interesting. I wish they would have just stuck with the singing and dancing!

People from the West Point church made the communion cup and plate and donated the communion set. The church was very appreciative.

Most of the town came out for the dedication. Hopefully the church will be a blessing for generations to come. We loved getting to know the wonderful people at Kimathi and pray that the Lord blesses them abundantly!