13 old friends from 7 countries in Africa all in one place at one time. Can you say HEAVENLY? It was not Heaven, but I can say I am pretty sure I saw a glimpse of it. This weekend we celebrated all that God is doing across this great continent. We sang songs in multiple languages, there was lots of dancing, and of course got to hear amazing stories of people coming to know their Lord and Savior. Tuesday night a group of us welcomed our friends from Zimbabwe with a Mexican fiesta at La Paz. I walked by the table and saw a bowl of untouched cheese dip, I said, "who let that go to waste?!" Definitely Patson - that is probably really weird food to them. haha. Throughout the week they slowly started arriving in town. Friday afternoon after school, Neema and I headed downtown to meet them at the Varsity. They were all wearing the hats and were bringing that place to life! I went to get them some drink refills and they all wanted their sodas with no ice. I guess they are not used to drinking their sodas cold. After that we headed down to the Martin Luther King, Jr. museum. That was awesome.We did go to a theatre to watch a film on MLK's life and I had to cover Neema's eyes a few times because of the violence. Truth be told I wanted to cover my own eyes out of shame at the horrific ways black people were treated. I wish I could find comfort in that those days were behind us but unfortunately, I know that racism, blatant and subtle, still firmly remains. The divide is as deep as it's wounds.
After the museum, we needed to be in a hundred different places. Someone needed to pick Martin (Kenyan) up from the airport, Papa Deo (Tanzanian) needed a ride back from the dentist. Moges (Eithiopian) and Simon (Ugandan) needed to get to their hosts house. And everyone else needed to get to their stuff as well. It took a lot of organization but it was a pleasure to serve them and take care of them as best as possible because when we go to their homelands, their worlds stop for us.
Finally it was time to start getting ready for the long anticipated event. I will stop writing here and just let you see for yourself.....
BAMBOOLAYLA!!!!
MLK's grave sight.
Papa Deo (Tanzania!)
Mama Irene (Tanzania!)
Nkosi (Zimbabwe)
Alexis aka Neema's BEST FRIEND (Tanzania!)
Zimbabwe LOVE
a picture of the Kingdom......
I miss them so much!
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