Michelle here
This morning we woke up at 0530 to the ring of Fr. David's bell. And that is just funny in itself because he is the first African man that is actually on time for anything!! Let me tell you about this fabulous man… He is Fr. Gary's twin but Kenyan. For those of you that don't know Fr. Gary, Fr. David is a energizer bunny who cracks up at his own jokes, says everything that comes to mind or rolls off his tough before he thinks about it, the funniest person in public and the most reverent person on the alter, had us laughing all weekend to the point of aches and pains of the cheek bones and abdominal muscles, and has tendencies of an ADHD children obsessed with mzungus. He called himself "the shepherd of the mzungus" and would not let us out of his sight the entire weekend. I could not actually tell you how many times he called us Mzungus or pointed out every single mzungu that he happened to see this weekend. He is one of the most welcoming individual that I have met in African. He refuses to eat food with any utensil besides his hands. He loves pizza and his Tucker beer even though he limits himself to only 2 because he cant stand on one foot after anymore. Every time he eats he claimed to have a food baby to feed so he sticks out his stomach and wants us to take pictures of it or point out anybody else's baby. I probably should also mention that he is one of the few African men that is actually over 6ft tall. He has worked in so many different areas of Nairobi, served so many different congregations, and touched so many lives all over the world…He is a loved man around these parts and it is obvious to the naked eye.
We dressed and were out the door by 6 for mass at St. Clair church. The first (yes there were multiple) mass was at 0715 and presided by Fr. David in English. St. Clair is a boarding school for secondary students so we gathered with all the students of St. Clair and their women's choir along with the surrounding community. The music was everything you could have imagined African music to be with lots of clapping, beautiful harmonization, and swaying to the beat. The community was so welcoming (staring was involved but has come to be expected) and looking their sunday best. Fr. David's homily was out of this world amazing. He talked about love and the importance of love in the world. He emphasized many times that people are to be loved and things are to used. This is a very needed message to all people but even more so to this population. He also had another powerful statement that will forever be remembered and held in my heart. He said "When someone says I love you that means that they are happy that you exist." He is such a powerful and passionate speaker who involves the whole congregation, children and all. He even had a mzungu shout out intermingled into his homily, that only made them laugh at us more. We have been here for 7weeks and have not been to mass besides that one weekend at Richard's church. But even that, we didn't understand some things that were happening, were convinced that they were performing exorcisms, and overwhelmed with the experience/trying to take it all in. There is just something about a Catholic mass that I have missed while being over here, its the tradition of it and that that tradition is the same all over the world. What we did not know was that we signed ourselves up for a double whammy mass service. The bishop of Nairobi was the guest presider of the second mass and Fr. David insisted that we stay and celebrated with him. BUT IT WAS IN SWAHILI!! So we didn't understand a single thing but could follow along with the basic understand of a traditional Catholic mass. This mass also has liturgical dancers that presented down the aisle at the opening of mass, before the gospel reading, presenting of the offerings, bread, and wine, and the exit. We also had more amazing music by the men and women choir. It was long but at least entertaining. We were in mass for 4hrs so i think that makes up for taking the last couple of weeks off. Then we joined the Bishop, four of priests, a seminarian, and a couple members of the community for a delicious lunch. We enjoyed great food and conversation with them for the remainder of the afternoon. This was so awesome to take this time to spend with them and reminded me a lot of home…minus the bourbon and cokes. We then had to ship out and catch a Nairobi matatu (not the same as our beloved Bududa) back to the seminary. We had just a little time to pack up, hang out with Kevin in the hallway of our barracks (college dorm room style), then head back to the bus for our journey back to Uganda.
We arrived to the bus stop an hour early a) because I am traveling with Lyndsay always early Webb, b) because Fr. David insisted that we would have traffic, and C) NONE OF THAT EVEN MATTERS BECAUSE WE ARE IN AFRICA AND EVERYTHING HERE IS LATE!!!! Our bus was suppose to LEAVE at 2100. Well, the bus didn't even arrive to the bus stop until 2237 and did not pull away until 2312…T.A.B!!! But we have now found ways to entertain ourselves while waiting in the middle of crowds of people, carrying all our belongings, and getting bumped and run over by the flow of traffic with the "price is right" style time guessing game and "I spy with my little eye" game…as you can imagine the 3 of us, as annoyed as we were, were very animated and intrigued by these games. We had many laughs from the 3 of us but even more stares from the entire city of Nairobi. We also had a mzungu friend from California come up and introduce himself to us because he said, "It looks like you guys are having too much fun." He joined in on our fun and games which then proceeded into great conversation about his travels and time here in Africa. I must say that this is one of my favorite parts of traveling…meeting all the really cool people and hearing their even cooler stories. We fortunately were able to get seats in the very front of the bus so we had a better (again-very loose term) trip back home. Not to mention crossing the border in broad day light helped too. We didn't get back to Mbale until 0930 making it a 10hr trek instead of 13 at least. We then proceeded to jump immediately onto a matatu trying to get back to Bududa as fast as possible for our party at Richard's orphanage (more details to come).
Food craving of the day: every type of BBQ food imaginable…brauts, spinach summer salad, my mom's potato salad, and potato casserole.
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