Hallelujah

Praise The Lord! Today, I went to a Christian church! With the hostess Trizer. (She works at the hotel I stay at). A couple days ago we were just chatting (like I said before, I've gotten pretty familiar with everyone at the hotel) and she asked me what I was doing on Sunday. And being the lone wolf that I am, I said nothing. (This was before Victoria asked me to lunch). And so she invited me to go to church with her and spend the day with her. And happily I said yes! I am always up for something new and going to a Christian church in Africa is definitely something new for me. So this morning, she greeted me at breakfast (she was working) and then after her shift ended at 10:30 we headed out to the church. We took another matatu. This one was number 44, and yesterday's was number 9 (my lucky number hehe). We sat at the very front with the driver which was interesting. You can see how crazy they drive first hand...because you're right there. And then...we had arrived! 

We were a little late, being the Africans we are! We snuck into the back of the church in the middle of one of the gospel songs. Now I've gotta say, I've been to church before. It was an all black church and the gospel choir was amazing. But this church was even better! It was small but the gospel music was just amazing. These people put their heart and soul into this music and sing like nobody's business. Even though I couldn't understand anything they were saying, I could feel the conviction in their voices. Then after a couple of gospel songs, the preacher came up and said that anyone who was new to the church to stand up and take a "leap of faith" to the front. It was only me and this other lady. So I followed her up to the front where the preacher asked us to state our name, where we were from and where we stay. The other lady talked for maybe 3 minutes in Swahili about I don't know what. Then it was my turn. And being the awkward lone wolf that I am I just said my name and that I was from Austin, Texas. He wanted me to keep talking but I was like noooo. So I went back to Trizer and just sat down. She was laughing at me but I was freaking out still. And then is got worse...the preacher (in Swahili) said because of me the "mzungu" he would do the service in English and then have a Swahili translator. Because the service we were at was the Swahili service. The English service was at 9 am. The service was very interesting. It was about "being far off" meaning when you stray or when friends stray. He used the example of when you and someone you know are best friends but slowly over time you drift. Or when two people get married. And they promise their lives to each other but after a couple years, they change and they drift. He gave reasons why people go "far off". 1) You're in your own place. Meaning you are in your own world. 2) You're in the wrong company. 3) You have the wrong composition. He said that you are who you follow. And he even said that just because someone is in power, that doesn't mean you should follow them. He even told us not to follow him because he was a preacher. After the service Trizer and I had to leave because she was called back into work. So we thanked the preacher and left with Trizer's cousin. We took a tuktuk back and when we got back to the hotel we took pictures together! 

The guy taking our picture works at the hotel and he was telling Trizer that she was ruining the picture because she wasn't giving a good smile. Haha so that's why she made that face. And Trizer's cousin also invited me to her house for lunch on Sunday...all of a sudden I have plans! Haha no more boring weekends! And I went to khane today with Massi, Shams and Gulshan. My friend Asma was there and I met some guys who go to khane who are my age. Call me the female version of Life of Pi. All I have to do now is go to a Hindu Temple! Haha, but that's what happened today! 

Oh and I almost forgot...I had an encounter with the most obnoxious American I've ever met. And she made me feel so embarrassed to call myself an American. She was just so loud and rude. And she seemed to think that she knew everything. I was just sitting at my table having a wonderful lunch. 

And this woman came up to me and asked what country I was from. I told her America and she said "oh me too." So I asked where from? She said Pennsylvania and then proceeded to ask me if I saw any Dutch people because she thought they were from the ICC and they were at her church because she is a preacher and blah blah blah. If anything, she was an idiot. She had no respect for anyone or anything. And all she did was complain. She made me so mad. And I felt bad for the waitress she had. At first I was excited when she told me she was from America but then she kept talking. And I left right away. She was so loud and this poor man sitting there reading his newspaper was stuck listening to her. It was sad to see an actual person fill the stereotype of "American tourist". I hope I don't come off as that at all!!