Post Sunday

Dear Friends and Family,

If you have never been to a Kenyan Baptist church,
you'll never understand how blessed I am today.
Yesterday we went to First Baptist Church Eastleigh
for---hours. And, when it was time to leave, I didn't
want to. In the States, if we were at church for half
a dozen hours, I'd be bored and hungry out of my mind,
dying just for a change of scenery. To be painfully
honest with you, when our driver told us we had to
leave and escorted us to the car, my tear bank filled
up. The moment we could no longer see the church
people waving, that tear bank began making deposits on
my face and--oh how sweet the fellowship with complete
strangers!

I've been visiting to many friends' churches, and very
very very few have that spirit I felt yesterday. As a
shy person, one of my biggest fears is talking to
people I don't know (you can relate, can you not,
dearest Ry?). While I was nervous out my mind to be
asked to talk to the youth, I wished I could have
spent the whole day with them. The atmosphere was
different: yes, we were in a shack made mostly of
sheets of tin roofing, and we were sitting on wobbly
hand-made benches, and we were singing some English
and some Swahili songs we did not know, but it was so
much more than that. Maybe I will be able to write
something a little more coherent to explain the
difference in the worship that I now treasure and hold
closer to my heart than most memories will ever get.

Please continue to pray for Mom's health. Her voice
comes and goes, but she's holding on. Also pray for my
writing ability. I've accepted an assignment to edit
the volunteer's handbook, a project that will need to
be taken back with me (pray that it can be included in
my practicum!), and I have a few articles to be
submitted that need work, and a few articles that
still need to be written, and I'm running out of time.
God's will, I know, will take care of my work. Please
pray.

Much love and thanks for your prayers,
Amanda and Mom