Sunday, February 13, 2011

Hari imvura iri bugwe? (Is it going to rain?)

I went to my first Rwandan church service today - 2 of them actually – and they are no joke.  When Rwandans praise the Lord, they PRAISE THE LORD.  It was an incredibly exhausting 4 hours. 

First, we went to an English-speaking service at the Anglican Cathedral.  I was starting to feel better but still pretty fragile, so when I watched Ryan get pulled away from me and heard something muttered about “someone will find a place for you” I began to feel that insecurity sweep over me.  Of course, I got pulled to the front row.  My eyes began to well up with tears and I realized I had 2 choices: I could burst into tears in front of 100 strangers, OR, I could start singing along with the choir.  

“This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Finally.  Something I was familiar with.  Before the song was over, I was singing, clapping, and smiling.  Rwandans clap all the time and at everything.

Next we hurried over to the Blessed Mango Tree Church - a truly Rwandan service spoken in Kinyarwandan. (I attached a picture of what it looked like today.  This was the last service before using the new building.)  I was ushered to one of the rows in the back and a nice man named John sat next to me to translate for me.  By the end of the service he was, by all American standards, sitting in my lap.  I’m telling you, there’s no such thing as personal space.  At some point in the service (I can’t be sure because I’m not really sure what was happening at any point in the 2 ½ hours) I was called to the front of the church and introduced.  It wasn’t exactly like when I get up in front of the people of University.  I was instructed to greet the people.  Um… I don’t public speak.  I’m the muganga here, not the mushumba.  Anyways, I just yelled “mwaramutse!” (good morning!), and everyone went wild.  However, that wasn’t enough.  They wanted more.  So I said some things in English, watched everyone smile and clap and wave their hands, and then scurried to my seat in the back.  Ryan did a fantastic job preaching today – not that I expected anything less.  He’s a big hit around here.

One last thing about our Sunday: it was our first laundry day since we’ve been here. Thankfully Pierre is here to help us.  I have NO idea how to do laundry in Rwanda. So, now we have our clean-ish clothes hanging on the line outside and it has been raining on them for the last 6 hours.  As soon as we realized this, Ryan and I burst into laughter. 
This Is Africa.


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