July 4th, Church

Happy 4th of July! It was strange being away from home on Independence Day, but we had our own celebration. We put red and blue streamers up over the fireplace, and we put up flags around the house. I also listened to patriotic music (not really out of the ordinary for me, I listen to God Bless the USA at least once a day anyways). Overall it was a pretty good 4th, I missed the BBQ and the fireworks, but we still had patriotic spirit.
We also went to church, we worshiped with Bishop Able's congregation in the Kyole slum in Nairobi. Church was definitely an experience, it certainly wasn't the "Father Flash" experience. We arrived at 9:30 and left at 1:30. We helped with the Sunday school, there were around 35 kids packed into a six by 10 metal shed. The children were well behaved and sang with gusto. We did the Creation story, a puppet show, and a craft. The kids were very excited about the craft, there was quite a bit of jostling for the stickers.
The church service itself was somewhat typical. There was much more participation by the congregation than I am used to. Many members of the church performed songs or gave little talks. The service was held in a tent with plastic lawn chairs. It was moving to see so many people praising God, especially under such materially wretched circumstances. Many of the parishioners are HIV positive, the Bishop's brother died last week of AIDS. I will probably go to Bishop Able's church again before I head home, although typically the HEART staff goes to Ridgeway Baptist.
Tomorrow I am going to the Kibera slum. HEART has a WEEP center there. I look forward to meeting the women who work there, I will post pictures from the excursion.
Margaret