To Be Still for a Moment

Day 6 – 

    This was a really relaxing day. We talked about the Kenyan accent and how to adopt that so when/if we gave sermons during our assignment, people could understand us. Brian had us practice our accents while reading Psalm 23 in small groups. My teammate, Nathan, got it down immediately and used it many times throughout the trip. The rest of us? We sounded like little British children or better yet, college students who were really bad at accents and imitations.
Kenya was once a British colony, so we also had to be aware of the difference in vocabulary.

The words I got mixed up frequently:

American:                             Kenyan:                                                                                     
Pants = jeans                        Pants = underwear
Smart = intelligent               Smart = dressed well/handsome

Humorous, I know.
     The rest of the day, we rested. A lot of people did laundry, and I went to town with three other girls and Japheth to use the cyber café. As we were walking, a bus drove up and stopped to talk to Japheth in Swahili. Then the bus driver looked at me, asked me my name, and asked me where I was from. Later, Japheth told us what the bus driver said, “Young man, you have four girls; give me one!” It was hilarious and also not so flattering. That wasn’t the first time Japheth was put in that position, either; I was glad he was with us to mediate situations like that.
     I was able to get some more quiet time that day equal with sufficient fellowship time. Assignments were to be announced in a couple of days – I was still nervous and excited at the same time. The unknown can drive one crazy. However, everyone on the team had an "affirmation card" to be signed with their name on it that would hold our words of affirmation to them. Let me tell you; with 45 cards to sign we were all busy enough to keep sane. It was difficult to know what words of encouragement to write because I felt that I didn’t know most of my teammates well enough. That would come in time.
Even with a relaxing day, I was ready for bed when the time came.