Easter in Oyugis...one year ago...

Easter in Oyugis...one year ago... Last year we celebrated Easter in Oyugis, Kenya.  We climbed a steep, slippery, muddy hill in between houses, dodging puddles and jumping trenches filled with the aftermath of an early morning storm. Mid way up the hill the sweet sound of singing could be heard. We arrived at church.

The church was a small building where the sun warmed up the metal roof and the heat quickly spread through the building. Rough cut wooden benches filled the building skirting around pot holes in the concrete floors.

We slipped into a back bench and were handed a hymnal of sorts…a small booklet with all the songs written in Luo.  A few songs we knew, so it easy to follow along in their language with the rest of the congregation…and the ones we didn’t know, well, it was easy to catch on.

It was the most amazing moment when I stopped to just listen to the beautiful harmonies as the church worshipped God in their African rythms….and even more amazing to sing praises along with them in a language I didn’t know but to a God I did.

Easter in Oyugis was a sweet time of fellowship and teaching and a highlight of our trip.

There were two “bonuses” that we took away from Pastor Joshua Obiero’s church that day….

The first bonus was…

When the service was done, Pastor Obiero walked through the building and out the back door, followed by the first row. Pastor stood just outside the door.  The first person following him, shook his hand in greeting and stood next to him.  The second person out the door, shook hands and greeted Pastor, the next person, and then stood next to him.  And so it went.  By the time we were out the door, a large circle had formed outside the church and we greeted each person with a handshake as we made our way around the circle and took our places near the end. It was a sweet ending to a wonderful celebration of Christ’s resurrection.

Our second bonus was….

Later in the day, we discovered the sweet worship had been captured on Pete’s cell phone.  Apparently while we slipped and trudged our way up the hill to church, instead of a “pocket dial” we somehow did a “record dial” and you could hear us making our way to the church, the singing as we neared the church….and finally some of the worship taking place in the church.

What a wonderful surprise it was and what a treasure for us to have recorded those special moment celebrating Easter in Oyugis, Kenya!  Hard to believe it was a year ago already.  Thankful to have the memories...and recordings of such an amazing trip.

Nyasaye Ogwedhu!

Merry