First Sabbath

       Our first Sabbath was a hot day. It was a day that was not ideal to wear a nice shirt and long skirt, but since our outfits were at the tailors, that is what we had to wear. Sabbath school starts at 9:00am here and since that is our normal breakfast time, on Sabbaths it is moved up to 8:30am. Even with it moved up, there are people setting up for the group that meets in the cafeteria, where we eat. When we were ready for Sabbath school, a few of the older girls took me to their Sabbath school, which is located in their room. Lauren was also brought there. We were asked to teach a new song and so taught them the Clap Jesus Loves me. We were then asked to tell a story, since we were given no warning before hand, both of our stories were short and so we were convinced to tell one more story each. At the end of Sabbath school I had to smile, to finish up they sang the “Sabbath School is Over” song which took me back to my childhood. J When Sabbath school is out here there is time before church starts and so all the kids surrounded us. When it was church time, Rimi (who is probably three years old) took me to sit with the other little girls. One other little girl attached herself to me while I was sitting there, she is cute (but then all the kids are!) her name is Suzanna. During church many of the little girls fell asleep, one even fell asleep on Lauren’s lap, it was really cute. After church all the children change and then eat and then rest some, so while they were doing all that, the three of us went back up to our room and rested.

       After about an hour our door bell rang. A few kids were there to tell us Grammy (Mrs. Waid) was calling, it was time for a walk through the village. A group of kids went with us. Everyone had to hold hands and Kakoli and Joseph were the two that took mine. It was interesting to see the village and how it runs, all the villagers at work making baskets and such. They do such a nice job of weaving. When the walk was finished we had about 10 minutes until it was time to head out to the village again, this time for the branch Sabbath school held at the SDA school there. The children that joined us for that adventure were all girls and none of them we knew yet. The two that stuck with me were Rebecca and Kathi. As we walked we found out that Rebecca and I shared our birthday, January 5.

       When we reached the school many children were there and ready to start. We started with songs and then Lauren told a story. The pastor, his name is Ponwell, was her interrupter and as she told the story, he definitely added embellishments and even finished it for her, it was kind of funny. We then had prayer and left.

       After dinner we said good night to the children and then went to the Waids apartment for game night where we had mango smoothies and played 5 Crowns.