nilihubiri! (I have preached!)

May 26th (part two) Preparations for the sermon went well into the night on Saturday. I think I read the entire sermon to a person only once. It was so long that I would get tired or others would get tired as I read in my slow Swahili. I read it alone a few times but didn’t have anyone correcting me if I made a mistake. My friend Elizabeth was very helpful and I spent Friday and Saturday afternoon at her home rehearsing. The most helpful of all was Grace. Grace is a teacher that arrived in January to Kafule. She teaches form 1 and 4 Swahili. When I rewrote the sermon I put a wrong letter in a few words and she helped to correct it with me. On Saturday morning we spent an hour sitting with the pastor telling him about my plans for the sermon and read through the first half of the sermon. That evening I walked to her home and read the second half of the sermon to her. She was very encouraging and knew how difficult the preaching was for me. On Sunday, she sat at my side throughout the two church services and then brunch at the pastor’s home. Last night she again sat at my side during the celebration at the church. She was awesome and I don’t know how I could repay her. The sermon went way better than could have imagined and I went home that evening so happy. The sermon lasted about 40 minutes with pauses for laughter and applause. At the end, the congregation was very happy. They lifted me onto their shoulders as they danced around singing. Eventually they carried me back to my seat and sat me down. After the church service we had a short communion service. I have never had communion while in Kafule (or in the surrounding area) so it was an awesome way to spend one of my last Sunday’s here. It was a short service but very moving. We sang some of my favorite songs and read a few passages before departing for the pastor’s home. At the pastor’s home we had a feast while everyone congratulated me and told me how great I did. Throughout the week everyone has told me that they are prepared for Friday night. Since everyone is ready to dance I tried to get as much rest as possible for the big night. This week was my last week of teaching so of course it was full and very busy. I managed to get only two runs in. I am starting to lose all the muscle I built these last few months! This week was a much slower week which I was happy to have. On Monday I spent the night dancing at Mbughi’s which is always fun. On Wednesday I spent the evening at a student, Ikupa Mbughi’s, home with Grace. On Thursday I came home from school, ate some leftover soup and peanuts, and started to feel very sick. I really wanted to get a run in and thought it would help clean me out which is exactly what it did. I came home and threw up everywhere. Not the most pleasant experience but I felt much better. I prepared a nice pasta dinner and couldn’t even touch it. I couldn’t do much of anything but sleep. The next morning I woke up still feeling ill but able to eat. On my last day as a teacher I didn’t have any energy. Luckily the students were full of energy and it made the day go by well. I taught all of my classes and at the end of each class we had a short photo shoot. The photo shoot lasted until the end of the day. Random students came to me requesting a photo together. By the time 3 o’clock on Friday came around I started shaking. I could eat again but I wasn’t fully hydrated. Grace prepared a nice meal of rice and beans but something still wasn’t right. I tried the caffeine route and hyped up on tea before walking to the pastor’s home. The celebration began at 4 o’clock but Grace and I didn’t arrive at the pastor’s until a little past 5. After her home, I went home to take some Advil and quickly clean up. In part three I will tell you all about last night’s sherehe! Love,