July 8th (Sunday)

It started out as another chilly “winter” day today. But thankfully we don’t have to leave the house to go to the meeting until just before 9am so it isn’t too bad. Also their winter’s don’t usually include snowstorms, haha! Along the way of our walk to to meeting we were thinking of the hymn “Sakilenu”. We really enjoy the African way they sing it, with repeats, it’s very beautiful. The song has been stick in Nicole’s head mostly all weekend and so it was also stuck in my head and Fiona’s.

As we got to the building it was still locked up, they were listing out (Dorothy and Ruth) who had access to a key, but all the people were either not there or had lost their key. But then Alison came and saw we didn’t have a key and Chris has one so she went back to their house and got it so that we could open the doors and start the meeting. Amazingly the first hymn that was given out during the meeting was “sakilenu” Fiona and I looked at Nicole and we all tried very hard not to laugh. Dr. Lipsi gave the ministry and spoke about Adam and Eve in the garden and their sin. It was nice to hear the message in English. One of the brothers provided the translating for the others who make up the majority where who speak Lunda.

After the gospel meeting was over we went back to the Annex and I made another pineapple upside down cake for the evening’s gathering that we are co-hosting with Dr. Ros. The cake turned out a bit more messy than my first attempt as we were rushing to bake it before we were due to go to Dr. Ros’ house for lunch at 1pm. We joined Dr. McAdam, Dr. Lipsi, Joey, and Owen there for lunch. It was lovely, the food was so good. She made chicken, cauliflower and carrots with a cheese sauce, baked mini potatoes, green beans with onions and tomatoes, and a delicious lemon-lime cheesecake. The conversation was interesting and we learned some history from Dr. McAdam and Dr. Lipsi. We went back to our house and Fiona started to make some cookies from a recipe Dr. Ros had shared with us.

I went to the Sunday School that afternoon… let’s just say the children were rambunctious. Dr. Lipsi also came along and we both were wearing wide brimmed hats and carrying our cameras. We definitely looked the part of tourists/visitors. There was one child who sat next to me who wouldn’t stop touching my camera, at one point she way laying over my lap so I sat her up so she would listen to the message. She was NOT happy about that and she started hitting my arm. Dr. Lipsi then reached over and caught her wrist and shook his head, getting after her for hitting me and it was a bit amusing to me. But like I said previously, a stern glance works in any language.

I returned to the Annex and the girls were baking cookies and reading before heading to Dr. Ros’ house (the duplex) where we co-hosted the Sunday night gathering. We went a bit earlier than everyone else to help set-up and bring the food and water (Nicole carried the water and one of the jugs wasn’t sealed very well and it kept leaking all over Nicole as we walked over). We found Dr. Ros in her arm chair with her cat curled up on her lap, it was a very cute sight. Then Alison, Janice, Dr. Lipsi, Dr. McAdam, and Dorothy joined us and we sang some songs (we were really missing Chris and his guitar). We then listened to an online message from David Vallance on the book of Jude -“don’t be normal” ministry, it was excellent as per usual. Then we enjoyed food and fellowship. We went back home and turned in for the night. We also had some leftovers from the snack so we let JR know that we could bring the snack for tea the next day.//