Worship, Sunday, January 29

Church this morning was scheduled to start at 7:00 a.m., but as expected in Tanzania, there was virtually no activity until 30 – 40 minutes later. The church was full, and the temperature began to climb quickly. There were three baptisms at the service, as well as three offerings: one for the baptisms, one for special groups, and the regular church offering. Clement translated the service for us.

We were escorted out of the first worship service early to see the Sunday School children. They sang a song or two for us, and we said a few words to them. After church, we taught the kids “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes,” and they learned quickly. (“Shoulders” was hard, though!) Alex and I demonstrated “The Hippo Song,” resulting in much laughter. We taught the kids how to do the actions on the last part of the song, and they seemed to have a lot of fun with it.

The second service was more contemporary. The church was incredibly hot, and I started feeling dizzy not too far into the service. I’m sure I looked pretty miserable, though I tried to look as pleasant as possible. When communion started, I had to leave or I would have fainted. I was followed shortly by the rest of my group. I felt bad that I left, but that was better than fainting in church. The rest of the congregation looked pretty miserable, too. It’s unfortunate that their building is so ill-designed that it traps heat inside like and oven.