Our Faux-Pas in Sanghor

(Hi guys, this is Stefan, posting Brook;s post, because he and Colin stayed back while Taylor and I came into Kisumu today)

Throughout training, the staff kept telling us that we will make mistakes and embarrass ourselves, but that's just part of learning the culture. We had one of those experiences this week.
In the mornings before our Swahili lessons, we are usually served breakfast around 7:45, and we leave by 8:20. On friday morning, 8:25 came around and we were still without breakfast. This was no life-threatening catastrophe, so we decided to leave in order to be on time for our lesson. We trekked the 1.5 kilometers through the warm morning air and made it to the church where they have been held just as our teacher was arriving. About 20 minutes later, we were going over the previous nights assignment when i saw some motion out of one of the church's windows. My look of utter shock and embarrassment told my team exactly what it was.
The wonderful ladies who have been making sure we've been fed and taken care of over the last two weeks apparently came to the house with our breakfast, saw that we were gone, and had also made the 1.5 kilometer trek, laden with picnic baskets of bread and condiments, a thermos full of chai and all the plates, mugs and utensils needed for our meal. We didn't anticipate their level of hospitality and felt awful for making them go to all the extra trouble just to feed us, though we were well nourished for our lesson on the 8th and final class of Swahili nouns. Through this we continued the process of adjusting to African time. We are still used to following a strict schedule and being routinely punctual, and many Africans are heading towards that, which creates some conflicts, but we've been learning to just be, to take things as they come.

This is one of the many examples of this new and unbelievably good hospitality that we've experienced while living here in Songhor, Kenya. Ever since we've arrived here this family has been going all out to make sure we are as comfortable as possible: supplying a generator so that we have light and electricity, paying someone to fill the water tank so that we have running water for the toilet and shower, and even, to our horror, hand-washing our pants (yes, i mean pants). Though they have begun to allow us to help out around the property, sweeping the pathways and even learning to cook, but we still feel very spoiled. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support.

Praises:
-Being able to see progress in our knowledge and proficiency of the Kiswahili language
-Continued good health and safety
-That we've had sufficient time to adapt to the culture

Prayer Requests:
-For team unity and peace, as we are blessed with one another's presence 24/7
-For opportunities to share our faith and be an encouragement to current African believers
-For continued focus and passion for the Kiswahili language

Peace and Laughter,
Brook Musselman and team Kenya