An Eventful Sunday

They liked their gifts!! Yayy!!!

My mom and big sis put together a care package for me and they included some gifts for me to pass along to my host family...two toy cars for the little boy, make-up for my two sisters, and an aluminum wallet for my host mama.  The aluminum wallet was a bit questionable though, as it has a man on the front cover with his shirt halfway unbuttoned and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.  I figured it was absolutely positively out of the question for me to give this to my mama as a gift, but I decided to ask my culture trainer if it would be okay.  Just as I figured she would, she laughed when I showed her the wallet and she said, "You probably shouldn't give that to your mom, maybe you can give it to your sister."  I had considered giving the wallet to one of my host sisters instead, but then that would leave my host mama with nothing and she is the person who has been doing practically everything for me since I've been here.  So I decided to take the risk and give her the wallet...with high hopes that she wouldn't mind the half naked man on the front.

After my bucket bath and just before leaving for church, I made my rounds to everybody's room and gave them their gifts.  I went into my 22 year old sister's room first and told her I had something for her from my mom and sister in America.  When she saw the make-up she lit up and said, tell your mama I said "Murakoze chane!"  (Thank you very much!)  She loved it!! Yess!! One down and 3 more to go...next I gave my other little sister her makeup and she, too, said thank you.  Next up was my little brother...as soon as he saw the cars he smiled so hard I wondered how his cheeks didn't hurt.  He took the package and opened it immediately, placing both cars on the ground and rolling them around back and forth; the smile never left his face.  And now for my host mama...I presented her with the wallet and waited for her reaction...
and it was good!  She grabbed me tight and said thank you!!!! She loved it!  She asked who the guy was on the front and I told her he was a singer from America.  She just smiled and took her newest prized possession into her room and put it away.  I'm so happy I decided to go ahead and give it to her anyway.  I've noticed that the people here are grateful for pretty much anything they receive.  Many of them will never be able to come to America, so any piece of America that is brought here and given to them, they are more than happy to receive.

Well Praise the Lord

Church was on point today!! I still wasn't able to understand much besides Hallelujah and Amen, but I still managed to have a good time.  During the sermon, the pastor talked about Peter and John...and that's about as far as I got with the message.  The music though...I absolutely love the music and the dancing that takes place in church here.  The entire congregation stands to their feet and joins in the worship.  The entire front half of the church turns into a dance floor and the mama's run up to the front to do their happy dance, with their babies bouncing about, tied to their backs.  The men also run up to the front and dance around.  I just love how happy they get each time the choir begins to sing a new song.

This weekend was the memorial weekend for the Pastors who were killed during the genocide and the final celebration was today at my church.  There was a guest preacher and choir and let me tell you...they were sharp!  Instead of robes, each person in the choir had on a grey pinstriped skirt suit (the women) or pant suit (the men) with a baby blue collared shirt underneath.  The women also had sheer, baby blue head wraps on their heads, which made them all look super cute!  The worship songs they sang were so beautiful and they even had hand gestures and slight movements to go along with the words.  This was by far the best church service I've been to here.  I can't wait to be able to visit that church in Kigali...they really had it going on!

Concert

Just when I thought I would be in the house for the rest of the day, my host mama calls my name and says lets go.  As it turned out, we were going to a concert at which the guest church was going to be singing.  I certainly didn't mind going as I really enjoyed their voices during church...so I hopped up, grabbed my sweater, and we were on our way.  The concert was filled with singing and dancing and people jumping around all over the place.  Of course, the music was phenomenal.  After a while though, my mama began to feel sleepy and told me in Kinyarwanda, "I'm tired, let's go."  I obliged and we got up to leave.  On our walk home, as usual, we stopped to talk to just about everyone. I was able to pick up on a few things they were saying, but for the most part, I just smiled and nodded.  As we continued our trot home, my mama said to me, "The people like you.  I am very happy you are my girl."  That just warmed my heart.  After that, I smiled and said, "I am happy too."  It's moments like these that make me feel blessed that I am able to bring so much joy to such a great woman.  The Lord knew exactly what he was doing when He sent me here...and I am so happy he did!

Love and Peace Corps,

Dametreea