The Send Off

I know this sounds like a Nicholas Sparks' title, but it was a mystery to us as well. Dale got a text from Pastor Coco inviting us to a "send off" for his daughter-in-law on Wednesday at 3 PM at Kihesa Church. Dale, Carrie and I bounced up the road to the church to find two inhabitants. The church was open and ready for something but except for a woman sitting outside and someone in the office -- nobody. About 20 minutes later the Kihesa pastor drove up in his motorcycle and retired to his office. A few minutes after that, the wedding party arrived. Most of the cars dressed like this:

Followed by the mobile DJ.

The group processed into to church and the bride and her maid of honor sat at the front of the church. This was a send off of the bride to be wed two days later. The bride is one of the children that Pastor Coco and his wife were guardians of after she lost her parents. Here is Pastor Coco, the maid of honor, the bride to be, the groom to be and the best man as the proud father presents them to the congregation.

This was a joyous celebration with singing, dancing, a choir and a lengthy sermon about the faithfulness of Rebecca and the importance of the family. After the ceremony, the whole family posed for a picture on the steps of the church.

What came to mind from the above picture was the Sesame Street song: "One of these things is not like the other; One of these things isn't the same!" From here the wedding party, in decorated cars and the DJ blasting, ,toured the town. We said our thanks and proceeded home for dinner. Some day we will tell you of the moral dilemma of the Mountain Dew, Fanta Orange and the water bottle. But for now that is the story of the "send off".

One one more note. We did find a young man who had helped us during our 2007 trip. Shem was our host at the Kihesa Life Skills Center and we were able to say hello after many years. Behind Shem in the picture is the completed center that includes a fellowship room, sleeping rooms, a small kitchen and a few meeting rooms.

I wish I could put up more pictures, but our Internet connection is essentially "dial up" speed from the apartment. At the University, things are a bit better, but the power there goes out every couple of hours and it takes 10 minutes or so for the Internet to recover after a power outage.