Part 5: It was Wednesday and I woke up, too early again, unable to sleep past 3 or so. Today we had some time to prepare for Friday's concert at KIST. Lisa had our CD, "Follow the Cross" on the ipod/speaker she kept in the kitchen, and played our songs so that Lorraine, the Kenyan helper, knew many of them by heart. Her favorite was "Amazing Love" so that was one of the first ones we practiced. We ended up doing an impromptu concert for an audience of two-- that was fun! After lunch, we attended a lecture on "Biblical Justice" by our colleague, Adrienne. She is a lawyer practicing in D.C. and preparing to go to Zambia for a year with International Justice Mission. Before the trip, she shared how the thought of speaking to lots of people was making her nervous-- even as a lawyer, she usually only speaks to one person at a time, like a judge. We knew she had been working and reworking her speech. When she got up and began, I couldn't believe how great she was-- not only her confident delivery, but also the quality of what she shared. I wanted to take each sentence and savor it. Then, it was time for the students to ask questions, and what questions they asked! They were difficult to answer, but I could see that Adrienne was well trained as a lawyer, as her answers were well-thought out. More fun at the seminar. It was great to see students like Theodoro from Rwanda get so excited about learning how to do new things on the keyboard and learning to play the guitar for the first time. He had written a lot of his own songs, and I recorded one of them on my ipod. Jonathan, the choir leader, faithfully came each day and help us set up the equipment and put it away. He is an amazing leader-- so quiet, yet so effective, and willing to go above and beyond. He was a pastor for 16 years and has a wife and two children. It's easy to see why the others respect him. His wife also is a student, but can only take classes as money becomes available. Evelyn, a pretty young woman, had a beautiful voice and was so appreciative to be at the school on scholarship. Sharon and I wished we had more time to spend getting to know the students. That evening, some of the other faculty gathered at the house after dinner, and Sharon and I enjoyed leading in a few worship songs. (Next Post)
