Sunday service at Etago

On Sunday morning I was up early one more time for the trip out to Chotororo.  The roads were not nearly as busy as they were the rest of the week.  That was a very nice surprise!  I was picked up at Awendo by Fred’s nephew, Joseph, on his motorcycle.  There were some sprinkles along the way, but the rain helped reduce the dust from the road.  We arrived at Chotororo at about quarter after 8:00am and waited for the students and for Enosh to arrive to pick us up to take us to Etago.  When Enosh arrived, we piled 10 men into his little Toyota station wagon for the 30 minute ride to Etago.  I felt like I was reliving my high school days!

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Amos Otieno, a sem student from from Mois' Bridge, read the Scripture Readings for the service.

This was my first opportunity to see the Etago church and school in several years and to check out the work that had been done by Loren Hansen and the Etago Mission Helper team last month.  They had built a fine retaining wall and installed a drainage pipe under the school to divert water from the building (among other things).  They did a wonderful job!

The seminary choir sang two songs for the service.

The service was to begin at 10:00am.  They began by singing several hymns as we waited for latecomers to arrive.  The service started at about 10:30am and continued for the next three hours!  We burned down two sets of candles before the service was over....  It was a very special service, conducted in Kisii, and with many visitors.  All the seminary students were introduced as well as Pastor Papani from Kajiado, Kenya, who had arrived early for the Pastoral Conference.  He and his wife stayed with Joshua, who lives right across the road from the church.  After the service the ladies of the congregation served everyone lunch in several of the school rooms.  It was a very nice day.

The Etago congregation joins in the singing.

After all the festivities were over those who were headed to Kisii for the Pastoral Conference again boarded the Enosh Express for the trip back to Kisii.  Although it had been a long time since I had been to Etago, I quickly remembered that the roads to Etago are among the very worst in the whole world!  The rocks in that area make travel on those roads horrible.  I was glad to get off the dirt road and onto the tarmacked one!

After the congregation filed out of church during the closing hymn, I gave the Benediction.

The afternoon was spent getting ready for the conference.  I met with Dennis, the manager of the Kisii Hotel - the place where Enosh had arranged for our Pastoral conference to be held.  We also met with Pastor Makundi from Himo, who had arrived in the morning.  The rest of the pastors would continue to arrive through the remainder of the evening.  Everything was ready.  The next two days will be the Annual East African Pastoral Conference.  May the Lord bless the travel of these men, and our time together over the next two days!

In His service,

Nathanael