On Saturday night we all lay around David Nyamu's house exhausted. We had been going and going and going. Ministry, meeting with contacts, running, and watching the National Championships. Eyelids droopy, legs sore, and spirits in need of some refreshment, we decided that Sunday would be our Sabbath. Missions trips always make me realize why God commands us to take the Sabbath.
Sunday morning rolled around and for the first time in a week we got to sleep in 
(8AM for those of us at Julius', but only til 7AM for our team members down at David's). We all joined up at Julius' place at 8:30 and left for church around 9. We headed north into rural Kenya to the small village where Julius grew up (Gatundu, also hometown of Jomo Kenyatta, first president of Kenya). The church wasn't big, and although it was a bit shabby on the outside, it was comfortable inside. 
One thing was you could definitely hear the church long before you could see it. You know how Howler monkeys' screams can be heard from miles away? Well, it was kinda like that. While it wasn't the music I was used to back home, it was loud, and I appreciated the small church's efforts to make a joyful noise to the Lord and let the whole town know that church was in session.
During the charismatic service, a group of 
young children entertained us with a poem about our connection to God, and Julius preached (while his children Frank and Reuben squirmed in the front row - kids are the same everywhere). Before his sermon, Julius had us come up front, introduce ourselves, and tell the congregation "what part of Kenya" we were from, which elicited a huge laugh from the congregation. We were joined in the service by an extra "team member," Melissa Eisner, who just moved to Nairobi to work with World Vision,
so she could legitimately say she was from Westlands. After the service, we were graciously served lunch behind the church. Despite the obvious poverty of the parishioners, our hosts gave each of us a really sweet wood carving of a pair of giraffes with intertwined necks as a memento to remember the church by (as if we could forget!).
Following church, we headed to "Paradise
Lost," a park near Julius' house featuring ancient "stone age" caves, a waterfall, lots of interesting flora and fauna (e.g., cacti and aloe, camels and ostriches), and a 300% surcharge for mzungus. Despite Julius' preaching that morning on the importance of courage, Gavin ran screaming from the cave upon encountering a bat the size of a mosquito. Ok, not really. But the bat (which was in fact a decent size)
did kind of freak him out initially when he bumped into it in the dark. Luckily it wasn't the blood-sucking kind (or if it was, it wasn't hungry), as Gavin ventured back in with reinforcements to get a photo of the bat. Outside, some of us hiked to the top of the waterfall, while others relaxed by the lake or examined the various plants. Close up inspection of the aloe confirmed that people are the same everywhere, as we discovered carved names (and crude comments) in their leaves.
Dinner was in a thatch hut at the Village Inn of Kiambu, a restaurant managed by Peter Rono (not the Olympic 1500m champ). 
Julius & Mary hosted us, and we were joined by their two sons Frank (age 4) and Reuben (age 6), Mary's cousin Liz, and Julius' cousin Julius and his wife Pauline. After some delicious nyama choma and kuku choma (grilled beef and chicken) with ugali (a staple of the traditional Kenyan diet made of corn meal), a couple of us tried to dispel the myth that mzungus (white men) can't dance, as there was a DJ mixing it up next to the fire. All in all, a very relaxing day!