Sunday

Today was an amazing day! We went to the New Life Band School for church and a building dedication. The service was held in the new hostel building. There is a team of people from California who raised the money to build the hostel. Pastor Tim and six others from California are here and the building was dedicated to him. 

The service began with a cutting of the ribbon and then everyone entered the building. The New Life Band led the worship. It was a rocking good time. Everyone should experience African worship with their clapping, dancing, and hollering. It was indescribable. Then the Pastor from California gave a fantastic sermon. 

Next they took up an offering. Some people put in money and others put in things such as pencils, candy, and markers. At the end of the offering, Bernard ( a student) led an auction. He would hold up a pencil that was in the offering and try to get people to bid on it. There was some heavy competition between some of the California team to buy the pencils. The auction part of the service was so fun. (I have a video but I can't figure out how to load it yet)

After the offering, they introduced us to the students. They told the history of how the school came about and then had us say a few words. I was so nervous I don't remember what I said.
Finally the service ended and they had us leave first to form a greeting line. All the students came by and shook our hands. That was really neat.

Before we left, we walked around the campus and saw the girls dorms. The girls loved showing off their beds. You can tell the students love going to school there. They know it is a huge privilege to be there and they are so thankful for the opportunity to receive an education. 

As we were watching all the students, our hearts just filled up with joy. They are some really great students and we are so proud of them. The teachers are doing a great job educating them and developing their character.

We ended the day with a big get together. All the New Life Band members and their families, the California team, and the Wisconsin team came together for a dinner. We had a great time getting to know everyone. At one point, I pulled out my iPad to read an iBook to the kids. As soon as it ended, they wanted to play video games. I think I became their best friend for the evening. It was actually fun playing with them. Of course the evening ended with the New Life Band singing a song. That was a special treat. 

What an awesome day!