Our morning began just before sunrise with a few short moments to prepare for the day while watching the rising sun. However, quiet time was quickly cut short by eager little boys who had discovered their Easter baskets. Tiffany does an excellent job of trying to preserve our family holiday traditions as best she can. She has always tried to make these days special, and the family is blessed through it.
Just like back home, we had to take time before church to snap a few pictures in Easter clothes. Of course this has to be done as soon as they are dressed because within moments they will be covered in dirt, candy, and mysterious substances that we just don't ask about.
Case in point, before we even get out of the driveway, Levi has taken his shoes and socks off. Josiah has then put Levi's socks on his hands like puppets. We don't know why they do all of the things they do.
Then we arrive at church. Today we are visiting the Kisongo congregation. I am introducing the Spiritual Disciplines seminar to this congregation. Over the next 3 months, evangelists from all over the area will visit to present lessons on different spiritual disciplines. It is a terrific study and a great way for the churches to build ties with one another.
People sometimes ask us to share more pictures of everyday life. We did more of that when we first got here, and everything seemed novel. Having lived here for a year and a half, those scenes have become commonplace now. Often times we just don't think about the fact that you might be interested in seeing things that would be uncommon sights in America. So here are a few things that we saw this afternoon as we were driving.
We had reservations at a local restaurant to eat lunch and join in an Easter egg hunt. It was very nice and got off to a relatively good start, BUT then it came time to hunt the eggs. The boys had been hunting for just a couple of minutes when several of the children started being bitten by ants. Not just any ants, siafu (here's the wikipedia link). Siafu have extremely powerful pinchers and have been known to swarm and kill small animals, even the occasional human. The Maasai sometimes use them as emergency medical sutures by allowing them to bite a wound, then breaking the bodies off. The heads can remain clamped for several days as the wound heals.
These ants were marching right through the area where the eggs were hidden. Our family suffered a few bites, but nothing major. Needless to say, we cut the hunt short.
Never fear. We had another egg hunt all planned with our neighbors for later in the afternoon. This was much more successful and the kids had a great time. All in all it was another full, but wonderful day in the life of the Gaines family.
Daniel Gaines
To see Daniel’s report with pictures, please click here.