Alyssa and I woke up way to early. We thought it was around ten, but really it was before seven. Hazel had turned on what we imagined to be gospel music around 7:30, and there was no going back to sleep after that. We ate breakfast and assumed we were going to be bumming around the house all day again. Hazel and Alexander were both getting ready for church, but when we had asked Hazel the night before what Alyssa and I were doing she didn't say we were invited to church too. Well, as Hazel was heading out the door she looked at us and asked us if we were planning on going to church without shoes. Whoops! Guess we were supposed to go too!
We got to church just after the service had started. African Methodist Evangelical was quite a unique experience. There was a lot of singing. While they had given us one English hymn book , the songs were sung in Namas. I tried to sing along, but it was just too difficult to know what verse we were on. Plus listening to congregation sing with the clicks and clucks of their language was quite beautiful on its own. At one point they wanted to acknowledge everyone who had had a birthday. Hazel stood up and loudly said that her daughter had turned 21 the day before. It took me a second to realize that she had meant me, but then I had to stand up and be congratulated by everyone. The rest of the service passed in a blur- it was in Nama so Alyssa and I were both completely lost. Every so often Hazel would translate for us, and during one part of the sermon they had a English translator, but she didn't translate for long. Mostly there was just a lot of singing and dancing. It was a very joyful service.
After lunch I found out that Hazel had made me a carrot cake for my birthday. It was very sweet and made for a lovely ending to my home stay.
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