Dear folks
Hi. It has been such a busy, but good weekend. So, I thought I’d write a quick letter before I forget all the details. Thursday was the graduation party and women’s drama presentation. Friday was graduation; Saturday was the district conference where all the pastors/delegates meet with the VIP national leaders; today was the final installation of officers.
I will begin with Thursday. The graduation party was sponsored by the underclassmen of the school. It was simple this year. We had; rice and gravy, fried cakes (doughnuts), and Kool-Aid. But it was nice. The presentation of Esther was done that evening. The women did a great job. I was so proud of them. They were so good, in fact, that the District Superintendent requested that they present it again Saturday night for all the district pastors and leaders.
Friday was a hectic day. The graduation was also nice. We were a little worried, because at 6:30 pm the speaker hadn’t come yet. So, a substitute speaker was found, just in case. At 6:55, he arrived. None of the Africans seem to be too alarmed by his late arrival. I guess we’re still too time conscious. You would think after almost six years here, we’d quit looking at the clock.
Anyway, he gave a long, but good message. The gift-giving section of the service is always chaotic, but fun. Instead of going to individual homes and presenting gifts; it’s done in mass at the end of the graduation. If anybody has a gift for a graduate (usually money), he parades up with all the other gift-givers and gives it to him. It becomes impossible to keep any kind of order; and so there’s people mobbing around the graduates on all sides. But, again, it doesn’t seem to bother them in the least. They enjoy it.
The best part of the service came after the gift giving. A young woman led in some lively choruses, where all of the 400-plus people in the congregation participated enthusiastically. That means there was a lot of dancing, clapping, swaying, marching, etc. We sang for at least 10 minutes straight and when we stopped, people grumbled because they didn’t want to quit. It was fun and exciting.
Saturday was our district conference all day. The meeting was long – until 7:00 pm. Then, at 8:00 there was a sermon, the Esther play, and many singing groups. The kids and I came home at 10:30 and the singing was still going on. Again, the crowd was over 400 and everybody seemed to enjoy themselves. I was a nervous “mother” when my girls did their play, but they did a good job again.
Well, that was graduation here at GWBS. We are really enjoying seeing our students graduate and go on to serve. It’s bedtime. I’ll print this in the morning and add anything if i think of it in my dreams. Take good care.
Love
Nancy