I Wore my Towel to Church...

Me in my towel/skirt

So Saturday night I took a shower and grabbed one of the wraps that we have here in Tanzania to use for a towel. After I used it I noticed that I really liked it and it would match one of the shirts I had with me. So I hung it up to dry so that I could wear it to church the next day. Only in Africa would you wear your towel to church! 

But I don't know if that's what you would find as the strangest part of this week's worship or not...I'll let you decide. We showed up to church a little late (who would be crazy enough to show up on time!?!), but unfortunately we were still too early. So we had to sit through the second half of Sunday School before the service started. 

We all greet each other between Sunday School and the church service, but no one got up, just shook the hands of whoever was close by. I was sitting next to my Mom and got asked if I was Danae Benton. Her family isn't even out here right now...but ya know...all white people look alike. 

During one of the songs me and Grace (the girl next to me) looked down because we felt something by our feet. Apparently a little cat wandered in and wanted to worship with us too!

I of course had to help in nursery - cause with so many cute babies who could resist? The nice part about church here though is that you don't have to miss a thing. When the choir went up to sing I just grabbed one of the babies from her mom and tied her on my back. I'm not gonna lie, she made me a little nervous. Something about the ringworm on her face, the hacking she was doing from my back, and the fact that she wasn't wearing a diaper was a little disconcerting. But we both survived the service and the only liquid dripping off us was sweat. 

At offering time we sang and danced our way to the front of the church to put our money in, and as guests of the church we had to stand up and introduce ourselves...no hiding in the shadows here.

After church everyone goes out and shakes everyones hand. You just go in a circle so that no one gets missed. Then you're free to actually greet people and talk to your friends. It was wonderful to see a bunch of old friends again (even if they spoke about me in tribal language before speaking to me in Swahili. But hey, since all white people look alike they had to ask each other which one I was. I heard them wonder if I was Casey, Erin, Sierra, Danae, or myself) haha. Such is life in these parts.

I hope you guys had just as wonderful of a Sunday morning as me!