When Harrison called to let us know when and where to meet them he also asked Robb if he would preach at
the church (AIC Yakamete) where Harrison grew up. We have heard many times since we've been here in Kenya that you should always have a message ready to preach. To most people here, missionary=preacher, whether you are a preacher, a pilot, a doctor, or a Human Resource General Manager! Although this is way out of Robb's comfort zone, he graciously agreed.Harrison asked us to meet at his brother's house where they were staying at 7:30am. We were about 20 mins late, which felt uncomfortable for us but we agreed in the car that we were just on Kenyan time!
When we got there no one from Harrison's US family was downstairs yet so we talked with the others, ate a little breakfast and waited. They came down about 8:15am and Harrison was getting a bit anxious about the time. He said that we had to leave at 8:30 to get there by 10am when the service would start. Well, Mary had to have some tea and breakfast and talked him into leaving at 8:45am. We left a little after 9! Kenyan ways are not easily forgotten!
We got to the church at 10:30am, and could hear that they were all still worshipping inside. We entered the church and
Robb was seated up front with the pastor while the rest of us were given a bench in the first row. The singing and dancing continued for another 20 minutes. After announcements, we were all brought up front and we introduced ourselves. Next was the offering, then the youth did some singing and dancing. There were more announcements, then they had a harambee or auction 
of items people brought for their tithes and offerings if they didn't have money. This was kind of fun, but it took 1-1/2 hours to auction off TONS of pumpkins, avocados, beans, corn, sugar cane, sweet bananas, cassava root, eggs, handmade ropes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and...chickens! Yes, live chickens! 
I'm kind of an animal rights non-activist so you can imagine the hard time I had with the chickens lying on the floor, feet tied together and shoved into plastic bags!The elders and congregation were soooo generous and TONS of stuff was given to Harrison and his family and to us by people who had won the bids (it is also cultural to give to visitors). The Makaus had been given soooo much they had no idea what they were going to do with it all. We ended up with 3 huge pumpkins, a bag of tomatoes, a bag of bananas, 2 sugar canes, 3 pieces of cassava root, and a grocery bag full of sweet potatoes...and a chicken! All of this, including our chicken and a rooster were put into the back of our car.
We actually kept the chicken in our backyard for 3 days because we weren't sure what to do with it or how to tell Micah what the future held for it! It brought back many memories of my growing up as I brought it water and "cornmeal mush" (as my sisters and I used to call it!) twice a day. When the chicken poop all over the backyard got to be a little too much, Robb and I decided that we needed to give it to someone. We decided to give it to Evans, our "cul-de-sac" gate guard, believing he had the greatest need. He was shocked! The only condition was that he had to help me catch it!
Back to the Yakamete church service, after all of the items were auctioned off the youth did some more singing and dancing, and then finally Robb was able to preach!
He didn't think he did very well, but I assured him that he did fine, especially considering that he had to wait for the pastor to translate each time he spoke!Micah hung around outside, and as usual made tons of friends!
We got out of church at 1:45pm, and the pastor and some of the elders wanted us to stay for lunch. Harrison's family was already making lunch for us so they asked for us to at least stay for a soda! They asked Robb to come back soon, and incidentally the pastor has called several times asking when we will be joining them again!
We then drove to the property where Harrison grew up, and walked up to the church
built on a plot of land Harrison's family donated in honor of their mom when she passed away. We met the pastor and elders there who also asked Robb to come speak at their church too! We then went back down to Harrison's 
house where we relaxed, ate lunch, and of course... 
drank chai!We had the privilege of meeting Harrison's aunt, the oldest person in his whole family in her late 90's!
Mary told Robb that this aunt wanted to "bless" him. She spit into her hand, rubbed it on Robb's forehead and then onto her chest. Next she stuck her hand out. Mary slyly handed Robb a 100/- shilling bill to give her. Words were exchanged in the tribe language, then Mary and the aunt started laughing hysterically! We all got a good laugh out of it at Robb's expense!
Micah had fun befriending a puppy
and some calves!
Somehow (heehee) it was 6:45pm when we got around to leaving, and we got home at 8:15pm! What a day, but also what an amazing experience! Thanks Harrison and Mary!
