Always up for a New Experience

We had an opportunity this weekend to make some new friends. These three beautiful African girls - Prisca (9), Christine (almost 11), and Harriet (10), along with their choir director, Auntie Rosette spent the night with us. They are part of the African Children's Choir, who visited our Church and blessed about 1800 Red Deerians with an AMAZING concert. (Rumour has it that over $20,000 was collected in the offering, all of which will be going toward the building of a new Music for Life school in Uganda .)

Ray Barnett founded the choir, and if you click on his name you'll hear the story of why.

This choir group (the 30th) is made up of children from Uganda and Kenya. They are in their 8th month of a 15-month tour. And they are praying that when their tour is complete that the Kenyan children will be able to return, and that they will still have a place to return to. Most of the children have lost one or both parents to violence or disease. They come from the slums. Without the work of Music for Life, most of these children would never have the opportunity to go to school.

And yet, they sing! The girls who stayed in our home were silly, fun, giggling, pre-teens. Their countenance was pure joy. Oh, how they blessed us in a few short hours!

My favorite moment was after breakfast. First Prisca says (in her lovely accent), "thank-you, Auntie, for the breakfast. May God richly bless you. May I please be excused?" I smile, still a bit awkward in responding to this (though I've heard it many times since we drove our van home from the Church last night). I see Abbey (6) look at Prisca in shock surprise confusion. Next Christine pipes up, "Auntie, thank-you for making us the breakfast. God bless you. May I be excused?" Abbey's head jerks to the left. I can practically hear the wheels turning. Then it's darling Harriet's turn, "thank-you for the food, Auntie. God richly bless you please. Please may I be excused from the table?" For the third time, I smile, say "you're welcome" and nod yes. I catch a glimpse of Abbey in my peripheral vision, and her facial expression can only be described as suspicious. I'm hoping she learned something.