IN-TUNE A CAPPELLA

Kathiani is a small town about 160km from Nairobi and near the much larger Machakos town in Ukambani area(i.e Eastern Province in Kenya). The tarmac road even ends about 10km before you reach the town itself...testament to the remoteness its inhabitants have, though the town itself is alive and kicking with roadshows, entertainment spots, churches, fairly large schools and even supermarkets and restaurants. The funny thing is that the town has a a very large number of bars, almost near each and every other amenity!

The Nairobi Central Youth Choir and Drama Band organized a follow-up missionary mission to the town on 13th of September so that we could go and see how the Nairobi Central SDA Church's project of spreading the three angels message to the people of Kathiani had faired on. I am happy to say that the mission was indeed a success! When we arrived there with the choir on invitation, along with AMO Junior, there was a buzz of activity as the lesson classes were well underway with different classes for Sabbath School; Kamba, English and Swahili.

Muddling ourselves in the various classes, we saught to mingle with them and interact and share as we discussed the lesson. Around twenty minutes later, the superintendent asked the lesson teachers to wind up as we had to move on with the program for the day. In the intersession, there were items of music from the choir, In-Tune and AMO Junior and then from the Drama Band, which was well received. We had sang the song 'I Just Wanna Be Where You Are' Swahili version.

In the Divine Service, we sang the song 'Sabato' during the offertory as the Choir did the Special Item just before the Speaker of the day. It was delighting to see that the Kathiani Church had even secured a commited Pastor who was as energized as can be to share the gospel with us and them. The sermon was over by 12.30pm and we made our way back to town centre and to the bus for lunch. The Church is located in an old mill house by the way.

Lunch was an amalgamation of biscuits, sandwiches, chips, rice, beans, juices, water, spaghetti and soya, of which everybody was comfortable to share. At 2.00pm sharp we made our way back to the church for the afternoon programme which proved to be very lively and interactive. That is when I witnessed the love of marching which the Youth have, as the newly instructed Kathiani SDA Choir sang for us wonderful choruses. We had abundant opportunities to interact with the other members as the program went along well.

By the end of the day, as the Evangelism Church bus of Nairobi Central Seventh-Day Adventist Church meandered its way through the dusty pathways out of Kathiani into the tarmacked lanes of Jogoo Road into Nairobi, I felt that we truly had accomplished our mission to Kathiani...sharing the word and encouraging the brethren.
God bless the church members of Kathiani as they continue with His work...