Yesterday we went to one of the Mama’s Kwanjula ceremony. This is like an introduction ceremony back home except completely different. We left the baby cottage around 11:30 this morning and drove in a Coaster for about two and a half hours to a village. The ceremony was supposed to begin at 1 pm but we are not on American time here so 1 pm really means 5:30 pm. We didn’t arrive until about 3. When we arrived we were sent down the road a little bit to greet all of the women taking part in the ceremony. All the men were back where the ceremony was taking place. We ate lunch with the women and mingled for a little while and then we all headed back to get ready for the Kwanjula. The way these things work is that the family of the husband comes to the village of the wife’s father. They all sit in a special place under a tent, and then the family is introduced. Sometimes they make it funny and go around and ask the people why they are there and other silly things. They introduce the brothers first and they greet their guests and tell them how happy they are that they are there. Next the sisters are introduced then the aunties and the uncles. After that they introduce the grandfathers and grandmothers. And last they introduce the father and the mother(s). All together there are about 30 people introduced. After all of this takes place the groom’s family presents the bride with gifts. And to close everything up they serve a big meal. This lasted about 3 hours.
On the way the landscape was breathtaking! We went through a lot of villages but we also traveled wide open fields. They were unbelievable to look at. Everything was so beautiful. On the way back I was thinking I wouldn’t be able to see any of this anymore because it would have been so dark. But I was wrong. I got into the Coaster and we started our journey back home and the first thing I noticed were the stars shining so brightly through the blackened night sky. In every direction, for as far as you could see, you saw billions of bright shining stars that lit up the wide open fields we came through on our way in. Then I look to my right at the fields and see hundreds of fireflies lighting the way, I look to my left and see the very same thing. I wish you guys could have been there to see this view! There is nothing that can capture its true beauty but your own eyes. When I looked up at the stars and found different constellations I thought about how you can see the very same stars in the very same patterns back home in Nashville. It is so hard to understand how you can see the exact same thing in Africa and in Tennessee. The only way to explain it is the One who created it. Looking up at the stars and seeing their beauty and vastness I don’t understand how people can say that there is no creator. If there was no creator then how is it possible that you see the same stars from opposite sides of the world? If there was no creator then how can there be land as far as I can see in any direction filled with fireflies dancing in the moonlight? All these things had to be created to exist. This world is so beautiful there is no way it just happened by chance. It had to be created. And I know the One who created it!
On the way the landscape was breathtaking! We went through a lot of villages but we also traveled wide open fields. They were unbelievable to look at. Everything was so beautiful. On the way back I was thinking I wouldn’t be able to see any of this anymore because it would have been so dark. But I was wrong. I got into the Coaster and we started our journey back home and the first thing I noticed were the stars shining so brightly through the blackened night sky. In every direction, for as far as you could see, you saw billions of bright shining stars that lit up the wide open fields we came through on our way in. Then I look to my right at the fields and see hundreds of fireflies lighting the way, I look to my left and see the very same thing. I wish you guys could have been there to see this view! There is nothing that can capture its true beauty but your own eyes. When I looked up at the stars and found different constellations I thought about how you can see the very same stars in the very same patterns back home in Nashville. It is so hard to understand how you can see the exact same thing in Africa and in Tennessee. The only way to explain it is the One who created it. Looking up at the stars and seeing their beauty and vastness I don’t understand how people can say that there is no creator. If there was no creator then how is it possible that you see the same stars from opposite sides of the world? If there was no creator then how can there be land as far as I can see in any direction filled with fireflies dancing in the moonlight? All these things had to be created to exist. This world is so beautiful there is no way it just happened by chance. It had to be created. And I know the One who created it!
