Mmmm Goat

So yesterday (Sunday, May 17) was an eventful day. So much so, that I decided to post about it before I fogot.
In the morning we went to church. I played with the worship team for a first time I played my cornet along with them which I'm pretty sure they were very excited about because they lack instrumentally and a brass instrument is not something many people experience in a worship team. I also played the keyboard for the hymns because I'm pretty sure none of their members read music and the hymns are not as well known to them, and not as easy to play by ear. I went to the young adult Bible study again (this will be a regular thing), and had a good time. At first we went around saying names and how the week was and some of them started speaking Swahili or Kamba or another language that most of them knew and others would encourage them to speak English because not everyone in the group understood. This turned into a bit of a joke but when it came around to my turn I broke out the little French that I knew to introduce myself. It was well received and people laughed, and I thought it was pretty funny. Well that was Sunday morning. Sunday evening was a bit more exciting
Sunday afternoon there were quite a few people that came by. Here in Kenya it is often the practice when visiting someone to bring a small gift of some sort. Well yesterday someone who stopped by brought a live goat. It was there for the afternoon and then they were talking about slaughtering the goat and cutting it up for the meat and whatnot. At first I was quite nervous about it and wasn't sure if I wanted to be around for it, but I decided to be brave and hang out and watch. Now I will put a warning here that this might get a little gruesome and if you have a weak stomach or just simply don't want to keep reading then don't. However, it was pretty cool, although very gross at the same time. The people who actually killed it were Didi, (who I mentioned in a previous post) and two guys who are related to Pastor, one is his youngest brother, Onesimus, and the other is his nephew, Alfred. They killed it by cutting its throat. They had a hole in the ground at the very back of their "backyard" and that's where they drained the blood, and I wasn't over there at that point but I was outside and the sound of the draining blood was just like someone had turned out a tap of water. It was kind of weird. So then they hung the goat up to skin it and start cutting it up a bit. By this time I as over the grossness and weirdness and just thought it was cool, and I took a lot of pictures of it. At first Catherine and I were keeping our distance, but then one of the guys asked if one of us could hold a hoof out so that it would be easier. So, wanting to get as much out of this experience as possible I volunteered. Part of me still can't believe that I did that. After they skinned it they gutted it. It was cool because they pointed out to us the kidneys and lungs and stomach and everything. At one point Onesimus actually blew in the goat's windpipe and inflated the lungs. Also, when they were separating the insides I helped cut something to separate the liver. Anyways, I think I'll leave it at that, I'm pretty sure I've grossed out some people already, but it was a really cool experience.
IF YOU STOPPED READING BEFORE YOU CAN CONTINUE NOW!! One of the coolest things about this was when they were talking about the different parts of the goat, they were saying that essentially what they didn't use for meat, they boiled into a soup. I thought that was cool because they really do get the most out of the goat that they possibly could. This is definitely something that I will never forget for a really long time. After it happened I was talking with Pastor's wife Sylvia and she said that every young boy is taught how to slaughter a goat and they are supposed to be able to do that and if not they sometimes aren't considered "man enough". So, I said to her that I'll add that to the list of qualities I want in a husband.
Well, that was my Sunday. Definitely worth writing about on its own. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.
Steph