We slept well, only being woken a few times by the screeching of nesting storks. There is a tree in the centre of the compound which is just amazing. I have no idea what type of tree it is or why I feel it is so amazing but it gives off this feeling of true power, which must be sensed by the huge numbers of birds taking refuge in its branches. I took lots of photos of it and this is the screeching stork.
The church was only 10 minutes down the road and we headed off in high spirits after a filling breakfast and a guessing game of service length. They ranged from 3 to 6 hours.
Little did we know!
The noise was deafening! The certainly love their speakers turned right up. Asking George later why they enjoyed this noise he replied, “Tanzanians prefer noise to music. It sounds better!”
As we stood looking for the quietest location we were grabbed by the hand and led to the front. We were guests. We sat with all the dignities and various clergy. There was no escaping from these seats.
The first two hours were fascinating. Several choirs sang, there was dancing, including us and the Bishop! I have never seen a Bishop get to the front of the service and dance. Now that is leading from the front. There was also lots of cheering, waving things over people, 
(any item of clothing was used, as a sign of encouragement. Women would just appear from the congregation at random and dangle a hankie on your head.) and interludes of techno music. Amusing and fun.
The next two hours the service started to drag. It was still very interesting but our interpreters were getting tired and so were we.
We then had communion. That is always at the end of the service.
1 hour later and we are stilling going and then we get called out to be welcomed and introduce ourselves. After 5 hours of sitting in immense heat with limited water and only a tiny pack of sweets we were feeling the effects. I needed the toilet and Armorel felt faint. This better be quick!
At 2:45pm the service ended.
“Now we have a short break before the next part.” Said the vicar interpreting for Armorel.
He wasn’t lying. Food was served for all 500 people, and again we were sat on the top table. It is very strange having 500 people watch you eat (the view below is from our table), let alone 
Luckily for us the Bishop announced that his party had to leave at 4:15pm to make sure they got home that night. We saw our chance and slipped away.
9am until 4:15pm is a new record for me. Who knows what time it actually finished.
Shattered, hot and sweaty we arrived back at the guest house and fell into the freezing pool.
Wonderful!
I can’t really remember what the evening entailed, I was just thankful we were staying an extra night.
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