Funeral Trip- Sikasso

This has been a busy weekend.
Sunday morning, I'm getting ready to go to church, I was sitting out in our yard, waiting for the water to be pumped into our water tower.
Pastor Youssouf and Pastor Ibrahima came. (I thought they were going to ask me to preach that morning.)
They explained that Freddy's sister died in Sikasso, and would I drive so that as many church members as possible could be at the funeral. (Freddy is a close friend, and part of the drama team.) So I said, sure, lets go.
So I was at the church at 8am, getting ready to load in, and head to Sikasso.

We got to Sikasso, and tried to drive to the CMA church where Freddy had slept the past 2-3 nights while tending to his sick sister. It was market day, and all the streets around the church were closed.
I guess I'd never been to Sikasso on a Sunday before...

So we went to the hospital, to wait for the morgue to release the body.
The body was released, and taken to the other CMA church in town.
There was a memorial service, and Pastor Ibrahima did ask me to preach a message at the last minute. It was so last minute, that someone else spoke instead. I was grateful. Sharing a sermon on such a somber occasion at the last minute in french would have been a bit challenging, to say the least....

So then was the procession out to the cemetary, and the burial. The funeral was a Christian one, very different from the traditional village ones I've been to.
Usually at a village funeral, there is a lot of wailing, and commotion, and drums, music, dancing, etc. This one was simple, a prayer prayed, a word spoken, a few hymns sung. There was a sadness for this woman who had passed away, a sense of loss among the people of a lost friend. But she was a believer, and there was a hope of seeing her again with her new body!

Then it was food time. I was served a plate of rice with peanut sauce, with what looked like spleen for meat. :-) I passed on the spleen.
We sat together, and shared, and smiled. Pastor Youssouf began to count heads, and realised we had one person too many for my van. Oops. Freddy was going back to Kadiolo with us, and we didn't have an empty seat for him.
It was decided that Pastor Youssouf would take a taxi bus back to Kadiolo.
We had to act fast because there is a curfew on leaving town. You have to leave Sikasso before 6pm or you have to pay for a military escort.
So I was anxious to leave, so we wouldn't be stuck in Sikasso for the night.

We left Pastor Youssouf at the taxi bus station, hoping he could find one.
Pastor Ibrahima, and another man were driving a motor bike. So we all left.
We got to Kadiolo ahead of a torrential rain. I was thankful. Driving in that would have been difficult. But 2 hours later, Youssouf, and the others hadn't arrived yet. Their wives contacted me as it was after dark, and they were worried. I became worried too, It is no joke to be driving at night in a heavy downpour. I told the women to have faith, God was taking care of their husbands. About half an hour later, all three men arrived safe and sound!
Youssouf had trouble getting his taxi bus, and Ibrahima had two flat tires to repair during the trip. We were so glad it wasn't something more serious.

That night, the church family stayed with Freddy's family all night. People came and went, there was singing, and prayer, and times of just sitting together quietly. This is a normal custom, but within the church family the expression of love was evident. (We are here for you, brother, no matter what...)
Lisa and I went over, and spent some time as well, though I was tired from leaving at 8:30 am, and arriving back in Kadiolo at 7:00 pm.
It was a good tired, though...

Thanks for stopping by,
Tom & Lisa