How can I keep from singing!

This past weekend I participated in the yearly Révélation de Christ (CRC) church choir concert. I joined the choir at the beginning of October, and was excited for the opportunity to sing in the anniversary concert.

The anniversary celebrations began the night before when the choir gathered along with the elders of the church for a lovely meal of chicken/fish, bread, and salad. The choir then worked on doing dishes, and decorating the church for the next day’s church service and concert. Purple and white were the colours and we had balloons, flowers, table clothes, ribbons and bows in these colours. While preparing there was also time to do a little dance, make a little noise and have fun! I enjoyed the dancing and getting to know the choir members.

Late in the evening, there was a sound check and a couple songs were practiced. Around 12:40am we were done for the evening and it was time to sleep. Most of the choir members (including Maddie and me) slept over at the church. It is called a ‘veillé’. We slept on a mat, curled up in our cloth wrap-skirts, which doubled as blankets and went to sleep.

At 5:45am we went awoken and got ready for the big day. We ate breakfast and tea and then went over the songs we were going to sing. At 8am we put on our purple choir gown and caps (it looks like graduation gowns). Then we proceeded to sing and dance throughout the 3+ hour service.

In between the church service and our concert there were a couple hours. I took a little nap while others were preparing food and redecorating (because we were going to have our concert outside).

The choir concert which was supposed to start at 2:30 started almost an hour late, but in Chad that is expected. We sang a total of 8 songs, with a break halfway for a message and prayer. Of the eight songs, seven were in French and one was in Ngambai. In general there is a soloist who sings verses and the choir sings the chorus which is repeated many times. 

I danced, I sang, and I had the opportunity to hang out with some great choristers. I had a great time and look forward to continuing to sing in the CRC choir!

***Can you guess the total time that I was at church? Post in the comments section.***