THANKS Groommates
To my ‘groomates’Greetings to you all. Seeing that the team was too big probably the biggest bridal team you’ll ever participate in for the rest of your lives (I am or I should say we are happy to hold that record) I couldn’t manage to squeeze in a word for each one of you and thought this would be the best way to do that. I am really thankful for the years of friendship and very thankful that you accepted to be a part of our special day. I know that it wasn’t just a matter of showing up on this day, but a couple of sacrifices had to be made; some of you taking of your time off work, flying from one end of Canada to another, missing important commitments, being hard on your pockets and bank accounts as well as many other sacrifices that we might or might never noticed… Thank you isn’t good enough, but unfortunately that’s all we could say to you. May I mention a word of two to each one of you;
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| Daniel K., Simba M., Peter K., George W., Alex K., Klaas V., YKK., Dennis K., Eric A., Kihara P. K., John I., Umugaba S., Jon B. |
DANIEL ‘Le Franglais’ Kamau: first time I met you at the Kahamas I felt like you’d make a great
friend and I remember you were the first person I hang out with a lot during my
first days in Ottawa. I remember our first heart to heart chat was about ministry
and girl(s) and as Maureen would say that isn’t something we want to go in
details in public… Since then I have cherished our friendship and mostly your
heart for God, your special self and fact that you live your life out loud. I
surely give you credit for having called out my ‘fate’ with Faith and I can
swallow my pride and say you were right… I’m not happy that I don’t usually
respond to your texts or calls as much as I used to. I’m sorry I now have a
different roommate and things have definitely changed, when you walk with yours
to this end you will understand what I mean...
SIMBA ‘Ramires’ Matinyarare: funny guy! We’ve shared the role of controlling the midfield of amigos
for a longtime and one of the greatest approaches to our game was for the two
of us to stay close when defending and when attacking… I thought I might as
well keep pace with you in this journey to marriageJ. You’ve been a great friend and I appreciate the fact that you can get
along with anyone very easily… We couldn’t get a great captain for Amigos. You
are a hard-worker in all you do I see it in the way you work, play the game,
learning new skills such as carpentry, serving the junior youth. You always
give it all and I am a great fan of such philosophy. You possess great wisdom
and you’re always positive… I am happy that Tawona is the right hands and she
will always be right.
PETER ‘Mr Cool’ Kahama: Peter it’s been great being friends with you. If there was something
exciting about the prospect of moving to Toronto it was definitely the fact
that I was going to have the opportunity to be in the same city with you. In
the Wakahama group you seem to be the most polite and calm of all the guys,
notice I said ‘seem’, jokes, you are... If there’s something I admire the most
about you it’s the “One Life Orphan Relief" project, I love that heart and
pray that the Lord continues to break your heart for the things that breaks
His… I cannot wait the day you will grab your own Cinderella to the altar. I
love you bro and praying you continue to be used mightily.
GEORGE ‘Ji Su Cheng’ Waithaka: Brother it’s been great living with you and I am always waking up
everyday praying for you as in how you fare with the villagers and
your ‘life-saving’ ministry. I have come to admire how you’ve drawn closer to
God these past few years. I find your persistence in wanting to be involved in
the church (young adult) isn’t just for building your ‘house’ but rather sacrificing
your life for God’s work, I have admired that a lot … Thanks for taking a lead
in compiling our songs, furi furi wouldn’t be any awesome if you didn’t
coordinate that. May the girl that will feed your flock be blessed… Keep
learning Chinese it will take you home never to be lost again.
ALEX ‘Apostle’ Kariuki: while Kayla cried days and nights as Dennis went for YB I guess we’d
say as long as our friendship is concerned we’ll live to cherish those days. I
have appreciated your friendship and have grown a lot learning from you. Thank
you for unintentionally teaching me how to beat you in FIFA and it’s from those
FIFA marathon nights where we went deep in the theological world; the girls(except
mine) will always hate FIFA but they will never know it might have contributed
in sending you to theological school. I love your passion for God to be more
specific; passion for the lost and the Word. You don’t compromise when it comes
to practicing the Word and I’ve lived wanting to be in that place… One of my
favourite memories of me and you is when together with our other great
companion Rachel were on our knees in prayer before going out for a mission…
You surely know how passionate I am about prayer and it was the greatest
feeling to have you two so sold out for prayer. I have learnt and continue to
learn a lot from you. I am here praying and watching what God is going to do in
the life of you two. Don’t let anything/anyone stop you nor slow you as you go
to reach out to all nations. May God bless and reward you abundantly as He
wishes not as you wish… (Psalm 127: 3).
KLAAS ‘Cow Van’ Verwey: some say you’re a professional groomsman, but for me it’s just a reflection
of how friendly you are to all and you leave us with no choice but to have you
at the high table. Klaas, though my first encounter with you was a bit weird
and it isn’t good for me to publish the details, but I’ve come to appreciate
the great friend that you are. You’re very good at getting along with almost
anyone you can meet. You’re very open to different cultures, I wasn’t surprised
to hear one of your African dance mix, I am not surprised when you dance to
Cuban salsa like you were a ‘Roberto Fernandez’ and when you dance to Congolese
rumba music I’m left wondering why people say ‘white fellows can’t dance to
African music’, ooops sorry! I keep thinking you were white, you’re just Klaas.
I commend you for always making great choices in life I wasn’t surprised when
you signed up for Chelsea. You’re a great friend and I’m hoping you don’t break
my bridal team number record.
DENNIS ‘Good Samaritan’ Kariuki: I am very happy my arrival in Canada ended your lonely days. It was
kinda pathetic that apart from Kayla you really didn’t have any friends prior
to my arrival, jokes! Dennis many of us talk about being nice and being good
Christian, you LIVE it. We’ll rarely see you on the pulpit talking about going
for a year to serve God, giving to the needy and being there for friends in
good and bad times, you live your preaching out loud. You’re very selfless in
all you do. I’ve enjoyed my friendship with you. You played a big role in
helping me accept life in North Bay or I should say Canada. That talks volumes
of how outgoing you are. I must say you might have got everything right about
me in your wedding speech, but as for my Chelsea attire I bet you didn’t have your
contacts on that day to notice how classy that suit was. This is the attire
that got a good number of journalists at Heathrow Airport taking some sneaky pictures
of who they thought was another of Mourinho’s recruits and that was a
deliberate move seeing I was travelling to Canada during the transfer window. Anyways,
I will continue I don’t remember you being very passionate about soccer as you
are today. I keep flattering myself that it was all in the name of making me
feel comfortable… I loved your commitment and hardwork as we started Amigos. I
had tried and continue to try this other places and came to realize you need a
Dennis… Thanks for hosting me building to the wedding day and reminding me about
every little thing I was missing… May God continue to bless and guide you as
you continue to serve Him.
ERIC ‘Omukoro Schoolboy’ Asante: cha cha cha cha! As
you started shooting fires at me and my bride the eve of our wedding when
leading the Mafia game I was left wondering what did I do to myself to let you
be part of this team lol. Brother, it’s been great getting to know you. You’re
the one member who I have known for a little time but then someone I’ve become
friends with very quickly. Our search for work earlier in the summer provided
us great bonding time as well as our policing George as he searches for his
love gave us more reasons to bond… I think you’re very funny and have replaced
my role in the Wakahamas for orchestrating the fun world, a role I’ve always
not loved. I welcome you dear brother in law, ooops I don’t know what I am
talking about here. Anyways, I just wanted to thank you for sacrificing the
blockbuster savings to be a part of this wedding. Asante sana!
KIHARA Paul ‘My Student’ Waiganjo: BABA! What a friend you have been. You know I
love a town when it has soccer in it and you made sure I fit right in upon my
arrival in Ottawa. Thanks for making me feel at home. I am very thankful to you
for linking me up with soccer in the national capital city, but not impressed with
the fact that you flee away from the field when we went to play Toronto Academy
in our late ‘teen years’. If there’s any advice I could give you that would be to
please keep reading the FIFA notes you got from my lectures and always use
“we’ll be right back theory”. I love you brother and continue to pray that the
Lord continue to use you as you develop in CSL. I do believe there’s more in
store for you and I am here watching.
JOHN ‘Dzaleka Boy’ Ilunga:
Chimbwe Werasson le Soldier! The one person in the team who has known me the
longest and only to end up going to speak lies in front of all the guests lol.
Mwanetu, jokes aside I want to say I really appreciate our friendship. I don’t
know so many hard-working and courageous people in the world like you brother.
I have seen you in abundance and lack and admire your calmness in all
situations, you’ve taught me mountains were meant to be climbed, lakes were
meant to be swam; the Word says trials and temptations in our life are never
bigger than our faith actually I must say my faith... I’m happy that I can talk
with you about anything and everything. If you need advice in placing a
Christian mingle profile you know who to contact in the team J. Chuluke chuluke ngwa njuchi
umanena yomwe yakuluma, mwan’etu mwakula siyani moyo wa ubatchala, moyowo ndi
wa ana ngati achina Guy lol, no pressure koma m’chilungamo chake; pezaniponi
apa mukwatire …Thanks bro for the good friendship
UMUGABA ‘Mtoto wa baba’ Seminari: Mtoto wa baba! Lubumbashi
team! I do appreciate having a fellow lushois around this place. It’s always a
treat discussing politics with you something you’d not expect from an engineer
especially when it comes to home politicsJ. I love your unbiased views and your critical
eye has helped me sharpened my political paradigm. There are times you act like
a friend and times you act like a ‘grand-frère’…Thanks for editing my million
French stuffs and always suggesting the most effective ways to do things. As
batoto a mama, Lubumbashi wa ntashi we will always represent wherever we go. You're a great friend and I appreciate you very much. Rudiya ku kanisa :)
JON (Brackets) Bryson:
Bon fire brother! You’re such a wonderful friend who’s always available for a
good time. An innocent buddy who doesn’t like mafia business if you know what I
mean… Jon, I enjoy your passion for the game when you go as far as counting the
number of fans who attended the game. I’m very happy that you’ve given yourself
to the youth as that’s one place I like hanging out…Sometimes when I look at you I somehow see myself in the mirror and that makes me excited about what God may be doing in your life... I pray that you continue
to be used by Him as you serve.
I salute you all~
~ forever amigos, YVES Kalala
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