Africa Journal Posting 4
From Nairobi, Kenya.... following Mombasa Retreat for PAOC Missionaries – Thursday April 11 – 15, 2007
In spite of my fears and frustration; doubts, confusion and the power that went off regularly on certain days – the following account may help you to catch the highlights that have made the trip well worth it all.
Impact - a few of the highlights
11 Year old Deren
On Thursday AM Alida and I took part in the children's session to help Jade, a Master College and Seminary student from Hamilton, Ontario. My task was to do a drawing class with the kids. I was going to show them how to draw a human face. With that I promised that we would also do some cartooning.
Deren is a young fellow about 11 years old. His eyes sparkled as he followed my instructions to create a face on paper. I talked about proportions and how they should be and then went to cartooning where you exaggerate facial features. Darin caught on very well.
Later that afternoon he described in detail to his father the way that you can draw a face...illustrating the way the the proportions work. He was very excited.
The next morning when he got up he came to his father and looked closely at his face. Then he told his father, “Papa, its just like Uncle Murray said, you have a good face for a cartoon!” The fire has been lit for Darin.
Conversation with a Teen
Sitting around the table each night for the evening meal was a great time to meet new people. The conversation was very good. One evening we sat with some of the teens. One young lady in grade 9 told how she loved to play sports of all kind. I asked her what she hoped to do some day. She didn't really know what to do. Africa is a long way from places and she wasn't sure.
I asked her if she had ever thought of putting her love for sport together with further training and University studies. I asked her if she had considered maybe studying physical education or perhaps sports injury therapist or trainer. Her eyes sparkled when we talked about this. It was the first time she had heard of this. Her response was, “I would like that!”.
Conversation with the Missionaries
During the retreat my topic was about maintaining a Merry or Happy Heart (Proverbs 17:22) I asked each one to look closely at their own lives – checking for the effect of mad, sad and fears. I pointed out that at times we tend to bottle up the emotions – not allowing ourselves to truly feel or deal with these “unchristian attitudes”...yet we still have them and it destroys the lives of others and our own.
Three missionaries came, one at a time, to talk about what had happened for them at the retreat. One talked about the fact that he would now use some of the ideas that we had used to help his staff and also some of his workers that were going through similar things in the area that he lived. The others shared similar revelations for themselves.
Another man came to thank me for my openness and tell me how much it had meant to him. The last one came to express strong feelings of encouragement to me said simply, “Thank you for putting some spice into this retreat! I intend to use some of your ideas in my own teacher training days that come soon.”
Poolside Humour
The Traveler's Beach Hotel is on the outskirts of Mombasa, Kenya. It has a beautiful three stage pool just outside the main building with all the rooms over looking the area. The ocean and the white sand beaches was just a short distance from the pool.
On the beach you could find 'hawkers' of all kinds. There was Silas that had ebony carvings for sale and Paul that wanted to take you for a Camel ride on one of his three Camels. Then came Antone that had woodcarvings of all kinds including his famous key changes with your name on it.
Paul's Camels laid droppings all over the beach – kind of the same shape as black seas shells but as yet they were still warm. As you walked into the ocean waves there wasn't the same rules as in Canada for “Stoop and Scoop” At times getting to the water was like doing a hopscotch. Too funny... watching the tourist discover the “black sea shells”. The tide each time flushed the beach clean.
The greatest humour was beside the pool each day. Prince Philip was there with a different woman than Elizabeth of the royal family in London. His present wife had salt and pepper hair. Each day they were at the next table over from where we ate lunch. His likeness to Philip was way too cool. I had the funny feeling that it may well have been the real Philip – the Duke...
At the end of some days as the tourists left the poolside the monkeys would come to look things over. Very entertaining top say the least.
To Sum it Up...
By the time Saturday evening had arrived the results of the retreat were showing. Merry and Happy Hearts were every where. The laughter was long and a delight to hear. Even on Friday night, when the power went out (the Power Point presentation was useless!) - in the darkened room we did a powerful small group activity that required the missionaries and the teens to say three things they appreciated about the person in the center of their circle. With candles lit around the circumference and a gas camp light the atmosphere was just right. There was much laughter and some tears. At one point a group member jumped to their feet and hugged some one else.
I drank deeply with my friends at the well of happiness. What a joy to see the Lord work so deeply. Without much preaching this was a very spiritual retreat.
A special thanks to Stephen and Heather Chaloner, Marg Foreman and Janice Foss for all their hard work to arrange everything so well.
~ Pastor Murray Lincoln ~
murray.lincoln@gmail.com
In spite of my fears and frustration; doubts, confusion and the power that went off regularly on certain days – the following account may help you to catch the highlights that have made the trip well worth it all.
Impact - a few of the highlights
11 Year old Deren
On Thursday AM Alida and I took part in the children's session to help Jade, a Master College and Seminary student from Hamilton, Ontario. My task was to do a drawing class with the kids. I was going to show them how to draw a human face. With that I promised that we would also do some cartooning.
Deren is a young fellow about 11 years old. His eyes sparkled as he followed my instructions to create a face on paper. I talked about proportions and how they should be and then went to cartooning where you exaggerate facial features. Darin caught on very well.
Later that afternoon he described in detail to his father the way that you can draw a face...illustrating the way the the proportions work. He was very excited.
The next morning when he got up he came to his father and looked closely at his face. Then he told his father, “Papa, its just like Uncle Murray said, you have a good face for a cartoon!” The fire has been lit for Darin.
Conversation with a Teen
Sitting around the table each night for the evening meal was a great time to meet new people. The conversation was very good. One evening we sat with some of the teens. One young lady in grade 9 told how she loved to play sports of all kind. I asked her what she hoped to do some day. She didn't really know what to do. Africa is a long way from places and she wasn't sure.
I asked her if she had ever thought of putting her love for sport together with further training and University studies. I asked her if she had considered maybe studying physical education or perhaps sports injury therapist or trainer. Her eyes sparkled when we talked about this. It was the first time she had heard of this. Her response was, “I would like that!”.
Conversation with the Missionaries
During the retreat my topic was about maintaining a Merry or Happy Heart (Proverbs 17:22) I asked each one to look closely at their own lives – checking for the effect of mad, sad and fears. I pointed out that at times we tend to bottle up the emotions – not allowing ourselves to truly feel or deal with these “unchristian attitudes”...yet we still have them and it destroys the lives of others and our own.
Three missionaries came, one at a time, to talk about what had happened for them at the retreat. One talked about the fact that he would now use some of the ideas that we had used to help his staff and also some of his workers that were going through similar things in the area that he lived. The others shared similar revelations for themselves.
Another man came to thank me for my openness and tell me how much it had meant to him. The last one came to express strong feelings of encouragement to me said simply, “Thank you for putting some spice into this retreat! I intend to use some of your ideas in my own teacher training days that come soon.”
Poolside Humour
The Traveler's Beach Hotel is on the outskirts of Mombasa, Kenya. It has a beautiful three stage pool just outside the main building with all the rooms over looking the area. The ocean and the white sand beaches was just a short distance from the pool.
On the beach you could find 'hawkers' of all kinds. There was Silas that had ebony carvings for sale and Paul that wanted to take you for a Camel ride on one of his three Camels. Then came Antone that had woodcarvings of all kinds including his famous key changes with your name on it.
Paul's Camels laid droppings all over the beach – kind of the same shape as black seas shells but as yet they were still warm. As you walked into the ocean waves there wasn't the same rules as in Canada for “Stoop and Scoop” At times getting to the water was like doing a hopscotch. Too funny... watching the tourist discover the “black sea shells”. The tide each time flushed the beach clean.
The greatest humour was beside the pool each day. Prince Philip was there with a different woman than Elizabeth of the royal family in London. His present wife had salt and pepper hair. Each day they were at the next table over from where we ate lunch. His likeness to Philip was way too cool. I had the funny feeling that it may well have been the real Philip – the Duke...
At the end of some days as the tourists left the poolside the monkeys would come to look things over. Very entertaining top say the least.
To Sum it Up...
By the time Saturday evening had arrived the results of the retreat were showing. Merry and Happy Hearts were every where. The laughter was long and a delight to hear. Even on Friday night, when the power went out (the Power Point presentation was useless!) - in the darkened room we did a powerful small group activity that required the missionaries and the teens to say three things they appreciated about the person in the center of their circle. With candles lit around the circumference and a gas camp light the atmosphere was just right. There was much laughter and some tears. At one point a group member jumped to their feet and hugged some one else.
I drank deeply with my friends at the well of happiness. What a joy to see the Lord work so deeply. Without much preaching this was a very spiritual retreat.
A special thanks to Stephen and Heather Chaloner, Marg Foreman and Janice Foss for all their hard work to arrange everything so well.
~ Pastor Murray Lincoln ~
murray.lincoln@gmail.com
posted by Murray Lincoln at
Monday, April 16, 2007
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