Monday, March 28, 2011

Jet laaaag....

It's good to be back, but this jet lag thing is a real bummer.

I was not able to post as much as I'd hoped while I was in South Africa, because the internet connection was quite sketchy at times.  I lost a couple of e-mails to Joanne, which was very frustrating, so I decided not to risk posting any more on the blog.

Now that I'm back, I hope to go back through my pictures and post some more about the trip without risking it getting lost in cyberspace.

Because when you're adrift in cyberspace, I don't think anyone can hear you scream.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

"Healing through Weirdness"

That's what I called my workshop.
Well theatre exercises and games are pretty weird, but in theatre it’s what we do to hone our craft.  So I tried thinking of where goals in theatre exercises and goals in Living Waters intersect.  So I focused on freeing ourselves from perfectionism; freeing ourselves from the need for control; and freeing ourselves the fear of man.
Really that it’s ok to laugh at yourself.  In the body of Christ, we all take ourselves so seriously, and sometimes we need to let ourselves be silly, to look stupid and be ok with it because everybody is looking stupid in one way or another.
I’ll share a quote about perfectionism from Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way:
To the perfectionist, there is always room for improvement.  The perfectionist calls this humility.  In reality, it is egotism… Perfectionism is not a quest for the best.  It is a pursuit of the worst in ourselves, the part that tells us that nothing we do will ever be good enough - that we should try again.
I think I need to read that to myself over again... and again... until I get it right!   ;)

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Monkeys and mourning

You know you’re far from home when a monkey steals your toast.
Not mine, but a friend’s here at the retreat.  She decided to have her breakfast out on the deck because it was such a nice morning.  When she got up to refill her coffee, a monkey came up and walked off with her toast.  I don’t know what kind, a local told me they call them Blau, or Blue monkeys.  I’m not sure why, they’re not blue, but they are a good size, bigger than a beach ball.
Another one came up and started to come in the window right next to where we were eating and then someone shooed him off.  They are pests to the locals, but at least they’re cute pests.  The locals roll their eyes, but I was as thrilled as one of my little boys would have been.  On the outside, I’m saying, “Wow, how about that… how interesting.”  Inside I am gleefully jumping up and down and clapping my hands, saying “Yayy!  Monkeys!”  I wanted to put some fruit out to see if they would come back, but was dissuaded from doing so.  My adult brain understands, but my little boy inside said “Awwww, c’mon.  Pleeease?”
I taught this morning and it went well.  We did a “team teaching” kind of thing with Toni, Kirsten and I.  The session was about addiction, how we cope with our pain through our own methods instead of going to God.   We tried to incorporate a grieving process into it; a time of lament.  The South African team has gone through a very difficult time.  South Africa in general is going through a difficult time.  There are painful places in our own broken hearts that need to be mourned, and invite Jesus into those broken places to bring a deeper level of healing.  This is why this retreat is called “Dive Deeper.”  It went well and people really seemed to respond positively to it.
This is the lovely chapel where we meet.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Our first day

This retreat is called “Dive Deeper” and it is for all the Living Waters leaders in South Africa.  So the leaders from all the major cities are here, and the retreat centre is a beautiful place.  The flowers and birds are incredible.  There are also great big bugs, but let’s not talk about those.
Toni spoke this morning about how we, as leaders, can get caught up into ministry, and helping others get their needs met, that we neglect our own.
I am leading a small group of four other LW leaders, some of them are pastors, so it’s a little intimidating.  But I am really facilitating more than leading, and we all prayed for each other, so it was good.
Paul Stokes is our worship leader, and he is a lovely man.  He’s one of those guys who worships from his toes.  Where you feel like you are almost intruding on a private exchange, that he is not performing, but I would see the exact same Paul if he were playing and singing by himself in his college dorm stairwell.  I found myself being envious.  Here I am trying to worship, and I end up sinning, comparing myself to the worship leader, and wishing I could be more like him.  Isn’t that pathetic?  I even found myself praying, and asking God to help me to worship more like Paul.  But I felt like God responded, No, because he wanted me to worship like me.
This was taken just outside the town of George, South Africa, as we were coming in for the retreat.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Heading South... DEEP South

I leave tomorrow for South Africa.  Toni Dolfo-Smith, our director, also oversees Living Waters in several other countries, South Africa being one of them.  We are taking a team down to do some training for the Living Waters leaders in that country, and to minister to them as well.  LW South Africa has had a rough year.  Their national director was asked to step down by his board due to some issues in his personal life, and this has sent the various teams in that country through an awkward and painful year.

We are taking a team down to lead a retreat to help these guys re-center themselves in the heart of this ministry, to train them in some of the newer approaches, and to lead them through some times of personal healing.

What will I be doing personally?  Well, besides checking to see if the water drains out of the sink in the opposite direction down there (I am such a nerd,) I will be leading a workshop on addiction.  I will be team-teaching this with Kirsten, and we also see this session as a time for the team to lament, to really grieve the losses they've experienced.  (Addiction is often about coping, dealing with our losses and pain with our own pain-numbing activities.  So we want to facilitate a time for them to really sit in their grief, and then to invite Jesus into it, to allow him to minister to the deeper places that we often self-medicate.)

I will also be performing some pieces that I've written, to hopefully enlighten and encourage.  And I will also be doing, believe it or not, a theatre workshop, yes - at a Living Waters retreat.  (Toni requested it.)  I guess there's nothing like an afternoon of weird theatre exercises to help you shed some of your control issues.

So please pray for safe travel for me and the rest of the team.  Pray for our times of teaching and ministry, that we will be guided by the Holy Spirit.  And also please pray for Joanne and the kids as I am away.