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.