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Kenya Stories, Part 2

I don't know how many people actually know this, but I was a drama club member in high school (and student government and, by the end of school, my high school's honor society and Academic Decathlon).
It probably isn't a big surprise if you know me, or even just know something about the creative mind at work.

So drama wasn't the first outlet I found for my creativity.
That honor belongs to writing, and I will always be thankful to the first teacher to encourage me to keep up with it.
It was, however, one of my favorites at a time when I was very much trying to figure out who I was and who I wanted to be.
Trying out new identities with the flip of a script? Yes, please.

It was a delight, then, on our last day of ministry to have brothers and sisters join us from a church nearby to share a drama during Sunday morning services.
I haven't collaborated on or acted in or even seen a church skit/drama/etc put together by adults for adults to act out since my World Race days, so as soon as I realized what was going on, I got excited.

The setup wasn't any more elaborate than in my days traveling the globe as a missionary - just a few floor mats, some guys, and some women's clothes.
But everyone in the church was falling out of their seats laughing (even Rich and I, although neither one of us speaks a word of Swahili) as the men in the drama hammed up the funny parts for the audience.
The drama was about how prayer works, and God is powerful enough to heal the worst pain in the world, by the way.
Lots of laughter and lots of exaggeration on the part of the actors, but it was a brilliant message, a brilliant performance, and I wish I'd recorded some of it to share.

No one translated the drama for us, by the way (although Pastor Julius did briefly explain the basics of the scene in pauses before we assured him we understood what was going on).
Tones of voice, facial expressions, actions all conveyed what they were attempting to communicate without us being able to understand what they were saying.
Creativity and inspiration were thriving in Kilimani Baptist Church that morning, and it took me back to a lot of places and reminded me of a lot of lessons I've learned.

The biggest thing I was reminded of was His ability to facilitate communication across language barriers - kind of like earlier in the week with the former Muslim woman I'd talked to, but different in presentation.
Granted, the drama wasn't as cool of a moment as I imagine Pentecost to be, but I'll take what I can get for now and ask for bigger things in the future.
I was excited and grateful that day to understand what was going on without someone pausing the action so we could get back up to speed.

Some days aren't that easy, but maybe one day.
I hope.

Until next time,
Cat

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