Kelli at There’s No Place Like Home hosts “Show and Tell Friday” asking “Do you have a something special to share with us? It could be a trinket from grade school, a piece of jewelry, an antique find. Your show and tell can be old or new. Use your imagination and dig through those old boxes in your closet if you have to! Feel free to share pictures and if there’s a story behind your special something, that’s even better! If you would like to join in, all you have to do is post your “Show and Tell” on your blog, copy the post link, come over here and add it to Mr. Linky. Guidelines are here.“

About 3 years ago, between my middle son, Jason’s, junior and senior year of high school, he had the opportunity to go with his youth pastor and some of the youth group from church on a mission trip to the country of Cameroon in West Africa. It was a wonderful experience for everyone who could go. They did various things to aid a couple of missionary families plus got in a little sight-seeing and souvenir buying at the markets. They saw missionary life first hand, and visiting another country is always enlightening on may levels.

I don’t feel I can post pictures of the team or missionaries or people of Africa since I don’t have their permission to do so. But I did want to show some of the souvenirs Jason brought back.

The carved box on the left was a gift to me, the little figurines on the right a gift to his dad.

This is a side view of the carved box. I believe the figure is supposed to look like a jar or vase, but it looks to me a little like a cartoon assassin or Ninja. I’ve either watched too many cartoons or have a weird imagination. 🙂

These wooden utensils with zebras on top (a little too dark to make out, my apologies) were also a gift for me. I haven’t actually used them — I haven’t wanted to mess them up, plus not knowing what they were treated with, I wasn’t sure if it was safe. But I was at someone else’s home a while back who had similar ones and used them to serve salad, so I might do that some time.

I went up to Jason’s room to photograph some of the other things he brought back. These are hand-carved arrows. The airport security confiscated the bows, but not the arrows. Seems a little strange, doesn’t it?

These are some knives in sheaths.

On the right is a handmade musical instrument (a little dusty right now, but Jason has played it some) and on the left is a small chess set. The wooden guy in the background didn’t come from Africa. 🙂

A mask:

And a sword with a woven strap to carry it with. It’s not a sharp sword at all. I don’t know if it is just an item they sell tourists or if they use blunt blades like this for something. Since I am interested in crafts, though, especially usable ones, I thought the strap was neat.

If you or your children ever have a chance to go on a mission trip, by all means, go, or let them go. Our youth pastor’s father is a physician’s assistant and a veteran missionary to Togo and went with the team. That made me feel a lot better as a mom, even if he did have to tell us about malaria and yellow fever and other such risks. But both because of his profession and experience I felt a lot more confident about the inoculations and medicines involved. Jason received six inoculations, plus everyone took medicine to ward off malaria. This man also was able to warn about what was safe and unsafe to eat in the markets and to plan for bringing bottled water and other provisions. Everyone stayed well except, I think, for a couple of minor tummy upsets. Jason did have some experience with uncontrolled shaking in his arms that at first they thought might have been due to dehydration, so they loaded him up with something like Gatorade. But our youth pastor’s father was reading up on altitude sickness when they came back and thinks that might have contributed to it. He hasn’t had any problems since he’s been back. Even with all the potential risks, though, I had to remind myself that missionaries went and took their small children without any major problems, and ultimately they were all in the Lord’s hands.

Even without such a person on the team, though, the missionaries you’re going to visit can tell you what you need to do and bring. Our group mostly got inoculations at the health department, and they were very helpful, too.

You can check out this week’s Show and Tell here, and while you’re over there at Kelli’s check out her new online publication, “Seasonal Delights.” It’s gorgeous and creative!