So far this weekend has been very busy, but also very blessed. It is my first weekend since my trip to Ghana that I have not been sick, so it was SO nice to be able to get off of the ship and do something! Thursday and Friday were extremely busy days, as the October container FINALLY arrived about 3 weeks late. I spent all of Thursday afternoon carrying heavy boxes up and down flights of stairs, mostly in un-air conditioned areas of the ship. Then Friday was spent counting the new products and putting them out on the shelves. Of course all of the Diet Coke and Dr. Pepper fanatics on board were desperate to finally get some of their dearly missed sodas as soon as we got them loaded into the snack bar, so this kept us all extremely busy while running the register in the snack bar. When it FINALLY came time to close and let our brains have a little rest, we discovered that somehow the charges were entered into the computers incorrectly and we had to find the missing money. Needless to say, by 5 o'clock on Friday evening, I was more than ready for the weekend!

After a short brain break and a quick dinner, Michelle and I headed over to the hospitality center, where a couple of girls had asked if we could do makeovers. After digging through our makeup and through the box of left-behind goodies from departed roomates, we pulled together hand creams, nail polish, eye liners and shadows, mascara, blush, and some chapstick. We headed over to the center armed and ready for a mad rush. Immediately, all of the girls, and even a few little boys, got very excited! After making up a couple of girls, everyone wanted to do each other. One little boy in particular decided to do his own makeup, covering his face in blush and eye liner. He then requested that I help him with some mascara. He was extremely proud of the finished product and left the room with a giant smile, ready to show off his new look. Some of the young mothers decided to make up their babies, darkening their eyebrows with my eye pencil. The only problem with this, besides the fact that eye makeup is probably not the best thing for a baby's face, was that the eye pencil was a light blue color. Apparently this did not make a difference to anyone, and soon all the women were parading their blue eyebrows to anyone who cared to see. It is always so much fun to see how the faces of both the children and adults light up when they get some sort of special treat.

This morning I headed back to the prison, one of my favorite ways to spend my Saturday mornings. Because I haven't been feeling well, I hadn't gone to the prison in at least 3 weeks. I've missed seeing my friend Charlotte and anxiously anticipated our reunion. As soon as we opened the door to the women's section, she stood on the other side awaiting my arrival. I was so excited to see the joyful expression on her face when she saw that I had finally come back. The last time I was at the prison, Charlotte had Bonny Jean and I teach her the song "Glory Glory Hallelujah." This morning, as soon as I entered, she took my hand and had me start singing. I was shocked to discover that she had taught this song to several of the other women over the past few weeks and they too began to sing with us! Although Charlotte and I can hardly understand each other given the huge language barriers, it is amazing to see how our worshipping God together can create a trusting and loving friendship.

Charlotte introduced me to a friend of hers in the prison who was pregnant. Thankfully, her friend spoke French, so we were able to communicate decently well. She asked me to pray for her and her baby, that God would help her to be released from prison before her baby came. What she wants most is to deliver her baby in her own home, not in the confines of the prison. I never found out why she was put in prison or how long she had been there, so it is difficult to know how likely it is that her desire will be a possibility.

After praying together, the girls asked me to teach them another song in English. I had trouble thinking of an easy song to teach them but ended up singing a song we sing at New City. As I began singing, the girls faces lit up as they began to recognize the tune. They knew the same song in French! I had never heard the song in French, so it was so much fun for each of us to relearn the song in a different language. They decided to write the words out for me so that I would not forget them, and they had me write them out in English for them as well. They then decided to teach me another song in French. The song was a beautiful one, and they wrote down the lyrics of it for me, but unfortunately I cannot remember the tune at all. They girls signed the slip of paper with the song lyrics and placed it inside my Bible for safe keeping.

After the morning at prison, I came back to the ship for a quick lunch then headed back out to the market with a few friends. We went on a search for a particular vendor that a couple of our friends had stumbled upon. His whole booth is full of beautiful head scarves, sold for 200 cfa each...equivalent to 40 US cents. Once we arrived to the market, however, we realized that our chances of finding this vendor were very slim. The market consists of about 5 narrow aisles, each packed with vendors all along the row. Each aisle stretches out for nearly a mile, filled with shoes, clothes, jewelry, and purses, as well as hundreds of men who desperately want the Yovos to buy their wares. Walking down the narrow pathway, the men were grabbing at our arms and making loud kissing noises yelling "my beautiful sister, my pretty Yovo, come see my things and marry me." They started grabbing at our hands, checking for wedding rings. In the midst of throwing off unwanted lovers, we missed seeing all of the booths, likely missing the one booth that we were searching for. After over three hours in the market, we finally decided to give up and head back to the ship. By the time we finally finished our long, hot treck back to the dock, I was tired, dirty, sore, and sunburned, ready to spend a relaxing evening on the ship.

Tomorrow morning I plan to return to the hospitality center for church, followed by a lazy afternoon on ship, mentally preparing for the crazy week ahead. In the following week we have two seperate groups of guests staying on board the ship. These groups are sure to make the Ship Shop and Cafe busy for us this week. On top of that, on Tuesday night a big group from the Rotary are coming on board the ship and Thursday night the entire crew has been invited to the President's palace for dinner. This week is sure to be extremely busy for everyone on board, so please keep me and all of my friends in your prayers throughout the week!