Kendall's Adventures....Africa and Beyond

My Next Adventure

2010-07-07T16:12:00.002-05:00

In my last blog, I wrote that I would later share what God has been teaching me in the months since returning to America. I don't really know where to begin as there is SO much, so instead I will write a short bit and then share with you an article I found that summarizes most of what I have learned in the past months. I found this article by fluke, but it lead me to an organization whose mission aligns directly with the convictions God has been placing on my heart.

The organization is called Mocha Club, its premise is that for the cost of two mochas a month, anyone can make huge strides in helping the needs of the third world. I was so impressed by the group, and amazed that God had lead me to a group that fit perfectly with my convictions, that I immediately decided to join. I have been so amazed at how many Christians, young and old, ignore the call in James 1:27 to give to the widow and orphan. Many excuse themselves by saying they don't have the money to help, or that they are waiting for God to call them personally. But if a teenager can afford to buy themselves a fancy coffee on a regular basis, what excuse do they have to not help provide water to those with NOTHING to drink? And if God says that the job of all Christians is to serve, then what more personal call does one need to serve Him?!? Unfortunately far too many people have become consumed with the need for more money and rather than experience the abundant blessing through giving it back to the Lord, they choose to hoard it for themselves and find excuses as to why it is not enough. I have asked the Lord to break me of this temptation in my own life, and I feel now that He has called me to speak out to others in hopes that they too will experience the same conviction.

The unique thing about the Mocha Club is that you do not just join personally and support them monthly on your own. Instead those who join are challenged to share the work of Mocha Club with others and encourage them to join as well. The work of God is not something each person can do individually, we must work together to serve the Lord and serve His people. The Mocha Club works to break the temptation to stand alone in service. I believe that this is crucial when hoping to make a difference in the world, and also in allowing God to make a difference in one's own heart, but it is so often and easily forgotten. If you would like to learn more about the Mocha Club, go to www.mochaclub.org. To join my team, go to www.mochaclub.org/joinme/kvslice.

And now here is the article that so eloquently describes what the Lord has taught me:

I Need Africa More Than Africa Needs Me

When I think of Africa, the following images immediately come to mind: Starvation. AIDS. Child soldiers. Genocide. Sex slaves. Orphans. From there, my thoughts naturally turn to how I can help, how I can make a difference. "I am needed here," I think. "They have so little, and I have so much." It's true, there are great tragedies playing out in Africa everyday. There is often a level of suffering here that is unimaginable until you have seen it, and even then it is difficult to believe. But what is even harder is reconciling the challenges that many Africans face with the joy I see in those same people. It's a joy that comes from somewhere I cannot fathom, not within the framework that has been my life to this day.

The images spilling out of my television showed circumstances that could seemingly only equal misery, and I was fooled. I bought into the lie that circumstance defines happiness. The truth is, in Africa I find hearts full of victory, indomitable spirits. In places where despair should thrive, instead I find adults dancing and singing, and children playing soccer with a ball crafted of tied up trash. Instead of payback, I find grace. Here, weekend getaways are not options to provide relief from the pains of daily life. Relationships and faith provide joy. Love is sovereign.

My new reality… I know now that my joy should have no regard for my circumstances. I'm ashamed by my lack of faith, but at the very same moment I am excited by my new pursuit. I'm forced to redefine the meaning of having much or having little. I'm uneasy with the prospect of change and of letting go, but just the thought of freedom is liberating. I want what I have learned to trickle down from my head into my heart - I no longer want to need the "next thing" to have joy.

I'm not saying that Africa does not need our efforts. It absolutely does need our partnership. But for me, I've come to understand that I NEED AFRICA MORE THAN AFRICA NEEDS ME. Why? Because it is Africa that has taught me that possessions in my hands will never be as valuable as peace in my heart. I've learned that I don't need what I have and that I have what I need. These are just a few of this continent's many lessons. I came here to serve and yet I've found that I have so much to learn, and Africa, with all its need, has much to teach me.

It has taken me months to be able to understand for myself and then verbalize what I learned while overseas, so I hope that this blog has been able to effectively share a tidbit into my heart and mind at this time. MyMocha Club page also shares a bit more as to what God has been teaching me and doing in my heart, so please look to that page if you would like to read more. I hope you will join me in my next adventure as I see where the Lord leads me and what He teaches me as I give to the work of the Mocha Club.

a long awaited update!

2010-06-18T17:19:00.010-05:00

I'm sorry to say that it has been nearly 5 months since I have last written a blog. While multiple times I told myself I would write a blog, a few times I came up with creative blog titles in my mind, and once or twice I even sat down and began to write! Still, I never actually finished a blog post and published it. I know, I am a failure. So here is an update on the past 5 months, and hopefully the first of many regular blogs.

During the sail to Togo, I became very close friends with another crew member, and student who had spent all of her high school years on the ship with her family. Bethany Lyon, a fellow homeschooler from Virginia, served in the galley for four months and Emma Cole, a high school senior from England, had worked with Mercy Ships with her family for ten years. While the three of us had all been on the ship together for a while, it was not until the sail to Togo that the three of us really began to bond. Each of us are completely different in almost every imaginable way, but within a week we were practically inseparable. However, two weeks after arriving in Togo, Emma and I had to say goodbye to our dear friend Bethany. The five weeks between saying goodbye to Bethany and leaving the ship myself, Emma and I spent multiple nights together in a small closet on deck 7 where we could phone Bethany. At times we sat on the phone as long as 3 hours, into the wee hours of the night! The Lord has used our friendship over the past 5 months to grow me and teach me in incredible ways. To this day, we talk regularly on Skype, our conversations still lasting 2-3 hours! Without a doubt, Emma and Bethany have become two of my closest friends, and I absolutely cannot wait until the day that we finally get to see each other again!
Above is a photo of the three of us taken during the sail from Tenerife to Togo. I am on the far left, Emma in the center, and Bethany on the right.

During my time in Togo I also got to know several of the youth on board. After "chaperoning" a junior high and high school girls' sleepover, I fell in love with the energy and excitement of the ten 8th-12th grade girls on the ship. Most every afternoon and evening in March I could have been found assisting in pranks or watching movies from the youth room while quickly becoming best friends with these girls. When it was time to leave the ship, the ten of them were no doubt the hardest friends to leave. We still stay in contact due to my wonderful friend Mr. Facebook and I think about and pray for each and every one of them on a regular basis.

Above is a picture of me with the high schoolers. I helped them to throw a pizza party in celebration of the end of midterms!

On the right is a picture of me with most of the 8th-12th grade girls celebrating Emma's 18th birthday. We made matching t-shirts saying "Today is Emma's 18th Birthday!" and found party hats at a local Togolese grocery store! With the help of a few nurses, we surprised her while she was in the middle of work experience down on the ward.

Part of the reason that I failed to blog so much in Togo is because during that time, I felt that God's purpose for me on the ship was not so much to focus on those we were serving in Africa, but isntead to focus on my relationships with those living long term on the ship. This led to less stories about how I was working in the country of Togo, and also less time to write a blog as I spent most of my free time building these relationships. In some ways I at first felt that I was disconnecting myself from Africa and allowing all of my fun to cause me to lose sight of my mission for my gap year. However, I soon realized that rather than losing sight of my personal mission, I was following God's mission for me during that time. I was blessed so much by those friendships and I hope that I too was a blessing to each of them. As my time on board drew to an end, I also began to realize that this "new" mission God had given me would cause my departure to be much more painful.
On April 1 (ironically, April fool's day) I walked down the gangway for one final time, followed by a throng of over twenty friends wishing to wave me off. I was crying so hard that I could barely see my way down the steps. Once we stepped on the dock, my friends gathered in a circle and each took turns praying for me. Several of them proceeded to present me with cards and letters to read on the plane. As I hugged each friend goodbye, my heart continually sank lower and lower, still having difficulty comprehending the fact that I was actually LEAVING the ship for good! Heartbroken, I climbed into the Land Rover and we began to pull down the dock. All of the youth girls lined up down the dock and as the car drove past them they chased it down, waving and yelling until they reached the security guards. "They are like the Von Trap family!" Emma laughed as we pulled away. Emma and another dear friend, Kim Anna Kronester, a long term student serving with her family, came with me to the airport. They held my hands as we drove away; unable to speak a word, I sobbed silently throughout the difficult drive. Upon arrival to the airport I bid Emma and Kim Anna a final farewell, and my time with Mercy Ships drew to a close.
To the left is a picture of a few roomates and youth right before I left the ship.

The next two weeks were a blur of tears, depression, frustration, and confusion as I attempted to deal with culture shock as well as the pain of leaving all of my closest friends. Thankfully, the last week of April I got to take a road trip to visit Bonny Jean, one of my former roomates who left the ship in December. The four days we spent together were unimaginably paramount to my recovery of culture shock. After returning home from the road trip my brother told me, "Kendall, I am glad you are normal again."

Three days after coming back from my road trip, I was off for more traveling! Due to the discovery of an incredible airfare deal, and hours of hard work around the house, I was able to buy a plane ticket to visit Bethany in Virginia! I spent a week with her family in Danville, and they quickly began to feel like my own family. Over the course of that week I felt like the Lord finally gave me peace about being back at home, and really began to help me understand why April 1st was my time to leave the ship, not May 1st, or even August 1st. On May 11th, I flew back home to St Louis, finally feeling like I was ready to begin the next phase of my life.

This summer I am working as a camp counselor at a local YMCA. While the long hours have been incredibly exhausting, my work is fun and rewarding. Every day I come home with new stories about the silly things that kids say. I am also taking a couple of college courses online to get a head on my college work before entering as a freshman at Wheaton College in August. On top of school and work, I have decided to teach myself guitar as well as to begin piano again. I am also training for a triathlon with a few friends. This summer has quickly become a busy one, and I'm sure it will fly by! It has been encouraging to see that while it was hard to leave my work in Africa, God clearly had plenty of incredible things planned out for me back home.

Because this blog has become so long (5 months is a lot to catch up on!!) I will write another time to share what all the Lord has taught me over the past 5 months. Until then, I am just relieved to have FINALLY written what should have been done months before!

I Could Sing of Your Love Forever

2010-02-01T06:40:00.003-06:00

Yesterday afternoon the Africa Mercy set sail once again for her week and a half long trek to Togo, prepared to start the 2010 field service. Around 1 pm the alarms went off to practice an at-sea fire drill, necessary in order to muster the crew and make sure everyone is present and prepared to leave. Within half an hour the gangway was lifted and the ship was leaving port! While setting sail from Tenerife was not nearly as exciting as from Benin, I am ready to head towards Togo for the final stretch of my time with Mercy Ships.

Last night a few of my close girlfriends all decided that we would go up to to Deck 7 for some time of worship since we did not have our usual Sunday evening church service. Around 8:15, three of us headed up there with just a small booklet of sheet music. Within fifteen minutes, about three more friends had arrived, one girl bringing a guitar to accompany our singing. By an hour's time, the group had grown to nearly fifteen people! Everyone heard our singing and came to join in. Sitting outside, feeling the wind brush against my face, hearing the waves crash against the ship, unashamedly singing praises to my God, I felt so alone and enraptured by His incredible creation, but at the same time so comforted by the community of believers surrounding me. We kept singing song after song, praising the Lord for the work He has done, thanking Him for what He has created, crying out to Him in our distress, and seeking His protection as we head into the mission field once again.

while in Spain, let's do as the Spanish do...

2010-01-29T03:32:00.002-06:00

This week has yet again been another busy week for me. Last Friday I got to fly to Madrid for 4 days in order to visit my high school friend Shelly Engelbart. Shelly is also taking a gap year this year, spending 12 months working at a dance studio in Madrid. When I found out that I would be spending over a month in Tenerife, I immediately hoped I would be able to visit her, but I didn't really think the trip would be possible. Thanks to my friend Ram and his ability to find cheap airline tickets, I found out that I could indeed take a weekend trip to Spain!
I woke up early Friday morning in order to walk to the bus station, which would then take me to the airport. My friends Kaylee and Johan were kind enough to wake up two hours earlier than usual in order to accompany me to the bus station, therefore putting my mother's nerves at ease (although I will admit that I, too, was a bit wary at the thought of walking through town alone so early). Within a couple of hours I was on the plane and headed for Madrid! Once the plane landed, I was able to navigate my way through the airport, only getting lost two or three times between my gate and the baggage claim...
After meeting up with Shelly, we caught the metro and headed back towards her apartment. It was amazing to be away from the ship and back with a friend from school. Being able to share all of my experiences and being able to hear about all of hers was very refreshing. At one point we were walking through the streets of Madrid and it occurred to me that the other 130 people that we graduated with are currently sitting in class at school, doing what is expected of the typical 19-year-old, but we are blessed with the opportunity to be wandering the streets of Madrid together, exploring the nooks and crannies of a beautiful European city! I am so thankful that this is where God has brought me, He is so cool!
Shelly told me from the beginning that we were not going to do the typical touristy things, but instead we were going to do the things the Spanish do. This of course involves a ton of eating, one of my favorite things in the world to do! Our schedule every day revolved around food, visiting different restaurants, cafes, and markets. I ate Spanish tortilla, croquettas, patatas bravas, paella, churros and chocolate, and plenty of cafe con leche. The food was incredible, and I think I ate more in just one day than I typically would in a full week!
While we did eat plenty, there were a few other things we did as well. On Friday evening we went to the dance school so that I could see where Shelly has been working and meet the people she has been working with. On Saturday, we walked around the mall and wandered a while through the city. Saturday night we went to a flamenco show that was absolutely incredible! The show was just on a small stage with two dancers and a small band. While the audience was petite, the dancing was phenomenal. As a dancer myself, I was able to appreciate the difficulty of their work. There is no way that I could move my feet the way they did! On Sunday we went to an outdoor market that wound its way through the streets. The vendors went on for miles, selling clothes, leather bags, souvenirs, and other interesting things. One vendor sold a huge assortment of beautiful scarves all for two euros. Thankfully RyanAir has major bag restrictions, so the lack of room to carry things home kept me from buying everything in sight. I picked out just one purple and green scarf to remember my trip by.
Monday morning I had to head to the airport at 4 o'clock, so rather than going to bed early Shelly and I decided to utilize our last hours together by staying up all night. Talking about home and friends was so refreshing, I hadn't realized how much I'd missed talking with someone who knows all of my friends back home! At 4 o'clock a taxi came to carry me to the airport and my long journey back to the ship began. At 10:30 I finally made it back into the ship, more than ready to go to bed.
While this weekend was a wonderful getaway and I absolutely loved every minute of it, I didn't realize how much I would miss the ship! Walking back up the gangway on Monday morning felt like I was coming back home. I'm beginning to realize how difficult it will be to leave the Ship for good. I now have less than nine weeks left till I head back to the States, two of which will be spent sailing to Togo. I am praying that the Lord will help me to feel closure as my time on the Ship begins to wind down. In only 5 weeks my close friend Kaylee will go home and from that point I know that it will really begin to feel like it is time to go. At this point, however, I know that I am not at all ready to go back!

monkeys, whales, and the engine room

2010-01-20T12:56:00.003-06:00

This past week and a half has been busy yet again for me. Last Friday my sister Alyssa flew into Tenerife for a visit. Not only did this mean I got the immense pleasure of spending a full week with my dear sister, it also signaled seven nights in a luxurious guest cabin as well as 5 afternoons off of work in order to go explore the island. Needless to say, it was a wonderful week.

On Sunday, Alyssa and I went with Kaylee to attempt to hike Mt. Teide (the volcano on the island). We set out around 6:45 am so that we could catch the right buses to the hiking location. We got off at what we thought was the correct spot, and began a trek to look for the beginning of the trail. After a few minutes of walking along the road, we spotted some signs pointing out 20 different trails in our general vicinity! We chose the one that looked most likely to lead up the mountain and began our long trek. After about 2 hours we realized that we had not started in the right place and there was no way we would be able to summit Teide by the end of the day. In fact, after a full day of hiking, we barely even reached the base of Teide, apparently there is another mountain in front of the volcano, and we had accidentally climbed it instead. Despite the disappointment of hiking the wrong mountain, we still had a fun, adventurous, and exhausting day.

The rest of the week we spent exploring Santa Cruz as well as other areas of the island. We spent an afternoon at the beach and another afternoon in the southern end of the island where we visited a monkey park. We were able to go into the cages with the monkeys which was loads of fun! I accidentally brought less money than I meant too, which we did not realized until AFTER we had taken the bus down south and caught a taxi to the park. At the entrance to the park I realized that I did not have enough money to buy my ticket to the park or to pay for the taxi ride back into town! Alyssa had just the right amount of money to pay for both of our entrance fees, but we still remained unsure as to how to pay the taxi driver. There was no ATM within walking distance so there was absolutely no way to get cash in order to get home! We prayed throughout our entire visit through the park that somehow we would find a way to get back. When it was time to leave, we got into the cab and attempted to explain that we needed to get to an ATM so that we could get cash because we did not have enough money to pay him to drive us to the bus station. He seemed to understand and headed on his way. After a brief stop at the bank, we carried on to the bus station. When Alyssa tried to pay him with the bill she had gotten from the ATM, he told us he didn't have any change so we could not pay with that bill! After all of the trouble of going to an ATM, he ended up taking the small amount of change I had left in my wallet, almost half the amount that the trip should have taken. Of course after we got out of the cab we thanked God for letting us get back without any real frustration or trouble!

The rest of the week flew by and by Friday evening it was time to drop Alyssa back off at the airport. Because her flight was at 2:45 am, we had to catch a late night bus to get down to the south end of the island where the airport was. After helping to carry her bags and everything into the airport and finding where she needed to go, Kaylee and I rushed back to the bus in order to catch the midnight bus back to Santa Cruz. Because the bus system is not very busy in the middle of the night, the buses only come by the airport every hour or so, so to miss the midnight bus would mean we would have to wait until 1 am. We sprinted to the station in order to not miss the bus, but the bus was no where to be found! We waited for about five minutes, then decided to look at the bus schedule posted at the station. Apparently, according the the station's schedule, the bus left at 11:45!! Alas, after all that hurrying, we still ended up having to wait until 1 o'clock in the morning to catch the bus back to Santa Cruz! After an hour long bus ride and a two mile walk from the station, Kaylee and I sauntered back into the ship at 2:45, exhausted, sore, and ready to fall into bed.

On Saturday the ship was offered half price tickets to Loro Parque, a park similar to Sea World. Of course we did not want to miss out on this offer, so Kaylee and I somehow managed to pull ourselves out of bed just 5 hours after we arrived back to the ship. The day at the park was so much fun, we made it to every show: dolphins, orkas, birds, and sea lions. We also saw several other animals and exhibits. Our friend Kim Anna invited us to stay at the park with her family later and to then go out to dinner with them. It was so much fun to go out and have dinner with a family, even though it was not my own. I had not realized before that night how much I missed going out to eat as a family! We had so much fun talking and laughing, but by the time we returned to the ship I was so incredibly exhausted that I went straight to bed and slept for 13 hours!

Sunday afternoon I went back to the beach with a few friends where we enjoyed the perfect weather. We have not experienced a day that sunny and warm since arriving in Tenerife so it was the perfect day to spend at the beach.

Yesterday, I was given the opportunity to work in the engine room for the day! The engineers have needed help getting a lot of cleaning jobs done while in Tenerife, so several departments have allowed one or two of their staff to work in the engine room from time to time. The Sales department decided to let us all take turns working in the engines, so yesterday I finally got my chance! The day started out by going down to the engineers changing rooms on deck 2 where I had to search for coveralls and boots that would fit me. Of course, since most of the engineers are a bit taller than 5'2", that task proved to be quite difficult! My coveralls ended up being far to long and the shoes were about 5 sizes to big, but after rolling up the pants legs and tying the shoes as tight as possible, the outfit worked all right. I was ready to start working with all of the grease and oil and to get myself all dirtied up! Off I went for to receive my first assignment. My team leader mumbled something using all sorts of technical terms so I had no idea which job I agreed to do. As they led me and my partner Becca off to our job, it soon became clear that we would not get to work in all of the grime along with everyone else. Instead, we were given the task of hooking up hoses from a tank on deck 1 to a tank on deck 3 in order to transfer oil. It took about 2 hours to set up all of the hoses, so by the time we were ready to start pumping the oil, it was time for morning break! I headed up to Mid Ships to hang out with all of the other engineers as we enjoyed our break from work. It quickly became noticeable to all of my friends that Becca and I were not covered in grease and dirt like everybody else...it soon became pretty obvious that we were not doing any of the dirty work. No worries, I though, once we start pumping the oil my job will get messier and I'll get all greasy and gross! Once we got back to the engine room, I was given a radio and told to stand at my post on deck 3. My job, as the team leader explained to me, was to hold down a lever with my foot and watch as the level of oil in the tank rose. Once it reached the top, I was to radio down to the person on Deck 1 and he would stop the flow of oil. All right, I thought, this sounds like a job I can handle. I felt all important with my radio and everything, so I was excited about the task at hand. As he headed down to turn on the oil, I expected the job to go by quickly, I mean how long could it really take to fill an oil tank? I soon discovered that I had vastly underestimated the time. About 30 minutes into the process, I realized that the tank was less than a third full! Still, I could not step away from the lever, my foot had to keep pressing it down the entire time! After an hour and a half, I was told to head back downstairs for a lunch break and then we could finish the task after lunch. I walked up to the dining hall with my head hung low because I still was not covered in grease and dust like the rest of the engineers and I knew that right away my friends would joke about my cleanliness after working in the engine room. They all seemed to think it was quite hilarious that I ended up so free of grime. After lunch I went back to my post so that we could finish our task and move on to something else. We finished filling the tank and then, much to my disappointment, I was told we had to fill a second tank! Thankfully this one was already more than half full, so it would not take nearly as long. The downside, however, was that this tank did not have an easy little foot lever, instead it had two buttons that needed to be pressed in simultaneously, one at the top of the gauge and one and the bottom....of course since I am so short, I also have a short arm span, so pressing both of these buttons at the same time proved extremely difficult!! Finally, around 2:30, we finished transferring oil from tank to tank! Now I could get into the grease and grime! The next task was to scrape the rust from underneath the floor boards at the bottom of deck one. I was given a crowbar and a scraper and showed my spot to clean. Finally, I realized, this is the job I had been waiting for all day! I laid down on my stomach and ducked my head under the floor boards. Because the engines were so loud, we all had to wear ear protecters. The ear protectors blocked out all noise, so I was completely alone in my own little world while scraping up dirt, rust, and all other kinds of gunk off the ground. After an hour and a half of back-breaking work, we were done for the day. I went back to the changing room to take off my coveralls and I was thrilled...I was FINALLY covered in grease and dirt, now none of my friends could joke that I didn't do hard work. After scrubbing my arms down in the sink several times and after a shower, I still have not been able to get all of the grease off of my elbows. I'm quite proud of the grease stains because I view them as proof that I did spend a long hard day at work in the engine room. Although I am now perfectly content to go back to making coffee.

Holidays to Remember

2010-01-04T08:33:00.003-06:00

Early in the morning of December 19th, the Africa Mercy pulled into her spot in the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. After a twelve day sail, all of the crew were more than ready to set foot on dry land. By noon, we recieved clearance to leave the ship. By 12:01 my friends and I were on our way into town.
After several months in Benin, we all knew exactly where we wanted to head as soon as we entered a first world country: McDonalds. Now I'm not exactly the biggest fan of plasticy hamburgers and greasy fries, but somehow that first taste of the All-American fast food was incredibly satisfying. After our thrilling McDonalds trip, we headed to the park. For the first ten minutes in the park, I was in such shock over seeing well maintained, green vegetation that I could harldy move! After recovering from the shock of seeing a well kept garden, I played on the swing sets and climbing apparatuses with my friends for the entire afternoon.
After a few days of exploring, then a couple days of work, we had a five day holiday for Christmas. The first night of holiday was a sad one as we had to say goodbye to two of our dear roomates, Michelle and Bonny Jean. Of all the goodbyes I have said over the past 4 months, that day was most definately the hardest.
On Christmas Eve, Aimee decided to make a giant brunch for all of the younger girls on board. After the majority of our close friends left, Aimee Chelsea and I realized the need to bond with the newer girls on board. Aimee did a wonderful job preparing an elaborate brunch and recruited Chelsea and I to help out with a little bit of cooking in the morning. We had a great, relaxing morning enjoying a delicious meal of pancakes (made in 3 different varieties), hash browns, eggs, and fruit with about twenty of our fellow crew members.
On the evening of Christmas Eve, it is a Mercy Ships tradition for everyone to put a shoe out in the hallway and in the night crew members go around and place their presents in friends' shoes. It was so fun to wake up Christmas morning to discover a shoe full of candy and other little treats!
Christmas day was another wonderful and relaxing day. While I missed my family more than I can say, my roomates and I had a wonderful time having our own "family" Christmas celebration. In the morning we woke up to a wonderful array of delicious breakfast foods served in the dining hall. Aimee and I chose to attend the Christmas morning brunch in our pajamas, mine being fleece footie pajamas covered in polar bears and snowflakes while Aimee's get up looked similar to an 80's workout instructor. We recieved several complements on our choice of attire then headed back to our room to open presents. The three of us took turns opening the presents from our shoes, each other, and our families. Michelle and Bonny Jean had filled our stockings before they left but had carefully instructed us not to open them before Christmas morning. To our surprise, they had filled it with candy coal! While typically coal is considered a bad present, I must say that this coal was probably the best coal I have ever recieved. After opening presents, Chelsea and I headed over to the cabin of our friends Elliot and Julle, our adopted parents for the day. A few other friends came over as well and we all spent the afternoon telling stories, opening presents, and playing games.
On Christmas evening the city held a giant symphony concert just a mile from our ship. The giant outdoor concert was free to attend and ended at midnight with a beautiful fireworks display and loads of fake snow being shot into the night sky. It was a beautiful ending to an already great Christmas day.
The rest of the weekend was spent doing more exploring around the island of Tenerife. Since we really dont know much of what there is in each city, we decided to explore by picking a random bus and seeing where it might take us. The first time we tried this, it turned out wonderfully! We ended up in the most picturesque little town where we sat at a cafe and drank coffee, then explored a giant garden overlooking the mountains. Our other attempts at random bus choices have not turned out quite as picturesque, but still ended up making for great afternoons.
On New Years Eve, everyone decided to get dressed up and go out for an evening in town. To our dismay, New Years Eve traditions dont start quite as early in the evening as they do in the States. When we headed out at 10 o'clock, the streets were completely empty! We wandered up and down the streets looking for something to do. Finally, around 11:30 we heard music in the streets. We followed the music and stumbled upon a street all lit up with colorful lights. At the front of the street a stage was set up and a live salsa band was playing. As the clock ticked closer and closer to midnight, the street slowly began to fill up, and by 11:55 it was so packed we could hardly move! As the countdown began, we tried counting along in English, but soon we realized their countdown had not begun at ten! Apparently there is a tradition here to eat on grape every second for the last twelve seconds of the year; therefore, the countdown had begun at twelve, not ten! We were so confused that right when the countdown hit zero, we still weren't sure if it was the new year yet! After a moment, however, we saw all of the fireworks and heard everyone cheering and knew that it was now the year 2010. The salsa band continued to play into the night and we danced for a few hours longer before heading back to the ship.
My time in Tenerife has been extremely enjoyable up to this point, I cannot believe its almost halfway over! These next few weeks will be extremely busy as well. On Friday, my sister Alyssa is flying up to visit for a week and in a couple of weeks I am flying up to Madrid to visit a friend for four days. While our time here has provided for a much needed break for all of the crew, I am also getting excited for heading to Togo in less than a month.

2009-12-17T06:34:00.003-06:00

Yesterday I saw some of the coolest things I have ever seen in my life! It was a day full of wonder after wonder! I went to bed in total awe at how incredible, thoughtful, and detail-oriented our Creator is!

I had the afternoon off yesterday, so I decided to bring my crocheting to the bow, where Chelsea and I hung out for nearly two hours. Soon after we walked out onto the bow, we saw several dolphins nearby. Within fifteen minutes, we were completely surrounded by at least 50 dolphins. A couple at a time would come up and swim directly in front of the ship. At one point, there were five dolphins swimming together, appearing to pull the ship as the glided effortlessly through the water! As I leaned over the edge of the bow, I could hear their high-pitched squeals as the talked to each other! The dolphins further off in the distance were doing twists, turns, and flips, seemingly putting on a show for all of the spectators. Typically, when dolphins are sighted, they only swim with us for about five minutes before falling completely out of sight again. But yesterday, they dolphins stayed with us for nearly an hour! It was absolutely incredible!

Later on in the evening, all of the crew were invited to a showing of the film "The Star of Bethlehem." I had heard that this was an interesting documentary, but I honestly did not expect to be too overwhelmed by the information presented. I assumed it would be another documentary of interesting observances, but nothing to make me drop my jaw over. In this matter, I was completely wrong!

The film was about one man's quest to unlock the mystery of the Bethlehem Star that led the Magi to Jesus. The man was not an astronomer, he was a lawyer. But God had ignited in him an interest in this one particular star. As he researched, he began to uncover dozens of signs placed in the sky throughout history! He used several clues found in the Old Testament to help him figure out what exactly the "Star of Bethlehem" could have been. He not only found out some incredible interesting facts, he also was able to find several prophecies and visions mentioned in the Old and New Testaments fulfilled through the alignment of the stars! On top of it all, he was able to see how the stars portrayed signs to the Jews on the day of Jesus' conception, at the moment of his birth, and at the second of his death! But since all of the stars and planets work like clockwork, everything had to have been aligned from the very second the universe came into being. Therefore, at the instant God began His creation, He knew the exact moment that He would appear to Mary, the second His Son would be born, and the instant He would die, forgiving the sins of the world.

I wish I could attempt to explain what all I saw, but since I am not the most knowledgeable person in the field of astronomy, I know that I would likely get all of my facts mixed up. Also, there was SO much that I learned last night, that I cannot even attempt to put it all into writing, or else this blog would go on for pages!

Thankfully, the man who created the film has his own website that explains all of his findings, so instead of attempting to explain it all here, I would encourage anyone who reads this to visit the site! Prepare to be completely awestruck at the incredible detail and precision of our Creator from the moment He put the universe into motion! The site is www.bethlehemstar.net

After the movie was finished, our small group met for our weekly Wednesday meeting. We spent over an hour just praising God and discussing how incredible He is! The only word we could come up with to possibly describe it all is WOW! Nothing else seems to encompass how speechless, awestruck, overwhelmed, and amazed we all felt!

At midnight, Kaylee and I were invited back to the bridge as some of our good friends were on the 12-4 watch. We were given the opportunity to steer the ship, which was of course so much fun! After we steered for a while, she and I stepped outside onto the catwalk in front of the bridge. Kaylee read my blog written a couple of days ago describing the view I saw from the catwalk on Sunday evening. She wanted to see the view for herself, so I brought her to the same spot. Last night, however, we saw something even more incredible! The water was full of millions of plankton-like creatures that began to glow as soon as something touched them. As the ship moved along, all of the waves seemed were full of glowing spots, matching the stars in the night sky. Suddenly, a dolphin came swimming past the ship in a zig-zagging motion, lighting up all of the plankton as he swam. The result was a swirling line of glowing water creating a tail behind the dolphin as he swam! It was beautiful, like one of the magical scenes portrayed in a Disney movie.

This morning, as I had my quiet time, I could not do anything but praise God for all of the beautiful, wonderful Creation I have seen over the past few days. I still am completely awestruck and at a loss for words to describe how excited and overwhelmed I feel.

When You Wish Upon A Star...

2009-12-14T03:36:00.002-06:00

This weekend, we were able to witness the Geminid meteor shower. What better place to view a meteor shower than in the middle of the ocean, over a hundred miles away from any sort of building or city lights? On the top deck of the ship, all of the lights are turned off during the sail, so the sky is illuminated by millions of stars.
On Saturday night, my friends and I were all hoping to view the meteor shower, but we were somewhat dissappointed by the cover of clouds that formed a fog over the stars. We decided to sleep outside, on top of the bridge, so that if the clouds went away, we would not miss the meteor shower. It was a windy night, so we had a lot of trouble getting all of our bedding laid out. One thing after another kept blowing away and we would have to go chase it down to avoid having a pillow or blanket fall into the sea. After a couple of warnings from the Captain that our scurrying around must stop in order for us to be allowed to remain on top of the bridge, we got everything settled and lay down to go to sleep. The temperature was perfect, warm with a cool breeze. We decided to use our duvet covers as extra padding underneath ourselves instead of as covers since it was not too cool outside. Around 1:30 am, I awoke to see that all of the clouds had vanished and the sky was polka dotted with stars. I immediately woke up everyone else so that we could together soak up the beauty of the sky around us. We were not able to see the meteor shower, apparently that became more visible around 3 am, but we did see some sort of incredible light that still remains unexplained. It appeared at first to be just a shooting star, but it seemed to go on forever! At first we were informed that it was probably just a satellite, but after more discussion, we discovered that it was much to fast to be a satellite. It started on one end of the sky and shot in a zig-zagging motion all the way across to the other side at lightening speed, eventually becoming invisible. Then, about five minutes later, it shot back the other direction. We are still trying to figure out what this beautiful wonder could have been.
As the night went on, the temperature dropped immensely. By about 2:30 am, we were all closely snuggled together, trying to share one blanket between the five of us, and hoping that our body heat might help us to make it through the rest of the night. Eventually, we began to warm up again and semi-comfortably finished our night outside.
Sunday night, Chelsea, Michelle, and I were invited up to the bridge to see all of the equipment used to steer the ship. The bridge is kept dark so that everyone can see ahead, with no reflections blocking their view of the sea. We were shown where the ship is steered and learned how the person steering must try and reverse the work of the currents and the wind. We also learned about all of the training necessary to work one's way up from deckhand to officer to eventually captain. One of the important steps in this training is logging over 30 hours of ship steering. For this reason, the majority of the sail is spent with the ship being steered manually instead of on auto-pilot.
After learning about all of the equipment used to steer the ship, we were shown a computer program that helps to track the stars. We saw that right at that moment, Mars was about to cross over the horizon. We raced outside to the outer rim of the bridge so that we could see it. From the bridge I saw the most incredible view I had ever beheld. Looking straight ahead, I could see the tip of the bow with the waves crashing against it. Beyond that was just an endless deep blue, the sea the same color as the sky. The only way I could differentiate where the horizen seperated sky and sea was where the shower of stars ended. The scene looked like it came from a planetarium simulation or something, it was so incredible it hardly seemed real! After nearly an hour of standing in pure awe of the scene ahead, we had to head inside and leave the bridge to get back to their work.
We decided to go up to deck 8 again in hopes of seeing the meteor shower. Emma and Bonny Jean chose to spend another night outside, but the rest of us decided to just lay out for a bit of the meteor shower then sleep comfortably in our own beds. Between 10:30 and midnight, we saw nearly a hundred shooting stars blast through the sky! We also borrowed some binoculars for a bit and were able to find the galaxy Andromeda. The whole time I remained in complete awe at this incredible picture God painted in the sky.
While we were laying out, Kaylee began singing the song "Indescribable". One line of the song says "Indescribable, uncontainable, You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name. You are amazing, God." How incredible is it that among all of the millions of stars visible, and the billions more that cannot even be seen by the naked eye, God placed every single one in the sky individually and He knows each of them by name.

A Birthday to Remember

2009-12-13T04:58:00.002-06:00

19 is the boring birthday between five exciting birthdays. At 16, you can finally drive. At 17, you can go to R-rated movies (ok, so not all that exciting, but at least something changes). At 18, you are considered a legal adult, and 20 you have made it through your teen years! And everyone knows why Americans love their 21st birthday. But there is nothing exciting about 19. You still have all the freedoms you got when you were 18, and no one really looks at you as more mature than an 18-year-old. In fact, there's pretty much no difference between 18 and 19. So for that reason, 19 is a boring birthday.

Except in my case...

How many people can say they spent their 19th birthday sailing through the Atlantic? How many people can say that on their birthday they went whale watching and laid out under a huge expanse of stars. I must say that while the age of 19 is not all that exciting, my 19th birthday was far more thrilling than my 18th, and I doubt my 20th will be able to top it either.

On the evening of the 10th, my roomate Chelsea told me I had to stay up until midnight so that she could be the first to wish me happy birthday. For the past couple of years, Aly, one of my good friends at home, has been the first person to wish me happy birthday by sending me a text message around 6 o'clock in the morning. Chelsea, however, was determined that this year she could beat Aly due to the fact that I don't have a cell phone, therefore I cannot recieve text messages. Around 11:30 I was exhausted and really wanted to go to bed, but Chelsea maintained that I had to stay up. I decided to get on Facebook to widdle away the last half hour before I was allowed to go to sleep. At 11:55, guess who signed onto Facebook chat? None other than Aly! I told her that she had competition this year in wishing me happy birthday, and reminded her that by my time, my birthday was only 5 minutes away. Now the race was on. Unfortunately for Chelsea, she ran out of the room for a second, sure that she would make it back before midnight. But at 12 o'clock on the dot, Aly sent me several birthday wished over Facebook. Chelsea, of course, was devastated, and Aly quite proud of her accomplishment, all the while I just enjoyed that two of my friends who don't even know each other were fighting over the titlement of "First Birthday Wisher of the Year".

The morning of the 11th, I was able to sleep in since I did not have to go to work. I woke up to find the table in our front area of the cabin completely covered in candies spelling "Happy 19th!" with a note from my 4416 family. It was so cute that I decided to take a picture. I went back into my bunk area to search for my camera, and when I returned, the exclamation point was gone! Apparently one of my roomates got a bit hungry and couldnt wait for me to take a picture before she dug in.

After I got dressed, I headed up to Town Square to get myself some coffee and to see Chelsea and Kaylee. Once I got up there, I was immediately surrounded by people showering me with hugs and "Happy Birthdays". The thing about living on a ship in a small community is that when it is somebodies birthday, EVERYBODY knows. Which of course, I don't mind at all.

On the ship, we have a tradition that when it is somebody's birthday, his friends ring the giant bell hanging on the wall and announce the birthday, then everyone sings and bangs loudly on the table. So at lunch, Bonny Jean and Emma waltzed proudly to the bell and rung it loudly, announcing that it was my birthday. I did not realize how incredibly awkward it is to have the entire dining hall all of a sudden stare at you and start singing while you are in the middle of eating! Apparently, my face turned bright red and my blushing could be seen from all the way on the opposite side of the dining room.

I decided to spend my afternoon in my home away from home here on the ship -- the crew galley. We got pecans on the ship for the first time, so I had been dying to make a pecan pie and finally I had time! Since Emma is allergic to nuts, she also requested that I make some sort of dessert without pecans. I decided to try my hand at a blackberry cobbler, even though I've never made on before. I just sort of guessed and estimated at what might work for the filling, and it ended up tasting quite good! Later in the evening, my cabinmates, Kaylee, and Emma's brother Chris all sat down with me to dine on pie and cobbler in celebration of my 19th year of living. Afterwards, we all went to the bow where we watched the ship glide through the waves and rock back and forth as the sun set beautifully over the horizon.

I came back to my cabin to see that I had several messages from my friends and family all wishing me a happy birthday. While I really enjoyed spending my birthday with all of my Mercy Ships friends, it was so nice to know that even back home all of my friends were thinking of me as well.

day two on the sea

2009-12-10T10:31:00.000-06:00

Today was day two of our sail; thankfully it turned out to be quite smooth as well. This morning work went on as usual, although I had quite a bit of difficulty making coffee while swaying back and forth. There were a couple of times when no customers were around and so I tried to sit on the stool we have behind the counter. More than once I ended up simply tipping straight over! After the third or fourth time I fell, I decided it would be best just to remain standing instead.

This evening as everyone sat at dinner, it was announced that some sort of funnel of water had been spotted near the boat. After the entire crew rushed to the windows, we saw that it was a water spout! We were so close to it that we could see the water coming up out of the ocean and forming the funnel. Some people said they think it was as close as a mere mile away.

About an hour later, the announcement came that dolphins had been spotted alongside the boat. Because I was nowhere near a window, I decided not to rush out to look. Apparently the dolphins were all gone before most people were even in a spot where they could potentially be visible. After another half hour, it was announced that killer whales had been seen! At this I decided it was well worth it to leave my work and rush to the window. I never got to see the whales come above the water, but I was able to see the water shoot from the surface as they came near the surface to breathe.

Later on in the evening we had a Christmas storytelling night. Different groups put together skits and were stationed in separate areas of the ship. The rest of the crew traveled from station to station to watch each skit. We all met back together in the International Lounge where the Academy children put on a music performance followed by Christmas carols sung by the whole crew. It was a fun evening to ring in the sail and to celebrate Christmas together. All in all I would say that Day 2 of the sail was quite a success! Great memories and zero seasickness! Now let’s pray the rest of the sail continues this smoothly!

water water everywhere...but we have plenty to drink

2009-12-08T16:01:00.006-06:00

As I write this blog, I am sitting on the top deck of a ship as it slices through the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The sky around me is bathed in a pinkish hue as the sun sets to my left. To my right I see only endless blue water and the purple haze of sky slowly dim to a dark blue. The slow hum of the laptop’s music completes the relaxing atmosphere as Kaylee and I soak in the magnitude of the scene.

This morning at 11 o’clock, the M/V Africa Mercy left her port in Cotonou, Benin and started the week and a half long trek north to the Canary Islands. While I have been consistently amazed at how vividly I have seen God work over the past four months, I have never been in such awe as in the past twelve hours. Just four days ago, there were doubts as to whether or not the ship would actually be able to sail. Several unexplained issues arose, providing complicating puzzles for the engineers to solve. Just twenty-four hours ago, there were parts that still had not arrived on the ship. A man working for Mercy Ships in Norway flew in on the 8 o’clock flight last night in order to deliver a necessary part. Engineers spent all night replacing the piece and this morning, the ship left her harbor just as scheduled. While God could have shown His power through allowing a problem-free sail preparation, He didn’t. Instead He gave us all yet again the opportunity to trust in Him, and then gave us all the more reason to stand in awe at what He could accomplish.

Watching the ship prepare to leave this morning was quite a production. While the engineers worked all through the night last night doing final checks, the work that I personally witnessed began around 8 o’clock this morning. The fire alarm rang loudly as we practiced an at-sea fire drill. Once we were all mustered and every crew member was accounted for, we were able to pull up the gangway in order to sail. I was put on coffee for the morning, so I had the joy of watching everyone’s anticipation as the morning dragged on. Around 10:30, it was announced that we were ready to depart, so we closed down the café and snack bar and headed up to decks 7 and 8 with the rest of the crew. Leaning over the edge of the railing, we watched the tug boats attach to the front of the ship. Finally, the pilot’s boat came up alongside the ship and the pilot jumped on board to guide us out.

As we began to move with the tugs, all of the crew cheered loudly. We waved goodbye to the day workers and a few crew members staying behind as the stood on the dock. Slowly, the dock grew smaller and smaller, as we looked on to the vast expanse of blue ahead of us.

After every bit of land was completely out of sight, my friends and I headed down to the dining hall to eat lunch. At this point, I really began to feel the rocking of the ship. As I stood in line holding my plate, I swayed from side to side, hardly able to stay standing! Although most people are slightly embarrassed by the fact that they can’t stand straight, I find the teetering somewhat hilarious, and I actually enjoy it (but we’ll see what I’m saying about it ten days from now…)

After a normal afternoon of work in the Ship Shop, I realized how exhausted my body was from the rocking of the ship. I went down to my cabin to take a quick nap and ended up sleeping for over two hours! I awoke to find all five of my roommates just as tired, so I felt a bit better about sleeping through the whole afternoon of my first day of sailing.

After dinner, the bow was opened up so that we could all stand to watch the sun set. It was without a doubt the most incredible sun set I have ever seen. The sun was so huge in the sky, it seemed to envelope everything. It was so radiant, yet somehow dim enough that I could look straight at it without hurting my eyes. We all leaned over the edge and let the breeze overtake us, giving the incredible sensation of flying! Then, as we leaned carelessly over the edge, we saw flying fish begin to jump in and out of the water. With wonder and amazement, my friends and I began to discuss how incredible heaven must be. In just seven days, God created all of this amazing world. Not only that, but this is creation having been tinged by sin. Can you imagine what heaven must look like, not only being completely void of sin, but also being prepared for us for thousands of YEARS? And if heaven and earth are only the creation, how much more magnificent must the thoughtful Creator be? As I think about it, I can only laugh because it is so beyond my imagination. I absolutely cannot wait!

Now that the sun has set, I am surrounded by the pitch black night sky. The captain has chosen to keep the lights off on the top deck of the ship in order that we don’t interrupt the beauty of the night sky. My friends and I will soon lie down in order to look at the stars. I have never before seen so many stars, especially being this big and bright. Again, I can only laugh at the magnificence of the creation I am currently witnessing.

This was taken as we left the dock. Sorry it's really choppy!

2009-11-29T04:32:00.004-06:00

Since it has been three weeks since I last blogged, I don't even know where to begin! So much has happened in the past few weeks so I will try and remember it all to relay in this blog. I'm sorry I have waited so long since my last blog, I'm going to try from now on to stay on top of things and write a blog as soon as something exciting happens so that I know longer end up in this situation with a million stories to try and compile into one blog. But for now, I guess this one will be extra long.

I believe in my last blog, I wrote about our invitation to the President's house for dinner. Well the first three times the dinner was planned, the President called last minute to cancel. But finally about two weeks ago, we actually made it to the dinner! The last hour before the drivers came to start picking us up was madness because no one actually believed the dinner was going to happen! By 4 o'clock, however, we realized that he still had not cancelled and we should probably figure out something to wear. My cabin was complete madness with eight girls frantically trying to get ready for a dinner date with the President of Benin. The evening was a long one, but it was also lots of fun. Upon arriving we were ushered into a giant room where we were served drinks and were expected to simply mingle around for about an hour. Finally around 7 o'clock we were allowed to enter the dining hall, of course by this point we were all starving! In order to enter the dining room, everyone had to go through a security checkpoint which only served to delay the process even longer. The dining hall seemed to go on forever with dozens of tables beautifully decorated in white and orange. After everyone was seated, the President presented awards to the founder of Mercy Ships as well as to a few other key people. He presented long speeches which I'm sure were full of endless compliments to us all, however they were entirely in French, and while I am trying hard to become fluent in French, my brain could not handle attempting to translate throughout the entirety of his speech. Therefore, my mind just concentrated even harder on the hunger I was feeling. FINALLY around 9 o'clock, four hours after we typically eat dinner, the President opened up the buffet lines for us to enjoy some traditional African favorites. The dinner was quite delicious, finished by a dessert of fresh fruits. While we dined, several different dance troupes from every part of the country performed for us. Because my table was near the back, we could not see much of the performances, but the performers all walked past us so we were able to admire their exquisite costumes. Around 11 o'clock the first set of people returned to the ship. My friends and I were in the final group of people to return to the ship, arriving around midnight. It was a night to remember, as I probably will never again get the chance to dine at the house of the president of a country!

Last Saturday I returned to the prison again for the final time. Because our outreach in Benin is winding down, all of our work with programs here in Benin must also come to an end. As we walked into the women's section, I was surprised not to see my friend Charlotte waiting at the door as she typically did. Chelsea and I began to wander through all of the pathways and rooms in the womens section looking for dear Charlotte, but she was nowhere to be found. When we returned to the main area, we asked some of the women where Charlotte might be. Excitedly, they all began to exclaim "Elle sortie!! Elle sortie!! Elle retourne a sa maison!!" I immediately got excited, then realized Chelsea did not know what they were saying. I turned to her and, laughing with excitement, said "Charlotte went home!" Typically the women in the prison have no idea when they will get to go home. Most have never had a trial, and even if they are given a release date, they understand that it means nothing until they are actually released. I don't think Charlotte had any idea when she would be released, at least she never gave me and hint that she did. Instead, she just continually asked us to pray for her and sing with her. It was apparent that her singing brought joy and encouragement to all of the women in the prison in the several months that she was there. To see that she was finally able to return home filled me with so much joy and encouragement, I cannot even put it into words. I have been praying endlessly for this sweet girl since I first became friends with her 2 months ago. To see those prayers answered is so exciting, and I know that I will one day see her again in Glory, where she and I can again sing together, this time in the presence of the King of Kings.

The rest of the day Saturday I spent relaxing at the beach. On Sunday Chelsea and I went to an ice cream shop in Cotonou that has free WiFi. We were able to use Skype and watch Facebook videos, which are restricted on the ship as they slow down the internet connection immensely. It was so nice to be able to watch the videos Emma Claire and Isaiah have made, as well as some from friends. Up until now I have only been able to see that they exist and longingly wish to be able to watch them!

On Monday, Chelsea began working with me in the Sales Department! It is so much fun to have her working with me now! She will be working in Sales until we sail to Togo, where she will go back to OR sterilizing. Kaylee and I took over the task of training Chelsea, a task my manager does not particular like doing herself. I'm so excited to have Chelsea work with me over the next couple of months!

Thursday, as everyone knows, was Thanksgiving Day. This week was probably the hardest week on me, as I saw all of my friends Facebook status's change to things like "Back to St Louis!" or "with family for Thanksgiving!" or "seeing high school friends!" I began to realize how much I miss home and being with friends and family for the holidays. Even more, I realized how sad it was to be in a community full of other nationalities on a major American holiday. Lots of people on the ship did not even realize that it was an important day to Americans. Because we expected the day to be a less cheerful Thanksgiving than typical, my American friends and I decided to do what we could to make it more special. On Wednesday evening Chelsea and I prepared pumpkin muffins from a box mix that my mom sent me. On Thursday morning, she and I skipped breakfast so that we could sleep in. We then ate our breakfast of pumpkin muffins in our room, realized how much we missed being able to eat breakfast in our pajamas! As we ate we reminisced on past Thanksgivings and our family traditions. We also talked about the things we are most thankful for this year. Although this was the least traditional Thanksgiving I have ever had, and in some ways the saddest, I realized that this year I was more thankful than ever before! As she and I talked we continually thought of more and more things that we were grateful for. It is amazing to see how God has blessed us since coming to the Ship.

After our relaxing breakfast, we had to head off to work which was a less than enjoyable day. It was busy and stressful and the whole time I was thinking of how I missed my family. The work day seemed to drag on forever, but eventually it was over. Thursday evening, Kaylee and Bonny Jean both had to work through dinner, then after the community meeting Chelsea and I had to work for a bit. We decided to save our dinners so that we could have a big family style Thanksgiving meal together after we all finished work. During the community meeting, Michelle and Bonny Jean decorated a meeting room so that we could have our dinner in private. At 9 o'clock we were all finally free to eat. Once we got up to the room for dinner, all of the frustrations and homesickness of the day just disappeared. There were eight people total at our "family" dinner -- 5 Americans, and 3 non-Americans who we welcomed anyways. It was so fun to include our non-American friends in our event, teaching them our holiday traditions. Our dinner lasted almost 2 hours, as we kept telling stories and laughing till our bellies ached. Even though I missed my family terribly, it was definately a Thanksgiving I will remember forever.

At midnight, we rang in the beginning of the Christmas season by blaring "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" loudly through our room, as I set up our little Christmas corner. We are doing the best we can to decorate for Christmas given our limited decoration options. As most people now, I LOVE decorating for Christmas, and I am not about to let the fact that I am on a ship in Africa diminish my decorating. So far, our room is full of paper snowflakes, paper chains, and even a 3-d Christmas tree made out of cardboard and paper! We also play plenty of Christmas music in our room, trying to get us all in the Christmas spirit. Still, the fact that it is 90 degrees outside brings down the holiday cheer several notches. I am hoping that once we set sail and the weather cools off a bit, we will be able to feel more Christmasy, but for now we are doing the best that we can.

On Friday night, Chelsea and I had swimmer watch. Because it is so close to the time of the sail, throughout the evenings there are continually people on watch to make sure no one tries to sneak on board as a stowaway. From 2-3 am, Chelsea and I were on watch in the front half of the ship. We were outfitted in bright yellow vests and given a giant flashlight and whistle. We got to roam the bridge, a section of the ship that is typically off limits to crew. While we did not get the excitement of catching any people trying to sneak on board, we felt proud that we were able to play a part in protecting the ship.

Yesterday was Blackout Saturday, the day that all of the electricity is turned off on the Ship in order to do necessary work on the engine before we set sail. Since there were no lights or air conditioning, we were stronlgy encouraged to leave the ship for the whole day. In the morning I went with my friends Emma and Bonny Jean to the CEO Boys home, a home for boys that have been rescued from trafficking in Cotonou. The ship raised money to buy paint for the home and we are now helping them to repaint all of their walls. Different groups from the ship have been going for several weeks now, but this was the first time for the three of us. We started by chipping the old paint off of the walls. Originally, the plan was just to chip off loose pieces before adding primer, but the boys in the home decided to take it a few steps further and chip of every single bit of the old paint (of which there were several layers!). Because it was so hot outside we were dripping in sweat, then as we chipped at the paint, all of the tiny pieces would stick to our skin, covering us in different colors of paint chips. After we chipped off a whole wall of paint, we began to prime the walls. In the beginning, the teams were doing good thick coats of primer, being sure that every bit of wall was covered. This time, however, the people at the boys home had watered down the paint immensely in order to make it last longer. For this reason, the paint was runny and difficult to get on well. After the primer dried, we began to add the color. Like the primer, the color was very runny and difficult to paint. For this reason, the walls looked drippy and less than beautiful. It was so hard for me to leave with them looking the way they did as I felt we could have done so much better! But the people at the home were just thrilled that we were willing to come and help. I guess the awful drip marks all over the walls did not bother them, they were more worried that they had enough paint to cover all of the walls in the building.

After we were finished painting, we had to come back to the ship to rinse off all of the paint before heading to the pool. We took quick showers, which was quite difficult in total darkness! The three of us then headed to a nearby hotel where we met up with the rest of Emma's family and spent the afternoon swimming. We ate dinner at the hotel as well. The restaurant is outside on a little terrace overlooking the lake. We sat at the table and watched the beautiful sunset while waiting for our food. It was such a nice relaxing dinner, much needed after a long, tiring day. Once we returned to the ship I was completely exhausted and went to bed extremely early.

This week is going to be extremely busy as we are all now preparing for the sail. All surgeries are finished and every patient has returned home. This week the whole ship will be securing everything for the sail. In the sales department this requires reorganizing all of our store rooms, our container, and some things in the Ship Ship and Cafe. Please pray that the five of us in our department are able to keep up our energy throughout the week as we have to do all of the things we least enjoy.

Please also pray for the safety of the Ship as we prepare to sail in just over a week. There has been some pirate activity very close to us, and while we have no reason to worry that we are in danger, please still pray that the Lord protects us from and potential dangers. Please also pray that we have a safe sail without any complications. I also ask that you pray for my health and sanity throughout the sail, as I don't yet know if I am prone to seasickness! I am beginning to realize more and more how incredibly long 10 days is, and the thought of facing ten days of sickness with no escape is quite daunting. I am praying that I am on of the few that has no issue with seasickness and that I will be able to enjoy the entire sail.

Please also pray that I will be able to enjoy the holiday season without getting homesick. The ship does so much to make the Christmas season fun, but at the same time there is nothing like being home with family for the holidays. Thankfully my friends here have become like family and I know that we will make the best of the season, as we all are missing our families together.

2009-11-07T15:59:00.002-06:00

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!

Fondation Regard D'Amour

2009-11-03T15:11:00.000-06:00

I love children. I have worked in a nursery, playing with hyper toddlers, calming screaming infants, and changing countless stinky diapers. I have taught swim lessons, dealing with obstinate three year olds. I have spent countless hours babysitting my own young brother and sister, helping out with the not-so-fun jobs such as potty training. While at times little kids can be exhausting, I have always found that the joy they bring far outweighs the frustration they cause. I love cuddling on the couch with my 5-year-old brother. I love holding babies in the church nursery. I love walking down the streets and waving at the children tied to their mother’s back with colorful strips of fabric as they smile and wave, yelling “Yovo! Yovo!” The joy on a child’s face always seems to radiate, leaving its mark on everyone around. Never did I think I would be at a place where the filth and frustration was so overwhelming that I could not even bring myself to hold a crying baby.

This afternoon, I had the opportunity to go to Fondation Regard D’Amour, a local orphanage. I told that we would simply be going in to play with the children while the workers had the opportunity to take a computer class. “How simple,” I thought, “this is just like my job back home. We will just sit around and play with the babies.” I was given the afternoon off of my work on the ship so that I could go with the small group to help out. On the drive there I was so excited, ready to play with little children. However, I soon realized that the situation was so much different than I had expected.

The children did not wear diapers, there were not enough available. All of them, even the infants, simply wore underwear and a t-shirt. Of course none of them were potty trained, so they would just wet their underpants whenever they needed to go. For this reason, they just did not wear any other pants. Even worse, after wetting themselves, nothing was done about the mess. There were a few wet towels scattered around the ground that we could use to soak up the puddle, but the underpants were not changed and nothing was disinfected. Their hands and toys would get in the mess, then they would put their hands and their toys in their mouths. The ground and the children all reaked of urine. It was so hot and humid in the room that the stench was magnified even more. They would wet their cribs, but the sheets were not changed. The few times the puddles were mopped up with a towel, nothing was done with the towel, it was simply left in the middle of the floor.

I stood in the center of the room in complete shock over the situation. I didn’t want to sit to play with the children, because that required sitting in the filth. But to pick up a baby would mean that I would be covered in their pee. It was so hard knowing that we could not come in and fix the situation. We could not come in with our Soft Scrub and sponges, diapers and wipes, and clean up all of the mess. Instead, we were expected to just come in and take care of the children in spite of the mess. But because of the mess, it was almost impossible to play with the kids.

On top of all of the mess, there were hardly any toys for the babies to play with, only a few stuffed animals and a broken Little Tykes car. They just crawled around on their own and entertained themselves. A few times I caught a few of the babies, all less than a year old, playing by themselves out on the deck, not a single person watching them. When a baby cried in his crib, no one went to his aid. After coming back to the ship, my roommate asked me if the children seemed happy. Sadly, as I thought about, I realized that not one of them really smiled or laughed throughout my time there. If you tickled them, they would giggle, but not with the joy of an innocent baby, rather with the strained laugh of a child who is experiencing a rare moment of happiness. The lack of joy in the building just darkened the already straining mood.

After two hours in the orphanage, I was so mentally drained that I could not bear to be there a moment longer. During the whole drive back to the ship, I just thought about the experience. I was in such shock that I could hardly even speak.

While we were discussing the orphanage, one of the other girls who went made an incredible observation. While we were in the orphanage, we could hardly stand to love on a child covered in such filth. But Jesus not only came down and loved on us in all our filth; He came onto our level and lived IN our filth to show us how much He loved us. I know that there is absolutely no way I could have such love for those infants to live in that filth with them, I could hardly even pick one of them up. To see such a tangible example of Christ’s love for us, and how much I fall short of possessing that sort of love, I am left in total awe. In some ways, I want to go back to the orphanage because I want to help those children, but I don’t know if I can bring myself to face the reality of the situation again in the near future.

What's the Good in Goodbye?

2009-11-01T15:17:00.002-06:00

This is a question I asked myself several times near the end of the summer while saying my goodbyes to friends back home. After seeing the same people nearly every day for 4 years of high school, it was hard to imagine going nearly 8 months without seeing one of these familiar faces! But in the midst of the teary-eyed farewells, I knew that the good came from the new adventure I was to face and the new friends that awaited me on board the Africa Mercy. It did not occur to me at the time, however, that this entire year would be full of goodbyes as people are coming and going from the ship on a regular basis. Up until this point no one had left the ship that I was close to, so I had never really understood this painful aspect of ship life. This week, however, I had to say goodbye to several people I had grown close with over the past 2 months.

This week alone, I said goodbye to two roommates, two of my fellow swing dancers, and two Ghana trip-goers, along with a few other people I have gotten to know quite well. On Wednesday evening, my friends Hilary and Natalie Cupp returned back to the States. Arriving shortly after me, I got to know the sisters because we were all new together. I soon found out that they both loved to swing dance, an activity I picked up my senior year of high school. We would set up speakers in the dining hall and teach some guys how to partner. The activity caught on quickly and we soon had a large group of spectators and participants several evenings a week. Now that they have left, we hope to continue the dancing, but know that it won’t be the same. The evening Hilary and Natalie left, we decided that we were not saying an official “goodbye” because we are determined to see each other again next year.

On Friday evening two of my roommates, Dorothea Muller and Melanie Langley, returned home as well. Melanie was only on the ship for four weeks, but every time a cabinmate leaves, the whole atmosphere of the cabin changes. It is sad to help pack up a person you have lived with for even a short amount of time. Dorothea was on the ship for three months, so she has been here the entirety of my stay so far. Dorothea and I got close in the midst of our whole Possotome trip/disaster several weeks ago. Since then, I have joined the small group she leads on a weekly basis. It will be different now having someone else lead our group, but it was so cool on Friday evening to see the entire small group at the bottom of the gangway to wish Dorothea back home to Switzerland. While walking up the gangway, the girl who is going to lead the group from now on declared “For this weeks small group – we all fly to Switzerland!!” Thankfully, since this is of course impossible, we still have Facebook to help stay in contact.

Two people from our Ghana trip also returned home this week. Throughout our trip to Ghana, our whole group grew really close, despite the big age differences. In the weeks since the trip, it has been really cool to have good friends outside of our age group, our group had become like a big family to each other. To then watch a small piece of that family leave the ship is hard. Belinda returned home to South Africa on Friday morning. I did not realize the time that she was leaving and ended up having to wave farewell in the middle of my morning run. On Saturday evening Tillman left for Germany. The night before he had given a farewell piano performance attended by a large group on the ship, then Saturday evening we said our final goodbye.

After saying farewell to so many people this week, it has begun to hit me how hard it will be in mid-December when nearly 50% of the crew ends their service with Mercy Ships. As a person who hates goodbyes, I am not looking forward to this time in the least bit. I have heard that the entire atmosphere of the ship changes when there is a huge turnover of crew. While I’m sure the new atmosphere will probably be just as wonderful as it is now, it is sad to know that such a big change is coming so soon. I realize now more than ever that I need to appreciate every day I have with my friends that are here now because the next 6 weeks will just fly by before must say goodbye to all but a few of them.

Ghana

2009-10-13T12:57:00.007-05:00

This weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Ghana for four days with ten other people from Mercy Ships. We had an incredible weekend, exploring most of the country in just 2 days! It was a very busy few days, full of tons of fun and adventure! Thankfully the Lord kept our whole group safe the entire weekend and the trip was much less eventful than my previous weekend excursion to Possotome. The group included my close friends Bonny Jean and Chelsea, both from the States, and Michelle from Canada, as well as Paul from the UK, Laurel from Australia, Tillman from Germany, Grace and Todd from the States, and Belinda and Mariechen from South Africa. At 4 o'clock on Friday morning, we all piled into a big van and drove nearly 12 hours through Benin, Togo, and finally into Ghana. It was a long drive, but the weekend was completely worth it! The country was absolutely beautiful and much cleaner than Benin. The first that we all noticed was the lack of pollution and abundance of fresh air! It felt amazing to be able to take a deep breath and not feel like your lungs were slowly turning black. Another wonderful difference between Ghana and Benin is that in Ghana everyone speaks English! I did not realize how much I missed being surrounded by my own native language.

We had a busy 4 days full of tons of stories, so I will try and outline the highlights as best I can...

No Pictures!!!

one of the first things we learned on the trip is that officials do not like to have their pictures taken, especially not at border patrols. we pulled into our first border station around 6 o'clock Friday morning where we all climbed out of the car to begin filling out the first of many sets of paperwork. Dear Chelsea decided that she would take a picture of the border station to begin the documentation of our trip. As soon as the camera flashed, guards swarmed towards her yelling at her in French. They demanded for her camera and told her the pictures needed to be destroyed. She tried to explain to them that pictures can be deleted from a digital camera, and showed them that she had deleted the picture she took. The guards were not convinced and took the camera from her, telling her she would need to go to a different station to settle the matter. At the other station, she again showed the guards how she had deleted the picture from her camera, but they still were not convinced. Finally after lots of arguing, Chelsea got her camera back, though as we pulled off the guards were all quite frustrated in having lost the battle.

Obama Obsession!

Throughout our trip we realized how obsessed the Ghanian people are with President Obama. There were Obama billboards, Obama cookies, and Obama t-shirts everywhere! We even saw one vendor selling Obama boxer shorts! Their was more support of the American president in Ghana than of even the Ghanian president. Every place we went, if someone found out a few of us were from the States, they immediately cheered "Obama! Obama!" The people of Ghana are convinced that having Obama as the President of America, their own country will benefit immensely. It was unbelievable to me how fervently the country supports Obama.

Waterfalls, a rock, and a three trunked tree...

On Friday, we travelled out to the eastern region o f Ghana to explore the mountainous regions. We visited two waterfalls, the Akaa waterfall and the Boti waterfall. Both were breathtakingly beautiful. After the waterfalls we began our intense hike to see the Umbrella rock. The Umbrella rock is an interesting rock formation in the shape of a mushroom, or umbrella. It took nearly an hour to hike to the rock, climbing through a cave and up and down walls of rocks. By the time we reached the end we were exhausted, but the view was amazing! For about 30 cents, we were able to climb a ladder up on top of the rock, where Bonny Jean, Chelsea, and I had fun taking lots of pictures. After the rock, we had another short hike in the hot African sun to see the three trunked palm tree. The tree was very unique, having split off into three trees but with the same base. We then began the long exhausting hike back past umbrella rock, back through the caves and rock walls, and all the way to our van. After our day of intense hiking, we drove to the Ghana Botanical Gardens where there was a giant festival. The gardens were packed with visitors, including some Ghanian royalty, all flocking around groups of African dancers. After walking through the gardens and enjoying their beauty, we sat in the garden area of the restaurant to eat a Ghanian dinner. By the time we sat to eat, it was pitch black outside, so we ate our dinner by candlelight -- which was probably all the better so that we could not see what we ate. I was told that some of the pieces of fish still had teeth and eyes, thankfully my piece contained nothing more than the spine.

Our God is a prayer-answering God!!

As we headed back to the hotel in Tema, we had to drive down a huge mountain. Due to the festival, there were several cars driving down the same mountain. The highway had two lanes going each direction, twisting and curving down the whole way. Suddenly, we saw to our left another big van speeding down the road, winding in and out of traffic, swerving from lane to lane. The van came extremely close to hitting us -- if it had we would have been thrown from the side of the mountain. Everyone in the van immediately thought it was due to a crazy driver, so we prayed together that no other cars would be in danger of getting hit by that van. Less than two minutes after our prayer, the traffic slowed way down. We saw on our left the van completely stopped, all of the people from the van on the road jumping, screaming, and rolling around on the ground. After a few moments, we realized that they were all praising God! It turns out their brakes had gone out at the top of the mountain and they had lost complete control over the car while careening down the mountain. Miraculously they did not hit a single car, which seemed completely inevitable. After our prayer, their van came to a complete stop! They had not reached the bottom of the mountain, they were still on an incline, but the car had stopped on its own! It sent shivers down my spine to see God so clearly answer our prayers in such a direct and immediate way.

Suspended over the forest!
On Sunday we rode four hours out to the Kakum National Park. At the park, their is a canopy walk suspended forty meters over the ground. While I am not too afraid of heights, I am extremely afraid of feeling unstable at great heights, so walking across 1 1/2 foot wide bridges high above the trees was definately a way to face my fears! The view was absolutely beautiful, and once I made it across I realized that the experience really was not all that frightening! It was just incredible to stand so high above the trees and see the beauty God has created from a totally different perspective.

The Fall into the Slave Dungeon
yes, it is true. I did fall into a slave dungeon. No worries, we were walking on a tour into the slave dungeon anyways, my clumsiness just helped me to reach the destination a little bit quicker. Everyone around me frantically hurried to help me back up and make sure I was alright, but since a couple of my friends new that I have had plenty of experience tripping and falling, they just stood there and laughed, knowing I would be alright.
After our trip to the Kakum forest on Sunday, we drove to the Cape Coast slave fortress. The fortress was a beautiful building with an incredible view over the ocean, but knowing the depraved reality of what it was built for dampened the mood of the place. Seeing the dungeons used to hold innocent African people before taking them to their new destination brought a new perspective to the horrific practice of slave trade. We also walked out the "Door of No Return" and down the path the slaves were taken, seeing the last view thousands of slaves saw of their homeland.
While it was very interesting to see the fortress where such an awful practice was contained, it was difficult to ignore the prejudiced remarks of our tour guide. At one point, he was telling us about how the church was built right on top of the slave dungeon. He then claimed that this was just further evidence that white people do not truly know God or how to worship him. He continued to say that even today white people do not know God because we only worship for one or two hours on Sunday mornings, while the African churches worship God for four or five hours. It hurt to know that this man was still blaming African slave trade on us and that he would so bluntly state that fact while we were standing in front of him.

Arrested by the Ghanian police!
well, threatened to be arrested at least. All over Ghana, the police are stationed at different points on the highways. If they want to pull you over they simply wave their hand and you are expected to stop. Because our taxi was from Benin, and the Benin plates were quite obvious, we were required to stop at every police checkpoint. After reviewing the drivers license and papers allowing him to drive in the country, the police would continue to look for something wrong with the car. At ever stop, the police were different. Some police were just looking for good conversation, so we would chat for a bit and they would let us go. At one stop, the police noticed all of the young white girls sitting in the back seat. Paul told the police he could marry Bonney Jean, she just needed to get back home to learn how to cook first. After promising he would pray for her every day until she returns, the officer let us go without a complaint. Another officer was happy to chat about football, convinced that Chelsea was really named after the Chelsea football club. But sometimes there are those officers who only want money. One such officer pulled us over, and discontent about the fact that he couldnt find anything wrong, asked our driver to get out and show him where the fire extinguisher was contained in the car. When he climbed out to open the trunk, the officer noticed that he was wearing flip flops. Apparently in Ghana it is illegal to drive a car on the highway while wearing flip flops. The officer asked us what kind of a bribe we would give him in order to forget the offense. Upon telling him that we would not give a bribe, the officer told us our only option was to go to court. He gave us a court date and told us we were under arrest. He kept making contradictory claims, trying to get us to pay him a bribe rather than sending us to court. After a long argument pointing out his contradictory explanations, the officer angrily handed back our papers and told us to leave. We were all grateful to be let go for free, but shocked at such obvious corruptness in the police system.

Finally, after 12 hours in the car on Monday, we arrived back at the ship. It was a long and tiresome trip, but well worth it.

me with a piece of fresh coconut straight out of the skin

bonny jean and i walking the canopy walk with no hands

"The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective..." James 5:16

2009-10-07T06:33:00.007-05:00

As I've been writing my blog, I've been hoping to keep everyone at home updated on what I have been doing here. However, in focusing on what I am doing, I have forgotten to include the things you all can lift up in prayer. I thought I would just write a quick blog to mention the things I personally need prayer for and what the ship as a whole needs.

First of all, I am leaving with a group of ten others to go to Ghana for the weekend. We are leaving at 4 a.m. Friday morning and will return on Monday evening. We have our cab drivers and overnight arrangements all made, but I would appreciate if you all would pray that everything goes smoothly. We are especially praying that we do NOT have a repeat of last week's adventure to Possotome. We will be visiting some of the most well known landmarks in Ghana, including a big waterfall. While the sites we are visiting do not require as much hiking as what some of the past groups have done, it will still be physically demanding. In the past couple weeks my knees have started bothering me while I run, so I am also praying that I am able to physically complete all of the hiking we need to do without any knee trouble.

Second, Mercy Ship's is sending the advance team to Togo on Monday so that they can begin to do all the preparations needed before the entire ship comes to port. They will be making the necessary connections, scoping out the area, working with the government for their help, arranging water and trash services for the ship, etc. They make all of the logistic arrangements so that when the ship arrives in Togo we just have to sail into the port and everything is ready. We are praying that everything goes smoothly and that they are able to make all of the arrangements without any trouble.

Finally, we began praying this morning in our devotions for the Togolese elections. The elections take place at the same time we are scheduled to arrive in Togo. The elections create the potential for lots of unrest within the country. We have been told that in the past, only those from Togo are in any danger and that we, as outsiders, should be fine. However we would still like to pray that there is as little fighting and danger as possible! If there are riots in the streets than the ship will go into lockdown, not allowing any crew off of the ship. If the danger is too great, then the ship will not go to Togo, but this is not expected to be the case. Although it is still over three months before we go to Togo, we are praying that the transitions will all go as smoothly as possible.

Praise His name with dancing

2009-10-05T16:39:00.005-05:00

In Psalm 149:3, David writes “Let us praise His name with dancing and make music to Him with tambourines.” This weekend I was given several opportunities to really see this put into practice. I have known that in the African community dancing is an important part of worship, but this weekend I saw how this stems from an incredible rhythm possessed by all of the men, women, and even young children. To witness them praising the Lord with these gifts brought chills to my spine several times this weekend.

On Saturday, I went with a group of people to the prison in Cotonou. Every Saturday a group of Mercy Shippers go to fellowship with the inmates and bring the joy of the Lord into the dark and depressing place. In Benin, the legal system is totally corrupted, causing great despair among the prisoners. The court claims someone guilty until they can prove themselves innocent in trial, but no one cares to put in the time or effort to arrange a fair trial for every person convicted; therefore, of the 2,000 prisoners in the Cotonou prison, less than 500 have had a trial. All it takes to be thrown in prison is one person’s complaint to the police. It could be years before the person is then given the opportunity to prove his or her innocence to the court and thus be set free. Because of this reason, many of the people in the prison are angry, bitter, and hopeless about their situation. When Mercy Ships comes into the prison, our group is divided up and sent with three different groups of people: one with the women and children, one with the teenage boys, and one with the men. I chose to go with the women, the most bitter group of them all. In previous weeks, the groups have led a worship service among the women, but there has been such a presence of animosity and spiritual oppression that the services could not continue because no one would participate. Instead, we each went off and talked and prayed individually with the women. My friend Chelsea and I sat and talked with a woman named Mme Marco for nearly an hour. Mme Marco spoke no English, and Chelsea spoke very little French; therefore, I had the most difficult time in the conversation, attempting to translate for both. She shared with us her story of how she came to be in prison after being unjustly accused. She said that she is supposed to be released on Friday and will go home to work in the boutique she owns with her daughters. She gave us the phone number and address of her shop, and Chelsea and I plan to visit her soon. Although it is quite possible her story of innocence is not true, Chelsea and I plan to visit her shop and continue get to know her.

After our long conversation with Mme Marco, Chelsea and I joined a couple other friends in a small room with a teenage girl, a couple young mothers and their children. Even through the language barrier, we were able to laugh and talk for a long while. They began to compare each of us to a celebrity based on our hair color. After informing my friend Bonny Jean that they thought she looked like Celine Dion, they asked her to sing. Thankfully, she and I knew a few African worship songs which we began to sing for them. They got so excited and began to sing and dance with us! It was incredible to see how even in the dark hopelessness of prison, these women found joy in worshipping the Lord with us!

On Sunday, I attended church at the Hospitality Center, where I sat with a little three year old boy who had had surgery on his right hand. Before the service began he had snuck a small instrument and brought it to his seat to play. The instrument was a gourd covered by a beaded netting, a popular instrument found all over the streets here. After returning to his seat, he showed me the instrument and began to play it in perfect rhythm! Because of his cast, he could not play it against his hand as it is normally used, so he instead beat it against his little arm. Once the whole congregation began to worship, he then stood up on the bench and began dancing! He danced perfectly to the beat of the music, closing his eyes and just feeling the rhythm with his whole body! Everyone around me stared in amazement at this little three-year-old dancing and praising.

Later Sunday evening, I attended the worship service held on board the ship. A group of African girls performed a few for us in the service, where I was yet again amazed at their ability to dance. The group contained about twenty girls ranging from about five years old to fifteen years old. They performed three dances for us as a thanks for the work Mercy Ships is doing in their country. While their steps were not complicated and their form was far from perfect, I remained completely awed by their incredible ability to feel the music. Every one of them, all the way down to the five year old girls, moved every inch of their body perfectly in time with every beat of the music – just like the boy in church and the women in the prison.

I am continually amazed at how dance and worship are integrated into every fiber of the people here. While I have witnessed their dancing and worshipping the entire time I have been here, it did not strike me until this weekend how incredible it is that God has blessed them with such an amazing gift, and that they then use the gift to praise Him with all of their hearts. By expressing their emotions through dance, their love for the Lord is so visible. How incredible would it be if we could all daily display such an open and joyful love for our Lord on a daily basis, whether at home, work, school, or sports? A love and joy not hidden by insecurity or fear of looking different, but a love that is expressed by praising God with the gifts and talents He has bestowed upon us all as His children?

This is my little friend at the hospitality service goofing off earlier in the week. This is the same boy that played the instrument and danced for us during the Sunday morning service! Sorry it is sideways, I'm not really sure how to fix that...

a weekend to remember

2009-09-26T17:53:00.003-05:00

This past week at work was the busiest since I arrived. Once a month a new shipment of inventory comes to the ship, and we must carry it all box by box to different storage closets all over the ship. After four long days of heavy lifting, a three day weekend was well desired. Six of my friends and I decided to go up to a small fishing village called Possatome for our holiday. Dorothea, our friend from Switzerland who speaks french pretty well, made the arrangements through on of the day volunteers on the ship. Our cab was supposed to pick us up from the ship at 8 a.m. Friday morning and drive us straight to our hotel. From the hotel we could walk to the beach and lay out Friday and Saturday then Saturday afternoon the cab would come pick us up and bring us back to the ship. Everything was worked out with the taxi company and the hotel, so we were all completely ready for our relaxing, stress-free weekend getaway.

Unfortunately, not everything went quite as planned. In fact, this weekend turned into probably the most eventful and unforgettable weekends of my entire life.

From the very beginning we knew it was going to be an adventure. We awoke Friday morning to tumultuous storms. I have been in Africa now for a month and have not seen more than a drop of rain the entire time. Of course, on the day we plan to go to the lake, the thunderstorms hit. The rain was pouring so hard that we could not even see past the gangway onto the dock. Slightly discouraged, nevertheless happy to be leaving Cotonou, we sat and waited for the taxi. And we waited. And we waited. After almost two hours of waiting, several confusing conversations with other Mercy Shipper's cab drivers, and multiple sprints through the pouring rain, we decided to call our cab driver to see where he might be. Dorothea, the girl who made all of the arrrangements, asked him if he was going to be here soon. He assured her that he was close, it would be very soon, he was on his way. She then asked him if he was actually even in his car yet, to which he replied "but it's raining! I cannot walk to my car in the rain!" He assured us that he would arrive within half an hour. Soon after a man came up the gangway claiming to be our cab driver. I'm pretty sure that he was one of the drivers I had talked with earlier in the evening who had assured me he was friends with Michel, our driver, and knew that Michel was on his way. Now he was claiming to be Michel himself and he showed us to our cars. The car that I rode in leaked water through the doors and the entire windsheild was cracked. We all just smiled and laughed, somehow knowing that this was only the beginning of our adventure.

As the car pulled off the dock, we realized how much it really had rained. The streets were completely flooded! At one point, the car was driving through so much water that even the outside door handles were covered by the "puddle." Eventually, the rains stopped and when we arrived in Possotome two hours later, the sun was shining and the sky was clear.

Once we got to the hotel, there was some sort of confusion about our reservation, then we were led to a different hotel. We are not sure if we were first brought to the wrong hotel or if the first was out of room, but eventually we were taken to the right place.

We arranged with our taxi drivers to pick us up the following afternoon then proceeded to pay the previously agreed upon price. They were unhappy, however, with our payment. Apparently, since they had to bring two cars, they expected us to pay double the price we had agreed to. Thankfully our hotel owner argued with them and got them to let it be. We were glad that the ordeal ended without a fight, but nervous that the drivers may not return the following morning.

After a quick lunch and change of clothes, we headed down to the beach. The beach was absolutely beautiful, perfect to begin our relaxing afternoon. Besides the chickens that roamed and pecked at our feet and the bird that left an unwanted package in one of the girl's hair, our afternoon at the beach was uneventful. When we were ready to eat dinner, we were told that we were already at the restaurant! Apparently the little picnic area we saw was the restaurant. We were not sure where the kitchen was or who was really in charge of the restaurant, so we decided to find another place to eat. Thankfully, at about this time another group of Mercy Ship women who were spending the holiday at Possotome passed by our spot of beach. They invited us to their hotel for dinner. Our meal was nice, though we did have to serve as translators for our new Mercy Ships friends who had quite a complicated order. We were ready to head back to our hotel, but quickly realized it was already dark! It is too dangerous for white people to walk at night in Africa because we stand out so well and all of the Africans blend perfectly in to the darkness of the evening. We could be perfect, unsuspecting victims to a nearly invisible attacker. We needed to find an African to walk us back to our hotel. We were able to convince one of the workers at the restaurant to walk with us if we paid him.

Once arriving back to our hotel, which was really just two seperate brick buildings, each containing two rooms and covered by a thatched roof, we all gathered in one room to talk. We were sitting around the beds eating cookies when all of a sudden the electricity went out. What little light we had in the room turned into pitch darkness and the fan turned off. We all laughed, thinking that nothing else could possibly go wrong. I jokingly said "Oh we should just be grateful for all of our little problems, because they just add to our adventure!!". Everyone agreed that even though everything had been frustrating, we would prefer this adventure to a boring, uneventful weekend. Of course, we thought that the worst of our frustrations were over.

Then we heard the loud crack...the bed broke beneath us. It just snapped apart and fell to the ground! At this point, the whole situation was absolutely hilarious and we were dying of laughter. Unfortunately our laughter was so loud we could not hear the screams of our friend Kaylee, whose foot was caught underneath the bed. After realizing what had happened we helped her to get her foot free. It immediately began to swell and bruise, we were afraid it might be broken. We had no access to ice or any sort of medical care, but thankfully some of the girls on the trip were in the middle of their medical training. We were able to soak towels in cold water in lieu of ice, then use tape from a first aid kit to stabilize her foot. We contemplated trying to find a cab home, but knew that at this point it would be too difficult.

By this point, we decided to pray that no more adventures befell us and also that Kaylee's foot would be okay to make it through the night. We each took a turn praying, some in english and some in their first languages. It was really neat to hear everyone praying in their own language. Since we all speak English on the ship, it is easy to forget that for the majority of Mercy Shippers, english is not a first language. For many it is a second or even third language, therefore a very difficult language in which to pray. After our prayer, the only other small issue that came up was when the top of the toilet seat snapped in half. I am not quite sure how exactly this happened, but it was just the icing on top of the cake. But considering that the toilet already did not flush unless we scooped water from the giant bucket provided for us into the toilet seat, we figured that it was not too much of a loss.

The second day was for the most part uneventful, only a few little problems here and there. Kaylee was feeling slightly better so we returned to the beach, and some of us went out in a boat to learn how to cast nets in order to fish. After a long morning, we headed back to the hotel to pack up. Finally, the cab came to bring us home. The only problem was that there was only one car with four seats. The second driver had gotten so upset that we wouldn't pay more that he decided to not return. So all seven of us had to pile into four seats for the entire two hour drive back to Cotonou. I sat in the lap of Kaylee (who is already crippled at this point) in the front seat. The roof of the car was so low that I had to lean my head out of the window in order to fit. The funny thing is that this was not abnormal for an African taxi. We have seen cars driving down the streets before with between six and seven people sitting on a three seat bench!

Our cab driver decorated his entire car with pink and white fake flowers and filled it with strawberry scented air fresheners. He also had a bunch of bananas sitting on the dashboard. His car also housed a large collection of cassette tapes, each containing some sort of traditional african chanting music. So with the volume blasting as loud as possible and the scent of fake strawberries wafting through the air, we endured the two hour long treck back to the ship piled into a tiny car.

Thankfully we all returned to the ship safely and for the most part in tact. After sharing the story several times with all of our friends on board, we still laugh everytime we think about it. While some could see our holiday as totally ruined, we our grateful for our eventful little adventure. This past week in my Bible study, we talked about how living a life in God's peace does not mean giving up a life of adventure. If nothing else, this weekend definitely helped to reinforce that wonderful lesson.

another week gone by...

2009-09-20T09:19:00.003-05:00

yet another week has flown by here on the ship. every day is so busy and times goes by so quickly! I have had several little adventures in the past week, something exciting happens almost every day! i don't have the time or the energy to share everything that has happened, but i will write about last tuesday night.

every tuesday and friday night a group goes out to a different part of the country and shows the Jesus film to groups of people. I have always had hesitations about the effectiveness of Jesus film ministries. I always hear stories of people going into obscure places, showing the film, somebody shares their testimony, then their is a call to prayer and have the crowd prays to give their life to Christ. But I've always wondered if these people truly know what they are doing? Do they know what it means to have a relationship with Christ? Do they know the day to day struggles they are going to face? Do they know what it really means to have theirs sins forgiven by Christ? Also, what happens after we leave? Will they remember the commitment they have made? Will they grow in the faith? How can Christians really hope to reach into the hearts of a group of people if they just drive in to town for a few hours, just long enough to show a film, then leave as quickly as they came? There is no sort of discipleship, just showing a movie!

The second hesitation I've had towards a Jesus film ministry is because of the cheesiness and unprofessional quality that I've observed as an American who is used to well made movies. The characters are so stereotypical, the sets are low budget, the film quality is poor. If you were to show the Jesus film to a group of non-Christian, American teenagers the result would be endless amounts of mocking. It never occurred to me that in another culture, the results could be so vastly different!!

I decided to go ahead and go on the trip last tuesday because I wanted to really see how this ministry worked. I thought that if I was going to be judgemental about the ministry, I should first actually see it in action. Also, most of the outreach opportunities are during the weekdays, so my work schedule does not allow me to get involved in many of those opportunities. I really wanted to go out and do some sort of ministry and the Jesus film was my only opportunity.

Throughout the entire film I prayed that God would please just help me to gain something out of the experience. I hoped that I would be able to view the experience in a different light, or at least have some sort of peace about the effect of the ministry. When we arrived at the sight, there was a little girl who stood by a tree just beaming from ear to ear at the 3 white girls. I went up to talk to her, and she was immediately thrilled that I spoke french. Although she was very shy and my french is not very good, we were able to communicate fairly well, and by the the time the movie started she would not leave my side. For the entire two hours of the film I sat on a hard wooden bench with this little girl cuddled up in my lap.

Although I couldnt understand the movie (it was in Fon, the main tribal language in Benin) I of course knew the story well. Because I have heard and seen the story over and over and over again, it just seems so mundane and not that exciting. Sure we hear the analogies to fishermen and shepherds, but as an American who does not have to fish for a living or guide sheep or cows, the stories have never truly amazed me. But in this crowd the reactions were totally different. Most of these men spend their days out in the ocean fishing for hours every morning. They cast their nets out in the morning and work all day to bring them in. When they saw Jesus filling the nets with fish, they all gasped and talked among themselves! They fully understood the effect of this miracle. Throughout the entire movie, they all had the most amazed reactions to every scene! They were completely oblivious to the poor quality or the cheesy character stereotypes because they had nothing else to compare this too. It made me so sad that I could not hear the story of Jesus life and be filled with such awe and wonder every single time.

Once we got to the scene of the crucifixion, it was the innocent naivety of the little girl I was holding that truly helped me to feel the full affect of what Jesus did for me. I have seen different renditions of that scene so many times that it never really seems THAT horrific anymore. I just think, yeah He was whipped, yeah He was beaten, yeah He had to carry His own cross, yeah He was nailed to a cross. But I've heard it so many times it becomes just words running through my brain. But to this little girl, it was her first time to witness this scene. She had watched the whole movie with such joy, had gotten so involved with the characters. But she didn't know what to expect in the end! When she saw her Jesus get arrested, she gasped! As she saw Him being beaten she held her hand over her mouth in disbelief. When she saw Him carrying His cross, she was shaking uncontrollably, and when she saw Him nailed to the cross she started to cry. After watching the emotions of this little girl, it finally occurred to me how truly incredible Christ's gift of salvation is. I finally fully understood the true horror of what He endured for me.

After the movie was over, the person in charge proceeded to share his testimony and call up anyone who wanted to give their life to Christ. The little girl in my lap jumped up and ran to the front. But so did almost every other person who watched the movie. Again, all my hesitancies arose. I wondered how many of these people have given their lives to Christ before? How many of these people have heard this story and were so full of emotion that they immediately ran up to pray? But how many of these people ever got past only the awe and wonder of Jesus and really had a daily relationship with Him?

I then remembered Paul's words in Phillipians 2, "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion in Christ Jesus." At that moment, I did not need to worry whether these people were truly saved. The white people with big technology did not begin the good work in the hearts of these people, it was Christ who did that. We merely followed His commands to reach out to them. It was not our movie or our words that began a good work in them. And it was not our words or our actions that will carry it on to completion, it is Christ who will do that.

While I still firmly believe that their is a major lack of discipleship happening in many ministries, I was extremely encouraged and eased after seeing the efforts of evangelism in these people. I do believe it is important for more people to consider the same questions I have, for more people to focus on not just evangelism, but discipleship. Not just coming in showing a movie and leaving, but getting to know the people and teaching them about the full effect of their relationship with Christ. But on Tuesday night, I was reminded that God is not limited by our humanity. His kingdom is not limited by our lack of discipleship. God will be faithful to reach every nation and reach the hearts of every people group. At this point, it is not necessary for me to look down on the ministry of the Jesus film because here in Africa, it is an extremely beneficial evangelistic tool.

fabric market

2009-09-11T17:08:00.002-05:00

I am now almost 10 days into my 7 month trip and still never cease to be amazed that I am actually here. I have been working a lot so it has been very tiring. Still, there is so much to do in my free time. This afternoon I visited the fabric market in order to pick out fabric to have a skirt made. The market is just one street of vendor after vendor selling tons of fabrics. I found the one I wanted and was told it would be 5,000 CFAs for 6 yards, equal to $10. I was so overwhelmed by all the fabrics and all of the people and so stressed about trying to barter in French that I just took it at his price and left. Of course this was way over priced so the vendor was extremely happy. While I am somewhat upset I paid too much, I realize that a reasonable price of 3,500 CFAs is only $3 less, so it’s not really a big deal for me in the long run. I also received a marriage proposal. His name was Jean, and he absolutely did not understand why I did not want to marry him and bring him home to the states to meet Obama (the people here are obsessed with Obama).

Tomorrow morning I am going with a group to visit a local prison. We will get to talk with the prisoners and just get to know them and their stories. I am very excited because this is my first real opportunity for outreach. Most of the day trips take place on weekdays and because of my work schedule, I am not able to participate in any of these outings. One of the harder things to remember while working on the ship is that this ministry does not so much focus on having each individual on the ship work in outreach ministries, but instead to focus on the impact we provide altogether. As a whole, the ship is a fully running community and every job is necessary to make the ship run well. While not every job directly ministers to the people of Benin, as a whole the community has brought about a world of change for these people. While I would love to be directly interacting with the people of Benin every day, I know that this is not possible given my position on the ship. Still, I am able to see the profound impact Mercy Ships has provided among these people. Yesterday as I was walking through the streets with a friend, several people pointed and called out “Mercy Ship! Mercy Ship!” Just the people on the street knew who we were and how much we had helped their people, and they were all so excited to see us walking through town.

one week already?

2009-09-08T17:16:00.002-05:00

It is hard to believe that I have already been gone a full week!! Even though I have settled in here well, it doesn't seem like I've already been here a full week! I have adjusted pretty well to ship life, although not completely. It is a very different atmosphere than living at home, but also very different than if I were actually living in the city of Cotonou. It is a nice transition phase, but also comes with problems of its own. The thing that has been most difficult for me to adjust to is the constant rocking of the ship. I constantly find myself swaying from side to side, at times it is hard to keep your balance. Another difficulty is that many things are written in 24 hour clocks, or army time. Trying to decipher that as well as figuring out the time change has caused me lots of confusion in calling home. I have also had to figure out how to estimate conversions from celsius to farenheit, lbs to kg, and USD to CFAs. Not to mention all the while trying to understand dozens of differing accents! While I have been told that the full adjustment phase takes about a months time, I am happy to report that the first week has not been too difficult.

At this time please pray that I am able to keep my energy up! Working regular work hours, 8-4, 5 days a week, is exhausting!! By 9 o'clock in the evening typically I am yawning and fully capable of falling asleep for the night!

Please also continue to pray also that I am able to raise a bit more money, I am still in need of between $500 to $1000. There are lots of opportunities to take weekend trips to neighboring countries or various parts of Benin. While the costs are extremely cheap, I am having to limit my spending due to my tight budget. While I am here, I hate to say no to a low-cost backpacking trip through Ghana or a safari in Northern Benin, as these opportunities are once in a lifetime!! But without knowing how I will pay for a plane ticket home, I am having to limit my spending money. So please pray that not only will I get the rest of the support I desperately need, but also that I will be able to be wise in my spending habits while abroad.

another day down

2009-09-04T15:08:00.002-05:00

Today I began my work on the ship. On Friday mornings the Cafe sells waffles, so I got to help with the waffle serving. The Cafe is really relaxed because in the morning because most everyone on the ship is working and all of the children are in school. At 10 o'clock most everyone gets a coffee break for half an hour so that is really the only time the Cafe is busy. The rest of the time we just got to stand around and talk. There are only 6 people that work in the Cafe, so we always work together and will get to know each other very well. After the morning rush died down we cleaned things up and were free for 2 hours. When I came back in the afternoon I learned how to work the computers so I stood in the snack bar and helped check people out when buying their candies and sodas. The snack bar has lots of treats from different countries, trying to please everyone, so I'm pretty excited to try some of the things they have there.

This evening I joined a group to go out and play ultimate frisbee. A group goes to the police academy to play every friday, but today there was a big group of guys already on the field. We tried to talk with them and explain that we always get these fields on Friday and tried to arrange a way to split the fields, but they would not listen and kept yelling and yelling. They are a very physical culture, so whenever men are talking, they always hold each others hands or arms. At one point during the argument one of the African men put his hands on one of our men's forearms. He tried to shake that African man's hands off of his arms, then apparently the African men thought we were trying to fight! A bigger group came up and surrounded our person and yelled even louder. At that we agreed to just go and find another field somewhere else. We drove to a different field that was close by, but because of the terrible traffic here it took a long time to get there. Once there we attracted quite a lot of attention -- everyone wanted to see this strange sport and so many white people. Then we began to slowly see water bottles and keys disappearing from where we had put them. Thankfully we caught on to this pretty quickly and moved the rest into the cars before they got taken. We played for about an hour, until it got too dark to play anymore. It felt so nice to be able to get off the ship and run around. It was also nice to actually be in Cotonou, sometimes on the ship it can begin to feel like America so it is nice to go out and remember where you really are. I also got to meet lots of people this way which was really nice. Alot of them go play soccer two nights a week and volleyball once a week so there is plenty of opportunity to get off the ship and play games.

There are also alot of ministry opportunities off of the ship, but I havent been able to participate in any of them yet. Hopefully I will get to do that soon, but just getting oriented here has kept me pretty busy so far.

arrival

2009-09-03T16:38:00.002-05:00

I’m finally here! After 24 long hours of flying and layovers, I arrived in Cotonou at 7 p.m. last night. The next hour was probably the most stressful of my entire life! Everyone on the plane and in the airport was either French or African therefore spoking only French (or very broken English with a thick French accent which was even more confusing than French itself) and although I have taken French all of my life, I could not communicate at all! I could make out bits and pieces of what they said, but when I tried to speak everyone looked at me like whatever came out of my mouth was just mindless blabber. Finally one man on the plane noticed my US passport and came up to talk to me in English – of course the first thing he asked was “It’s your first time in Africa isn’t it. I can tell”. Great, I actually do look as lost and confused as I feel. We chatted for a bit (turns out he was an American and also used to live in Missouri) and I was able to get my way past security and into the baggage claim. This was just one room probably about the size of a basketball court (think the actual court that is played on, not the whole gym area) with the conveyor belt holding bags snaking around the room and tons of metal carts to help people carry their luggage. Now add in the 250 people on the plane, all of their luggage, the 25 people in uniform “helping” with bags, and the 90 degree humid heat and you make for a very overwhelming experience. After about 20 minutes of pushing my way through people, standing on my tip toes, and jumping, I finally caught one glimpse of the conveyor belt. It took about half an hour, the help of 3 African men, and lots of broken attempts at speaking French, but I finally had my bags. I got ready to push my way back through the crowd of people towards the exit, and soon discovered that one of the wheels on one of my duffel bags had broken. I pushed through the exit doors completely exhausted and disoriented, dripping in sweat, and dragging two 50 pound duffels and could only think of wanting to be at home. Thankfully, I immediately saw the group holding a Mercy Ships sign. Once we recognized each other they were all so nice and excited, and I soon forgot about how much I had hated my first hour in Africa.

The drive from the airport to the ship was another long adventure in itself… in Cotonou, traffic laws are merely vague suggestions. Throughout the entire drive I was tense and terrified, but the most frightening part of the ride was when we drove for two miles down a one way street going the opposite direction. I swore right then that I absolutely will not drive as long as I am here.

Once on the ship, I had to fill out a few papers then got to come to my room. I share a cabin with 5 other girls, all much older than me. It is very close quarters with no natural light, but it is actually fairly comfortable. I was able to unpack all my things and settle in a bit before finally getting some much needed rest.

on the way...

2009-09-01T17:29:00.001-05:00

The day is finally here, I am on my way to Cotonou! I am currently sitting in the Detroit airport waiting for my flight to Paris. I will be arriving in Cotonou, Benin, tomorrow at 7 p.m. local time (1:00 p.m. for those of you in St Louis). Saying goodbye to my family was undoubtedly the hardest part of my trip so far. Emma Claire’s loud sobs could break anyone’s heart, but Isaiah’s silliness helped to lighten the moment. But once I got past the tears, I realized again how incredibly excited I am to be going to Africa. While waiting to board my first plane, I was texting with some friends and thinking myself crazy for what I was about to do. But right as they called my flight to board, I got a text from a friend saying “You’re not crazy, you just wanna serve God! So go!!” That small text gave me the strength to step onto the plane and leave my beloved St Louis behind. Once I turned my phone on in Detroit, I had received several texts from friends and family encouraging me and saying that they were praying for me. It is so exciting to see how many people back at home feel just as much a part of my travels.

I have been amazed over the past months to see God’s hand so clearly orchestrating these plans for the next 7 months. Now that the time is here, it feels so surreal. When I was making the plans, I of course knew what I was getting myself into, but it never really feels like the day is gonna come. Even as I bought my plane ticket, packed up my bags, and said teary goodbyes to my friends, it never really seemed real. It first hit me the realness of the situation last night as I was putting my little brother and sister to bed. They sat cuddled up in my lap for half an hour, showering me with hugs and kisses. Isaiah looked up at me and, in his sweet little voice with pleading eyes, begged, “Kendall, will you miss me while you are gone?” All summer I have asked him if he will miss me, but last night, for the first time, he wanted to be sure I too would miss him. Today, standing at entrance to security, I had to hug everyone goodbye for the last time. That is when the whole situation felt completely real.

At this time my prayers for the next 20 hours are for safety over the rest of my trip. Also, please pray that I will look with excitement at what is to come, even though I had to leave my family and friends behind. Jesus asks us if we will be willing to leave everything we own in order to live a life serving Him. While this is probably one of the hardest steps to take, He promises a life full of joy in serving Him! I know that throughout this trip it is inevitable for me to feel sad at what I have left behind in the States, but the rewards, both in this earthly life and in heaven, will be well worth it! Please pray that in the midst of saying goodbye, I remember that I am heading towards the most incredible adventure of my life so far. Pray that He will also comfort my family as they all struggled to say goodbye, especially Emma Claire. Please continue to pray that upon arriving in Cotonou I will make close friendships quickly in order to make up for (but not replace!) those I have left behind.

almost there!

2009-08-22T23:10:00.003-05:00

With just 9 days remaining til I leave for Africa, I am amazed at how the Lord has so evidently answered my prayers. Although not all of my support has come in, the amount I have left to raise seems so much more manageable. I now have enough money to cover all of my crew fees for the entirety of my trip, I just need the money for a flight home!
Now that most of my friends have left for college, I have found myself with two weeks just full of free time. Because I love to bake so much, I decided I should try selling some of my favorite things and see if I could raise just a bit more money before I leave. I expected that maybe a few people would be interested, but I didn't really think I'd get much response. Thanks to people spreading word through emails, however, I have now sold over $300 worth of breads and desserts in just 3 days! My hope is that over the next week I am able to continue baking and selling and will be able to earn at least 1/4 of the plane ticket.
Another way that God has clearly answered my prayers has been through something as simple as facebook! I have been worried about traveling all the way to Africa without knowing a single person when I arrive. But through facebook I have been able to meet a couple of people that will be on the ship at the same time as me. One person in particular is about to serve for the second time, so he has been extremely helpful in answering my constant barrage of questions and helping me to feel more sure of what to expect.
Seeing God's answer to prayer so clearly portrayed over the past two weeks has truly helped to strengthen my confidence and ease my fear about traveling so far from home. I can hardly wait for these next 9 days to go by so that I can be on my way!

preparation

2009-07-30T21:35:00.003-05:00

On September 1st, I will step on to a plane in preparation for a life changing experience. I am currently preparing to spend seven months on the western coast of Africa to serve the Lord aboard the Africa Mercy.
Why, you might ask, would an intelligent girl like me put off college for a year and spend thousands of dollars of my own money in order to live on a ship in Africa? Since an early age I have desired to serve the Lord across the world through missions. Romans 12 commands Christians to no longer conform to the patterns of this world, but instead to be transformed! I am not content to just stay in the US, to attend college, then get a job, then make money. I want to explore this magnificent world the Lord has created and use my gifts and talents to serve the Creator.
With just one months before I leave, I am overwhelmed by the amount of preparation I have left! I just recently found out that the cost of my trip will be about $2000 more than I originally expected. Through the generous gifts of friends and family, as well as having held a car wash and having sold t-shirts, I have raised a large percentage of the money needed. I am still in need of enough money to pay for the last two months of ship fees as well as for my plane ticket home. I am working on creating another fundraiser in order to raise a bit more money before I leave. I will also continue to collect donations directly through Mercy Ships as long as I am in Africa. If you would like to aid me by sending in financial support, please visit the Mercy Ships website for more information.
I trust that the Lord will provide the money because I have no doubt that He plans for me to spend these seven months in Africa, and He will be faithful to provide everything necessary to accomplish His will. Still please continue to pray that I will continue to stay strong in this faith even though I have absolutely no idea where this large chunk of money will come from.
Please also pray that the Lord will prepare my heart for this trip and will ease my fears. Please pray that He will provide me with strong, close friendships on the ship and that I will not become too homesick for my friends and family here in America.

God bless!
Kendall