It has been a busy week and I am quite tired. It is lunch time on Friday right now. I have decided to skip the lunch line today and just have a quick snack in my cabin. roughly 500 people trying to each lunch at the same time can be just a bit overwhelming sometimes. So today it is an apple and pnut butter, some beef jerky and a few pringles. That should hold me over til dinner. Don't worry I am in no danger of starving. :)
This week I spent most of my days working in the operating rooms, or the theatre as most say around here. Much construction work had been done in and around them during ship yard and they need to be thoroughly cleaned and sterilized prior to use. and I mean thoroughly!! Every inch of the hospital gets cleaned from the ceiling to the floor including every little crack and crevasse along the way. Every machine cleaned inside and out. Every cabinet and every drawer. It is pretty impressive. So for 3 days this week that is what I did.It was a lot of work but oh so worth it. Yesterday the first patient began arriving for screening and xrays. The first look at these people made it all worth it.
Yesterday and today I finally made it to my new home in Medical supply. We have spent our time moving boxes from one container to another, getting organized for the onslaught that is about to come. In between I am learning a new computer system that makes my head hurt. I have discovered this is where my suffering for Jesus will be for the foreseeable future. It is a bit overwhelming. But with Gods help I know I can learn it. I work with 2 men who are very nice and helpful. If they notice me over doing things they are quick to come to my aid. I am trying to be better about accepting help. Their names are Franko and Eric. Franko is my immediate supervisor and Eric and I are the newest to join the medical supply team. Today we have been building shelves inside the containers. Then we will need to empty all the pallets we have stacked around the cargo hold and put them in the containers in an organized fashion so it can be found easily when called upon.
I am feeling thankful for so much this week. News from home sounds as if things are going well in my absence. I still have concerns but I am being frequently reminded that God is faithful and loves those I had to leave even more than I do. I still struggle but am daily surrendering my worries to God.
As for me, So much to be thankful for. My reading and quiet times are good and speaking to my heart. I sat in on a ladies bible study this week and will visit it again next week. I am beginning to see some deeper friendships develop with some of my fellow crew beyond my cabin mates. God has met my financial needs for my expenses and it appears with promises made I will be fully funded for my entire year here. As of today he has also provided for me to have a small amount of play money for personal expense. So there has even been some yummy coffee, some sweets and am hoping for a trip to town this weekend. That money is kept separate from what is sent to Mercy ships in my name to be sure there is absolute integrity with what is given. I was even able to help a fellow crew member. For this I am thankful.
A fellow crew member recently lost 5 members of his family in the mud slides that hit Freetown in Sierra Leone. He found out the day before we arrived in Cameroon. It was devastating and difficult to be so far from home when something so tragic occurred. Several crew members were from there and had to wait for days to get word from home. Fortunately most were spared the agony of losing loved ones. As for my friend, he has been flown home so he can be there to help his remaining family. PLEASE pray for him, his family and for Sierra Leone. There have also been mudslides in Congo. It is raining season in this area of the world and with much rain comes flooding and slides.
August 27
The rain here is fairly constant. light on most days with periods of very heavy rain. But it does rain every day. It is a good place to come and test yourself to see if you have what it takes to live in Seattle or the rain forest. At times the rain is so heavy you can not see more than a few feet from the ship, at others it is just a light drizzle. We have in fact had a few days of sunshine or at least part of the day. The other day the clouds in the distance parted for the first time since my arrival ( that I know of) and Mt Cameroon emerged in the distance. It is an active volcano that last erupted in 2012. That one it seems was very short. Before that in 2000 an eruption lasted 5 months. Worry not, it is far enough away to not be an immediate threat is it decides to go again. It is pretty to look at from here. Some of the crew are hoping to climb it in the spring when dry season comes. For now it seems things are far to wet.
Yesterday, Saturday, three of my friends and I ventured to town. Once again we have a shuttle that takes us through the port and drops us in town. Then we can catch a ride later back to the port. When we arrived in town the shuttle driver, along with another crew member who was just returning helped us to secure a taxi. Then we were off to find the ice cream shop everyone had been talking about all week. We found it with little difficulty and were soon indulging in the most decadent gelato I have ever had. It was really lovely. I had some kind of raspberry I think and a scoop of Hibiscus. They were both wonderful and the flavor just exploded in your mouth. The shop was very nice and clearly caterers to a wealthier residents in the area. Labor here is very cheap and so it looks a bit different than a baskin robbins or cold stone creamery.Many employees on hand to give wonderful service. The shop was decorated very modern with black and white and gold decor. It was very clean and had a guard checking bags at the door. It gave you a feeling of safety which may or may not have been real. On one side of the shop was a wide selection of decadent pastries. Croissants, fresh baked bread, cream puffs and fancy meringues. Every thing looked lovely.
The other side of the shop had 2 counters of ice creams and gelatos. A wide variety of flavors but many of them new. Hibiscus was one as well as several others I had never heard of. One was ginger flavored and mandarin was another . Behind the counter and walking about the room were about 8 or 10 workers all dressed in black and white and looking very professional. Some of them spoke a little English and helped us figure out what we wanted. We all got a double scoop and sat inside enjoying a moment of bliss.
After that we took another taxi, which we hailed ourselves to the Marche de Fluer. (forgive my attempt at french spelling). Which means Flower Market. We arrived with no problems and spent time walking around the booths of fresh flowers for sale. It is here you come to buy floral arrangements for special occasions or funerals. We had a few on the ship last week when some of the local dignitaries came to visit. It was fun to see where they came from and how they were made. Next door was the craft market. It is not for the faint of heart or those with issue of their personal space. We were there for all of ten seconds before many different vendors began calling to us and trying to get us to visit their booth. Many of the booths held a lot of the same things. Mostly statues and idols of various kinds. Necklaces, carvings and paintings. It was fun to wander about and look around. There were some unique items including a twin size bed carved out of one large piece of wood.
After that we went to a local hotel and had dinner. Local pizza cooked in a wood fired oven. It was delicious. Well some of it was. One of the girls wanted anchovies on hers . We ordered one with anchovies on half but something was lost in the translation and so my first bite of pizza was full of them. Ick! We all know how much I love fishy fish. It was all I could do to swallow my bite. The other pizza was lovely with avocados on it. I had never thought of that as a pizza topping but it was quite nice. A light rain began to fall just as we caught the shuttle home. We arrived safe and sound and happy for our days adventure.
The night ended with a bitter sweet farewell to my friend Hannah Ward. She had been here since Benin and we had become friends. Last night she departed the ship amid the tradition line of crew standing on the dock to bid her farewell. She is off to the states the attend nursing school. I pray one day she will return here with a new set of skills to be used for God. She will be truly missed. A very kind young lady full of kindness and sass at the same time. She even managed to sneak a farewell letter into my room which I found after she was gone. This is one of the hard parts of serving here. You make good friends who come to mean a great deal to you, only to have to say goodbye. It can be hard. However, the cool thing is you get to begin to weave a blanket of love and friendship with people all around the world. Even in the short time I have been here I have friends in many places. Switzerland, UK, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Belgium and Germany are just a few that come quickly to mind. I hope someday I can travel to visit these places and continue the friendships that the Lord has begun.Once again, my cup runneth over.
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