My African brothers and sisters

Today is Sunday. And I went to church. When we first arrived in Togo I tried two different churches. The second one has become my church home while I'm here. It is called the fisherman village church. This is because it is literally in a village of fishermen. This is how they make their living in this village. This village is at the edge of the water and the church is situated a way back in it. I still find it quite comical every sunday as we drive back into this village with our convoy of 3 or 4 big white mercy ship land rover's full of "Yovos" (whites). As we go we are accompanied by many waves and shouts from the people and children of the village. At one point their are some sort of electical lines that are too low for us to cross under so one of the men from the village always finds some sort of long pole or piece of wood to lift it for us to come in. And after a short drive we arrive at the church.
This beautiful body of believers is different somehow. This church was started by one of the African crew onboard named Lawrence Adje. Lawrence and his family, his wife Gena and their adopted son Daniel, are from Ghana. They started this church when the ship was in Togo years ago. At that time, Lawrence felt God leading him to transfer leadership of the church to a Togalese man who worked as a dayvolunteer on the ship. This man had no special qualifications but Lawrence saw something in him and God led Lawrence to approach this man. His name is James. He is the man who now pastors at the church.
Pastor James, is an anointed and humble man of God that is again a dayvolunteer on the ship this outreach. He works on the deck crew doing one of the lowest jobs. Though he could have moved to something a little more prominant, He manages the paint locker. I've talked to other deck workers who have been surprised and then touched when they find out his job. And they tell me that he is one of the most joyful workers they have come into contact with and they have never heard him complain, even in this lowly job. He truly shows the face of Jesus in his daily life.
This church has been such a blessing to me. I love the African heart of worship. They are worshipping in a half finished church building with no roof and three walls. In the middle they have constructed a temeraray structure, a simple tin covering supported by rough wooden poles and plastic chairs set up for the congregation in the sand. They have a simple sound system to support a few mics, that are constantly out of EQ and feeding back. ;-p
This church building was once fully built and thriving. But a horrible storm completely destroyed it. Now they are faithfully rebuilding it as they have the resources, little by little. It is so encouraging to go every week and see noticeable improvement. When I first went, I think there was one wall up. Now there are three! God is so good.
Every Sunday we worship God with african songs, several of which I have come to know well. the singing is accompanied by drums and shakers. I have come to love the freedom I see in their worship as they lift their hands and dance for Jesus. What beauty God has made in the diversity of his people around the world. I wish that every American or European or any westernized person could experience an African worship service. I have learned (though I'm sure I still look like a "Yovo" or white person, trying to dance like an African :) their dances and I love jumping into the dance lines that form during the worship. First the women will dance up into a circle and then dance back to their seats. A little later the men will form their line and wow can they dance! :) It is so much fun to worship God in this culture. Shouldn't it be this way everywhere? Then the children will go up with some coaxing from the lady who is in charge of them. It is such a joy to watch them. I think Africans are born with rythm haha :). I came to decide this must be the case as I watched a 2 or 3 year old dancing his heart out and clapping on beat.
And this church is so welcoming. Pastor James sees us not as just whites, but as brother's and sister's. And every Sunday he makes it a point to have one of his own congregation or himself pray for us crew on the ship before we leave.
He says things like, "This week one of the men I work with on the ship came to me and said 'God is so good James! I didn't know what I was going to do, I didn't have money to pay my crew fees. But then my dad sent me money to pay! Isn't God good!' And then," pastor James will say, "I knew white men have troubles too, they do not always have money, they have struggles, or miss their families... they need our prayers just like we need theirs." And then they will pray for us. And they really pray. I am so blessed by their prayers. This is the first African church that has taken on a responsibility to lift us up in prayer as they ask us to do for them. It is humbling and I feel the love of God through them. I truly feel they are my brothers and sisters.
I am so glad that the family of God is so big and diverse and that we are all connected by his love wherever we are from. This is something I hope to experience for the rest of my life. getting to know my brother's and sisters throughout the world, learning their culture, seeing another facet of our majestic, breathtaking God, his creativity, his incredible and beautiful artwork of diversity infused with his love....his people, his children, my brothers and sisters.

My girl, Gado :)

Hey everyone! So I wanted to put a couple more pictures up on here of my coworker and friend, Gado. This is her below. She is the dayvolunteer that helps me every day on the dental team. She is just such a blessing and so much fun. She has picked everything up so quickly and already could easily do it all without me. ;) I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to work closely with some of the Togalese people and build relationships. I am having so much fun. I am also learning a little bit of french. Gado is a wonderful teacher! We started by playing hangman with french and english words to pass the time when we were waiting for more instruments to clean. Then I found a french New Testament in the library onboard so now we've been reading out of that throughout the day when we can find time, using my english Bible for cross reference if she is unsure of an english translation to a word. I'm really enjoying it. And all the day vollunteers love it that I'm trying to learn ;) They are also trying to teach me words of Ewei and Mina (I'm pretty sure neither of those are spelled right); it's quite a funny process, there is a lot of laughing involved-- at my expense ;). I just love how God has so many children everywhere and there is such beautiful diversity. I'm falling in love with the people of Togo...

Gado holding a little baby whos mother was one of our patients. We took the liberty of babysitting while she was being treated ;-D Gado also helped me carry this little one on my back all wrapped up with a big piece of cloth, african style. I loved it. I'm determined to master it before I leave. It is so handy, literally-both hands are free to work! I might have to keep this in mind for my own babies some day. ;-p
This is most of the team ;) our African brothers and sisters. from left to right, back to front: Tekko, Dodgie, Delali, Gado, Koffi, Feda, Arnold, Mewoli

:)

Togo! I wear scrubs now... ;-)

We are here! We are now docked in Lome, Togo. We've been here for about two weeks now. I already love it. The feel here is lighter than in Benin. I don't know that I noticed it as much when we were there, but now being here, It seems like there was just a more oppressive feel there. Anyway things are going great, and the hospital is about to start their first day of surgery on Thursday. Because of elections here about to happen here on the 28th, we've had to do our screening differently than normal. They have set up various locations where people come to be screened as potential patients.

I have officially started in my position as dental sterilizer! The first few days here we couldn't do anything because of procedures and all. Then the first monday we went out to the clinic for the first time, to start setting up. It was SOO exciting. Yesterday was our first day of screening for patients. It went really well. And now today was our first day of actually seeing patients, and my first official day of sterilizing. :) It went well. Gado, my assistant, a day volunteer from Togo, is great and we have a lot of fun together. She is a fast learner and we're learning together. ;-D

Here are some pictures. I'll tell about other stories in the picture descriptions...

So the first day Gini, our Dental coordinator went out to see the clinic with Dag, our Team leader and head dentist, They just got done talking about how they would need benches for the patients to sit on while they wait to be seen; a minute later they saw a man walking by carrying two benches! They stopped him and asked if he could make 15 benches for us just like the ones he had. He took the order right then, and here is a picture of our lovely benches now! Isn't it amazing how God provides!
Bugs...there are quite a few of them running around our clinic, especially in the bathrooms. Yuck!

So I am now a ship driver. Type of vehicle: Land Rover, Manual. My first time driving in Africa (and for about 8 months period!) This is pretty much what I drove... except mine was not a truck bed. The back was filled to the roof, and I had about 15 chairs strapped to the rack up top, and 4 passangers. It went surprisingly well! Haha :-D

What? I was just focused....And just SLightly nervous. But I used it constructively! ;-p Nobody died. It's actually kinda fun dodging potholes and motorcycles and squeezing past big trucks. No way to fall asleep! That's for sure. And every trip to work is like an obstacle course! It's great!

I think I'll be bored when I go back to driving in the states. ;-p lol

So we had to get the generators and compressors up to the 3rd floor...generator number 1...of 4!

compressor number 1 of 2. Man those things are heavy!!!

Team on the second floor where the pully was rigged. We got them up that far and then the guys carried them up the stairs inside to the 3rd floor. Don't know how they did it. (there was nowhere to rig the pully on the 3rd floor.)

Lunch time! yay!

I was so thankful to have Rosean the previous Sterilizer come one day to help me set up my room!

That's where we eat lunch...and leave our stuff.

Excitement! Everything is ready!

This is my sterilization room! Isn't it beautiful!

Screening on Monday. The security guard told us people started coming at 2:00 in the morning! We ended up screening about 300 people. We screen every Monday and Thursday. We check to see who is the worst and give them an appointment card for a certain day. When we run out of appointment slots, they can come back for the next screening day. We try to see about 50 people per day.

It's been good so far, I'm excited for the rest of the time. :)

Catching Up

Hello!

Hi everyone! I'm sorry it's been quite a while since I've blogged. Now I'm gonna try to catch you up on the highlights. As of right now, I am rocking back and forth in my stationary chair. We are sailing! And we've hit the rough water right off the bat this time. Thankfully I've been able to keep all my cookies inside me. :) There have been quite a few people who haven't dealt with the movement so well. As we are just beginning the sail, there hasn't been to many eventful happenings yet to speak of. I'll try to keep you updated if there are later on.

So the past six weeks, we have been docked in Santa Cruz, Tenerife in the Canary Islands. In this time the crew has enjoyed some rest and recuperation. Also the ship has undergone some repairs, refitting, cleaning, and inspection. During this time I had the opportunity to volunteer in the engine room cleaning oil tanks! It's a dirty job, but our team had a blast! We broke out with dance party's and singing worship songs randomly throughout the days and pretended our huge ear muffs were head phones, rockin out to the music in our heads. :-p So all the tanks were cleaned and we hoped they were ready for inspection. Everyone was so excited when we passed! The inspector told some of the engineers, "That is the first time I've ever had to chase women out of the tanks to inspect them." Everyone was surprised when a good number, if not the majority of the volunteers for this long dirty job, turned out to be women. :) This experience was one of my highlights.

Also in Tenerife I had the opportunity to do some hiking. Me and a group of friends were able to summit mount Teide, apparently the 3rd highest volcano in the world. We hiked 37,000 meters. It took us a total of 7 hours to hike up and down. We could smell and see the sulfer, as well as feel the heat of the volcano at the top. Also me and my friend Becca went out on our own little adventure one day and made our own way up a very small mountain, (Coloradans would call it a big hill ;-p) but that was fun as it was more climbing than hiking. I much prefer that to walking a pre-made path with few obstacles. :) We also got to enjoy a couple days at a beach, which gave me a little taste of home, making me realize how much I miss my Florida beaches and just chillin, taking in the peaceful beauty of God's creation. It just makes me happy :-D

Lastly, God has really been drawing me closer to himself throughout our time in Tenerife. I had begun to pray that he would help me to know him more and in turn love him more. I'm not satisfied to know about Him, I really want to know who my God is, his heart, his character, how he feels about me; I want to know his voice and enjoy spending time with him as I do with a close friend or family member, to the point that I miss Him if I'm away from Him. So God began to feed that hunger in me and my times with him became more enjoyable, and I felt his little nudges, telling me he loved me, missed me and wanted to spend time with me. I started doing things with him that I simply enjoyed, playing music, singing, reading books I enjoyed, and He spoke to me through those things. It's all still a work in progress, but I feel I've experienced an extra sweetness in our relationship lately which drives me to a strong desire to seek him more. I've just realized a little more how deeply he loves me and how desperately He desires me to love him back and try to match him in it (though he knows I never can). He wants us to enjoy spending time together, and He Absolutely Loves revealing more of himself to me. He just has to wait until I will notice him, give him my open heart and the time to Woo me. God is so much more personal than I will ever be able to grasp; its an endless depth of meaning and perfect relationship, that he is constantly inviting me to dive into as deeply, and with as much vulnerability, abandon and desire as I will through my life. And he is hoping against hope that I will dive with everything in me because he knows the wonder of all he has to reveal.

Tank Cleaning!!

They say Oil is good for the skin ;-p (that outfit used to be white by the way)

So this what the entrances to the tanks look like. Lot's of fun to climb through. :) this is my Dutch friend Johan. If you need some laughs just hang around with him :-p

starting from top left: Dag(Norwegian), Laura, Becca (Both USA), Johan (Dutch), Me(USA).

We are completely normal, this was just an off day... ok so maybe thats not 100% true... lol ;-p

I can't tell if this is me or not
Inside the largest tank

Dumping the sludge

Waiting for more sludge to dump

Team Photo! Eunike (German), Siah (Liberian), Abraham (Ghanain), Me (US), Dag (Norwegian), Laura (US), Johan(Dutch).

Tired, Dirty, and Happy!Mountain climbing adventure with Becca! :) view from the top.

It was so much fun climbin over these big rocks. We found a bunch of little caves too! I think this was another opening out of one i'd found below me. :-p

Mount Teide

At the check point 500 meters from the top.

I've conquered!

The last stretch to the top

Bike trip to the beach! So fun! I love these girls :) (From left: Haley, Kelly-my new roomy, I did my gateway training with her though, so she's not a new friend. then me :)

We're Here! Look! There's Tene Rife!!!

Hurray!!!!

We've arrived!

About 3 hours ago, around 8am, we sailed into port at Tene Rife. This morning I woke up and realized my bed was not rolling. It was odd, I was thinking, "are we here?!" Last night about 10 o'clock we could see the little lights of the canary islands off in the distance. It was an odd paradox, the pitch black sky with its gorgeous stars like you can only see in the open sea...and then the glow of the islands-Land! off in the distance. It was exciting.

So this morning around 6:30 as I woke up to the odd stillness of my bed (as I've become used to pitching side to side), I heard my roomies scurrying around, getting ready to go up to deck 8 to watch the sunrise and then watch us sail into port :-D we all grabbed our sweatshirts and our fold up camping chairs from the ship shop, and scrambled up the few decks from our cabin on deck 4 to our top deck 8. It was still dark and we were anchored right off shore of Tene Rife; the lights were beautiful! So much excitement!! Then on the other side the rising sun.

It came up with soft pink hues, not a bold sunrise but a soft gentle one. I love God's variety.

As the light grew we could see the island we will be docked at for the next 6 weeks. There are Mountains! Everywhere! Its gorgeous! It's actually a volcano (which I will be climbing with 9 other girls tomorrow! :-D). And then modern buildings. We are off of spain! Yay! I get to speak spanish!! The crew began to gather at the Port side railings of decks 7 and 8. The Pilote boat was coming out to meet us. Everyone waved, and the pilote boarded. Yay! we could start sailing into port. As we came close we heard the sound of a trumpet playing hymns. Our Trumpeteer was a quaint white haired man, whom I later learned trumpets us in and out of port every time Mercy Ships come to Tene Rife. I heard his name is something like Theodoro and he owns a small buisness like a pizza shop in town. It was such a warm welcome, he continued to play songs like "I have decided to follow Jesus" and "when the saints come marching in." I wonder when he's last had such a large audience. In between songs we would clap and cheer and wave :)

finally we were tied up and docked in port. We made it!! solid ground! I thank God for a wonderful voyage, a great experience, His awe-inspiring creation, and the variety of it all. I'm so excited to have arrived in a new place, I can't wait to begin exploring!! Who know's what new adventures are to be had!

We're sailing!

Somehow it seems that the intensely wild things, with awesome potential danger are the most breathtaking, beautiful, intriguing and entrancing...

such is the sea...such is God...

Wow! I love sailing!! God is incredible! We've had really great weather. nothing too harsh. It's amazing to go up on deck or to the bow and just watch the water and the sky and the flying fish (they seriously jump and glide over the top of the water forever! its awesome!) and feel the wind and sun in your face. Almost nothing more incredible. I feel so blessed with all we've experienced and we've only been sailing for 3 and a half day's. Today is the 4th. We've gotten to see flying fish like a said, as well as spirm whales, a water spout (like a tornado or huricane-pictures below). and this morning I got to see dolphins! Take a look through the pictures of the sail so far...

I slept outside on deck 8 under the stars last night. It was amazing. I think i'm gonna do it every night I can! :-D

On the bow, It feels so amazing standing there, taking it all in...

One of the gorgeous sunsets we get to watch.

This is the water spout we saw! it was only like 100 feet from the ship. Very close! It was small and wouldn't have been able to sink us or anything :-p but wow! was it awesome!

This is what was left in the sky when it discipated

Woo hoo! we're sailing!

My friend D was taking pictures at sundown, and got me. :)

Thats me and my Becca! :-D yes i know we look rediculous...its normal... ;-p ahhaha

Sunrise...

Our path away from Benin

The tugs pulling us away from the dock so we could begin our journey into the open seas... :)