Home Sweet Ship!

I've finally arrived at my new home! After a couple of years of dreaming, thinking, planning, and praying, I shrieked with delight when I first saw sight of the ship. Currently we are still in dry dock in Durban, South Africa, while the repairs to the ship's propulsion are finished. Being in dry dock means several things:

• You can't go outside without a hard hat on.
• You can't walk anywhere outside. You have to take a taxi out of the port.
• You have to wear closed toe shoes ALL the time. 
• The air conditioning only works some of the time and only in certain parts of the ship, the crew cabins being one of the areas where it never works.

Needless to say, we are all counting the days til we get out of dry dock and finally start our sail to Madagascar.  

Making posters to decorate my classroom!

Once I arrived on the ship, I set straight to work decorating my classroom.  We had a week of teacher orientation and then school started last Tuesday! I teach the following classes: 6th grade Math, Algebra 1, Geometry, Pre-Calculus, and Bible. I love it so far. My biggest class has 5 students!  But the time I save in grading, I spend in planning for all those classes! Whew! It is keeping me busy!

Teacher Activity during Orientation Week

Kids poking their heads in on the first day of school. Come on in!

I have managed to get off ship a couple times: once to the Lion Park and twice to the beach (first time in the Indian Ocean)! The water was freezing; it's winter here in the southern hemisphere, but my roommate Tam and I went swimming anyway.  Petting the elephants at the Lion Park was the highlight of my summer! It was amazing!

More about daily life on the ship in my next blog post!

South Africa

I can't believe I've been in Africa an entire month! After surviving 2 nights in a row on an airplane, we arrived in the port city of Durban, South Africa.  A 4 hour bus ride took us to Winterton and to the YWAM base near the Drakensberg Mountains where we finished the final two weeks of our training. These two weeks were an amazing opportunity to meet local Zulu people as well as learn more about the culture here.  We also had time to continue team building within our group and experience life together as we lived in close quarters and completed several work projects.

The view outside our house. South Africa is beautiful!

The local school had 70 kids in a classroom, so we cleaned and painted 2 extra rooms to help alleviate the crowding.

Another school where we did some cement work and painting to fix the preschool building.

In addition to several work projects, we had the privilege to join in with 2 organizations who provide home healthcare  to people in the townships and villages.  A large percentage of the population is HIV positive and has TB. Local women walk miles a day to visit people who may not be able to come to town to visit a clinic.

The pictures below shows one of the villages we visited and Sindy, the caregiver who let us come along with her on her visits.

Sindy, Bethany, and me walking through the village

We worked with Tandi to make packages of food to be delivered to clinic patients. HIV patients need food to take their medicine with, so the clinic provides rice, beans, salt, sugar, soup mix, and tea. 

One of the highlights for me was the day we ran into some kids after school who needed help with their math homework.  Of course I was delighted to help! The next day even more kids showed up so I had an impromptu math class.

Photo credit: Katie Keegan

Another highlight for me was all the animals!  Although there were fences, you were just as likely to see cows, goats, chickens, horses, and sheep outside the fences as inside.  I especially enjoyed playing with the sheep!

And there were several dogs who lived at the YWAM base.  Of course they were not as cute as Sophie, but they were just a cuddly!

Here are some beautiful pictures from a short hike we took one evening. I am lucky to have some friends who are amazing photographers!

Photo Credit: Katie Keegan 

My roommates in Winterton were Rachel from the UK and Bronnie from New Zealand. They taught me fabulous new words like "gobsmacked," which means to be astonished or overwhelmed. They kept me laughing even when I couldn't sleep because of jet lag or when it was freezing cold because there was no heat!

After spending almost 2 months together, our team was incredibly close. I thank the Lord for each person and how He used them in my life this summer!

Abandon Ship!

Rules for a Ship Emergency

Stay on the ship if possible.

If you can't stay on the ship, get in a life boat. 

If you can't get in a life boat, wear an immersion suit.

Flipping a life raft upright - this was the funnest part of the whole training!

I love swimming!

We had to be able to put on our immersion suits in under 2 minutes.
It's harder than it looks!

These suits keep you floating face up even if you're unconscious.
They make you so buoyant it's even difficult to stand up in shallow water.

Huddle

Forming a train to move towards the life raft.

We made it onto the life raft!

You Can't Call 911 When You Live on a Ship

This last week of training was the most exciting yet!  We learned how to fight fires because if you're at sea and the ship catches on fire, you can't call the fire department. It makes me realize: I'm not just joining a non-profit ministry, I am becoming an actual crew member on a ship!

We started our fire fighting practice at 6am to try to beat the heat.  Trust me, the uniforms are hot, sweaty, and heavy. We were covered from head to toe with protective gear: boots, pants, jacket, hood, globes, helmet, and breathing mask with attached oxygen tank.  Wearing the uniform was harder than actually putting out the fires.

We worked in pairs and learned how to stay low and how to keep one hand on the wall at all times so you don't get lost or disoriented in the dark and smoke.

While it's unlikely I will ever have to fight a serious fire on the ship, we did practice using fire extinguishers, which could definitely come in handy some day.

We are ready in our fire fighting gear. These suits protect us up to 900 degrees.

Learning how to work together with a hose.  It's heavier than it looks!

It's hard to tell who's who with all the helmets and face masks.  But here I am in this one.

Using a fire extinguisher to fight a Class B fire

Using water to cool down the door enough to enter the burning container

Yes, that is a real fire.

Here we go!

It was almost 700 degrees inside!

My fire fighting partner, Emma and me

Helping others get their gear off when they come out and are hot, tired, and disoriented.

Take-Aways from Training

We are finishing up our 4th week of training.  Each week we have focused on a different theme: 

• Faith Foundations (Understanding God's Character, Communicating with God)
• Personal/Interpersonal (Understanding Ourselves & Others, Conflict Resolution)
• Working with Those We Serve (Cross-Cultural Training,  Different Worldviews)

Although the days have been long, the content has been excellent.  Here are a few quotes that I particularly liked.

The size of the gap between our hopes and reality will be the measure by which we get to practice our faith.

The way you see your future is important because it determines your thinking today and your thinking today determines your performance today, which is important because your performance today determines your future.
                 -Tony Campolo

Your time is best spent in the area of your strengths.

Your work is your worship.


If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there.      -Lewis Carroll

Conflict is a doorway to intimacy and greater relationship and understanding.

The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is today. 
       - Chinese Proverb


“This is the true joy in life — being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one… being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no ‘brief candle’ to me. It is sort of a splendid torch which I have a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it over to future generations.” 

           -George Bernard Shaw


An overall theme of our training has been that God is interested in all parts of life, not just the spiritual aspect.  Following His principles will bring health and wholeness to people and communities.  Today we watched a video that shows these ideas in action among the garbage collectors of Cairo, Egypt.  It was a very powerful video; here is the link if you are interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e01d4OlTi_k. There is a 2nd part to the video which should pop up when you finish this one.

And here's a few pictures...

Everyone in our OnBoarding cohort

My small group

Onboarding Begins!

It's only a few days into training, but I am so glad to be here.  I chose Mercy Ships because I liked their mission and values and the more I learn about the organization, the more I appreciate what they are doing and how they do it.  I've been most impressed with how much training and capacity building they do in country.  In addition to mentoring and training local medical personnel, they also focus on agriculture and nutrition.

Our Training Center

I live in a dorm and have 2 roommates. Everyone here is incredibly kind and friendly. It's kind of like college except that the age range is from 3 to 70!  I really like living in a community of such diverse ages.  We have folks from all over the US plus Australia, New Zealand, England, Netherlands, South Africa, and Peru.  When I went to college, I had a great experience, but I missed out on some things because I was so shy.  Living here is a second chance to practice being more myself in social situations - more friendly, more silly, more engaged in people's lives...

The campus is beautiful.  It has about 8-10 buildings and a working farm.  All the profit from the farm goes into the ministry of Mercy Ships. There is also some forest area and hiking trails.  For me, this is a welcome break from living in the city. Being so close to nature is good for my soul.

Our days in training are very long. We are in class from 8 to 5 and sometimes have an evening activity.  When we are not in class, it is easy to find people to play games, throw the frisbee around, play ping pong, etc.  Or we just sit around in the dorm lounge and read or do our assignments for class.

My puzzle friends: Saulo from Peru, Dominik from Switzerland, Ivanna from New York, and Lindsey from Australia

Big Day!

I woke up at 5:30 am today even though I don't have to leave until 1 pm.  Nerves? Excitement? All of the above and more.

These last two weeks have been very eventful! In addition to finishing up the school year, having another garage sale and packing up everything I own, there was the massive flooding throughout the city. The entire city shut down on the Tuesday after Memorial Day.  The water in our neighborhood came over the curb and up the driveway, but fortunately our house was not flooded.
 

On a more positive note, my sister's novel appeared in in bookstores on June 2! To me, my sister is a model of perseverance and staying the course to follow your dreams.  After 10 years of writing and a long process of querying agents and publishers, she now has a book published with a contract for 4 more on the way!  I am so proud of her! (And the book is amazing: Nova by Margaret Fortune. Check it out!)

The last couple days have been a blur of last minute errands, farewell lunches, and the last 10% of packing (which of course takes longer than the first 90%).  When I first realized I would be leaving Houston a less than a week after the end of the school year, I thought I could never be ready.  But I am.  (At least as ready as I'm going to be).  I could not have done it without the help of many friends.

• Rebecca - Thank you for flying across the country to see me before I go and for your invaluable assistance helping me get rid of stuff.  Thanks for teasing me about the ridiculous things I have saved and helping me let go.  
• Bits - You have been my #1 supporter and fan through all of this.  Thank you for changing your plans to be there for my garage sale, turning your birthday party into a fund-raiser for me, planning opportunities for me to share about Mercy Ships, and for being a totally awesome friend.
• Beka - You're the best roommate ever.  You've been by my side for the last 9 years, through all the ups and downs. Thanks for all the ways, big and small, that you helped me get ready for Mercy Ships. But most of all, thanks for knowing me and loving me despite all my foibles.
• Sarah, Julie, David & Brinn, BJ, Anastasia, Jacob, Laura - Thank you for your heartfelt support that has come in so many forms.  I am so grateful for each of you.
• All the people at Mercy Ships who haven't met me but have been praying for my transition and arrival - thank you. 

Good-bye Houston! Stay tuned; now things are going to start getting interesting!