Fun facts / picture diary.

I love this picture because of this little boy. All babies are carried by their mothers like this. Sort of just a trasnfer of the weight from the belly to the back. And you'll see newborns-toddlers cuddled in fabric across their mom's back. It's so cute. And they bounce all around. This was taken at the closest fabric market. As you can see each 'shop' has stacks and stacks of fabrics and colors. Its very fun! .. and then there's seamstress' that come on board that make things for us =)
Here is a lizard. And yes. this is real! they just run around everywhere. This is probably the bigger and crazier of them all. But also the coolest, because its orange. But they are all over! .. and it's a little shocking when you are sitting eating somewhere outside and they just run past the wall right next to your arm!! eek

Here is a fun note we received in hospitality from Sam, who works in the galley. It reads.."Cookie request form: Chocolate Chip." Our cookies are wanted by all. =P


The ship has Gurkha guards in control of the gangway.  They check everyone in and out and are on duty around the clock. There's about 6 of them and they live on the ship with us. If you mention a gurkha over here that would be the equivalent of a marine in the states. So mercy ships likes to spread the word around town that we have gurkha's guarding our ship and gangway so no one messes with us ;)  So this is Ganesh. And he's very sweet! He learns a lot of people names but learned mine quickly from going running in the mornings. and he always says hello to me around the ship. He loves that I have a matching uniform to his on the days that I'm on duty, so he wanted to take a picture. He also provides me with all kinds of his native foods whenever he's cooking his dinners in the galley and i'm baking for hospitality. which is quite a lot. so there we are!   
Here is one of my favorites. This is not necessarily typical.. but possibly necessary.. and more fun. =) I don't really know what's converting what to what.. but it works!
I think this is just so neat. I don't understand how these women (and men) carry crazy amounts of things on their heads. And you see it everywhere, and it's quite smart because a lot of time it is something they might struggle to carry if it wasn't on their heads! But it's just incredible to watch. And they walk, and then turn their heads to look at something, all with such ease.

Basically. This is the delicious bread we get to enjoy every single day. (above is the deep crew galley) This is Eddie on the right, and he is the baker.. and this is the "bakery" part of the galley. (that he is in) and he loves making bread. so he makes every kind. Raisin, cinnamon, oat etc. mmm! it's delicious!

This photo shows a glimpse of the landscape and terrain I've been surrounded by as I've ventured away from the ship these past two weekends. The land is so lush and it's absolutely beautiful. In the midst of the poverty, you see this wonderful world the Lord has created and you can't help but reflect on the glory of the Lord and all He has made. From all ends of the earth. Every bit is so unique and its so beautiful.

Alot of little children are scared when they see white people since they have never seen them before. So when we were in this small village. This little boy's face flooded with fear at the sight of us and he turned and took of running. =P It was almost cute. 

Little babies everywhere!

  How cute is he !!!

Sunday I also went to an orphanage! There's a young photo journalist, April, on board the ship that was on the Anistasis Mercy Ship back when it was in Benin last time. And supposedly Mercy Ships was very involved with this orphanage we visited back then, and helped build their standing facility, but now Mercy ships is mainly focussed on an other orphanage. However, April still feels very attached to these orphans, and is doing all she can to help them. So she snagged me up on Sunday morning to come along with her and her team of guys consisting of a carpenter on board to take measurements to build beds for these kids. Because they all sleep on the concrete floor! So heres some pictures. =)

This is the road we traveled on.. which was actually a VERY nice road.

 An entrance to a small housing area/village I suppose could call it..

Another house I managed to snap a picture of. It is considered rude to take pictures of people without their permission. So it's difficult to come a across a house of some sort with no one near by .. all while your zooming past.. to capture their lifeslyle.

And we arrived at the orphanage! We played soccer and ring around the rosy type games, dancing games and played "take picture after picture and show it to them!!" .. their favorite of them all! and they were all absolutely adorable. 

Here I am with a little girl, her name was deborah. "Like in the bible", she told me. =)

The orphanage has about 40 children and it is run by a pastor and his wife. They have a few helpers but not many. Most of the children are under the age of 5 and some up through 7. Most are not potty trained. Their building facility is nice. Thanks to mercy ships organization. But other than the building they had absolutely nothing. No bed, furniture, tables, anything. It was heartbreaking. This is one of the three "bedrooms". (above) There is only string across the room with mosquito netting, which they drape across a bundle of children as they sleep on the floor =( So that was April's mission for our vision. The carpenter went to scope out the building and took measurement of the few old bunk beds that have but need mattresses for. 

                                            As we went to leave all the children piled in our land rover and were SO EXCITED to be in a white mans car! it was very cute. So here they are. All piled in!! with our sun glasses on =)

Going to this orphanage was so difficult for me, because these children have nothing. literally. not just things. but they don't have family either. And I started feeling so guilty. Here we are staying on this almost luxurious ship eating tons of food.. only helping SOME people. but there are tons and tons that need help too. And being with these kids almost killed me as I had to leave them... still with nothing. But as I was spending time reading and reflecting on the experience I came across 1 Corinthians 13. Which is right on the money. It says, you could do all these things in your life time.. speak many languages, have all this knowledge, have great amounts of faith, or give everything to the poor.. but with out love you are nothing. And I realized that even though I can't walk into this orphanage and buy them all beds and mattresses and things that I  might consider necessary. This is not what is truly necessary. There is a greater and necessary and everlasting task at hand. And that is demonstrating the love of Christ to these children, if that all I have to give to them.. even if it's only for one afternoon. Verse 13 says: "Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love" And that is what I have been learning the past couple of days.

One last picture! These were little twins at the orphanage that I LOVED!

Church down in the ward!

Sunday morning I went to the ward service. Which is simply the service held down in the ship hospital for any of the ward patients and their caregivers that would like to attend chuch. Its in one of the recovery wards, actually the VVF ladies room. Its a hospital room with about 7 beds on either side, no curtains, and they set chairs in the middle isle for any of  the crew who come down. So by the time the service started the room was PACKED with people. There was a VVF recovery patient on each bed plus about 6 more people sitting on the bed around them. Including children on alot of the ladies laps. A lot of the ladies were moms of children having surgeries, so they would have their child on their lap, or baby in their arms. There were chairs also in the hallway and the wards double doors were propped open, so patients were sitting lining the hallway listening as well. 

The bed I happened to sit on was RIGHT next to the speaker.. so as they began to use the mic.. they motioned to me to turn it on, then it was squealing.. and suddenly I became the sound adjuster.. (!!!) ie.. fiddling with random knobs hoping it would affect the sound coming out of the mic =P it was oh so thrilling. Who knew I would come home will all these new skills!

So as the leader began to sing..  it quickly grew very lively. And what we might call worship at home.. is NOTHING compared to these women truly worshiping and singing and dancing and praising the Lord. They are twirling, clapping, using hand motions, and truly exalting the Lord, the most high God in the fullest way and it was absolutely amazinngg to see. You can't help but be moved by their expression of reverence for the Lord. It was very neat. And then we listened to a pastor, from a local church, that came to speak. It was translated from english into french, and then into the local language of fon.  And this is common to have these 3 translations at a service. Most people speak both french and fon, However the less educated people or people from more rural areas might not speak the french. 

So it was very cool to experience. And it was also interesting to sit there.. b/c its obvious that some of these ladies have solid relationships and love for the Lord yet others have their Bible and sit their straight backed, very reserved. So its a testimony in itself from one african lady to the next. Simply by showing their  fervor  for the Lord, it could ignite passion in someone else's heart. And a lot of these ladies are in the VVF ward, recovering.. and they don't have a choice but to sit there since church is in their room! =) they're trapped.. so its one more way they experience the gospel on the mercy ships (not necessarily the most comfortable of ways! but it might be the way that touches them the most!!) =P

And that was church this sunday! I loved it. 

Sock Golf!

What do you do on a ship for 3 months you ask? .. people invent games like sock golf.. Saturday night we played sock golf! .. It was similar to frisbee golf. We were told to come wearing our best golf attire, and to bring a wadded up pair of socks.. as our ball. A young couple on the ship set up the game up, and there were 18 holes, and we played in groups of four. There was a tee off point for each hole, and a  "hole" paper posted on the wall somewhere near by. There was a par for each a hole, each player counted their throws, and each team had a score card just like in frisbee or mini golf. It was a blast!  The holes were everywhere..up and around staircases, through hospital hallways, across the "town square". (a two story opened up cafe area) Sock were flying all over the place. It was really fun, and everyone's very grateful when people put fun stuff like this together for a bunch of us to do in the evenings!Here's my team! as we took the pedestal for coming in third in the total team scoring! out of about 20 teams! Me, Sam, Ryan, and Katie. (above) 

<  Katie and I posing with Paul in our golfing attire.

And scoping out the next hole, Katie and Sam, prepare for an up and over a staircase throw..   (below)

It was very fun. And everyone who didn't play had just as much fun watching everyone make fools of themselves and run all over the ship throwing socks! =) Families had their cabin doors propped open, so as teams came through the nearest hole they would all pop their heads out and watch us accidently throw our sock DOWN a stair-wall instead of over a railing. =) (that might have a personal experience)

And these last two posts were only for Saturdays events! Monday's will be about Sunday's eventful and touching church service down in the ward, and visiting an orphanage! .. get excited! =)

love, lindy

Bab's Dock!

On Saturday it was a guy's birthday on the ship, so about 30 of us ventured out in about 3 land rovers for a 45 minutes VERY bumpy ride to a lagoon. We followed the ocean along a sand "road" or path passing many huts and little villages, boys playing ball in the road, and women carrying hUGE baskets on their heads. They all yell "yovo" as we ride past which sort of means white man, or foreigner in their native language, fon. Their way of shouting this is almost an awarness shout like, they here! but not in an excited tone. It's interesting, and hard to put your finger on it. But then as you wave to them through the open window their faces light up with a smile and they wave back very excitedly. 

So we turned off the road right in the middle of all these village

areas and parked our cars. All of us who had never been to

 Bab's dock before were told we would park, then take a boat ride across the lagoon to the dock where we would spend the day for Sam's birthday.. But  of course we didn't really know what to expect.                                                      So we parked... and we saw this.. ^  ^   ^ .. where we were to meet the boat, for our "boat ride" It definitely wasn't what I expected but I was like okay this is a little amazon-ish .. I'm in africa..? =) roll with it.. are they going

to take us into a swamp and kill us? The boat they picked us up in was very nice and that alone was some type of assurance we were fine. We rode through this crazy marsh/swampy place.. again, a little sketchy and scary..      But  here's the dock once we crossed the lagoon! it was absolutely lovely! It was an buautiful day and we were so thankful it didn't rain. the dock is actually a french ladies house. She built a dock, and charges 4 dollars for the boat ride across the lagoon and hires out 4 local girls to cook and serve food, and then excepts all visitors to buy lunch. But other than that its just come and hangout. There's canoes, kayaks, a small sailboat, hammocks, a water volley ball net, donkeys, and a monkey!!

It was an buautiful day and we were so thankful it didn't rain. the dock is actually a french ladies house. She built a dock, and charges 4 dollars for the boat ride across the lagoon and hires out 4 local girls to cook and serve food, and then excepts all visitors to buy lunch. But other than that its just come and hangout. There's canoes, kayaks, a small sailboat, hammocks, a water volley ball net, donkeys, and a monkey!!

 We had some intense 5 game volleyball games. Country pride.. Brits against 'foreigners' And if you started one game.. they would NOT let you leave until the end of the 5th game.. because then it would be "unfair" .b.r.u.t.al. =P

Here's some of the girls I hang out with Sarah, Katie, Me, Roxy, and Britni! Katie and I are in the cabin, and the other 3 girls live in the cabin next door.

and here I am with the monkey! grabbing my face, it was so cute! it would press its body against the cage so we would scratch and pet him. And it would put both his hands through the bars and grab your hands. How fun!

So we had a Great time! It was very fun to relax and hangout with everyone like this.

More to come late on the rest of this weekends events!

And Happy Fathers Day DADDY! =)

Baking baking and more baking!

On the days that we bake.. we usually spend the whole afternoon doing so. And recently this has been a lot more often than usual. - or so I've been told - and this is because we have so many more short term crew coming and going during the summer months, and a lot of vision trips during the summer. Each of these means.. new crew meetings, teas, chaplain meet and greets, vision trip meetings.. all where our cooking and baked goods are served! .. so we bake and bake. =) which is still fun.. but I'm wondering how quickly the fun of making two tripled batches of cookies will fade.. =(

sO for some pictures.. 

Explanation: we work in the hospitality galley.. which is a tiny galley off one corner of the crew galley. The crew galley is open 24/7 and available for any crew use. There's everythiinng in there. about 5 of most big things such as mixers, microwaves, stove tops, ovens, blenders. Then there's loads and loads of any type of pan, tray, spoon, spatula, knife peelers..etc. its pretty cool.

^^ Here I am! looking at recipes.. about to make two types of cooks.. hence the TWO mixers! how tricky ..  on the right we have two mixers^^  going and lots of cracked egg shells! Only one person fits comfortably in the hospitality galley so I'm in the 

main galley, and I normally work at  this station right outside the door of hospitality galley, while Roxy works inside there. The door is to my right in this picture of me.

 And here is Roxy! .. she's taught me everything about everything in the past 10 days and is absolutely a blast!.. she's taking a year off before college, has been here since march, and is from South Africa. So she has a fun accent. As does almost everyone on the ship. =) But she and are the only two young girls on the hospitality team, so we have a lot of fun! 

Today we made peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip cookies, and chocolate chocolate chip cookies, and these cheesecake bar/square things. So here we still in the process... and a guy walked in (who actually spoke for the sunday service) and was like "Lets take some actions shots! make some memories!!!" and grabbed my camer off the table, tunred it on.. and took pictures of us baking..basically everyone on the ship just like that.. very fun and outgoing and just a joy to be around. =) Its great.

and last one!!

I always wanted to be a waitress..

Today I volunteered, out of our 5 person hospitality team, to serve for one of the vision trip luncheons.. unbeknownst to me there is usually only one server. And I had NO idea what took place, how they were run, or how much/little was actually done as the "server". So I was given a short run down and thrown in!

 The luncheon was for 20 people, with 5 tables, and me. 

I had to get dressed up in my little uniform.. (pictures to come) It was buffet style and I was responsible for dismissing tables for food, clearing all the plates, dishing out and serving the dessert, and pouring and serving either tea and coffee! So it wasn't bad. But I was definitely running all around .. trying to keep everything flowing from one  table clearing and setting and refilling to the next! .. I suppose like any normal waitress might do.. But I really did enjoy it. And was told numerous times how wonderful a job I did, which was so encouraging, being that I felt like I had no idea what I was doing going into it!.. And now I've been told.."Great Lindy! There's one on Tuesday next week and another one the next friday!" =P .. Apparently no one really likes serving for these functions.. but I rather enjoyed it =)

The luncheon was held for the vision trip that's here visiting.. which I have explained previously. And this vision trip is a group of guys from Holland. They all work in the holland mercy ships offices .. or work for the companies that the holland offices deal with regularly. And they are the ones who organize and ship over all the containers of food and one other large container.. for something. Anyways .. the mercy ship office guys have brought over some of these men they work with from other companies so they can get a better idea of mercy ships and our mission. And possibly feel led to contributing to all the amazing things God is doing through this organization. 

So todays luncheon was all these guys plus all the heads of the departments of the ship. And they each stood up and shared a little bit about what their department does, and how they contribute to this smooth running organization. 

So I suppose I could say I  found it so interesting because I'm nosy??? .. I don't know, just a guess. 

But its also kind of cool, because now I see these guys all around the ship as I'm hauling bed sheets and mattress covers, and bed spreads and they're like heyy your that girl who was..! =) and they just get more familiarized with the multiple roles that everyone does to contribute and make it all happen.

..... - ...... - ...... - ...... - ...... - ....... - ....... - ...... - ...... - ....... - .......

Tonight I went for a run on the dock.. and then after a bit ended up heading into town with a few girls that were walking out the gates.. which was fun! we stopped in this little tiki- hut drink area and had some refreshments!

Also .. the rainy season has begun.. which means there's a tonnn of rain.. which is sort of depressing. you think africa. Hot. very sunny. dry. WELL. its still hot. but its wet and humid. very sticky because all the rain. and we're already inside the ship all day.. and with the rain.. we can't really even go out on the upper decks or the dock..  =( so prayers for some beautiful sunshine!  =D 

Much love, Lindy

It's coloring time kids!

When I arrived on the ship, a girl had just left the 10 birth the night before. So with 2 empty beds. I was the 8th person. This past weekend 2 more of our cabin-mates left. One was a teacher in the academy and she was here for like 11 months and the other worked in the offsite dental clinic and she was here for 8th months. Anywayyss. We are down to only 6 of us, in this spacious .. well, some might call it apartment.. with the size and functions of our room. ie: kitchenette, table windows. 

Though, today I made up 3 new beds in our room for arriving crew. so we'll be up to 9! .. it's going to be lively and we're all looking forward to it =)

Also, today, among my hospitality duties of making beds, and cards, baking, and a little cleaning.. there's COLORING!

When we make beds up for new crew they look like this!..

 .. with the cover and duvet along the back, stretched along the bed, the  pillow, and a large, medium and small towel .. and then we set these fun little boats in front on the towel! .. and everyone gets a mercy ships nalgene bottle and a pack of about 4 cookies on their bed as well! mmm!

But, part of our job is MAKING THESE BOATS

so I sat out in the cafe folding.. and folding.. (they're sort of like origami..) 

And then, oh dear! they had to be colored! so then I colored! and I got a LOT of jokes and comments about how I had the toughest job on the boat! and boy I wish I had THAT job! and wow look at you, you big 1st grader! =) and so it was fun. But it just makes for a really nice welcome aboard. and we receive a lot of kind notes and complements on how nice it was to have such a nice bed =) So that is very rewarding!  

I think they look pretty nice myself!

Nurse Lindy!

Well.. not quuiiite nurse Lindy...
but today I got my first preview to my future in nursing .. I was able to watch a surgury! .. And as I was telling my mom about it on the phone. she was like, "Oh,.. so you were looking overhead through a glass, or standing in another room".. and I was like, "no. I was two feet behing the surgeons". It's africa! =)

Anyways, by the grace of God I was able to watch one within one week of being here! For which I am very greatful. Everyone says its very difficult to watch surgeries and to get on the list to watch, and that they mostly squeeze you in to watch one right before you leave. But due to a series of events.. I was able too. (which I sort of explained in a post below) However, it was very exciting! and I loved it! I was let off work for the 2 hour long VVF surgury. And the two VVF surgeons, who I flew in with, were very fun, and talking and explaining and joking with me and the other nurses the whole time. And the circulating nurse in the room was explaining everything, from every cut, slice, snip, muscle, and tissue as the surgery was going on. So it was a VERY neat experience!! I feel so fortunate!

ps. surgery was at 8:30am.. I then proceeded to wear the scrubs ALL DAY LONG.. they're like wearing pajamas! for work! .. how nice =)

... ANd this was my blog yesterday.. but I Accidentally saved my post instead of posting it! =/

Sunday!

First weekend on the Mercy ship I mostly caught up my much needed sleep from jet lag and then a full week of work on top of it!

I went to an ice cream parlor in town with a group of kids my age..

I baked some of my mom's banana bread with the local market banana's ... which helped to wake up eating the same tastes and smells of my mom's cooking for a couple of mornings.

I did a lot of reading and laying up on the top deck with girls from my room.

I miiight have gotten a little burnt?

But overall.. I just caught up on rest so I can dive into all the neat opportunities we have to get off the ship.. which I'm excited to do soon!

"Hello, and I will be your tour guide..." 

On the ship, crew members are allowed to have 2 guests and visiting hours are on sunday. So sunday afternoon all the girls in my cabin are all sitting on the floor chatting when a younger woman burst in and asks if two of us are free for the next half hour or so.. Naturally with curiosity we all ask whyyy?? =) .. she says there is a pastor and his family waiting on the dock, and they had had people speak to them from Mercy ships in their town and they very badly wanted to see the ship, and see what it was like, and how the Lord was using this big boat to save so many people, that they had traveled here from Togo, the neighboring country, to try to get a tour of the Africa Mercy. So this lady, that came into our room, new that our room was large, and thought she had a pretty good chance of finding two girls, without guests to sign them in as "our guests" and give them a quick tour of the ship..

So I volunteered. Seeing that I was in the hospitality department and have been shadowing along other tours because within the next week I will have to GIVE tours ... I thought.. what a perfect opportunity! .. So I gave my first tour yesterday to a pastor and his wife, and their two young daughters. And they only spoke french. So we had a man from Benin translate ..he was waiting on the dock for his son to have a surgery. So he got to see the whole thing too!! =) .. but it was neat! and then the pastor prayed for US. They really enjoyed seeing it all.. and were slightly overwhelmed with the enormity of it all. They said that an outreach team had come to togo and spoke to a bunch of pastors on techniques to spread the gospel.. or something along those lines.. in translation. 

So that was kind of neat! and then we sent them on their way! 

xoxo Lindy

2 week surgeons

So I have learned that often the surgeons on the ship come for 2 weeks at a time. As you can imagine it would be difficult to have a number of skilled surgeons devote such time to this lifestyle. However there are some! .. But for the most part, they come for about two weeks.. 

so for example I flew in with 4 ladies. and one was the vvf surgeon for the next 2 weeks.. and the other was also a vvf surgeon.. but was going to be her assistant during this time. So Mercy ships simply schedules as many surgeries in that specified area as they can for those two weeks.. and then waits for the next specialized surgeon to come along.

So thats sort of a interesting thing I've discovered.

The uniqueness of all this, however, is that .. no one really gets to know these doctors very well. They arrive.. works like dogs!! and do back-to-back surgeries! and leave. I had no idea this was the case. So when I arrived with these vvf doctors we talked a lot in the airport and of course, I  was very fascinated with them and what they were doing...  but now I see them and they pretty much only know me.. and the few nurses they work with. So they're always like LINDYYYY!! hows hospitality! hows your day?! and everyone knows. they're they vvf surgeons but they're all like hoowww do you knowww themm?!!?

Needless to say! The Lord is so cool. B/c I'm going to get to WATCH a vvf surgery sometime next week (which is unheard of.) because there's a sign up list to watch any type of surgeries which is always PACKED for departing crew.. but since I know them.. they've hooked me up =) 

OKAY BACK TO WHAT I MEANT TO WRITE ABOUT...

I was cleaning a family cabin yesterday and I learned it was for a family with 3 kids and the dad is a surgeon .. so they are only coming for 2 weeks. So I thought, oh, cool..

Then Kathy said.. but they are coming to see if they might sign on for a whole year.. which like you've seen from above. is huggeee, to have a surgeon sign on for an entire year.

So I asked how old the kids were.. 4, 12, 14 .. which sort of made me flinch .. because I thought back to when I was 14 and I thought if my parents had told me I was leaving my friends for a year to go live on a boat where I might have 3 kids in my class.. I wouldn't have been too happy. But then my thoughts jumped back to actually being here on the ship and what a blessing a surgeon for a whole year might be to the mercy ship. And I just started praying. 

And as I was in their cabin cleaning. I was behind the scenes. but I was praying. And thats something I feel like I'm learning big time these first few days. There's SO SO SO many people that work on this ship that are NOT in that hospital. and they make things happen. But I just used that opportunity to pray for that family, and bless that cabin. To allow the Lord to touch each and every one of their hearts as they are here for only those two weeks. That He might put people in their path that would really encourage them to come back for long term. That he would have the kids meets other kids they really clicked with. But just that they would see clearly what a good work He could do through them in a year on the ship. And that in it self is so neat..to be able to prepare a cabin through prayer for a family. And that has been my favorite revelation of the week! =)

xoxo lindy 

Guest cabins.. oh so fun!

okay! just so you have a bit of an understanding of what I'm about to say.. and more of and idea of ship life!

.. when the hospitality department makes up new crew's room.. we go into a cabin with already residing crew mates. 

All crew are responsible for cleaning their own bathroom, floors, sheets etc...(essentially their whole cabin). Sooo when they receive a new cabin-mate.. all we do as the hospitality dpt. is make up the new bed.. and disinfect their cabinet space. EASY PEASY.

However. Mercy Ships has many guests that come on board the ship. And these guest do not get thrown into 6 person births in bunk beds (athough I've heard some strong opinions on that topic =) ) Most of these guests, however, are part of what they call "Vision Trips". Which are trips of groups normally around 3-8 people who are large donors or potentially large donors for the Mercy Ship organization. And they are interested in seeing where they're money is going or would be going .. or how a project is progressing. OR yea .. you probably get the point =) 

SOO they stay in these VERY nice guest cabins that basically look like rooms on a cruise ship .. and each person has their own room. even though there's two beds.. we make them both up.. very spacious, kitchenette, and yeaaaa.......

SOO these take a lot of work to get ready b/c these vision trips come often and they require a lot more cleaning bathroom, scrub shower, mirrors, sink, drains, toilets, news dishes, clean the coffee maker, vacuum, disinfect all surface areas, make both beds.. you know anything you might do if you were having a guest in your house .. make a pretty fan with the end toilet paper square! (??) the usual. =)

So.. we have 3 Vision Trips this next week and so we were making a lot of those rooms up so it was a lot of learning! =) but I've enjoyed it!

A spirit of fear.

Each morning we have devotions. These can be a community DEVO. (anyone and everyone on the ship who's not on their shift work.. or a department DEVO (mine would include dining, hospitality, and housekeeping crew) or individual department DEVO's .. which was what we had today.. for the first time this week. So the six of us sat in our tiny office. Heather, a girl is actually leaving this week =( shared. And it's sad b/c of barely gotten to know her.. but she's wonderful. She shared part of her amazing testimony which focused on her childhood and dealing with fear. And she spoke to us about her favorite verse  which was .. For the Lord did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, and love and of self-discipline. (2 tim. 1:7) and I remember Nik telling me that verse at some point over e-mail while he was in germany.. when I was fearful about something ... and it has always stuck with me.. and I found that gets me through a lot. Whether it be standing up in front of the church to say something.. or stepping on a plane to go to Africa. But to be able to have these words in our hearts and in our minds is so powerful. Knowing scripture and being able to apply it to out struggles is so cool. To have something I'm dealing with and just to be able to say to myself... Lord, you have not given me this fear.. take it from me. 

And the Bible tells us in Hebrews 4:12 .. 

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Its living and active. So praying and thinking thoughts with scripture and mind. WAY BETTAH (there's a phonetically spelled british accent for you all.)  =P

VVF surgery.

Today I talked to my daddy on the phone, which was so nice! and I was telling him how I always have so many things during my day that, as it happens, I make a mental note to write about it.. but when it comes time.. I can only write about so much. So.. today what stood out to me the most was this:

First of all.. let me start by saying.. of all the surgeries on the ship, one they do is called vesicovaginal fistula (VVF).

VVF usually results from a prolonged labor with delivery only after the death of the baby. (often due to complications that might require a c-section, and no medical help or fear of appearing weak) During the labor process, the baby’s head and the woman’s pubic bone form a vice, cutting off blood flow to the tissue trapped in this area. Following delivery, the now dead tissue sloughs away, leaving an abnormal opening between the birth canal and the bladder (less frequently the rectum). Unable to control the flow of urine (and/or feces), the woman is perpetually wet. Her husband and sometimes, even her community frequently abandons her. Hope Reborn: Liberia provided reconstructive surgery, helping to restore the lives of women who had been suffer ing with this condition.



So, one of the things Mercy Ships does, is, obviously, repairs these tears.. and then since these ladies are basically a new person! .. in society, and in their family. the second is that they give them a ''dress ceremony'' and they receive and brand new outfit and headpiece and have a huge ceremony. Which I can't wait to experience.

But back to my story.. I was making up a cabin for a new crew member down on deck 3.. which is mostly the hospital but the very front of the bow has a few nurses cabins.. so I'm about to come up the stairs and I hear this loud singing sort of praise, repetative, gorgeous chantlike song down the ward... So of course I stop and listen. And as a nurse comes out I asked her what was going on.. thinking maybe its one of these dress ceremonies. But no. as I take a look ,and she explains.. its simply the vvf recovery ladies. And they are only doing they're regular stretches and walking up and down the ward for exercise. But they are already rejoicing and praising the Lord for they have been renewed. And they have seen first hand the same sort of grace we have been given from the Lord. For no reason they were chosen, from the many women with this problem to be made new.. to live free from this contstant leaking. And now they are a new person. Just as we have been, for no reason at all.. give the grace and mercy of Christ Jesus. and through Him. We can live a new life. Free from our past sins. but I was just so touched to see these ladies so thrilled .. I'm thinking so far ahead as to this dress ceremony and their already rejoicing during their recover. It was very neat.

On a whole other note: Today was my first day of BAKING! in hospitality! very fun! i made one batch.. with it was a normal batch .. like quadrupled ..so it was like 100 some cookies =) it was funn we did 2 types, and tomorrow 2 more!

And on an even lighter note! .. I'm discovering all these fun activities that EVERYone seems to offer/do on the ship .. tonight roxy (the youngest girl on hospitality) and I went to aerobics. (after our baking day .. it was probably a good idea!) which was challenging and really fun! and the other morning I woke up and went running on the dock. They have groups that go out at vairious time for various distances. which is fun. And theres yoga, water aerobics, line dancing, soccer, swimming, aerobics, and morreee! how fun.

okay thats enough for tonight! love lindy =)

fun facts: from the day.. and the ship

• I learned that I'm in thE only ten birth cabin on the ship. and feel pretty blessed, because although there's a lot more people, I've learned this come with A LOT more space. and  a lot more fun people close by.
• I've been locked out of my room twice alreadyy =(  (possibly b/c I forget my key?)
• had an interesting conversation that went a little like this ..with Roses, a lady I was making up rooms with in hospitality:  

Roses: (in a british accent!) "oh my! this bed is upside down!! Lindy come here and feel this.. this is what the bed feels like when the mattress is upside down, see how you can feel the springs sort of popping out.. because its flipped..make sure they are not like this when you make the bed.

 so I walk over feel it .. pause and think a moment. only to say...

me: " oh! thats funny.. because thATTTTS WHAT MY BED FEELLS LIKE!!" 

needless to say.. i flipped my bed over after work this after noon and can not wait to go to bed tonight!

• there is a pool on the top deck of the ship!
• there is a "boutique"  in the lowest level of the ship.. basically just any thing, clothes, shoes, decor, items, that someone might not want and puts down there.. and anyone can go and take 3 things at a time.. essentially a mini free thrift store.
• the crew galley (kitchen) is VERY large... with like 4 stoves, ovens, mixers, everyyything! and I'm excited.
• Everyone in our department also takes on the job of "cabin checker" which means in the event of an emergency.. OR a drill.. (which is weekly b/c of new crew).. I am assigned a number of cabins for which I'm responsible to check to make sure all the people are out, for the drill. Then I report to the stair checkers. Who report to a even bigger master list.. and If I don't come out of the fire .. after checking on other people making it out of the fire .. they have people assigned to come in after me! haha .. craaazy! .. how comforting! and procedural.. is that a word?  anyways .. 
• .. I don't think I mentioned this before all the crew have badges that we have to where ALWAYS.. that way they can identify anyone who's not supposed to be on ship .. BUT they take your picture RIGHT when you arrive. so its quite comical. since everyones picture is absolutely awful from traveling like 20 hours. and then snap, photo! .. so its sort of like "oh nice to meet you lindy.. glance.at.your.badge.to.see.what.you.look.like.at.your.worst. haha =)
• the 8th deck (the top deck is lovely!) its just as if you're on a cruise! .. when your looking out the starboard side that is .. not port side.. b/c that looks into the busy port.. 
• there's a lady from the town that comes on board very often. And if we buy fabic in town .. and give it to her, she will make us anything! skirts dresses.. whatever.. so I met her today, but I'm excited to have a skirt made!

okayy! much love!

First day of work!

okay so today was my first day of work! I've quickly come to learn that everyones day starts and ends a little earlier here on the ship .. well earlier than MY usual day. breakfast is from 6-7:30 (ah!) since most jobs start at 8 and lunch is at 5-6:30 .. earlier than what I'm used to.. 

Anyways, we started with a community meeting and devotional with all of the non-hospital crew and they introduced all the new crew since last week. Then I met the hospitality staff which is only 6 of us. 3 of whom are long-term crew with grown children. and the other 3 of us are younger. Which makes for a fun group. I sort of followed two of them around to all the places we work the most and I've gotten more of a sense of what my job is.. 

• preparing rooms for new crew.. ie: stripping beds, taking these sheets to laundry room, getting new sheets, towels,and linens from the linen closet, cleaning the empty cabin space, putting new linens and towels on the empty bed. getting cookies (that we bake), mercy ship nalgeen bottle and greeting papers to place on bed. NOTE: the Laundry room is midship 3rd deck, the pantry is in the bow, 6th deck, the lines are in the stern the 5th deck, the rooms are ALL over and everywhere. the kitchen is in the stern on the 6th deck. So we so run everywhere all day. Its crazy! I feel like I walk the same path over 100 times a day.
• prepare for functions..and basically anyone on the ship can request for hospitality to set up and bring drinks, cookies, coffee, and tea to their "meeting". and this meeting can be anything from 5 crew having a goodbye get together.. to 30 people discussing security procedures.  So we bake bake bake! .. b/c we are the only ones who make the cookies.(from scratch).. and everyone wants them!
• we make birthday cards and put together cookie packages, and deliver them to peoples cabins. 
• Part of our job is to meet and greet the new crew... which, just from one day of preparing cabins. I have learned..there are quite lot of them! and we give tours.. which I'm not very excited about.... eek.
• We serve at special functions on the ship .. just like a waitress would.. in the "Queens lounge" .. where they host very nice dinners for very important guests and large donors or prospective donors.
• and we Bake!
  

Second screening..

 This morning I was meeting with my supervisor for the hospitality department, and there was an overhead announcement. Today was the second medical screening for the ships stay in Benin. However, the ships surgery time slots have already been filled for the rest of the it'sstay in Benin... for a variety of reasons..  Therefore they couldn't take many more patients, and although they tried to spread the word that this screening was no longer really happening.. we had about 1,000 people lined up on the dock this morning waiting to be screened for surgery.

So as I was meeting with my "boss" they announced that if anyone wasn't working.. they could go off the ship and pray with the people who were being turned away. So .. there I was. not working. so off I went..

I had the opportunity  to stand alongside one of the many doctors, as he saw patients one by one and told them their diagnosis, and that we had no more spaces to operate on them. I was put with Dr. Greg and his wife and I would listen to what the translator and he said back and forth and then she and I would take every other patient to another translator and pray with them.

It was both interesting, and challenging. These were the people from the thousand, who stayed after being told there were no more spaces available for surgery. And it was so sad because we were still turning them away. But I learned that sometimes in cases like these. this is still okay. To have western doctors and nurses and people or anyone just listen and care about your problems. And talk to you about what you can do so that something might progress more slowly. Or Simply to know that it is not cancerous. 

I saw many goiters, hernias, tumors, and often just seeing the relief on their faces when they realized, yes they might have a goiter, but they have no other symptoms.. so its simply the lump there. They're fine. There was one older man who thought he had bugs in his head and said he felt them crawling inside his nose. Said he couldn't breath and smell out one nostril. Dr. Greg saw he had a growth inside his nose and told him it wasn't cancerous. And this was blocking his airway and smell. He also had a tremor, and therefore his head was shaking.. and this was causing him to think these things. --- Simply to have a western doctor tell you, you are going to be fine. It will not get worse. THIS will not kill you. Someone that you trust, encouraging you, will make a world of difference. 

One lady simply had a yeast infection so he could just write her a prescription.  A lot of cuuute little girls and boys with loss of movement in one hand or arm from nerve damage from birth. The doctor would immediately ask if the mother had difficulty during labor. And always this was the case. And these were VERY sad because all these mothers wanted their child to have surgery ... only to realize it was something that would never be able to be fixed. So we would quickly switch the focus to the fact that she had a beautiful strong son or daughter..who was perfectly fine except for her hand. And that she needed to be strong and help her daughter work around that..

Anyywayysss..

It was really neat. Then we would pray for them with a translator. Assuring them they were made by God, and they are a gift from Him. They are unique in how they were created and where ever they go from this point in their lives that they would come to know and love and trust in the Lord. That he would become real to them. And that they would see how much we love them, and HE love them. And then they would be on their way! But thats all we could do. It was an experience.

I feel like I could go home satisfied already! .. but I haven't even started work yet! .. I start tomorrow! love, lindy

My room

okay! so I'm in the largest room of them all!  People wise that is.. 10 girls.  and from what I've been told also spacious wise! Another blessing! most rooms have a walkway along one side narrow enough for literally one person to pass. and the rooms would fall horizontally along the hall one right after another.. and with any luck, you would have a sitting area at the end, and possibly a porthole..but not even.

but we have been blessed. Here it is..

                                                    So as you can see! 

very spacious! and definitely not what I was expecting. The Lord is good. The 3 rooms on the left run horizontally to the hallway, and the 2 on the right run vertically with the hallway.  And yes. thats a porthole at the end of our hallway! =)

And here is my room/ or

<  section with the bathroom to the left in the picture. There's one on either side of the hallway! Also something I didn't expect!

Here is our sitting area! with even a second porthole!

annnnd we have our own kitchen.. this is right across from my little room.. you can kind of see that to the right in the first picture..

And that's it for now! xo Lindy

I'm HerREE!

I have arrived! Praise God. It was definitely a long long time of travel. I got onto my plane at dulles, after Nik waited in ridiculously long lines with me.. and I had an isle seat on my huuge plane with my own little tv in front of me. There were probably about twenty, yes twenty, babies on that flight. --rediculous-- to say the least. but I had earphones.

Then I arrived in Paris.. or should I say Pari..   because absolutely NOTHING is in english and pretty much the only english speakers were the people on my flight who also knew nothing about what they were doing. So I did a lot of pointing to my boarding pass receipt, and they did a lot of pointing of directions. However everyone was very helpful and did their best to help me. It's interesting because our airports, everyone checks in at one place, and then divides off into their gates.. but is paris everyone first divides off to their gates and then for everyone 20 or so gates there's maybe 4 check-in people. And tHEY are the ones that speak to english. Ah hah. so the game is to first get to them! =) So I had a 6 hour lay-over in Paris. Very Long. Couldn't really sleep. All the chairs had arm rests between them, even though it was about 2 in the morning back at home. 

When I went to get on the plane to Benin... they told me my bag was not yet on the plane, and hopefully it would be by the time we left..(wondering how it might in the next 30 min.. when i'd been there for 6 hours..) and they ended up holding the whole plane! for about 20 extra minutes, waiting for mine and 2 other bags to get on the plane. Which I was very grateful for and also thanking the Lord. Since planes fly into Benin only every 2 days! 

I found  the 3 other ladies that were arriving on the same flight with me, in the Paris airport, 2 nurses, 1 a surgeon, and we stuck together when we arrived at the airport in Cotonou. Which was quite an experience. It is sort of like a warehouse of a room. With one conveyor belt for luggage. People PACKED about 6 people deep pushing, yelling and looking for their luggage. No room to walk around the "luggage crowd" AND the power in the whole building.. or room cutting off about every 2 min. for about 30 seconds. =) It was almost too much, the four of us had to just stand there and laugh. 

ANYWAYS.. we were picked up, driven, checked in.. settled in.. and bed time. I fell right asleep. e.x.h.a.u.s.t.e.d.

Love, Lindy!