As you have read on my last entry, we are in the middle of a week long 24/7 prayer time here on the Africa Mercy. Well today, when I was done praying I decided to go to the ward to see how everyone was doing. I know sooner stepped into view when my friend comes up to me and says "You want to hear some extraordinary news!!!!!" I was like of course. Our little boy Kollie who had the encephalocele went for surgery today so they could place a shunt to help drain off the cerebral spinal fluid that was leaking and THEY FOUND THE LEAK!!!! Now, what's really cool is that he had been back to surgery several times to try to find the leak and they never could!!!!! Our God is so awesome!!! Prayer works!!!!! So now he will get to go back to his country with his family. I am so excited I could SCREAM!!!!!
Sedeke, the guy with the infection that nearly killed him, is also doing well and will go home tomorrow and Jacob, the boy with the skin graft, is going to be well enough to transfer to another hospital closer to his home!!!!! God is healing our patients right before our eyes. How I love the promises of God's Word.
Thank you for all of your prayers!!!! God is good all the time!
Monday, December 1, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
The end is coming....
Well as the saying goes "all good things have to come to an end." It is absolutely crazy for me to think that in a week from now I will be flying to Paris. My time on the Africa Mercy has been wonderful and I have seen God do so many amazing things.
Friday was our last day of surgery for this outreach. We all are rejoicing for a successful 2008 outreach. The wards are getting so empty :( Friday of this up coming week the ward will close as well and then the following saturday the ship sets sail for the canary islands.
There are a few patients who desperatly need a touch from the Lord as there wounds are either slowly healing or not healing at all. SO we have set-up a prayer room in D ward. It has been beautifully set-up with African decor, scripture on the walls, prayer cards hanging from the ceiling with the names of the patients and their needs. We had the opening time yesterday at 1400h and will continue till Friday of next week. Please agree with us for the patients who need a miracle.
Here are the names and prayer requests:
Kollie: He had an encephalocele removed and is still leaking Cerebral spinal fluid
Jacob: Skin graft wound that needs to heal
Louisa: Skin graft wound that needs to heal
Sedeke: Very large infection, that is much better, but still needs to finish healing and also for salvation
Eddie: Wounds to heal
Thanks for agreeing with us in prayer!!!! Prayer changes natural circumstances into supernatural miracles!!!
Friday was our last day of surgery for this outreach. We all are rejoicing for a successful 2008 outreach. The wards are getting so empty :( Friday of this up coming week the ward will close as well and then the following saturday the ship sets sail for the canary islands.
There are a few patients who desperatly need a touch from the Lord as there wounds are either slowly healing or not healing at all. SO we have set-up a prayer room in D ward. It has been beautifully set-up with African decor, scripture on the walls, prayer cards hanging from the ceiling with the names of the patients and their needs. We had the opening time yesterday at 1400h and will continue till Friday of next week. Please agree with us for the patients who need a miracle.
Here are the names and prayer requests:
Kollie: He had an encephalocele removed and is still leaking Cerebral spinal fluid
Jacob: Skin graft wound that needs to heal
Louisa: Skin graft wound that needs to heal
Sedeke: Very large infection, that is much better, but still needs to finish healing and also for salvation
Eddie: Wounds to heal
Thanks for agreeing with us in prayer!!!! Prayer changes natural circumstances into supernatural miracles!!!
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Why.....
Do you ever have those times in your life when you desperately cry out to God WHY? There are at times one area of my life where I find it hard to control. It's a very intricate part of the human soul; it's my emotions. In these moments, my dilemma is that my heart will not agree with what my mind is telling me I need to do. It's in this moment that I cry out to God "WHY can't what I am feeling just agree with what I know I need to do/be/have." I haven't found the answer to this phenomenon or even what it's called; however, the past few weeks I have been battling it so much that I have many times asked WHY not only of God but also close friends. Here's where I found out I am not the only one that doesn't understand why these two parts of the human soul won't agree with each other. Let me explain.
I recall in one of my earlier entries sharing that I was struggling with fully being here. I kept struggling inside with not wanting to be here but at the same moment enjoying everything about it. After many prayers and words from the Lord, I felt much better. However, deep down it was still there but not as bad. Then 2 weeks ago the weirdest thing happened. It's like that feeling of not wanting to be here just rose up in me stronger then ever before and everyday was so difficult I found myself just sleeping, and working that's it. I was asking God WHY. My whole life I have wanted to do things just like I am doing now. I went to nursing school for this very reason. I have spent many hours dreaming of coming back to the Mercy Ships and working as a nurse. Why, now that I was here, was I feeling this way? I kept telling myself I shouldn't have these feelings but no matter what I kept doing and praying the feelings persisted onward.
One night I called a close girlfriend and just shared my heart with her. I so wanted answers to the reason why my heart was feeling one thing when I so desperately wanted to feel something else. As I was reading the Word I found a quote that someone had shared when I first came to the ship
"You are a success in God's Kingdom when you are faithful where He has placed you." I realized that God had brought me here to the ship and I have 5 weeks left and I am not going to let the enemy rob me of what I was brought here to accomplish. I had to kick myself in the butt and just realize that I was feeling this way BUT my feelings were not going to control my actions and destroy the work of the Lord. I shared this with my girlfriend and she told me "Lanita, I can't give you an answer as to why you are feeling this way, but you may consider that this is spiritual warefare and you have to fight through it." I meditated on her words and got a sense that yes indeed this is what it was. So I prayed that my mind would be the mind of Christ and that I subject my feelings and attitudes to the will of the Lord. I wish I could say that "boom" just like that the feelings left but that isn't the case, they are still here even now as I write this journal entry BUT they are not controling my life. In fact amazing things are happening inside of me, healing is happening, and areas of my life that were not in-line with the Word of God are beginning to line-up. I am realizing so much about myself and all the junk that I have allowed to take over my mind and heart.
The next time I worked, after having this conversation with my friend, it was the coolest thing, we were watching down in the ward the service from upstairs and it was native Africans singing and sharing their testimonies. Some of the patients were dancing in the ward and I joined in. My heart was flooded with joy. This is what it's all about, praising the Lord in the midst of our trials!!! "Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me bless His holy name." No matter what our feelings may be, we have to take control over them and tell our soul to bless the Lord!
My challenge: We need to take control of our hearts and not allow our feelings to interfere with the work the Lord has for us. We need to take control of our feelings and thoughts!!!
I recall in one of my earlier entries sharing that I was struggling with fully being here. I kept struggling inside with not wanting to be here but at the same moment enjoying everything about it. After many prayers and words from the Lord, I felt much better. However, deep down it was still there but not as bad. Then 2 weeks ago the weirdest thing happened. It's like that feeling of not wanting to be here just rose up in me stronger then ever before and everyday was so difficult I found myself just sleeping, and working that's it. I was asking God WHY. My whole life I have wanted to do things just like I am doing now. I went to nursing school for this very reason. I have spent many hours dreaming of coming back to the Mercy Ships and working as a nurse. Why, now that I was here, was I feeling this way? I kept telling myself I shouldn't have these feelings but no matter what I kept doing and praying the feelings persisted onward.
One night I called a close girlfriend and just shared my heart with her. I so wanted answers to the reason why my heart was feeling one thing when I so desperately wanted to feel something else. As I was reading the Word I found a quote that someone had shared when I first came to the ship
"You are a success in God's Kingdom when you are faithful where He has placed you." I realized that God had brought me here to the ship and I have 5 weeks left and I am not going to let the enemy rob me of what I was brought here to accomplish. I had to kick myself in the butt and just realize that I was feeling this way BUT my feelings were not going to control my actions and destroy the work of the Lord. I shared this with my girlfriend and she told me "Lanita, I can't give you an answer as to why you are feeling this way, but you may consider that this is spiritual warefare and you have to fight through it." I meditated on her words and got a sense that yes indeed this is what it was. So I prayed that my mind would be the mind of Christ and that I subject my feelings and attitudes to the will of the Lord. I wish I could say that "boom" just like that the feelings left but that isn't the case, they are still here even now as I write this journal entry BUT they are not controling my life. In fact amazing things are happening inside of me, healing is happening, and areas of my life that were not in-line with the Word of God are beginning to line-up. I am realizing so much about myself and all the junk that I have allowed to take over my mind and heart.
The next time I worked, after having this conversation with my friend, it was the coolest thing, we were watching down in the ward the service from upstairs and it was native Africans singing and sharing their testimonies. Some of the patients were dancing in the ward and I joined in. My heart was flooded with joy. This is what it's all about, praising the Lord in the midst of our trials!!! "Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me bless His holy name." No matter what our feelings may be, we have to take control over them and tell our soul to bless the Lord!
My challenge: We need to take control of our hearts and not allow our feelings to interfere with the work the Lord has for us. We need to take control of our feelings and thoughts!!!
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Does our life reflect what we say?
"Trust the Lord." Wow that is a powerful sentence and one that I have said many times in my life. My challenge of late from the Lord has been "Do I really live my life like I am trusting the Lord." My personality is such that I always have to be involved in making things happen, solving problems etc. But when we are trusting the Lord with situations in our lives, it means that our hands our tied behind our backs, our mouths are duct taped shut and we are completely letting the Lord work on our behalf. NOT EASY TO DO, for the record, or at least not for me. However, it is amazing how much peace comes into your life when you do this. How burdens are lifted off of your shoulders and how much time is saved because you are not trying to figure out how you are going to handle a situation. I am learning my job is to pray, bring my request before the throne room of God and leave it there. Even this is easy to do but the true test of trusting the Lord is after leaving it with him to not go back and "pick" it up again. When we ask the Lord to help us in a situation we have to believe that he will do it and it will be with our best interest in mind. Remember, the outcome may not be what we wanted but nonetheless it is the best for us.
Life on the ship continues on. It's weird because people that I am close to are starting to leave and that is one of the "not so fun things" about ship life. You meet great friends and then they leave and you are left behind:(
Last w/e a group of us left the ship for 3 days and headed to the beach!!! It was a beautiful w/e with lots of sun and fun. We stayed in a town called Robert's Port at "Nana's Lodge." This place was so cute. There are about 12 tents up on stilts and they have double-wide beds in them. This is the lodging. The resturant/bar is a small bamboo structure on the beach. The food was great as well. We spent the day in the water, reading, laying on the beach and scortching ourselves. I told myself I was not going to get burned so I applied 35-50 SPF 3X's and yep you guessed it I still burnt. I wasn't very happy.
Life on the ship continues on. It's weird because people that I am close to are starting to leave and that is one of the "not so fun things" about ship life. You meet great friends and then they leave and you are left behind:(
Last w/e a group of us left the ship for 3 days and headed to the beach!!! It was a beautiful w/e with lots of sun and fun. We stayed in a town called Robert's Port at "Nana's Lodge." This place was so cute. There are about 12 tents up on stilts and they have double-wide beds in them. This is the lodging. The resturant/bar is a small bamboo structure on the beach. The food was great as well. We spent the day in the water, reading, laying on the beach and scortching ourselves. I told myself I was not going to get burned so I applied 35-50 SPF 3X's and yep you guessed it I still burnt. I wasn't very happy.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
O how time flies........
It is hard to believe that it has been 6 weeks already since I came to the Africa Mercy. It's weird cause in some aspects it seems like it's been forever and then others it's like "Wow where did the time go." The experiences have been great and I am so thankful to the Lord for this opportunity to serve Him in this way. The people that I have got to meet, the conversations that I have had, the times with the Lord; have made these 6 wks a great journey. As I reflect at the half way mark, I can only stare ahead into the future with much anticipation for what the Lord has instore for me in the last half of my time here in Africa.
Last Saturday, the Africa Mercy celebrated 30yrs of Mercy Ships being a ministry to the sick and poor of the world and celebrate we did!!! It was a wonderful day. It started with 20 teams lining up on the dock to here about the games that we would all be participating in. From water sports, to running, to memory games we did it all and had so much fun. My team consisted of myself, 1 New Zealander, and 4 Aussies :) We called ourselves the ANZAC'S + 1! You can look up in your history books the meaning behind our name. Needless to say, we all just had a great time and messed around a ton. At the end our team took 1st place. We couldn't believe it 5 girls and 1 guy!!!! Then we had a grill-out on the dock with bbq chicken and hamburgers. The day ended with praise, worship, and thanksgiving for all that the Lord has done through this ministry over the years. They had speakers share a little bit about all of the ships that have at one time or another been a part of the Mercy Ships fleet. It was really neat. I will try to post some pics of the day.
The ward has been EXTREMELY busy this week. I have to say it's been really good for me personally. I am definitely being stretched way out of my comfort zone when it comes to nursing skill. The other night I think my oldest pt was 2 yrs old and I am not a pediatric nurse:) But God is so good and gives us the strength to do what we are incapable of doing on our own. It's been great to see the nurses all pull together. There have been some really sick patients lately as well and I praise the Lord for his healing power in their lives.
This weekend a group of us are going to Robert's Port. It's a place on the beach with tents on stilts. It's suppose to be a really nice place, so after a busy week, I am looking forward to relaxing and enjoying the ocean and beautiful sunsets, and great times with the Lord.
Hope all of you are blessed and encouraged in the Lord today!!!
Last Saturday, the Africa Mercy celebrated 30yrs of Mercy Ships being a ministry to the sick and poor of the world and celebrate we did!!! It was a wonderful day. It started with 20 teams lining up on the dock to here about the games that we would all be participating in. From water sports, to running, to memory games we did it all and had so much fun. My team consisted of myself, 1 New Zealander, and 4 Aussies :) We called ourselves the ANZAC'S + 1! You can look up in your history books the meaning behind our name. Needless to say, we all just had a great time and messed around a ton. At the end our team took 1st place. We couldn't believe it 5 girls and 1 guy!!!! Then we had a grill-out on the dock with bbq chicken and hamburgers. The day ended with praise, worship, and thanksgiving for all that the Lord has done through this ministry over the years. They had speakers share a little bit about all of the ships that have at one time or another been a part of the Mercy Ships fleet. It was really neat. I will try to post some pics of the day.
The ward has been EXTREMELY busy this week. I have to say it's been really good for me personally. I am definitely being stretched way out of my comfort zone when it comes to nursing skill. The other night I think my oldest pt was 2 yrs old and I am not a pediatric nurse:) But God is so good and gives us the strength to do what we are incapable of doing on our own. It's been great to see the nurses all pull together. There have been some really sick patients lately as well and I praise the Lord for his healing power in their lives.
This weekend a group of us are going to Robert's Port. It's a place on the beach with tents on stilts. It's suppose to be a really nice place, so after a busy week, I am looking forward to relaxing and enjoying the ocean and beautiful sunsets, and great times with the Lord.
Hope all of you are blessed and encouraged in the Lord today!!!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
A "jump off the page" moment
I had one of those "jump off the page" moments today while reading the Word. I like these moments most of the time cause it gives me a reality check; however, sometimes they are quit convicting as well. It's so easy for us as individuals to be so wrapped up in our own "issues" that we don't see the needs of others. Also, we have this "right" that we think we have to take time for ourselves when we are going through a difficult situation to sort things out to "lick our wounds" whatever. Sorry if I am being a bit hard and/or cynical but this is how it all came to me:)
So I am reading in Mt. 14 when Jesus receives the news that his dear friend, forerunner, John the Baptist has been beheaded. All He wants to do is get some solitude so he can process, reminisce, grieve etc. So he decides to get into a boat and go to a solitude place. However, the crowds heard about this and had gathered on the other side. So when Jesus got to the shore a crowd of people had already gathered. He didn't *sigh* and say "get out of here I just need a few minutes to myself." He didn't just saunter off and ignore the people. He didn't start sharing his problems with them. The scriptures say "...He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick." Ugh knife in the gut. Jesus put His own needs aside because He saw the needs of others as more important then His own. How many times are we so caught up in our own situations that we miss the hurts and needs of others. OR we see them but say to ourselves "I am going through my own issues I have to deal with right now I don't have time for theirs."
"Lord Jesus may you help our eyes to be opened to the needs of others no matter what we going through in our lives. Help us to follow your example and put others needs first."
Well tonight is my third night shift in a row and now I am off for 4 :) It's different here though, I don't even care about my days off or look forward to them like I do back home. I actually get sad thinking I am going to miss what is happening in the lives of the patients while I am gone. But that's what's nice about living on the same hall as your patients:) I can walk through a door and visit them anytime. :)
Three of my five boys have left now. It was a sad day for me but a good one for them. Maybe I have not mentioned their stories here on the blog. We had 5 guys who all came in with ulcers on their legs that were not healing. So they got skin grafts (the dr.'s take a skin graft from the upper thigh and put it on the wound) to the ulcerative site. This is a wait, watch and see what happens process cause you don't know whether the graft will take. But praise the Lord 4 of the 5 grafts have taken. The fifth one (John) actually had to get his leg amputated because the infection had gone into the bone and would have killed him if they didn't. It was very hard for him to adjust and he was very depressed for a long time. However, it was cool cause when Nick was here (see earlier blog for explanation) he was able to really minister to this patient and bring encouragement to him. Lord willing John will be able to get a prosthetic eventually.
God really allowed me to bond with these 5 guys and we have shared many conversations together over the past month. To listen to their stories is heart wrenching. Two of them lost their wives, fortunes, friends everything because of their ulcers. The mindset is if you are sick with an "uncurable" disease you are finished, done for, left to die basically and will never be able to do anything. So the women both left for other men. It breaks my heart. We had many talks about forgiveness and restoration. I heard that one night at 3 am, after one of our talks, the one guy phoned his wife to tell her that he has forgiven her. We have laughed together and played many games of "Connect 4." They are really neat guys and I am sad to see them leave but excited for them to go back to society and share the blessing they have received. I challenged them all that God has blessed them and given them a new life and now they have to go back out to their people and share that blessing with others. They said they would :) O man there is so much more to be said but if I don't stop now this blog entry will be pages :)
It truly is a blessing to bond with the patients here and be able to share the love of Jesus with them in many ways. I am humbled and honored that the Lord would choose me to be His servant here on the Africa Mercy at this time.
Thank you for all of your prayers and support!! God bless.
So I am reading in Mt. 14 when Jesus receives the news that his dear friend, forerunner, John the Baptist has been beheaded. All He wants to do is get some solitude so he can process, reminisce, grieve etc. So he decides to get into a boat and go to a solitude place. However, the crowds heard about this and had gathered on the other side. So when Jesus got to the shore a crowd of people had already gathered. He didn't *sigh* and say "get out of here I just need a few minutes to myself." He didn't just saunter off and ignore the people. He didn't start sharing his problems with them. The scriptures say "...He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick." Ugh knife in the gut. Jesus put His own needs aside because He saw the needs of others as more important then His own. How many times are we so caught up in our own situations that we miss the hurts and needs of others. OR we see them but say to ourselves "I am going through my own issues I have to deal with right now I don't have time for theirs."
"Lord Jesus may you help our eyes to be opened to the needs of others no matter what we going through in our lives. Help us to follow your example and put others needs first."
Well tonight is my third night shift in a row and now I am off for 4 :) It's different here though, I don't even care about my days off or look forward to them like I do back home. I actually get sad thinking I am going to miss what is happening in the lives of the patients while I am gone. But that's what's nice about living on the same hall as your patients:) I can walk through a door and visit them anytime. :)
Three of my five boys have left now. It was a sad day for me but a good one for them. Maybe I have not mentioned their stories here on the blog. We had 5 guys who all came in with ulcers on their legs that were not healing. So they got skin grafts (the dr.'s take a skin graft from the upper thigh and put it on the wound) to the ulcerative site. This is a wait, watch and see what happens process cause you don't know whether the graft will take. But praise the Lord 4 of the 5 grafts have taken. The fifth one (John) actually had to get his leg amputated because the infection had gone into the bone and would have killed him if they didn't. It was very hard for him to adjust and he was very depressed for a long time. However, it was cool cause when Nick was here (see earlier blog for explanation) he was able to really minister to this patient and bring encouragement to him. Lord willing John will be able to get a prosthetic eventually.
God really allowed me to bond with these 5 guys and we have shared many conversations together over the past month. To listen to their stories is heart wrenching. Two of them lost their wives, fortunes, friends everything because of their ulcers. The mindset is if you are sick with an "uncurable" disease you are finished, done for, left to die basically and will never be able to do anything. So the women both left for other men. It breaks my heart. We had many talks about forgiveness and restoration. I heard that one night at 3 am, after one of our talks, the one guy phoned his wife to tell her that he has forgiven her. We have laughed together and played many games of "Connect 4." They are really neat guys and I am sad to see them leave but excited for them to go back to society and share the blessing they have received. I challenged them all that God has blessed them and given them a new life and now they have to go back out to their people and share that blessing with others. They said they would :) O man there is so much more to be said but if I don't stop now this blog entry will be pages :)
It truly is a blessing to bond with the patients here and be able to share the love of Jesus with them in many ways. I am humbled and honored that the Lord would choose me to be His servant here on the Africa Mercy at this time.
Thank you for all of your prayers and support!! God bless.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Something to ponder......
I was reading in Mt. 10 the other morning when Jesus sent out the 12. I had read the verse many times where he says to them take nothing with you, no money, no bag, no extra clothes etc. Wow, He sent them out to do the work of the Lord without anything but the clothes on their back and the power to heal the sick etc. Why did He do this??? I really don't know but my thoughts were this: I want to teach you total dependency on Me!! Later in the same passage he refers to the sparrow falling to the ground and how the Father knows all of this, that every hair on our head is numbered, don't be afraid "....You are worth more than many sparrows." Jesus is sending His disciples out to preach the Gospel, heal the sick, set the demon possessed free with nothing and in His closing statements He leaves them the message when a sparrow falls to the ground I know this; HOW MUCH more do I care about you!!!! It blessed me as I started meditating on it. When the Lord takes us through difficult times or asks us to do something for Him, He knows our needs and loves us so much and has only our good in store. He wants us to learn that all we need in life is HIM!! He has given us the power to do everything through His Spirit and all we need his that. Help me Lord to fully grasp my desperation for needing only you in this life and how much you really do care about me.
I realize it has been a while since I have written, ugh. Life on the ship can get pretty monotonous and I forget that it may be exciting to all of you to know what a day is like so I shall try to tell you. For start, I don't usually get up until around noon ;) I work the evening or night shifts here on the ship. That was such a blessing cause I don't lik mornings:) So when I get up I eat lunch and then it's time to go to work if I work the evening shift (2pm-10pm). The patients are always glad to see us, those that have been here for a while :) The first half of the shift is usually just hanging out and building relationships with the patients. During the week we will have our post -op patients to take care of when they come back from the OR. So they are busy at times. Then in the middle of the shift, I actually have to do some work :) Every patient gets their vitals checked and some of them need dressing changes or whatever. Then the last half is playing games with patients or whatever. Usually everything goes pretty well. Night shift is from 9:30pm-7am. Everything is the same except the patients sleep more :) I really enjoy the work here. The main focus is building relationship with the patients and sharing Jesus with them it's great. All the nurses pray before each shift and have devo's together. It's so wonderful. I think I I should carry it back to America with me :)
After work my friends and I usually go for a run and then to the gym. On our days off we do fun things off the ship. Today was an ADVENTURE I will never forget. 9 of us headed to the "Bong Mines." This happens on a train :) We load the land rover onto a flat-bed train box and have a 2 hr ride. You can get out of cars and walk from box to box. This is quit dangerous and adventuresome in and of itself. I highly recommend not looking down while crossing from box to box :) We even got to sit on the engine. It was a lot of fun :) At the Bong Mines, before the war, they use to have a processing plant for ore-German ran. It was huge but during the war they all had to walk away from it and now it's just buildings that have been stripped of most of the steel as people walk away with it to sell. So we climbed around there for a while. That was scary at places as all the steps were gone on the stairways so it was like walking up the siderails only. :) That was just preparation for what was to come. Then we got in the land rover and drove and drove and drove and drove through the thickets, literally:) We went off roading. :) We came to the top of this ravine and then it was time to hike down!! The view from the top was amazing and you coul hear the rushing water at the bottom. The ravine was all thicket through the jungle with machetes!!! That was a great experience. Once at the bottom we followed the river bed and came to a goregous little falls. We swam in the water hole and slide down the rocks into the water hole ;) Our way out of the ravine was to climb up the waterfalls ;) It wasn't as bad as it sounds in most places :) Some places were a little difficult. Praise the Lord we all made it back to the land rover. Then we had a 3.5 hr ride back to the ship, with lots of bumps and mud holes :) We stopped along the way, once we hit the paved road, for a car wash in a river or something. All the little boys washed the land rover for us it was quit cute :) Needless to say we came back to the ship very tired, hungy and dirty : But it was one of the greatest adventures I have ever taken!!!!
And people say being a christian is boring??? Does this sound boring to you :):):)
I realize it has been a while since I have written, ugh. Life on the ship can get pretty monotonous and I forget that it may be exciting to all of you to know what a day is like so I shall try to tell you. For start, I don't usually get up until around noon ;) I work the evening or night shifts here on the ship. That was such a blessing cause I don't lik mornings:) So when I get up I eat lunch and then it's time to go to work if I work the evening shift (2pm-10pm). The patients are always glad to see us, those that have been here for a while :) The first half of the shift is usually just hanging out and building relationships with the patients. During the week we will have our post -op patients to take care of when they come back from the OR. So they are busy at times. Then in the middle of the shift, I actually have to do some work :) Every patient gets their vitals checked and some of them need dressing changes or whatever. Then the last half is playing games with patients or whatever. Usually everything goes pretty well. Night shift is from 9:30pm-7am. Everything is the same except the patients sleep more :) I really enjoy the work here. The main focus is building relationship with the patients and sharing Jesus with them it's great. All the nurses pray before each shift and have devo's together. It's so wonderful. I think I I should carry it back to America with me :)
After work my friends and I usually go for a run and then to the gym. On our days off we do fun things off the ship. Today was an ADVENTURE I will never forget. 9 of us headed to the "Bong Mines." This happens on a train :) We load the land rover onto a flat-bed train box and have a 2 hr ride. You can get out of cars and walk from box to box. This is quit dangerous and adventuresome in and of itself. I highly recommend not looking down while crossing from box to box :) We even got to sit on the engine. It was a lot of fun :) At the Bong Mines, before the war, they use to have a processing plant for ore-German ran. It was huge but during the war they all had to walk away from it and now it's just buildings that have been stripped of most of the steel as people walk away with it to sell. So we climbed around there for a while. That was scary at places as all the steps were gone on the stairways so it was like walking up the siderails only. :) That was just preparation for what was to come. Then we got in the land rover and drove and drove and drove and drove through the thickets, literally:) We went off roading. :) We came to the top of this ravine and then it was time to hike down!! The view from the top was amazing and you coul hear the rushing water at the bottom. The ravine was all thicket through the jungle with machetes!!! That was a great experience. Once at the bottom we followed the river bed and came to a goregous little falls. We swam in the water hole and slide down the rocks into the water hole ;) Our way out of the ravine was to climb up the waterfalls ;) It wasn't as bad as it sounds in most places :) Some places were a little difficult. Praise the Lord we all made it back to the land rover. Then we had a 3.5 hr ride back to the ship, with lots of bumps and mud holes :) We stopped along the way, once we hit the paved road, for a car wash in a river or something. All the little boys washed the land rover for us it was quit cute :) Needless to say we came back to the ship very tired, hungy and dirty : But it was one of the greatest adventures I have ever taken!!!!
And people say being a christian is boring??? Does this sound boring to you :):):)
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