Easier Said Than Done

The past few days have been really good. I'm finally getting used to everything on the ship and I'm getting really close with some crew members. I fall more and more in love with this organization everyday. I started to kind of forget why I was here a little bit though. The one problem being on this ship is you're kind of in a bubble away from the real world so it's easy to forget where you are and why. However, walk 20 feet away from the ship or go 2 decks down to the hospital and it's real easy to remind yourself.

Today started out amazing. Some crew members and I went to the market to go shopping and  get sodas. It was a relaxing day full of laughter and sweat, as usual. We got back to the ship and had burgers, fries, and baked beans for dinner (yay American food). I went down to visit my patient as usual. She and I have been getting really close. We are still very limited in conversation, but we just kind of get each other now if that makes sense. When we do talk, she tell me her stories some happy , but mostly sad. We laugh a lot, but mostly just hold hands and kinda stare at each other. She was having really bad stomach pains when I got to the ward.  As if watching a grown woman cry isn't sad enough, I asked the nurse about how she was doing besides the stomach pain.

The surgery didnt accomplish what it was supposed to. It was working then started failing miserably in the last 2 days. As the nurse shared with me, I was overwhelmed with sadness but then a wall of anger smacked me. I rarely get angry with God, but I just wanted to scream at Him. This women traveled for months mostly by foot to come to a ship she heard about once over the radio. She had never seen white people, never been in a car, left what was left of her family, all to follow this "faithful" God and this is what He does? How can He expect her to believe in Him after this? The worst part is she doesn't even know yet. She kind of has an idea, but she thinks its still just in the healing process. I just sat there and stared at the futbol game on TV trying my hardest to hold back tears.

Someone Facebook messaged me a few days ago and asked me how could God allow so much suffering in the world. This person found it hard to believe in a God that would allow such things to happen. This question was so easy for me to answer when I didn't have anything affecting me so personally, but now I find myself asking the same question this person did. This pain is real, it's tangible. It's hard to swallow. My faith is shaking but I trust God. Maybe a miracle will happen. God has a plan and loves us all so much no matter how hard that is to believe.  Even though I am filled with doubt and anger right now, I know the words I type are true. I don't know how I'm going to communicate this with my patient, but I pray she still sees His truth in this storm. I cannot begin to explain how important and amazing it would be if a prayer was said for my sweet friend.

“But if I were you, I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him. He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted. He provides rain for the earth; he sends water on the countryside. The lowly he sets on high, and those who mourn are lifted to safety. He thwarts the plans of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success. For he wounds, but he also binds up; he injures, but his hands also heal. In famine he will deliver you from death, and in battle from the stroke of the sword. You will be protected from the lash of the tongue, and need not fear when destruction comes. (Job 5:8-12, 18, 20, 21 NIV)

The REAL World: Conakry

A few days ago I went to a local hospital to visit the pediatric (kids) ward and go play with the precious, but sick children! I have only ever heard terror stories of this place so I was really scared to go for the first time. I've seen pictures of beds with bodily fluids still on them even after the patient left (or died), bloody handprints on the walls, and rusty needles that serve as IVs. A few people I have talked to said that as soon as they left they just broke down in tears. Needless to say I was freaked out.

Okay imagine a run down building in your local area. No windows, dust and dirt everywhere, broken foundation and ruble all over the ground. Okay now picture for some reason there are beds in this run down building. Now picture 2 to 3 children on these beds in these rooms, some with unsanitary IVs in their arms, some just laying there. There's your local hospital! A consultation with a doctor is 10,000 GNF (the local currency) which is about a 1.30$ in the States. Procedures don't cost more than 25$ in American money, but these people can't afford that. They could maybe afford that after saving up for half a year, if that. Most of the children that I talked to were there for Malaria which is totally treatable with a five dollar pill, but if not treated can cause a painful death. Some little babies had Asthma and one little boy had AIDS. I have heard about AIDS since I can remember, but I've never seen it in person. I've heard about this disease, but to see a child in front of me with a sunken in body, dry flakey face, and swollen bloody feet is a completely different experience. It's a realization, a realization that this disease is real. All of these diseases are real and they are killing children, God's children and our brothers and sisters. Why are we doing NOTHING to help these people? No, seriously why? Maybe because we don't want to think it's real. Maybe because we want to believe that these are just statistics, not actual people. Maybe because we're lazy and self-consumed. Maybe because we think other people will do it. Maybe because we are scared of leaving our comfortable lives with our money, family, friends, house, food, etc. I am so guilty of using all of these excuses, but eventually I ran out of excuses. I pray to God those who aren't helping the "least of these" as Jesus calls them, run out of excuses before it's too late. Before one more child dies of preventable diseases. Before one more person takes their last breath due to starvation. Before one more baby dies after being abandoned by her family who can't afford to take care of her. Most of all, I pray we all run out of excuses before either us or some "statistic" across the world or in our backyard dies without truly knowing, loving, serving, and obeying The Lord Jesus Christ and miss out on eternal life in His Kingdom. 

We often think that we cant help. You're just one person and there are billions of them, what difference can you make? Obvious results aren't always going to be quickly produced, but Rome wasn't built in a day, right? In one of my favorite books called Kisses from Katie, Katie writes in her journal 

"Sometimes working in a Third World country makes me feel like I am emptying an ocean with an eyedropper. Today, it often still feels that way. I have learned to be okay with this feeling because I have learned that I will not change the world. Jesus will do that. I can, however, change the world for one person"

I'm not saying we can all get together and magically end world hunger or find the cure to AIDS, but we can make a difference for the homeless guy begging downtown, for the orphan in Nicaragua, and for the starving family in India.

These people may be physically sick, but we are spiritually sick. Lets fix their bodies and conditions and they will fix our hearts.

"Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Luke 12:33-34

A Faith Walk...Literally

As I previously mentioned, we are allowed to "Befriend A Patient" and go visit them during visiting hours to form a friendship. Today I went and visited my patient for the first time! I am very limited to the information I can disclose regarding this patient, but I want to share as much as I can. I initially thought I was going to visit her for 30 minutes, but that 30 minutes quickly turned into almost two hours. She speaks a rare language that only one other person in the whole hospital ward could understand and as her words were translated, I was taken along her journey to the Mercy Ship.

 
I can't say the surgery my patient had, but this is a life changing surgery. There is a possibility the surgery could back fire and not do what it is supposed to do and that is causing my patient to worry a lot. She traveled for 4 months to get to Conakry. She speaks a very rare language. She had never seen electricity or white people. She took the biggest faith walk a person could ever take. Literally. My patient is Muslim and does not know of this Jesus I try to talk about. Her village is so secluded and small they don't even have words for days of the week or ages, let alone Jesus Christ. However, she knows that God brought her here and prayed with me, thanking me and Mercy Ships for showing her that she is not forgotten, that she has a second chance at life. I wish more than anything I could communicate more with this women to tell her that she has a chance at eternal life. The only chance I have is to show her the love of Jesus and pray that in the next 10 days she is here, her heart will be changed.

 I am new to all of this. I've never heard stories like this except in books. I've never had a women lay in front of me, holding my hand and sob while speaking to her God, praying that this surgery heals successfully so she can continue to live. How do I react? What do I tell the translator to say? I want a bible in her language! I want to speak her language! I want to read her the bible to show her story after story about the healing, goodness, and love of Jesus. I want to give her hope and I want her to know that God has been faithful thus far and will continue to be faithful for all of eternity. These words are not in her vocabulary. I can't say or do any of the things I want to. So I just smile and tell her she is not forgotten, I will pray for her, and will see her next morning for church service. My heart breaks typing this while reliving these moments from last night.

My patient knows because of Mercy Ships she is not forgotten, but what about the millions and millions of people who don't know?

 As Christians we have declared that Jesus Christ is our savior and king and that the bible is the Word of God. When we apply His word, it is evidence that we are obeying Him because we love Him. I don't want to preach or offend anyone so below I have included some scripture. Interpret for yourself.

 ³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. ³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdomprepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’⁴⁴ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?" ⁴⁵ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
⁴⁶ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

What Is Mercy Ships?

So what is Mercy Ships? Why is this ship that looks like a cruise boat docked in Conakry, Guinea?

Well I didn't really understand completely until I got here and I've had people from home ask me the same thing so I figured I would clarify.

Mercy Ships is an organization that brings hope and healing to the nations of West Africa by following the 2000 year old model of Jesus Christ. Everything on this ship has been funded through donations of some type which is why this ship is able to run effectively. The ship called the Africa Mercy (AFM), has been all along the coast of West Africa from Ghana to Togo to Sierra Leone to Liberia to many more and now Guinea. Every single person on the AFM are volunteers. We all pay a certain amount each month to be here and that money goes towards the ships facilites and other needs. AFM hires local people each place they go as day workers and these people are the only ones who get paid. There are long term and short term volunteers. Short term requires a minimum of at least two weeks onboard and long term requires a minimum of at least two years. The majority of people come here as short term, but become long term. I have found that over half of this ship has been serving five, ten, twenty years with this organization. There are seven decks on the ship. Deck one is the engine room, deck two are cabins (where people live), deck three is the hospital, deck four is all cabins, deck five is where the dining room, reception area, cafe, ship shop, and offices are, deck six is where the internet cafe, galley (kitchen), school, and international lounge (place where meetings are held) all are, and deck seven leads to outside and is where our pool is located.

Hospital
About half of the people on this ship are involved in medicine in some way. From lab technicians to ward nurses to surgeons to dental hygenist ,we have them all. On deck three, there are several wards (where patients are before, during, and after surgeries) , a CT Scanner, the OR (Operating Rooms), labs, and many more things that I don't know the name of....yet. The hospital has a few main focuses. Dental, Eye, and Orthopedics (tumors, cleft lips, Vesicovaginal fistulas, spinal and bone deformities, etc.). All orthopedic surgeries are done onboard the AFM. Wherever ship goes, it sets up multiple off shore clincs as well, usually a few miles from the ship. We have a Hope Clinic which is where Pre and Post-Op patients go, as well as a dental and eye clinic. In order for a patient to recieve health care, they must first go through a screening process which is done in the first few months that the AFM arrives. After the screening process the patients are given a date and time of when to come back to the ship or dental and eye clinics to recieve the necessary care. Non-medical volunteers are allowed several opportunities to be involved in the hospital. We are allowed to shadow surgeries and befriend patients. We can also attend Ward Church Service with the patients and medical crew every Sunday. I believe our hospital represents the healing Jesus did. He showed people his love for them through His unbelievable miraculous power of healing sickness and disease. He changed people's lives through His miracles and that's what the goal of our hosiptal is.

My Typical Day
I am a Hospitality Hostess so my job is to make the ship as hospitable as possible! When new people come onboard I welcome them and tell them some basic rules and guidelines while the people at reception get them to sign forms and make their badges. I then take them to our dining room and serve them a meal, while telling them more about the ship and organization. After that, I take them to their rooms and don't see them again until the next morning when I give them a tour of the ship. Housekeeping people clean the ship,  but we make people's beds when they first arrive and give them towels, a water bottle, and homemade cookies that we bake ourselves. Mercy Ships often hosts important guests (such as Ambassadors, banks, or corporate people) so we must serve them their meals while they are onboard. There are also many meetings that each department onboard has weekly so we serve them snacks and drinks during those meetings. I work everyday 8 am to 5 pm and I'm off on weekends unless I am on call. If we are put on call, we have a pager and cannot leave the ship even if the work day is over  because we have to be available if people need something at the last minute. There are things called Mercy Ministires that crew members can sign up for which involve visiting orphanages, prisons, schools for the deaf, villages for disabled or mentally retarded people, hospitals, and the list goes on. 80% of this country is Muslim so we cannot go out and start preaching on the streets (well we could, but it probably wouldn't be very smart or safe for the reputation of Mercy Ships), but we can try to form a relationship with locals and all grow and learn about Jesus Christ through these ministires. Every Thursday and Sunday we have worship and a mini church service with all crew members which I really enjoy. Small groups and bible studies meet weekly. Small workout programs are offered sometimes as well as miscellaneous things like drum lessons, french lessons, or group card games. We are allowed off the ship anytime between 6 am and 10:30 pm (unless we are staying out at a hotel or a local's house). We can go to local churches every Sunday and usually multiple groups are going to multiple churches around town.

I've said it before and I will say it again, this ship is the most beautifully and brillantly put together thing I've ever seen. Every person onboard has a crucial role and without them, our mission and goal would be unattainable. Whether it be an engineer, plumber, nurse, surgeon, librarian, teacher, student, maid, cook, hospitality hostess, chaplain, banker, receptionist, purser, security guard, dentist, lab technician, etc. every single person plays such a crucial role. I advise any and everyone to consider spending time onboard the Africa Mercy whether it be two weeks or twenty years.

"In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive." Acts 20:35

My New Home

So today was one of the funnest (is that a word?) yet most intimidating days so far!

I was eating with a new crew member in the galley (dining room) after work when my friend Fred (the one I previously mentioned a few blogs ago) invited me to come watch him and some other crew members play soccer in town. I hadn't been off the ship in two days so I practically hopped up from my seat and followed him to one of our cars (a really awesome Landrover). A few other crew members joined us and off we went!

Okay traffic in Conakry is like New York City times A BILLION MILLION. Don't believe me? Come here and see for yourself...Seriously, come here. It's amazing... Anyways, what would normally be a five minute car ride turns into a thirty minute car ride because of all the cars going every which way, people walking in front of you, bikes swerving and almost hitting you, etc. Car rides are some of my favorite things to do. I get to people watch like crazy and look at all the markets. It's beautiful! We finally get to the soccer fields (which are dirt fields and maybe two goals that look like they are about 50 years old) and the place is packed. Not to offend any American foot fairies, but I saw 7 year olds who could run circles around local high school teams. It's amazing how good everyone is at soccer. Everyone.

 Besides one other crew member, I am the only white person there. Immediately eyes are drawn to me. Some smile (mostly little kids) and some just stare. I was with all guys so they went onto the field to play which left me alone on the side lines. If were being honest, I was scared. I know very little about their culture (aka the people themselves), I know three words in french, and I'm a young, small, white girl; not the safest combination.

To my surprise, no one talked to me. People stared, but no one said anything. Now don't get me wrong, I love my country and where I'm from, but trying to blend in and have normal conversations with people is impossible as an American who only speaks english. I wish I wasn't a white english speaking American while I was here, I feel like it creates this wall between me and the locals and I hate it. While I'm here I want to get as immersed in this culture as possible. I want to know these people and their stories. I want to learn about the country's history and religion. I'm so thirsty for Guinea! Sitting at the field surrounded by people and not even trying to get to know any of them simply was not an option. I began talking to this one guy and before I knew it about fifteen Guineans surrounded me. They were all laughing at my attempts to speak french and a few of them were trying to speak english. It was pretty much the biggest epic fail you've ever seen, but I had so much fun doing it. I forgot about my fears and worries and just enjoyed my valuable and limited time with these people. I realized after my encounter with my new friends that I really need to learn french. If I want any attempt at making friends, knowledge of this language is crucial. I plan on buying an english/french dictionary and studying every night. Forming friendships with these people is the first step in showing them Christ, or for the ones who already know Him, developing and growing together in our relationship with Christ.

These people are so amazing! I've only spent probably about a total of six hours in the city since I got here last Friday, but I fall more and more in love every time I leave the port. I get worried sometimes, but God is with me every step of the way, so be reserved and shy?

I am making friends and finally getting the hang of my job. This organization is brilliantly and beautifully put together. I wish everyone could share this experience with me! If you know me well, you know I am the most nostalgic, homesick person ever! I obviously miss my family and friends, but I don't miss home. I don't miss my house, or my car, or the food. For some strange, odd, crazy reason, I feel like this is my new home. Maybe not this ship or this country, but this lifestyle.

I fully plan on spending the rest of my life doing mission work. Now for where God places me or what He wants me to do, I don't know. But I can't wait to find out.

"I will be strong and courageous; I will not be terrified or discouraged for The Lord my God is with  me WHEREVER I go" Joshua 1:9

What I love about Sundays

So I was not expecting to write on this blog as much as I am, but I just have so many new things to share!

Today was Sunday (obviously) and crew are able to attend church held in our hospital with patients and the staff, a local church with locals, and a church/worship service at 7 pm on board. My friend, Fred, who is from Ghana and has been with Mercy Ships since 1999 (when it was YWAM) invited me to a local church with him, so me and some of the people I went off ship with yesterday left this morning around 9:45 am. When we got to the church, I was freaked out to say the least. A man was in the front yelling into the microphone. I followed Fred all the way up to the front row and before I knew it, Fred started yelling! The more I listened, the more I realized they were praying! What?! In America we pray quietly and to ourselves! Ohh no! These people were shouting and walking around and lifting up their hands! After about 15 minutes of this, the chorus began singing. Now luckily this church was english speaking, but for everything someone said in english (aka really broken english with a thick accent), someone followed up and sometimes interrupted them in french. It was safe to say, I only understood about half or maybe one fourth of the whole three hour service.

Worship was the best part! These people danced their way into the front of the church and made us follow them! They were clapping and dancing and shouting along with the choir! These people were so on fire with Jesus and most of us Mercy Shippers were looking around at each other kind of wide eyed and clapping occasionally. Who are the poor, broken, and miserable ones now? Certainly not the locals. The Pastor touched on a few things that really spoke to me (or at least a few things I could actually understand)

• God wants us to take another position
• When we are together, we are stronger and The Lord is glorified.
• If God literally opened our eyes and allowed us to glance at all of the evil He does keep out of our lives, we would fear and love Him the way we should.
• Obedience is more important than sacrifice.

During worship, boys in the choir would take turns sharing the microphone and sing. When these people sing they don't just sing, they shout, they dance, they sing praise with every bit of their soul. I have never seen worship this intense in America, no where even remotely close. One of the songs sang "God you are good".  I noticed this boy with a beautiful voice singing during part of the song. After the service was over, all of the locals came up to us and shook our hands while saying something like "May God bless you" or "God be with you". The young boy with the beautiful voice who was probably about my age or a little younger came up and shook my hand. He introduced himself as John and told me he was from Liberia. He proceeded to tell me that he escaped the war when he was five and has been living here ever since as an orphan. He sleeps in the market and comes to church every Sunday. I asked him where he learned his english and he told me from the church (obviously he is an avid church-goer). My group was leaving so I had to say bye to John. I shook his hand and told him I would pray for him. On the way back and all day I have thought about John.

What do I pray about for him?

You're probably thinking "Okay Emily obviously pray for this boy because he is an orphan with no where to live."  Well yes, at first I began to pray for John asking Jesus to come into his life and bless him. Then I remembered where I had first seem him. He was in the choir, worshipping Jesus with such passion and enthusiasm, and he was singing with his WHOLE heart "God you are good". 

Let that sink in.

This boy with NO family, NO place to live, and would seem has nothing good in his life, is praising and worshipping God and firmly declaring that God is good. I think Jesus is in his life and has blessed him.

I don't mean to sound like your sterotypical missionary or whatever you want to call it, but we question the goodness in our lives that God has blessed us with when our boyfriend/girlfriend breaks up with us, when we don't get into the college we want to go to, or even if we don't get the grades we want. Image praising God and declaring He is good if your family and home were taken away from you and you were left to fend for yourself in the slums. Would we believe that God is good and faithful in our lives at that point?

Americans often think we are the blessed ones. We have all the money and comfort and food and families and homes and the list goes on! After church this morning, I disagree. Watching all of these people worship the same God I worship and pray to the same God I pray to with much more intensity, love, passion, faithfulness, and honesty than I EVER have made me jealous. The bible says not to be jealous of your neighbor, but I must confess that I was straight up jealous. I yearn to know Jesus like these people do! My only desire is to rejoice in The Lord and love Him like these people so genuinely do. The promise and truth of Jesus is all these people have to cling onto. They can't distract themselves with nice cars or lavish vacations or any of the wordly things we so accesibly have. We often think "Wow I feel bad for the starving people in Africa who don't and probably will never have it good like we do" and although being homeless without food or health care is awful and we should help these people, the "starving people in Africa" who believe in Jesus have it good with The Lord.

Maybe you have realized this. Maybe you don't think this way. Maybe you're perfectly happy with your spiritual life (exsistant or non exsistant) I don't mean to disrespect anyone or their beliefs. I don't want to tell anyone they're wrong because they aren't! For my whole life I thought this way though and I think a good amount of people do. Not because we mean to, but because we don't know any better! We must realize that this is the reality though. We all hear stories about the "Starving kids in Africa". Well people, it's true. They are here, but they are worshipping a good and faithful God.

 Next time things don't go the way we want them to in our lives, will we still proclaim him good and faithful?

If you could pray your own prayer for John, that would be awesome.

"God is FAITHFUL, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." 1 Corinthians 1:9

Forte Forte!!

Wow! Conakry is just what I pictured, but more. Yes it looks like what you see in the movies, but on my trip from the airport to the Mercy Ship, I saw much more!

• I saw a man peeing on the street
• I saw a drug deal
• I saw women and men carrying 120 pound loads of micellaneous items on their heads
• I saw naked babies taking baths in buckets
• I saw probably about 227 people almost get hit by cars every five seconds
• I saw people with no legs and people who look like they are on the Olympic Track team.
• I saw little boys playing soccer in barefeet with a half deflated ball
• I saw lots of American flag bumper stickers (heck yeah! Murica)

I tried to smile at every person I made eye contact with during our two hour journey from the airport to the ship. Some smiled the biggest, whitest smiles back I've ever seen! Some stared at me with a blank look and some yelled Forte Forte at me then proceeded to make silly faces at me (forte means white person). Piles of trash are burning everywhere, people are trying to sell you things left and right (even water in plastic baggies), fish, goats, and chicken are sold raw with flies all over them, the list goes on. My first thought was "Wow this place is so impoverished, I feel so badly for these people" but although these people are not rich monetarily, are they poor? Is this place broken? Are they miserable?

We are all broken, we are all poor in some way, but you know what? There's good news! Literally GOOD NEWS and its called the Gospel! God put on flesh and saved us all! He is a healer, a savior, and a relentless lover. He takes our brokeness and makes it beautiful . On the outside this place may look broken, but there is much more to be seen below the surface! I cannot wait to share the GOOD NEWS with these beautiful people.

This ship is breath taking. It's bigger and fancier than I thought! Everyone is so nice and welcoming here. There are people form 40 different nations on board! Our head cook is from the south (North Carolina, WOOHOO!) and makes the best food! He even said he makes his own sweet tea here and will share some with me (SCORE!). I live with 9 other girls! One from mexico, 2 from the US of A (Amurica), one from the Netherlands, one from Germany, and I haven't met the other few yet! Our cabin is huge and messy, but what can you expect from girls? I think I over packed (classic) but hopefully I can get another shelf or something! I get a tour of the ship tomorrow and begin work on Monday.

This place is so full of Jesus! Everyone is so nice, they all have the same mission. There is a small bible study going on right below where I am, the man behind me is listening to Christian music and worshiping The Lord, and there is encouarging scripture written down everywhere I look! I am so blessed to be here and I can't wait to die a little more each day so that The Lord my Savior Jesus Christ will consume me as I become less and He becomes greater!

"Stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourself fully to the work of The Lord" 1 Cor. 15:58

And so it begins!

Bonjour from Paris!

I only have 30 minutes of wifi so I gotta make this quick, but wow today was not what I expected at all! First of all the text messages, phone calls, facebook posts, and tweets of encouragement have been UNBELIEVABLE! I mean I knew I had amazing friends, but WOW guys! Even though it may have just been a quick simple prayer for me, God heard that and helped me so much so thank you so much! All of my best friends and family came to see me off at the airport which was obviously difficult, but I had this peace over me after I said my finals goodbye and besides flying away from the mountains, I haven't been sad since! I feel so ready for adventure and to meet new people and most importantly  to be the hands and feet of our healer Jesus Christ!

I am sitting at the gate waiting to board my flight to Conakry (the capital of Guinea). I am so sad that the first time I go to Paris, I am stuck in the airport by myself for 4 hours just sitting here knowing one of the most beautiful cities in the world is less than 10 miles away from me! I am coming back here one day and enjoying the actual city! Y'all this airport is UNREAL! Everything is a million times fancier than anything in America. They have a billion cappuccino vending machine maker thingys and every duty free shop is like walking into the nicest store in America. I went into this liquor store and never in my life did I think liquor could actually look beautiful, but it did! Everything is so fancy and high tech. I've heard like 12 different languages (none of which I understand). French is such a beautiful language and I am pumped I get to hear it in Guinea as well!

The Lord has prepared me so well for this journey! I was so scared to travel by myself across the world, but this day has been so joyous and awesome! God is so big and so good. Gosh I am so overwhelmed by how beautiful He is and all of the creations He makes! Your prayers help so much and keep praying for me! A prayer for this continued adventurous and peaceful attitude to continue! A prayer for Christ to consume me and when I meet new people and situations, for Him to be seen, heard, and felt, not me. Also a prayer for a safe rest of my trip and for my luggage to arrive promptly! Y'all are the best. Thank you so much for everything.

Au Revoir!