So many events, so little time!

Wow! So I have had THE BEST WEEK EVER!!!! Monday was my 19th birthday and my friends here onboard went above and beyond anything I deserve or expected! They brought me breakfast in bed and sang Happy Birthday to me then gave me presents and cards they made for me. After that two of my friends, Jeanna and Rafaela, went to the craft market with me where they leather goods are sold and then went to this hotel that lets Mercy Shippers swim for free. After tanning and swimming for a few hours we went back to the ship and showered (yay me! I showered finally). I was eating dinner when some of my friends came and brought me a m&m cake they baked for me! When it's someone's birthday on the ship, it's a tradition to ring this bell and announce whose birthday it is and the whole dining room sings for them, so that's what they did for me! I love my friends so much! They spoil me! After cake, a few of us went to bible study then out to town for a bit. It was such an amazing day and I am truly truly blessed to have such an amazing group of friends here! This birthday was extra special to me because it brought much reflecting of my past birthdays. I can truly testify to the grace of my beautiful and merciful God when I compare where I was and what I was doing on my 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th birthday to what I did and where I was on my 19th birthday.

On Tuesday I went to what I thought was bible study at my local church in Conakry (Amour De Dieu) with my friend Fred, but turns out it is "Revival Week" there. Boy was I in for a treat! The pastor was discussing spiritual warfare. He began part of his three and a half hour sermon with this: "We are not fighting against flesh, but against evil. Tonight, we are exposing the enemy." (paraphrased from Ephesians 6:12). Here are some notes I took from his sermon....

• The thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy and he will go to the ends of the earth to do that. (John 10:10)
• When you know the God you are serving, you will not be afraid of the enemy. God has power and authority.
• The devil also has power and authority, but God wins. 
• Even though we want to see The Lord, Satan will come too. 
• In the story of Job, the devil came to kill, steal, and destroy, but God prevailed good and faithful.
• Arm yourself with the armor of God. The belt of truth, breastplate on righteousness, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, sword of the Spirit (The Word of God), and pray on all occasions.  (Ephesians 6:13-18) 

This was the most powerful sermon I've ever heard and I truly felt, saw, and heard God in that three and a half hours! I was doing things I normally would never do such as praying out loud, dancing all along the church pews, and lifting my hands, reaching out to my loving and righteous Father! I saw people get healed from their physical pain in the name of Jesus and people burst out in tears from the surgery Jesus was undergoing on their hearts. I have never felt peace and joy like I did that night. The God I am serving is so beautiful, I am falling head over heels in love with Him. Below are are lyrics to one of my favorite songs that come to mind when I think about what I felt like on Tuesday.

The fullness of Your grace is here with me 
The richness of Your beauty's all I see 
The brightness of Your glory has arrived 
In Your presence God, I'm completely satisfied 

For You I sing I dance 
Rejoice in this divine romance 
Lift my heart and my hands To show m love, to show my love 

When we got back to the ship after church, one of my favorite security guards, M.G., who I mentioned in my last blog was working night shift! I went to go have our now routine french/english lesson and somehow we got talking about the Bible and he wanted me to go get one in french so we could read it! I ran up the gangway to our library and conveniently found a french/english Bible! After I taught him some english words he could use in his job, we ended our lesson with scripture from God's Word. We read from Matthew 5:43-46 where Jesus talks about loving your enemies. I left M.G. with the Bible that night hoping and praying that he would read more because for night shift, he basically just sits there and watches for suspicious activity and tries not to fall asleep until seven the next morning. The next night M.G., my cabin mate Emma, and I discussed the culture of Africa. We talked about Muslim and Christianity and I found out M.G. is Muslim. He has been to a christian church before and liked it, but like a lot of 22 year olds, religion is not his primary concern and priority at the moment.

On Thursday me and some friends had the day off of work so we decided to venture to Guinea's biggest market called Medina. We took a bus there and the bus driver was playing 50 Cent (the rapper) and reggae the whole way there! The whole three hours we were there, I don't think I saw any other white people so we stuck out like sore thumbs. This market is massive. Hundreds of people going every direction all at the same time and usually carrying something on their head like water, fabric, food, or other miscellaneous items. We went to the market looking for fabric to make clothes and finally after about an hour of looking, we hit the jack pot. Basically a whole section of a rundown wear house was full of every kind and color of fabric a person could possibly want! We each splurged and bought lots of cool fabric after about an hour and a half of shopping then made our way back to the ship. Walking through this market that takes up what seems like miles and miles of land is annoying, hilarious, scary, and exciting all in one! People tried to pick pocket us, hit on us, sell us the most random stuff, and just try and talk to the fotes (white people, pronounced fo-teas).

I am on call today for work so I can't leave the ship, but there is a ballroom dancing class tonight at 7:00 so I will probably go to that! On Saturday I am going to the women's prison with my lovely roommate and fellow Ashevillian Glenn. Sunday I am going back to my wonderful church for a Sunday full of praise and worship to my Almighty Father!

It is still up in the air, but I feel that The Lord is not calling me back to college at this point in time. I have instead officially applied to spend September 2013 - March 2014 with an organization called YWAM (Youths With A Mission) in Hawaii and I am waiting to hear if I got accepted or not so prayers for that would be awesome!

Also, Mercy Ships will be featured on the television show 60 Minutes this Sunday February 17th so check your local listings for what time it will air! Check out what Jesus and this awesome organization are doing for West Africa!

                                                                     Guinee!!!!

                                         My wonderful friends with me on my birthday!

Me and Balla! 

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." Ephesians 6:10-13

Learning

Hey strangers! It's been awhile since I've written. Time is flying by here! I've been here over a month and it feels like a week, but a year at the same time. Crazy to think I'm going to be here for 5 more. I have been really busy with work lately/ been sick/ been too lazy to get off the ship so I haven't really done much in the past week or so. Today I was sitting at our pool and looked off the side of the ship down to the port and saw my favorite local security guard sitting at the gate. Something (or Someone) told me to go down there and talk to him. I had to take the trash out anyways so it was like hitting two birds with one stone. We greeted each other as usual and with the little french I knew, we struck up a simple conversation. I then sat down next to him and the other security guard and attempted more conversation. These guys speak minimal english, but we were able to communicate that I wanted to learn french and they wanted to learn english so lets help each other out! They conveniently had a little french book with simple words and pronunciations so we went through that three times and they helped me pronounce all those fancy french words correctly and I taught them the word in english. Me and Balla (that's definitely not how you spell his name, but that's how it sounds) then just started speaking and I would write down what he said in a way so I could read it later and pronounce it correctly. I learned terms such as a lot, they resemble, it' s good, it's not good, the days of the week, where is your phone?, my phone is on the charger, and my phone is on the ship. My 5 minute trip to the dumpster turned into an hour and a half of learning french and teaching english! I went back on the ship with more joy than I've had in awhile. I have been slacking in being adventurous lately so it was just a simple reminder what and who this beautiful nation holds right outside our doors (or gangway if we're being technical) Oh how I love these people! They are so friendly, welcoming, happy, and eager to form a friendship. As if that french lesson wasn't enough, I was taking more trash out tonight and my other favorite security guard with amazing english nicknamed M.G was working began chatting. We sat on the ground and discussed the difference in "school french" and "street french". We had once discussed about how he was a Christian so I felt comfortable asking him phrases in french that I could use to sort of minister to people such as "how are you feeling?" "how is your family?" "can I pray for you?"or "what can I pray about for you?". Well after 40 minutes of french with M.G and one red ant bite on my butt (they are all over the port, I will go get ice after this haha), I think I could manage a meaningful conversation with our patients onboard or at one of our Mercy Ministries. I have french lessons with Balla on Mardi (Tuesday) at 5 pm and with M.G every night of the week! I am PUMPED!!!! Oh and one of our Gerkhas (security guards) from Nepal told me he would also help me learn some simple Nepalese so this girl is about to come back trilingual! (okay that's a stretch)

My birthday is tomorrow and me and my cabin mate Jeanna are going shopping in town and spending the whole day there! What better way to celebrate?! I'll probably go out with some friends for some soda or something and then have my french lesson with M.G. Only thing missing? My freakin amazing friends and family from back home :( but oh well! Nothing I can do about it. 

"Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone" Colossians 4:6 

God is good 

Hopeless To Hopeful

It's my mama's birthday today and she said as a present, she wanted me to post on this thing so here you go mum!!! Happy birthday to the most amazing person I know! I miss you soooo much!!! 

I kinda forgot this blog existed and I think it's because this place is starting to feel so much like home that I have nothing new or fun to report. It all seems like daily activity. On Friday I went to the Hope Center because I got the day off work. The Hope Center is where our patients go for Pre and Post - Op care. It's about a seven minute drive and twenty minute walk from the ship. We are allowed to visit the Hope Center whenever we want and it's a really awesome time to go interact with patients of all ages! I was nervous when I first went, but the second and third times were much nicer. Seeing familiar faces who come to greet you is always an awesome feeling. The Hope Center is just what it sounds like. Hope. It gives the patients not only hope when it comes to their medical care, but also for what is to come in their future. People actually interact with them and treat them like the human beings they are instead of ignoring and ostracizing them because of their medical issues. In our culture if someone has cross eyes or walks funny, we don't treat them any differently. If they have a cleft lip or benign tumor, it's operated on and fixed before anyone even knows about it. These are life ruining handicaps here. These people are mocked at school or work and have to stop going, which leads to poverty. They have no self confidence and are ashamed of who they are. Getting to love on and communicate with these people is simply amazing. I can't even imagine how our nurses, surgeons, and physical therapists feel when they make the lame walk, the deaf hear, and the blind see all through blessings from our awesome Savior!  

Today I went to a local island with some friends. I felt like I was in the Caribbean, the island was incredible! It was really nice to relax and get away, but I literally forgot where I was until it was time to leave. I guess being out of school has really taken a toll on my brain because I brilliantly sat in the African sun for half the day without any sunscreen on. My whole body is red and I look like a mini tomato. I'll have to learn the Susu word for red person since I'm no longer a "fote" (white person). If I don't turn tan I'm going to be extremely upset hahaha. 

My birthday is next week. It's so crazy to think I'll be turning 19 (aka the most awkward age ever) in freakin Africa!!!! I would have never ever thought that this is where I would be. Crazy to see where God will lead us when we simply follow Him huh? That's about all on my side of the pond! 

"Put your hope in The LORD, for with The LORD is unfailing love and with Him is full redemption" Psalm 130:7

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