Salsa and God

            What does one think of when one says salsa? Well maybe the sauce, but I mean the dance. The picture I get, or I should say got, was sexuality, male with female, gracefulness, maybe some dark lighting. I did not picture myself and prophecies from God. On Wednesday night I went dancing with a group of people who go almost every week. It’s pretty cool to see men and women who did not know an inch of salsa, flying on the dance floor. Well this was my third time, so I’m still not that great (thankfully with the right dancing partner it doesn’t matter because he’ll just fly me around). On one of the lessons, God nudged me (think almost visual picture with a mix of feeling) and said “remember that prophecy."

When I was fourteen at winter camp a lady told me in prophecy form that one day I would dance but she didn’t know how. Well picture a scrawny teenager who is socially awkward and not exactly graceful and see how she reacted. In the years since I have danced before the lord and several occasions.

One of the more notable times, was when I was at church one Sunday and I learned there was a shooting at YWAM where I had gone to school and possibly deaths. I had no idea who was killed. I danced before God then, cause I didn’t know how else to express myself in God’s presence. 

Apparently, my learning Salsa was one of the parts of this prophecy. From what I can gather, dancing is one of the more self assured things to do. When dancing alone I can’t think, or at least not care what other people are thinking. When dancing with another person, I have to be ok with touching other people. Both show a need for me to not care if I make a fool of myself. Anyways, the point is, God said, see I have molded you into such a confident young woman, and I love you enough to get you into Salsa. Hehe. God’s cool.

Still Small Voice

God’s presence is so good. Sometimes it comes in this rush and I am filled with the joy of the Lord. Other times it is just the tender comfort of quiet. I received the later today. Just a sense of calm. I am an extremely analytical person. It means I think through things (usually wrongly) over and over until it drives me a little nutty. Today, as my friends were not in the dining room that I could see, I went up to deck seven to eat. Deck seven is a semi open air deck (think of a porch) with two tables and the corresponding chairs. It overlooks Sierra Leone, which with all its poverty, ramshackle housing, and smoky surroundings, is actually quite beautiful to view. I was joined by one other person, but at first neither of us talked except for the greeting. When we finally did talk it was without the need to put a bunch of words together and fill up space. It wasn’t small talk. I don’t really like small talk. Inside these large spaces I had music in my head and I could talk to Abba, my daddy. I felt calm. Quiet. Peaceful.

Yesterday, I finally bought my plane ticket home. November 27th is not that far away, and the plane ticket brought that all the more close. August 19th was my two year anniversary. I can still remember the day I came here, came home. We landed in Benin, drove, met a bunch of strangers who drove us to the ship. What a comfort it was to see all my gateway family lined up next to the gangway with signs, ready to take me and my fellow travelers (other gateway family members) into their arms. It was surreal but I was home.

This really is home. Here I have grown friends who, once we are apart physically, I will never part spiritually for they have become my brothers and sisters. Here, I learned the meaning of the prophecy told over me; that I would one day unfold and come into myself. Here, I have cried, I have laughed more times than I can count, I have done some crazy things, I have become friends with people from all over the world, I have sung on worship team, I have sung a solo(!), and I have said goodbye to hundreds of friends.

My gateway group, which has started out in the twenties has dwindled to about six. I have been to twenty-four countries. I have met thousands of people, but normally I am the one who says goodbye and drives away. I have become tired and sometimes downright moody. I feel like an old woman sometimes who says “well in my day…” because I do. I say things like, “Well when I started two years ago…”

Am I complaining? Maybe a little, but this little bit of sadness, cannot compare to the abundant joy of the former. I am so so glad I came. This has been a marvelous experience.

Still, thanks God for giving me this one moment of quiet where I didn’t have to put up any mask, and I could just be.

God bless all of you,
Heather

A FEW THINGS WHICH HAPPENED THIS PAST MONTH



Went to the Crown Bakery and had a Lebanese breakfast

 Movie Fest on board - dressed up

Said goodbye to Johan

Country Line Dancing!

Airplanes

Dear Readers,
I beseech you to forgive me. Ok, well I have no good reason for my absence so I will make it up by trying to give a faithful account of life on board in the past few weeks. It’s been interesting.
Every job has its ups and down’s, disadvantages and advantages. The advantage being I get to know almost everyone on the ship. The disadvantage is I have many hours where nothing happens. We do a lot at reception but most of those things only take a few minutes.
This week I worked night shift. Now, most people, when they hear that, feel sorry for me. It’s actually not that bad of a time. I get the quiet time, so rare on this ship, that I need. While I did get my quiet time, I also had a bit of chaos mixed in.
Our most used airways is Brussels and they only use the one plane to go back and forth between Europe and Sierra Leone. That one plane kicked up a rock into it’s engine and became temporarily unusable. This meant the poor people trying to leave the ship went back and forth from the airport twice, only succeeding the third time in getting on airplane.
What this entailed was hours of traveling to the airport, a few hours at the airport and hours coming back. To say the least, people were not happy. It was my job to get them back into their old cabins (hospitality, God bless them, did most of the work on that part) and do the paperwork necessary. I’ve never seen so many people up and about at twelve in the morning, what with drivers, hospitality, and those wanting to greet the poor souls coming back.
To end it all, everyone is safe and sound where they are supposed to be. The arrivals are here, and the departures are gone.
As for me, my most exciting time was going out to eat at a nice restaurant. My roommates and I decided we needed a roommate get together (yes I’m back in a regular cabin with three roommates) and so we went out to eat. It wasn’t so much the eating (my food tasted like street meat and I know that because I’ve had street meat) but the drive back that I found fascinating. Our taxi driver was one I’ve used before so I knew him well enough to sit up front and chat with him. He is a Muslim by the name of Polo. We talked a bit about our religions. At the time it was Ramadan (I think the month of Ramadan is finished now). Religions is one of my favorite things to talk about as well as other cultures. Here I was getting both things in one go. Yes, it was a nice time.
Suffice to say, the past few weeks, has been interesting.
Well, God bless all of you,
Heather

Banana Island

Hello all,
This has been a fairly interesting week. Not because there is anything truly new going on, on the Africa Mercy. I am still living in a family cabin (cabin sitting) with Becca. Probably the biggest change on board, for me anyways, is the arrival of a good friend who is back on board and once again our reception team is full. One of the highschoolers was good enough to work here during her summer breaks.

So what I did these past few weeks: the Wednesday before last, we went Salsa dancing again. It was one of my friend's birthday, and as he is one of those who has gone salsa dancing every week, we did that and added a dinner and a cake into the mix. Very tasty and fun.

More to the point was this weekend. A small group of us stayed over night on an island. As I got ready for it, I found out from my friend that she didn't have a clue about the accomadations. I had visions of sleeping on the sand covered beach, with little protection from mosquitoes and small small food. While it was rough with no electricity and we didn't receive food until nine pm, we did have beds, mosquito nets, and coverings from the rain. We didn't do much (kinda the point when one leaves the ship) except lie on the beach, read, watch the sunset, talk, and play the dutch game - jungle speed. It was nice to sit together and get to know eachother a little bit better. I didn't get eaten by bugs too much and I didn't go to bed on a hard ground. I call that a win!

God bless,
Heather

Dancing + Dress Shopping + Worship = A good week

“People are going to think you’re an extrovert.” That’s the laughing response I got when I told someone I had gotten off the ship yet again. So, I haven’t left the ship every day this week but a good amount.

Wednesday night was the most eventful in that respect. For the past I don’t know how long, a group of people have been going salsa dancing. I joined this past Wednesday. So, I’m still not the greatest dancer – little coordination, but oh it was so fun. I twirled. I floated. I stumbled. I had a blast. What made the evening more memorable was the atmosphere. The dance lessons were held at this fairly large restaurant in front of the ocean with the beach and the crashing waves. What is more: it rained. From the distance we could hear the thunder rolling and see the lightning flash. Awesome.

Thursday, I went dress shopping with a friend who is planning on having her wedding here. Well, that was interesting. I think the Africans like a little flair to their weddings. They like the big poufy dresses, the large hats, the numerous colors. My friend – not so much. We went into three different shops. The first were wedding planners. We shall see on them. The next was a shop where the ladies told my friend all she would need for a good wedding (the big hats, the gloves, and the poufy dresses). They also led us to a dress shop with a few good dresses in it (come all the way from David’s Bridal) but were too expensive. Strangely, because of all the NGO’s the land of Sierra Leone is not all that cheep. We shall see what actually happens on my friend’s wedding.

The third time I went out is not a big deal, so I will keep you from being bored over that. But on Tuesday, a group of us, went up to deck eight and had worship. We watched the sun set and the lightning come in. I could definitely feel God’s presence. Isn’t it good to be in the presence of the Lord?

Anyways, this week has been more than good. It’s been…well great.

God bless,
Heather

PS: I'll download pictures later

My Life on My Ship

I normally don’t talk about the organization I work for in itself; most of the reason being, I work in reception where the hospital stuff just doesn’t get by me all that much.

I truly do love this ship. The ship, or I should say the people and the God who dwell inside, bring so much light to so many people. “See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn”(Isaiah 60:2-3). There is a lot of darkness over this country. There is the ‘secret organization’, the diamond trade, which works much like a slave force with how much people are paid, and of course the vestiges of war. But the people still smile, and there is still laughter. Satan has not won altogether. Even without us there is light. Still we are the harbingers of light.

Thousands of people have come through our gangway, or the gangways of one of the other ships, facing death and or separation from their families of friends, and left with a better future. Tumors have been removed, cleft lips fixed, and legs straightened. All this is for free. I love that about our ship.

I don’t just love what we do. I also love the society of the Africa Mercy. Numerous times I’ve gone by the café and had to sit down because someone was playing the piano, an impromptu band was going on, or worship was in session. We’ve had trivia nights, sock golf (much like Frisbee golf but safe to play inside), and movies in the international lounge. I’ve been a part of Bible study groups, worship nights on deck 7, and prayer with friends. I love that.

Society means friendship, and with the Africa Mercy this is not a flippant matter. I’ve made friends who I can talk to about anything. Who though we are countries apart, I feel we will always be friends. I’ve laughed with them, cried with them, and worshiped with them.

Why am I telling you this? I thought you should know.

Agriculture Program

I am not the ‘go with the crowd’ charitable person. Not that I am a particularly defiant person but I don’t tend to like to do what I ‘should’ do, so I tend to go kicking and screaming to any of the off ship programs. Of course, I have various good reasons. Making relationships in one day with someone (especially children from orphanages) then only coming sporadically because my schedule doesn’t allow any different, seems almost cruel, and not worth it. Unless I can see a good reason for being somewhere, or feel I make a difference, I don’t see the point. The question comes up if I would do even more evil by going. For example, orphans need constant love, so going to an orphanage, and one of the children get attached (thankfully the orphans seem to have learned and psychologically extract themselves from large groups when they come) then never coming back or only coming back sometimes, only to leave for good in a few months seems cruel. Anyways those are my reasons for not going to our off ships charities often.

The credit for this photo goes to someone other than me.



One of my friends goes to the Agriculture sight almost every week. The Agriculture program is run by Congolese man by the name of Jean-Claude who does an excellent job of teaching about twelve people for three months how to farm and how to teach others to farm. Anyways, my friend wanted me to go with me, and I needed to get off the ship so yesterday I went. At least, I thought, it would be more about the labor than friendship building. Well I was wrong, but it was quite a good experience.
By now the twelve or thirteen people there have been there for two months so they have gotten it down pretty well. They were teaching us (not an incredibly hard thing in my case since I am a city girl I have to admit). Very patiently, a young Sierra-Leonean man and his wife (who had a cute little baby on her back by the name of Anna) showed Penny and I how to plant the seed. They even told us why we did it in that specific way.
Later, after a long lunch break Penny and I went to the other side where a group of men and a woman were fixing plant huts for the saplings (or whatever you call it). They taught us (sometimes patiently and sometimes not so much) how to make very natural rope out of banana palm leaves and tree bark. I am proud to say, I can now do both.
They were very friendly. I felt like I got to know them, which I need to do in another culture. How else can I understand a culture otherwise? Thankfully, they treated me like the friend of Penny and so kept me from feeling as if I have to go back every week, as I don’t think I’d be any use there.
I learned that we have so much to learn from the Africans. They are naturalists by nature. Everything they did at that sight they did without using chemicals and did it with an ease of people who felt that it was how it should be. They understood the need for it better than my American compatriots could. It might be partially because it saves money in Africa, it would not save money in America. Still… I learned. I love learning.
I was probably mostly in the way, I didn’t know what I was doing, and I was a complete foreigner and a complete idiot at times, but I’m glad I went. I like it when for once an African is lording knowledge over me instead of a westerner teaching an African.