We made it!

Well, this week has been an exciting one! The last few days of sailing went really well...I really enjoyed the sail and was so thankful that I never got seasick! It was a lot of fun seeing dolphins, whales, and flying fish (they actally have wings!)...unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me when we saw them, but a friend captured a shot of the dolphins for me...

This is one of my new favorite quotes:

On tuesday, we arrived to Togo right on schedule...it was a very exciting day for all of us! We were greeted by a large marching band on the dock welcoming us to Togo with lively music, including lots of drums! The "advance team" from Mercy Ships that came to Togo early to help set up some things in the country for the ship and the outreach was also there and eager to share all the news about Togo and all the preparations for the outreach with us.

First sight of land!

This is the special boat that met us to bring the pilot

to the ship so we could dock

      Being greeted at the port by the band 

                                                                               

                      Me &  Kelly finally together in Africa!

Me & some friends on arrival day

 The rest of the week has been spent doing something a lot different than the typical nursing job...we had to get the hospital ready for the outreach in Togo...and one of the big jobs we had to do was stripping and waxing all the floors throughout the hospital! So, we all became pros at it by the end of the week! We were pretty much all on our hands and knees scrubbing away the old wax so we could clean it, seal it, and rewax it...so it was a lot of hard work, not to mention really hot! But, we all had fun together and even had a little dance party the first day (which the Discovery Channel team was really happy to film ha ha)...we all got to get to know each other a lot and had some good conversations during that time...so even though I can't really say it was enjoyable work, it was really rewarding in the end to see the finished product and remember that we were doing it for all the patients who will be coming and ultimately for God!

 My roommate and I stripping the floors

Scrubbing away

I had a good reminder this week of the importance of a good attitude...I went over to the crew galley where we can cook and bake (they cook all our meals for us on the ship, but every now and then, it's nice to get in there and cook something different just to change things up a bit)...so I was in the kitchen making pancakes and I see this African woman who is one of the volunteers on the ship in there singing away to Jesus and cleaning up the whole kitchen and organizing everything...may not sound like a big job but there are a ton of pots and pans and utensils and nothing has been organized since I've been on the ship...lots of people go in there at all hours of the day and night to cook and bake...and she just decided she was gonna organize it for us all because she wanted everyone "to feel comfortable in the kitchen"...I was really amazed by her attitude and just touched by the way she was "working with a happy heart" as my cousin Ann would say...I was getting ready to strip and wax the floor again that day and honestly just wasn't too excited about doing that....so, it was an awesome reminder to me that it's not WHAT we do but HOW we do it that matters to God...that really helped put things in perspective for me that day!

So, after the long week of work, we had what they call a "blackout day" today where there was no electricity...most of the water also had to be turned off so we had to go upstairs to use designated bathrooms..they had to have the blackout because they had to clean the engine room today which was a big project! So the nice thing was, they didn't want everyone to be stuck on the ship without light or air conditioning all day so they shuttled us to and from local beaches and hotels so that we could spend the day relaxing. I went with some friends to a place called Coco Beach for a little while and then over to a hotel with a pool so we could swim...it's nice because the local hotels let you use their pools and amenities all day for a fee of a couple dollars...it's a little bit strange to think that we're out here swimming in the heat while it's winter back home...but aside from the humidity, it's really not too bad...having a day at the pool definitely was nice and much needed after a long week of work...

Well, that's all for now...continue to keep us in your prayers as we prep the hospital this week for work and as the advance team continues the screening for patients this week...Au revoir!