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| The view from the stern of the Ship. |
We’ve spent 12 of the last 15 days sailing the Atlantic
Ocean. Sailing is an incredible experience. Every day you wake up and look
outside and are surrounded by ocean all around, as far as the eye can see. The
ocean is an unbelievable shade of blue, the waves gently rock the ship and you’re
reminded of just how majestic and vast God is and how small you are. There are
dolphins and flying fish and whales to be seen and hammocks to rock in. The
nights are spent lying on the top deck looking at all the stars, marveling at
the fact that God created each one and knows them by name, the same as with us.
It’s a period of much needed rest and relaxation after a long field service.
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| We successfully escaped from the Escape Room! |
So here you are, on a Ship with the same 250 or so people,
for almost two weeks. How do we spend our time? We spend it watching Ship related
movies (Poseidon, Titanic, Pirates of the Caribbean), having dance parties in
reception (because we don’t have to be quiet!), having mocktails with the
Captain where everyone got dressed up in their finest clothes, playing board
games, making Dutch pancakes (basically crepes), having a trivia night, crossing the equator at 0,0 and becoming Diamond Shellbacks, doing
some karaoke, having worship on the bow, escaping from a really cool escape
room that some people on the Ship created (although when you escape, you’re
still trapped on the Ship), reading in the hammock, and more. Some crew members
have worked very hard to keep us all entertained. However, for those who know
me well, you know I am terrible at resting. So when we arrived in Dakar for our
stopover, I was ready.
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| The President signing our guests book as our CEO looks on. |
Late last year, Mercy Ships signed a protocol with Senegal,
to come serve from August 2019-June 2020. In the meantime, the President asked
if we would stop by so he could come visit the Ship. So we did. We arrived in
Dakar, Senegal on the Tuesday and spent the day preparing for the
upcoming visits. On Wednesday, we hosted a group of 32 local media, gave them some information about Mercy Ships and a tour. They were only an hour
and a half late, no problem. Thursday was the big day – a visit
from the President. I wish I could properly explain everything that goes on
behind the scenes for something like this. I was given this assignment more
than 3 months ago and have spent countless hours sending emails and in meetings,
preparing for something where we had very little information.
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Shawn took this as I was running up and
down the gangway before the President
arrived - the look says it all! |
When the protocol
officer came on Wednesday afternoon, we finally had an idea of
what the day would look like, but even that is always subject to change. We
have to be prepared for all contingencies. Everyone runs around as chairs are
moved and speeches are translated and flowers are ordered and the program is
changed and the presidential toilet is selected (I’m serious) and tour guides
are prepped. In the end, the President came, had a tour, watched some videos,
heard some speeches and gave some remarks of his own. From our perspective, everything
went well – thanks to the amazing team we had. There were about 6 of us working
all in on this visit and it made such a difference to organize this with a
group of such excellent people. In his remarks, the President said that one of
his biggest take aways from visiting the Ship was seeing the importance of having people
who are willing to sacrificially serve others – just like our crew, who gives
up what they have at home and come from all over the world to serve other people.
Our hope is that this visit will strengthen our relationship with the
Government of Senegal as our teams come to do further assessments in country to
prepare for our upcoming field service.
Even though there was lots of work to do, I’m thankful that
I still had the opportunity to get off the Ship and see a bit of Dakar! On the
first night, a small group of us walked about an hour and found a beautiful
beach with absolutely no people around. I swam in the ocean, we explored the
beach, had a few beer and (over)paid someone to get us pizza. We then wandered
into town and found a place to have dessert. I think one of the nicest things
was getting to interact with different people (not just Mercy Shippers). The
second night we went to this really neat mariners bar (which was full of Mercy
Shippers), where it was beautifully decorated and the waiters were dressed like
officers. The bar extended out into the ocean (lots of jellyfish) and served
delicious desserts! After that we went to check out a lighthouse, where I once
again played translator as the guide explained to us the modernization of the
lighthouse and how it functioned. We wandered through that part of town,
admiring a giant African renaissance monument that had a cool street park at its
base with lots of kids playing on rollerblades and playing football. We ended
up a billiards bar and played some pool before heading back to the Ship. Dakar
is actually quite developed (at least where we were), with great roads and good
infrastructure in general. There seems to be a decent amount of public spaces
and beaches, and lots of expats. Apparently they just discovered a large
offshore deposit of oil and it’s been interesting to hear how they are
trying to make sure to steward the resources well to help the country continue
to develop further, including trying to develop universal health care. I look
forward to seeing what small part Mercy Ships can play in that.
And then we were off again! God has continued to bless us
with smooth sailing and we will arrive in Las Palmas soon. While I’m
excited to come home, that still seems so far away. I have two more mini
seasons until then – a week of exploring in Las Palmas, and just under a week
wandering through Barcelona and Madrid. I’m looking forward to a few days where
I’m fully done Mercy Ships but not yet home to start the next season. A few
days of just being, being in His presence, not having anything to do or
anywhere to go. For all I joke about not resting well, I am incredibly thankful
to God for the last few weeks. He has blessed me more than I could have imagined,
and I truly feel spoiled. In less than two weeks, I will be back in Canada – what
a journey it has been!
Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. ~2 Corinthians 3:4-5
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| For the Mocktails with Captain event, everyone dressed their best and got to take a picture with the Captain :) |
