Ready for Right Now

Every day is an adventure, a gift from God, and we get to decide how we want to spend it. “Set my sights on tomorrow, when I’m tripping over today...starting right here, right now, with the very next words of love to be spoken, to the very next heart that’s shattered and broken, to the very next way you’re gonna use me, show me the next thing, I’ll do the next thing”. I just want to share some of the moments that God has led me through in the last two weeks.

Love: when a surgeon removes a 13kg tumour from a woman’s back, one that has been growing since birth, and now she has literally had a weight lifted off her shoulders and can lie on her back for the first time. 

On Christmas day lots of crew went to the
HOPE Center to help handout gifts to the
kids - and we also played some rugby!

Thoughtfulness: when you go to the HOPE Center to visit your friends who are working (and the kids), and your friend suggests bringing them pizza and it turns out to be the best idea because you get to show them how much you love them.

History: walking the 4km slave route to the Gate of No Return, having great conversations and discovering a delicious local restaurant along the way.

Tasting: having friends who make you try new things and some of them actually turn out to be pretty good! Pineapple gets a thumbs up, Falafel not so much. And the homemade guacamole that they made me try was definitely the best.

Servant Hearts: There are so many amazing servants here. Often we are short handed in certain departments and crew will come help out in other areas where they have expertise. Everyone pitches in. We have a mechanic fitter helping fix cars; an Internet Support Services Specialist helping out the Academy as an Art Teacher; a dining room team member helping in IS; a receptionist helping in rehab; chaplains helping in the engine room and reception and the academy; and the list goes on and on.

At the Ponseti dance party. Pure joy.

Celebration: having a dance party at the Ponseti clinic to celebrate new straight feet! Seeing the moms dance and sing so loud in worship and being so thankful to God for healing their babies.

Excellence: 6am fire drills that make people leave their cabins half asleep and push the fire teams to be ready at any time.

Boat Rides: I had an opportunity to go visit another stilt village, complete with a mosque, church, school, well, fishing industry, bars and restaurants and hotels, etc. Around 50,000 people live there. The kids start paddling their boats at around 4 years old and they have to travel by boat everywhere they go.

Story time: Getting to listen to Dr.Gary tell inspiring stories to my visitors. We had a situation a few months back where a patient had to go into emergency surgery and the emergency medical team did an amazing job of saving the patient’s life. Afterwards, Dr.Gary said many of the hospital leaders were meeting and going over everything that happened and discussing what they could do better next time, etc. and then he went into the wards and the patients were in there dancing and singing and celebrating and thanking God because the patient was alive! A good reminder to not get so caught up in the future that we forget the present, that we forget to thank God for all the good things He has done.

The Canadian Vision Team that I hosted.

Privileged: Hosting a group of lovely Canadian vision trip guests. So nice to have people who literally speak your language, have familiar accents and a similar worldview. I was reminded of why I love my job – I get to brag about Mercy Ships, and show off all the amazing work God is doing here.

Patriotism: having so many American friends has certainly changed my views on Americans (in a good way). They’ve also introduced me to a large amount of country music that I had never heard before (not that pop country stuff), and it is hilarious to listen to what they sing about. There’s definitely a lot of patriotism, trucks and beer. Oh, and girls.

Management Training: realizing that your boss has all the qualities that everyone just listed as being the qualities they look for in a boss. Because she’s amazing. In fact, she’s such a good leader that I don’t think I can give her up. But more on that another time. Also, realizing that you don't have all those qualities you look for in a leader which means you’ve got a lot of things to work on.

Local TV: Hosting the national TV station at the eye clinic and I can’t help but be touched when the patients they interview talk about how nice and lovely we were to them. Not just that they were healed or that it was free, but that we were kind and loving with them. That’s the heart of what we do and what we want to be remembered for – showing the love of Jesus, a love that doesn’t make sense!

I gave Sharon a hard time but I'm glad we got this picture!

Life Giving: getting to spend the weekend at the orphanage that we visit, Arbre de Vie (Tree of Life), which always lives up to its name. It’s such a life-giving time for all of us, every time we go. We cleaned out some empty store rooms, tore up the floors and laid out some new concrete. I’m always amazed by the strong women that I am surrounded by here. We played with the kids, ate delicious food, played games with the adults, spent quiet time with God, went to their local church, bought the kids lunch, and just hung out. It’s a much slower pace of life out there.

Road Trips: Hosting 3 Dutchies who are driving from the tip of Norway all the way to South Africa and visiting NGOs along the way. They only stayed for 5 hours and yet they told me they felt like family while they were with us. They were amazed by the level of organization and by the passion of the crew. I love it hearing those things!

Leveling up: French braiding my own hair for the first time, who knew I’d ever have enough hair to do that?

Sing Alongs: watching Tarzan with a whole group of friends and everyone belting along to every song. Oh and watching Tangled with a lot of the ship kids and your friends being surprised that you know all the words but really that movie is one of your absolute favourites and makes you cry every time because God is so good, And at last I see the light, And it’s like the fog has lifted, And at last I see the light, And it’s like the sky is new, And it’s warm and real and bright, And the world has somehow shifted, All at once everything looks different, Now that I see You.

I'm ready for the next moment. Not tomorrow, not this summer, not Cameroon. I'm ready for right now. God is at work and I can't wait to see what He will do.

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” ~ John 8:12

Starting 2017 With An Adventure

Taking silly pictures on New Years Eve.

2017 certainly started off with a bang – some of us decided we wanted to have a dance party so we managed to snag a large speaker and head up to an empty room, grab the youth and some other friends, and put on some great dance music. We took a brief break to officially ring in the New Year with everyone else and then were back at it, laughing and jumping and being ridiculous. What a great way to spend the New Year! New Years day was spent at Babs dock, a lovely little place on a lake, spent with some families, telling stories and laughing. I think all dads are the same in that they tell the best stories – it helped fill that hole that misses sitting around the table with my family, laughing at all my dad’s crazy stories. 

2017 also meant surgeries started again – another block of plastics, and eye surgeries for the first time since the first field service in Madagascar! So exciting to know that this program is underway. 3 days a week they are operating on the ship and the other two days they operate at the local hospital, in partnership with them. We've had large surgeon screenings on the dock, over 50 patients in a day, and Rehab has continued with all their amazing work, teaching kids how to use their new legs. Tiffany and I have been busy planning for all the upcoming teams and Sunday the first team of the new year arrives from Canada! I’m very excited to be able to show my own people all the amazing work that Mercy Ships does.

At the engagement party!

During the break, many people went home and when they came back we discovered that two of our onboarding friends had gotten engaged (not to each other!) so we had a hilarious engagement party for them. We played the Not So Newlywed game, did some ridiculous acting and had some delicious cake (which we made them cut together). I love that our onboarding family will find any and all excuses to get together and celebrate each other. It's this amazing community that makes this place home and these guys are a big part of that, with evenings full of laughter and stories.

A nice snapshot of our trip that Michelle put together.

Before things started up again, a few of us decided to take a trip up north and it was amazing. I could not have asked for anything better. We took an 11 hour bus ride up to Tangieta and stayed in these lovely bungalows. It was so nice to be out in nature, to see trees, to sleep without air conditioning, to have nowhere to be, no technology calling to us, just being together. The next day with headed up to this beautiful waterfall, where we swam and climbed and jumped off things. After that we entered Pendjari park and drove to the hotel in the park, where we checked in and then went for an evening safari ride. I may or may not have fallen asleep at some point…But it was neat because we got to see elephants and lions and baboons and a hippo and lots of different types of deer. The hotel was pretty expensive so instead of getting another room we just got more mattresses and slept all four girls in one room which was fun. The next day we drove around the park some more and then headed to Natitingou. I think it’s the most amazing place I’ve seen in Benin. We stayed at a compound run by some Swiss missionaries (they weren’t there), who spend time praying with the local people, reaching out to them and sharing the gospel. They also opened a school for girls who’ve never been to school and they teach them how to read and write. Everything is managed by a Beninese couple, both of whom have done their DTS (discipleship training) with YWAM (Youth With a Mission) before coming to work here. They treated us so well, and made us some interesting local meals. I definitely ate some new things. 

A small glimpse of Natitingou from the top of a hill.

The night we arrived we went for a hike up one of the hills/mountains, and there was some definitely some tree climbing involved. The people I was with were tree climbing pros. The next day, I spent the morning hiking the mountains, climbing all over the place, and encountered quite a few locals who were carrying large amounts of wood down the mountain – on their heads of course! It was amazing to spend all that quiet time with God, to listen for His still, small voice, and to spend time in the Word. The town itself is quite beautiful, all laid out in at the base of these hills and developed enough that it was lit up at night. That afternoon we took a long zemi ride to another waterfall, and we spent the afternoon climbing and swimming before heading back. That night we relaxed and the next morning we made the 9 hour bus ride back to Cotonou. It was wonderful to be out in nature again, to see the stars, to be able to climb trees and explore. And we had such an amazing group of people, the whole trip was filled with wonderful conversations and laughter.

Who says I'm not a touchy person? To be honest,
if there wasn't a picture, I wouldn't believe it.
I guess lots of things are changing!

My friend Tyler wrote something in his blog that really helped me understand how I’ve been feeling for the last few months. He was comparing the casting of feet with how God recasts and corrects our wrong facing hearts. “He is consistently putting me in an uncomfortable position and holding me there for a while until it becomes normal and my heart changes. Then he repeats the process.” I think that God has been doing this in me for the last few years, but that now we are getting into longer and slower changes. Many of the quick, little things have been fixed and now we’re into things that are much harder to change, and impossible to do on my own. This weekend away, I realized that I have definitely mellowed out over the last few months. I’m less likely to argue and shout out my opinion; I will back down if I see that there is no purpose in the argument and someone is getting upset; I’m more likely to stay quiet. That’s not to say I don’t have a long, long way to go, but the change has started. In the past, I’ve tried to actively make these changes many times, but it never worked. So I started praying about it, praying that the Holy Spirit would help me. And I think that’s why it’s been a slow, unconscious change – because it’s not me doing it, but the Holy Spirit working in me. I’ve also finally realized that truth doesn’t trump love, that just because something is true doesn’t mean it needs to be shouted out so casually or candidly. If you had told me two years ago that I would admit that, I would have laughed at you. It’s encouraging to see that God is working big changes in me and I’m so thankful that He has sent us the Holy Spirit to help us do those things that we could never do on our own.

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. ~ Ezekiel 36:26

An amazing trip with the best group of people :)