Preparing for Ship Life

Countdown to Africa....2.5 Weeks...

Part of the beauty and wonder of missions is the way that God loves the nations. Here are a few of the flags flying above our classroom every day. These are nations commonly represented here in class.

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What sort of things are you doing during your time in Texas?? Well, for most of our week we are in class and learning methods on how to minister to the poor, adjusting to life in community, and doing role-plays and skits on conflict resolution (living with 400 people in cramped quarters is going to provide MANY opportunities to learn, which is our new definition of conflict). But, we also have some logistical details to take care of, and some fun things to do, too. One of these was a Wal-Mart run (sorry, to all you anti-Walmart people, but there's not a Target for thirty miles). Forget a raincoat? Your prescription needs filling? New socks? Particular about soap, shampoo, or detergents? Now is the time to stock up!

Miriam, a Kiwi, is very proud of her visit to Wal-Mart. She declares herself a Wal-Mart addict now. $3 t-shirts? Unbelievable! Her Play-Dough one is her favorite. :)


After several days of chilly weather (in the 20s), an afternoon with sunshine feels so nice! This was on Wednesday afternoon as we visited a couple's home on the Mercy Ships campus, that has many pieces of the former ships incorporated right into it. Here an Aussie and Brit are soaking in the rays.

Here's a view from the reading loft of that home, of the team enjoying homemade bread and jam and a spot of tea as we checked out the "unofficial Mercy Ships museum."

Settlers of Catan has come out of its box several times for some destressing in evenings after eight hour days in the classroom.

And with these goofy guys, there are always some shenanigans going on.
(German, German, American (can't you tell??), Austrian, and Canadian)

And we have been fed really, (REALLY) well. So several of us girls have been doing an Australian Biggest Loser DVD to help burn off some of those extra calories! We are sweaty by the time dinner rolls around.

WallyBall is another option. The property that Mercy Ships owns was built for another company previously. Included on the campus is a full gymnasium with a weight room and a racquetball court, which doubles as the scene for some crazy Wally Ball after dinner in the evenings. Don't let these mean faces scare you away!
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Monday we were able to put all our long-term items into boxes and send them to the warehouse to be shipped over to Sierra Leone by container across the sea. So, now we just have enough to carry in our eight bags with us as we fly out in two and a half weeks.

We are so excited to see this next step of our journey approaching!!

How are the girls, you might ask?

The girls continue to have a great time at school. Last night as we were walking to the gym on the Mercy Ships' campus, there was a group of 4th & 5th grade boys playing basketball (possibly a rec league or something?). Kylie recognized one of the boys from her class at school and called out a greeting to him.

Both girls are being loved on and absorbed by our classmates here and are having a wonderful time. Dan and I, too, are learning a lot and grateful for this time of calm and acclimation before we enter the fast pace of life on the ship. We are also glad to get a jumpstart on meeting our crewmates - it will be nice to start on the ship knowing 30 out of the 400 people.

This week we did have a tragedy too: our laptop died. So, along with getting our malaria prescriptions filled and cancelling our cell phone plans and stopping by the bank, we'll be laptop shopping also. Please pray that we'll be pointed to the right one.

We are praying that as the Lord physically leads us on this journey, that He will lead you on this journey as well - of trusting Him more deeply and being challenged out of your comfort zone, whatever that might be for you in this season.




ps- a big shout out to all the great photographers of our Gateway team - most of these photos were taken by them and borrowed from their facebook albums. :)