Kristy's wedding and Christmas

Kristy and Chase's wedding was beautiful. It was really good to see my extended family and good friends. It was a candlelight service. Pastor Karl Johnson gave the most beautiful wedding sermon I think I've ever heard. Kristy of course looked radiant. It's still hard to believe there is no longer a Kristy Jan Sullivan. She is Kristy Jan Thoring. Wow. I think because it was such a short engagement, and I was in Africa for most of the preparations, it's taking a while for it to sink in for me. They are so happy and I am so happy for them.
I made the cake, and it was a success thanks to much support from my family. Breanna and mom helped me at home with baking the cake; my cousins Allison and Rachelle helped me with icing it and putting it all together; and Uncle Doug, my Dad and Mom helped me with final decorative touches. I honestly couldn't have done it without them this time! I was, and still am, quite exhausted from mono, but I'm hopeful for improvement soon!
Christmas with my family was nice and relaxed. We went to a nice Christmas eve service, had Christmas dinner and then opened presents. Some of my favourite gifts were: a painters easel from my parents, the radio dramas of the entire Chronicles of Narnia from Breezy, and some new CD's from Mike.
Since Christmas, I've been trying to rest up so I can return to Africa feeling back to my normal self. I've been staying at home mostly, reading, resting, and spending time with my family. I'm making Breanna a quilt from African materials. It's looking quite nice, if I do say so myself! Hopefully I'll finish the top of the quilt in the next few days.
I'm going to attempt to work a few shifts this weekend if I'm not too tired, and then it's only 2 weeks until my date of departure for Benin! Oh my goodness!!!

Here's what's up...

Okay, I'm too lazy to retype what I just wrote in an email to some of you, so I'm copying and pasting it! Sorry-o!

It’s been about 3 weeks since I stepped off the plane from Africa back into the bitter cold of an Edmonton winter. I’ve really enjoyed being home with family and friends and familiar things. I definitely experienced a bit of reverse culture shock stepping into the materialistic season of Christmas after the poverty of Liberia. We really have a lot to be thankful for! In my time home I’ve caught up with lots of family and friends, got over jet lag, helped my family move into a house they just bought in Edmonton, been to Provost, Saskatoon, Meadow Lake, and enjoyed some of Mike’s concerts.

I’ve also been to the doctor quite a few times. I had not been feeling myself for about the last month that I was in Africa, and I’ve finally just found out why. I have mono. For those of you who don’t know, mononucleosis is an infection, which causes people to experience extreme fatigue, and can last for months. It takes a lot of rest and fluids to recover from it, and also a lot of time. I am relieved to finally know what has been causing me to feel so tired, but I also realize that my plans are to return to Africa in just 5 short weeks (January 20th)! That is potentially not long enough to recover from this. However, I believe that God wants me in Benin next year to continue on this amazing, life-changing journey. I know He is the Great Physician who “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask for or imagine…” (Eph. 3:20). I would ask for you to pray with me for my recovery within this next month, and if not, for God to reveal what else He’d like for me to do with my time this winter.

I was encouraged this morning as I read a familiar passage. I know that in all circumstances, God’s word remains true and unchanging.

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40: 28-31

I am resting secure this Christmas season, knowing that the Creator of the Universe holds me in His hand. I pray that you will all experience the perfect peace that only the Prince of Peace can give.

So in these next few weeks I have to do as much resting as possible in the midst of the flurry of activity of Kristy's wedding, Christmas, New Years, and preparations to return to Africa. I'm still tired, but I'm excited for all that is to come! I might just have to learn to nap, which is what I'm off to do now.

Home

Home. What defines this for me? Where the heart is? Where is my heart at home? I am learning more and more that my only hope is in Christ. He is the only one that can truly satisfy me and in him alone can I find my true self that God has made me to be.
The last few days have been full of hugs and long talks and picture viewing and being outside in the crisp chill. I do love Canada. It is where I was born, where I have lived my life, where I have learned so much.
How wonderful it is to be with people who know and love me for who I am, and have known me for my entire life. Again, the question is put to my mind: am I willing to run headlong into the life God has called me to, no matter where that takes me? Am I willing to forsake all for the cause of Christ? The answer has to be yes, because my heart is too restless when it's not in the centre of God's will for me. I am not satisfied living a life that is "ordinary" if I am not where God wants me to be in that moment in time. Again and again the cry of my heart is that I am the aroma of Christ to those around me wherever that is.
I find that I finally have time to process what has been happening in my heart and life.
I am still quite jet lagged. Every day I've been getting really tired around suppertime. I drove to Provost on Wednesday evening to spend a few days with Kristy (my amazing cousin who is getting married in a month and I'm making her wedding cake and am a bridesmaid). It was probably not the best idea to drive in the evening by myself. I was SO exhausted. I had to keep calling people on my cell phone to keep myself awake. Thank goodness my cell phone minutes didn't run out until I was 5 minutes from Kristy's place. I made it okay and thoroughly enjoyed the huge HUG from Kristy. Life is changing with Kristy getting married, but it's so comforting to know that since we are family and so indescribably close to one another, we will always have a special bond that cannot be broken.
Today I will journey to Saskatoon for a Roste family Christmas gathering, full of my wonderful relatives and new additions to the family, undoubtedly some wonderful food, great talks, laughter, fun, pictures, and all that defines our blessed family.
On Saturday and Sunday, Mike has some concerts at the ML Alliance Church. I saw his music video - WOW is all I can say! He's really getting good. I'm a little biased, I'll admit, but I'm proud of my brother!
I bought a French-English New Testament, and I'm so excited to start reading the Bible in both languages everyday. I really want to become fluent this next year. I have a lot of practicing to do, but I'm ready.
Okay, enough rambling, but I'm going to keep this updated over my time in Canada as well. God still does some pretty cool things in Canada, that's for sure.

Kenya Adventures

We flew to Ghana and then Kenya, arriving at 530 am, Sunday. It was cooler in Kenya in the morning, but so nice. The entire day the temperatures were perfect. I soaked it all in, as I know I’m going home to the snow and cold. We paid US$20 each to get out of the airport into Nairobi for the day, and it was well worth it. As soon as we left the airport we could see the stark contrasts between Liberia and Kenya. The taxi had plush seats and… drumroll please… seatbelts! The roads were well maintained, well marked, and there were many skyscrapers in the distance. We drove by Nairobi National Park and saw some giraffes! Sweet. We got to Amy’s hotel in central Nairobi and all crashed for a couple hours – felt so good!
A friend of a friend of Amy’s came to take us on a walking tour of Nairobi around 10 am. His name is Peter and he’s a Sudanese student taking social work in Nairobi. He was a great tour guide! At the end of the day my legs were swollen and sore and my feet blistered, but we saw a lot! We went to a craft market where the vendors gave us hardly any breathing space and were so pushy that all I wanted was to escape asap. Their pushiness totally turned me off from buying their beautiful wares.
We sauntered through parks where there were flowers, fountains, music, picnics, faces being painted, paddle boats in a lake and people seeming quite content. We saw parliament, the downtown core, and some “real” hustling-bustling Nairobi.
One of the funniest parts of the day was when we had to pay for public toilets where you squatted over a hole in the ground! ☺
Another funny moment was when we had just finished a big breakfast in a restaurant – with the world’s best pineapple – only to hop in a car headed for Peter’s place to have a Sudanese lunch an hour later! This was due to a bit of miscommunication between Peter and ourselves regarding the plan for the day. We still ate the amazing Sudanese food, and just didn’t need to eat for many hours later. We met his family and saw where he lived. His sisters didn’t speak the best English, but were so kind, gracious and welcomed us into their home. I was surprised at how nice their apartment was – they had cable tv and we watched Sister Act together.
At the end of the day we again collapsed in the hotel – all three of us very sleep deprived for the past 3 days. I can’t tell you how nice it was to have a bath to wash away the sweat and dust and soak out the travel aches before my next 9 hour flight to London.
We parted ways with Amy – left her to her cozy hotel before her safari the next morning. And then there were two. By chance at the airport we met a friend from the ship, Luke, who’d left two weeks ago for other destinations, and he happened to be on our flight to London with us. And then there were three again!
Now I’m in London, alone, as we’ve all parted ways, contemplating how much more I like to travel with people than by myself. I’m killing time.
London impressions: crisp and cool, Christmas lights and decorations all over, extremely expensive shops, lots of people headed here, there and everywhere. It feels like a bit of culture shock and it’s not even been 3 months. I can’t wait to see my family at the airport in about 12 hours!
What a trip: three 9 hour flights, two layovers (18 + 6 hours), little sleep (probably total 12 hours fitful sleep over the past 4 days). I cannot wait for a soft bed and a LONG sleep.

Leaving Liberia

The trip home has been full of adventure. Leaving Lanita and Katelyn and many other wonderful friends on the ship was surreal and sad, but I loved the warm embraces all around, and the hopes of seeing people again, if not in this lifetime, certainly in heaven someday! I love that! I was super tired because I only got 1 hour of sleep Friday night due to last minute packing and note writing, etc.
Friends lined the dock to say farewell to us and the girls formed a human barrier pretending not to let the vehicle pass. I felt so valued by these girls. Lanita and Katelyn were so sweet and spent the whole of Saturday morning with me while I packed. They kept joking that my passport had been stolen or lost, so I couldn’t leave the ship! I said goodbye to as many people as I could, but it’s overwhelming – too many goodbyes. I had to see Jacob, my blood buddy, and his mom Esther one last time. I hope all will be well with him, as he still has wounds to heal and the ship is only in Liberia for another couple weeks. Pray for him!
Red, one of the ward supervisors, drove us to the airport. She’s entertaining. It took us a much longer time than normal to get to the airport. We ran into 4 or 5 UN processions, where traffic in both directions stops and pulls to the side of the road while the UN flies by down the middle. It’s like parting the Red Sea. There were a couple construction zones (which is really good to see in Liberia), and we saw a big truck full of gas almost tip over sideways going up a steep embarkment. We breathed sighs of relief for the next few minutes, shocked at the explosion that could’ve occurred. As we drove away, I took my last looks at Liberia – the stalls with wares for sale, the shacks everywhere, the women carrying bundles on their heads, the funny signs, the vehicles that were unfit for driving, but were still being driven… the beautiful people. I’ll miss it.
Thus we started our long journey – 3 girls: Jane, Amy and I.

I'm coming home...

Wow, I can't believe it's already here, my day of departure. It's been such a wonderful time and I leave with mixed emotions. I spent my last day of work cleaning the wards, and it was satisfying to get down and really scrub away all the filth that you didn't realize was there. It looks and smells so much cleaner.
Friday I ran around trying to get my departure paperwork done in the morning, and then I went to see the opening dedication ceremony of the Tenegar Clinic. This is a project that has been underway for this past year, and is now completed and ready to be used. The president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was there to cut the red tape and give a speech, etc. It was pretty neat to view a Liberian ceremony. They gave all the men who had worked on the project this year a new African suit. It was special also because the community is Muslim, and Mercy Ships (definitely a Christian organization) built the clinic. It is such a good witness that we don't show partiality based on religion, race, etc. The community was very grateful, because since 1989 there has been no readily accessible clinic. They have had to walk many miles with their sick in a wheelbarrow to get help. Can you imagine that?
We had to wait for a really long time for the President to come, so I entertained some kids with my markers and pad of paper. We coloured a picture together - myself and I don't even know how many dozen children who crowded around me more than I've ever been crowded before in my life. It was fun, but a little chaotic with all the kids elbowing each other to be the next one to colour on the picture.
The clinic is beautiful, and since it will be government run, hopefully this is sustainable development. There should be healthcare staff and medications available to the public. It was a super hot day, and I was totally drenched in sweat (you almost always are here whenever you go outside). I think I got a little dehydrated because I had a killer headache when I got home to the ship. Out there in the sun I kept thinking, "I'd better enjoy this, because in a few days it will all be like a dream." I'm excited for a little snow and cold though. Mostly I'm excited to see loved ones, and share my experiences!
Friday evening some of my very close friends and I watched "The Sound of Music" on the big screen in the International Lounge and sung along heartily at all the wonderful parts. It was SO much fun! Afterwards we hung out on the dock and raced the little scooters around from end to end. What a fabulous last night with such awesome friends. I forgot to mention the popcorn balls and cheesecake they made to go along with the night! I am REALLY going to miss them. :(

Time is winding down...

Three more sleeps until I board my plane for cold Canada. It's so bittersweet. I can't wait to see family and friends at home and all the festivities and activity that awaits me, but I am loathe to leave my dear new friends and this war ravaged, but God fearing country of Liberia. Time has truly flown by in an instant.
I've had a fabulous week again so far. I slept like a log after my crazy night shift on Sunday night. The kid I wrote about is still alive and well, by the way, but certainly needs our prayers a lot. His name is Kolywon, and he had the encephalocele repair. He faces a difficult life ahead of him, because he'll never look totally normal. I think he'll always have eyes that bulge out of his head and distorted facial features, but he's beautiful in a different way. He is curious and interested in everything that is going on around him. He's got a special spot in my heart.
Monday night, my very dear friends and I went out for a chocolate fondue to a really nice restaurant. It was fun because Lanita and Katelyn had planned this time, and didn't want me to know where we were going, so it was all a surprise until we got there. We stepped into the doors of the "Living Room" restaurant, and it was like going through a portal into the western world and leaving war ravaged Liberia far behind us. It was beautiful - modern booths and tables, low lighting, tasteful decorating, and a section with couches, in which we opted to sit and enjoy a fabulous chocolate fondue - it was Katelyn's first ever! We had such a nice time talking, praying and planning to see each other again someday - maybe at each other's weddings?
I'm working on crossing stuff off my to-do list before I leave, and I'm doing a pretty good job I think. I'm sure there will be "plenty-plenty" to do on Friday and Saturday, but it'll all get done! By the way, some of my favourite Liberian phrases are "plenty-plenty", "small-small", and "God-o". Sometimes the things they say are "funny-funny". Like on Monday - our taxi driver was complaining to us that our English was so hard to understand! Little does he know, but broken Liberian English would be hard to understand for most of the English speaking world.
I worked my last shift on the ward today, because tomorrow I'm doing a cleaning shift. It's okay with me because after this evening's shift I was really tired. I had only 3 patients, which is "no big deal" usually. However, one of them was a dehydrated 2 year old boy who is recovering from bladder exstrophy, and urinary diversion surgery. Bladder exstrophy is a condition where the bladder is basically on the outside of your body instead of the inside where it should be. Look it up online for pictures - it's pretty interesting. It's quite rare. Anyway, this little guy has been refusing to drink or eat for days. We can't get an IV on him. The only option is an NG tube and tube feedings. However, he's been vomitting and not tolerating his feeds. So it's a game of catch up, and trying to get anything possible into him.
I had two post-operative patients, which takes quite a lot of time because of the frequent checks. My little four year old developed a high fever, and didn't really wake up, drink, or pee well, so I had to restart his IV infusion. Anyway, I felt like I was running the whole shift, but it was good. I love my work, I love my coworkers, I love my patients, and most of all, I love my God who gives me everything I need for every moment of life. All glory be to Him!

2 Corinthians 12: 9 and 10

"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

That was never truer for me than last night. I didn't sleep well yesterday after my night shift Saturday night, and although I tried to nap, it just wasn't happening. So half an hour before shift I felt horrible, and had no idea how I would make it through the 12 hour night shift that loomed before me. I went out onto the dock thinking some fresh air might help a bit. My roommate Erika was out there and we talked a bit. I shared how I was feeling about the upcoming shift and about my tiredness, etc. We prayed and I asked God for His strength for the night.
I certainly needed those prayers. I had two patients on tube feedings, and a couple preoperative patients. It was a fine evening although steady and busy, The night was going well, until about 2:30 am, when one of my little patients started having a really bad headache. I was a little worried about that because he'd had no pain for days, and to wake up crying with a headache is not usual. I checked his vital signs. His heart rate was quite low for a kid. I kept monitoring him just in case and it dropped even lower. He was breathing really quickly too. I called the doctor and he came and did an ECG, which was normal. The plan was to continue to monitor him and treat him if something came up. About 15 minutes after the doctor left, my little friend started to stop breathing for about 20 seconds and then take 5 or 6 short shallow breaths and stop breathing again. That’s when I knew I had to get Dr. Gary to come and see him.
This little guy had an encephalocele repair a few weeks ago. An encephalocele is a neural tube defect, where part of your brain protrudes through your forehead. It’s quite a complicated surgery to do, with a lot of risks, but without surgery the likelihood of death at a young age is quite high.
Anyway, Dr. Gary drained some CSF off his brain and he began to stabilize. It took about 3 hours from the time he first had the headache until I felt he was stable enough for me to leave his bedside with a continuous monitor on him to alert me of any problems. Please pray for this little guy. He still has a long way to go, and we only have a short time to get him stable before the ship leaves!
At 5:45 am I still had two tube feeds to do and a couple preoperative patients to get ready for surgery before 7 am. I didn’t finish until 8 am, but I finished well! My patients were all alive and well. God certainly taught me again that his power is sufficient for me! I truly couldn’t have made it through last night on my own strength. It was all God!

Liberian Thanksgiving, the beach, Holly, Jesus film

Again, it’s been a while since I’ve written. It’s been busy working on the ward lately because we have a lot of sick kids coming in for esophageal dilataion and abdominal surgeries. So, what happens is children drink caustic liquids and it causes their esophagus to constrict until it’s small and the kids can barely swallow anything. These children are SICK. Thank God for so many amazing pediatric nurses who support the rest of us as we learn how to care for these children.
Last Thursday evening we had a really awesome service. It was Liberian Thanksgiving Day, so the International Lounge was all set up with vegetables and produce of all sorts, reminding us what we have to be thankful for. The school kids dressed up as produce and had a little show for us. The coolest part of the evening was when we had a worship time, and had one person from every country represented on the ship come forward and say a prayer of thanks to God in their own language. It was beautiful. My good friend Holly stood up and said thanks to God for helping her believe in him over her time here. She did not come here as a Christian, but is leaving with a heart that is so excited about God. So amazing!
On Sunday we went to Marshall Town beach. It was a relaxing day in the HOT sun. Some local fishermen made us a shelter with one of their sails since there was no shelter at all. I definitely still got burnt.
I went to show the Jesus Film on Wednesday this week. We went out to a village on the outskirts of Monrovia, set up a screen on the back of the landrover and showed the film. It was in Mandigo because that is the language that this village spoke. It was so good to watch it again, even though I didn’t understand most of it. I tried to guess what Jesus was saying and interpret it for a few friends who had never seen it before. It was amazing to see how many people gathered as the night wore on. I bet there were 300-400 people in front of that screen. One lady in the front row was so obviously touched by God. It was so great to see her reactions. It truly is a powerful film, because it’s not just a story!!!
Holly left for home yesterday. We had a going away party for her Thursday night. It was funny because Amy was sitting in the middle of our big circle of women who had gathered for this time, and she had an empty bottle. We were joking about playing spin the bottle, and then decided it would be fun to spin the bottle and whoever it landed on could share a scripture for Holly that was special to them. It was so fun to be encouraged by some amazing scriptures. At the end Holly chose 2 scriptures that she’d recently found were encouraging. After she said them, a couple more girls joined our group, and they ended up sharing scriptures also. What are the chances that the scriptures they shared were the exact ones that Holly had just shared? God is pretty amazing. I also realized that one of the scriptures that was shared was one I had previously chosen to share with her in a card I was writing to her. It’s a good one: Psalm 37:3-7. Read and enjoy!
Friday morning Lanita, Katelyn, Denice and I made Holly a special going away breakfast. It was such a good time with her. I’m really going to miss her. She’s so excited about her newfound faith. It’s really encouraging to see!

God's Childrens Home Part 3

I worked this past weekend, and it was really busy. I had lots of pediatric patients, including a 1 month old baby. They were fairly sick. Sunday was one of those days where nothing could be easy or go smoothly. I was exhausted by the end of my 12 hour shift, but all my patients were alive and on the mend. Praise God!
This afternoon was a special time with the nine girls at God's Childrens Home. We got a donation specifically for these girls, and decided to use it to bless them by taking them to the market to buy material and then to the tailor to have a dress made for each of them. We also gave them each some money that they were allowed to use however they wanted at the market. This is probably the first time any of these teenaged girls have gone on a shopping spree! It was a really fun time with them.
We talked about Matthew 6:25-33 with them, which talks about not worrying, but trusting in the Lord's provision. I hope they see the monetary gift that they got as a gift from God directly to them. God really does take care of our needs, no matter how big or small. I'm really excited to see the girls in their dresses when they are finished! The tailor was a bit overwhelmed with all of our orders, but I'm sure he will do a great job and will be kept really busy for the next week.

Nurses party

Well, my little friend had surgery yesterday. It seems like it went well. She's having some pain, but doing fine. The cool thing was that I popped by the ward where she was at a random time during the day, and it happened to be just before she was going for surgery, so I was able to pray with her. I think that was a God thing. What a brave little girl she is. She said she wasn't afraid, and seemed so peaceful. When she returned from surgery, her mom came and found me, saying that Annifer was asking for me. That was so special. I have really been blessed by this sweet little girl.
This evening we had a lovely ward nurses tea party. We had lots of yummy sweets, and even nanaimo bars, which I found out is a Canadian thing. I'm proud of that, because I love nanaimo bars! It was so fun to fellowship with my comrades outside of work and enjoy chocolate at the same time. At one point, I looked around at everyone, and realized I was in a little slice of heaven.

Annifer

Oh my goodness, I think I have met two of the cutest children in the world! Tuesday I took care of a lady who went for surgery. She had a little 4-month-old baby named Lauren that I had to take care of while she was gone. This little girl is ADORABLE! She didn’t cry once, and just stared up at me with chocolate brown eyes under frilly eyelashes and won my heart in a second. I got to be a real African lady when some women helped me tie the baby to my back with my lappa. It’s actually quite a comfortable and smart way of carrying children around that leaves your hands free! I just might do it someday when I have my own children, God willing!
Annifer is a very smart 6 year old girl, with the cutest laugh, and biggest smile! She has so much joy; it’s infectious! She really brightened my day! Tuesday we played a game of “Piggy in the Middle” with some patients, and she was giggling and chasing the ball the whole time! Yesterday we played hot potato with a balloon, and got to 50 without dropping it! She must be going to a really good school. She’s smart for a 6 year old even at home in Canada! She counted for me up to 100 and said her ABC’s. She read me a little book, and even spoke a little French to me! I am astounded by how bright she is! I have fallen in love with this little girl! I had so much fun with her I decided to stay after work and colour with her until dinner-time. It was a blast! We are officially friends. She asked me to be her friend yesterday, and I readily accepted! She’s having surgery today, and I sure hope it goes well.

Robertsport

What a weekend we had at Robertsport! It started out with a 3-hour taxi ride Saturday morning. The first half of the trip was on the best road I’ve been on in Liberia, so I thought it would be no problem. However, the second part was pretty bumpy. I had to put away my letter that I’d been working on or else it would have been quite illegible! ☺ We were entertained by the car door that came open every thirty seconds or so as the taxi jerked along at 30 km/hour.
When we finally got to the town on the seashore, our taxi driver didn’t know where to take us. Also, there was no cell phone reception for a while, so we were a bit lost. However, it seems the locals knew where we were headed and they pointed us in the right direction. Eight of us joined four others who had arrived the day before, to make a dozen: 7 girls, 5 boys. We slept in tents on stilts with mosquito nets, and electricity at night. We even had a fan! Thank God for the fan, with 7 girls sleeping in a stuffy tent! However, we were disturbed at 2 am by someone saying our fan was needed elsewhere, and depriving us of its comforting breeze! We would have resisted this theft a bit more had any of us been even slightly alert.
I spent as much time as possible of the next two days in the ocean. It was a true paradise! I would have never thought you’d find a place like that in Liberia! The beach was beautiful with lovely soft sand, crashing waves, crabs scurrying here and there, and “plenty-plenty” sunshine! The days were filled with body surfing, boogie boarding, swimming in clear water that felt like a bathtub, exploring rocks down the beach, walking down the beach, wading in the water, a bit of laying in the sun, and eating good food. I got out of the ocean when the sun went down, and we built a bonfire, sang worship songs and watched shooting stars. Sounds unreal? It felt that way too. It was quite wonderful! Our own private, barely developed, peaceful, natural, fabulous piece of God’s creation! A place like Robertsport in the western world would be overrun with expensive hotels and people everywhere.
Sunday I got to hang out with some of the local kids as they body surfed with me in the crashing waves. One guy had a makeshift boogie board – a piece of driftwood. It worked quite well! I just wouldn’t want the splinters you could get from it if the waves sent you tumbling!
Sunday ended with our taxis being over 2 hours late to take us home, reminding us we were on African time, but we had an impromptu worship service in our tent, which was refreshing. Katelyn and I took one final walk down the beach in the pouring rain, which meant I rode home in drenched clothing, but it was worth it! We didn’t get back to the ship until almost 9 pm, and hurriedly showered, ate dinner, threw on some laundry, and crashed! I slept like a rock after the sea, sand and sun for two days. I woke up to my alarm this morning, dragged from the deepest of deep sleeps, where I thought my dreams were reality, and wished I could keep on sleeping for another 8 hours!
This afternoon I led ward nurse devotions, and shared what God has been working on in me lately. Thinking about it made me realize how much God is really working in my life. He is so good. I’ll have to share more with you when I get home. I’ll leave you with a foretaste of some of the verses that have been precious to me in this time: Matthew 6:25-34; Mark 8:34-38; Psalm 63:1-5; and Isaiah 40: 29-31. Also, my favourite song is now “I Belong” by Kathryn Scott. It’s a good one! Enjoy!

God's Childrens Home Part 2

I went for the second time to visit some teenaged girls at God's Children's Home yesterday. It was really quite a wonderful time. There were a lot of challenges we had to overcome before we could get there yesterday because it was raining, the roads were bad, one of Andrea's children was sick so we had to take them with us, we got stuck in a traffic jam on a bridge, and everything seemed to be a hassle. However, it was really a wonderful time with the girls. We baked shortbread with them. It's really neat how they make an oven. I should have taken a picture, but they put the food in a metal box over a fire, and cover it with a metal sheet, on which they build another fire. So, there is a fire underneath, and a fire on top. I couldn't believe how well it turned out! Honestly, it was such good shortbread! It was fun to learn how they bake here and just hang out with the girls.
We played a fun little guessing game and just had some fellowship time, and then my roommate Esther lead us in a Bible study. It was really good. She talked about how Jesus is "the way, the truth, and the life", and how we can choose His way or our own way. She compared it to baking: you can eat the ingredients all separately (yuck - raw eggs, flour, sugar), or mix them together and follow the recipe and make something wonderful! It was such a good, simple, true lesson. Afterwards we prayed with the girls and it was so good to hear their honest, heartfelt prayers. They so obviously depend on God for everything in life. I am always learning fresh new things from these people!
The girls platted (braided) my hair for a while after everything was done. It's amazing how fast they are at it, and how creative their hairstyles are! The girls are so beautiful! I just can't get over it. I really wish I had longer to be here with them, and more of an opportunity to get to know them. I'm going to try to go back as much as possible in this next month.
I can't believe I have only one month before I return home! It's actually shocking how fast time has flown!

Mercy Ships 30th Anniversary

On Saturday we had a day of celebration. It was the 30th Anniversary of Mercy Ships. I was working a day shift, but a lot of the crew made teams to play in fun events to celebrate the occasion. The team that I would have been a part of, had I not been working, won! Sweet!
We took the patients out on deck 7 for a couple hours to watch the events. It was a really nice time with them, because the patients were quite stable, and we were able to just have fun with them, without worrying about the medical side of things all the time. We played pin the tail on the donkey, which was new for pretty much all of them. They seemed to really enjoy it.
In the evening there was a presentation about the history of Mercy Ships and the various ships they have had. It was really amazing to think about all of the surgeries that have been done over the years, and all of the lives that have been changed because of this ministry! I feel so privileged to be able to be a part!
These last few days I’ve been working nights, and they’ve been fairly quiet. Tonight was so quiet that I was able to call Alma’s to say hi to the Priscilla Circle ladies! It was such a treat to hear their voices!
We have a lot of pediatric patients in the next few weeks, so it’s a bit out of my league, and we could use prayer for that because most of us are not pediatric nurses!
We’re doing a lot of facial surgeries, eye surgeries and some abdominal surgeries these days. Most of the plastics patients are gone, except for those with infection. Slowly they are getting better and are able to go home. One lady has been with us for 2 months and has not seen 4 of her children in all that time! She’s really anxious to get home! Sometimes it’s a bit sad to see them go because they become pretty special to you!

Spoons and farewell to Kelly!

I said a sad farewell to one of my close friends here on the Africa Mercy on Sunday. Kelly is an ICU nurse from the States. We ended up hanging out quite a lot, so I’m really missing her. Life here on the Africa Mercy means that you are constantly saying hello and goodbye to special people. It’s good, but hard too. The long term crew say the goodbyes are one of the hardest parts of being here.
We had a going away party for Kelly on Friday evening. We played ultimate Frisbee, then ordered pizza and had a massive game of spoons. For those of you who don’t know, Spoons is a card game that can get really crazy. You end up wrestling to get your spoon, and sometimes get a little bruised in the process. It’s a lot of fun.
As you can tell by the pictures, some people get a little competitive and go to great lengths to get their spoon!

African Clothing

I finally got all of my items from the tailor. I really like my African dress. It fits amazingly well! Usually they make the clothing a couple sizes too big. I can't blame them since all they do is take your measurements and your description of what you want made, and voila!... your items are finished! No patterns necessary here!
I worked this morning, and it was a good day. My blood buddy went back for surgery again today. He's improving everyday, and getting a little closer to being able to go home. It's nice to have patients stay for a while so you can get to know them.
I had two patients to practice French with today. The little girl didn't talk much, but the man from Guinea was great. He was quite gracious with me as we tried to understand each other.
Tonight I'm playing ultimate frisbee and saying goodbye to my dear friend Kelly who is leaving on Sunday. We're planning a pizza party and night of playing spoons! Fun fun!

Missionaries of Charity, Water Street Market

This morning we went to the Missionaries of Charity home. It is an HIV/AIDS home started by the order of nuns that Mother Theresa was a part of. It was a really nice place with a womens, mens and childrens section. I went with the team to minister to the women. We started off by greeting them, had an African worship and testimony time, and then talked about Psalm 23. It was amazing how little they knew about sheep or shepherds when we had our discussion time and games. It was encouraging that they understood the most important part of the lesson: that Jesus is their Good Shepherd. Some of them have such strong faith.
Some of the women were literally skin and bones. They had no energy to get up from bed at all. We are not allowed to take pictures for obvious reasons. I really sensed the presence of God there with us today. It is such an amazing ministry. It would be really difficult I'm sure, because you would always be working with dying people, but also so rewarding to be with someone in their last days of life, and encouraging them to fix their eyes on the Lord.
We went to the market on the way home, and spent hours picking out beautiful lappas of material to bring home with us. I'm excited about the bright colours and patterns!

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone!!! Yesterday was Canadian Thanksgiving on board the Africa Mercy in Liberia. We have 29 Canadians on board, and we had a lovely chicken and mashed potato dinner followed by an evening of playing games and eating pumpkin pie together! We shared what we were thankful for, and the common theme was family, friends, health, and being able to be here. God is so good, and there is always "plenty, plenty" to thank Him for! We played a game of jeopardy with Canadian trivia, and I guessed on a couple questions and luckily got the right answer! Fun times.
Today I worked day shift. Even though yesterday I had 7 patients and today I had 5, I felt less on top of things today. I had a little 5 year old girl going home today and I spent a lot of time getting her ready to leave. There is a lot of teaching to do. At home you take for granted that people know the importance of washing their hands and basic hygiene, but here you have to go through everything in great detail to make sure you're understood. One of the most common things we teach them is how to make salt water to do their wound care at home. This is the procedure: boil one litre of "clean" water in a "clean" pot on the fire for ten minutes, add one teaspoon of salt, take it off the fire, let it cool, and you can use it for one day. Can you imagine how much time it takes to simply make clean water to prevent infection? We take so much for granted! If you could see the conditions people live in here, you would be amazed that wounds ever heal! It's so hot and humid and dirty - perfect conditions for bugs to grow! The human body is truly an amazing creation of God!
Speaking of the conditions here, one thing I really am incredulous about is how people keep their whites white. Sorry, that was a bad sentence. What I mean is, how do people have brilliant white clothing when their water is at best a medium brownish colour? I've been told it's elbow grease! I truly am astounded by that, especially when my clothing gets incredibly dirty just walking around in flip flops. The mud sprays all up your backside as you walk. It's quite funny to see yourself at the end of a walk.
I had a lady going for surgery today who was terrified. She'd had surgery twice before on the ship, but for some reason, she was very fearful. I love it that here you can openly pray with your patients because that is the best comfort and reassurance I can give someone in a situation like that. I can't guarantee that everything will for sure go 100% right. There are always risks and complications, but you can trust your life into the hands of the Good Physician and know he'll take care of you as no one else can. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness!
My "blood buddy" is doing well. His wound isn't healing too great though I've heard. He was telling me that he doesn't know where his mother and himself will live when he is discharged. They live in a village that is inaccessible by car. It's way off in the bush. His mother Esther told me that she used to have 10 children, but 7 of them and her husband were killed in the war. I didn't really know what to say to that, but told her that God loves her and will continue to be with her as He says in scripture. She obviously has depended on God for strength to keep on through the years. I can learn so much from these amazing strong people!
Tomorrow I'm going to a HIV/AIDS care home of some sort, so I'm sure I'll have something to write about!
Oh, and if Michael James Roste is reading this today, Happy 23rd Birthday!!! LOVE YOU!

Bong Mines photos

Bong Mines

This past Saturday was Bong Mines. It is one of two places where everyone says you have to go while you’re here. I’m still recovering two days later because it was such an active day! It’s an old abandoned mine that was destroyed during the war. Again, everything has been stripped from it that can be taken away. There were people at the mine hacking away at it and removing more bits to use wherever they take them. I got incredibly dirty climbing around the building, scrambling up and down old broken staircases and getting sooty and oily. It was a lot of fun to explore.
I need to backtrack to the beginning of the day. We took a train to the mine. We drove our land rovers onto a flatbed car and rode on the roof of the vehicles as the train rolled away. The view was awesome from up there and I got some great photos of the surrounding villages as we passed by. We also got to ride at the front of the engine. Safety standards aren’t quite as high here! ☺ We were fine though. Don’t worry Dad, I’m being careful!
After the mine adventure, we went hiking through the jungle and up a waterfall. That was the best part of the day. It was just a lot of fun and great to be out in God’s amazing creation. In the city you just see pollution and derelict buildings.
We also stopped at a local hospital and toured it. They only had one oxygen and suction machine and one baby incubator, otherwise they had very little modern machinery. The hospital was big and quite clean however. They just need the funding to actually operate it to its full capacity.
We had a bumpy 3-hour car ride home, but thoroughly enjoyed our steak dinners that were waiting for us at the other end! That was quite a treat!

Sunday morning I went to an African church. It was super hot, and I sat in the wrong section by accident. I was in the kids section and was totally smothered with children crowded around me. I never really can catch on to the words of the songs because they don’t enunciate very well, but the singing was lively and wonderful anyway. The sermon was quite understandable, which was really nice.
We didn’t get back until after 2 in the afternoon, and as I was exhausted after an active weekend, I just hung out the rest of the day and watched “The God’s Must be Crazy I” this evening after ship church.

Today I worked day shift and had 4 pediatric patients! Apparently I’m going to be a pediatric nurse by the time I get home! One of the little babies had a raging fever. I hope he’s going to be alright. I spent the last half hour of my shift holding him against an ice pack to bring down his body temperature. Even with the ice pack in my arms to counteract his heat, I think I got a little overheated by the little furnace.

I'm still alive...

I bet y’all thought I’d dropped off the face of the planet since I haven’t written in a week! Well, let me inform you that no, I am still alive, and enjoying life immensely!
I’ll do my best to summarize. Monday we went to the beach again and had fun playing in the waves, playing ultimate Frisbee, sketching, talking, and enjoying the sunshine. We stayed for the sunset and then ordered pizza when we got back to the ship. The pizza delivery guy had a hard time finding the ship, and when he did, I proceeded to burn my leg on his motorbike exhaust pipe as I leaned over to count our the money for him. We finally had our pizza, and quite enjoyed one of the comforts of home. It wasn’t Boston Pizza or Dominos or Panago, etc., but it was quite good.
I was off duty Tuesday, so I went to an orphanage in the afternoon with a few other women. We were there to spend time focused on the teenage girls at the orphanage. We had a Bible study on the story of Jesus healing a blind man by smearing mud over his eyes. It was good to discuss misconceptions about why people have disabilities or sickness in their lives. The girls are really great and a lot of fun. We taught them the card game Uno after the Bible study, and I was amazed at how quickly they caught on. I hope I can go back so that I can really get to know them and minister to them more fully. There was a girl there named “Jenneh” (that’s how it was spelled), and I realized why people always think I have an African name and pronounce my name a bit different than I do.
My Uno partner was Mary, and we became friends. I hope to go back and develop my relationships with them more fully.
I worked Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evening. In the mornings I read my Bible, went to the tailor and got my new skirts and my dress. The evening shifts were good. One patient shared with me about his experience during the war, which was pretty tough. He was hiding out in the bush, and his entire family died. They were trying to escape by boat, and their boat capsized and they drowned. It’s so hard to believe what they’ve gone through. I love that I can pray with my patients here though.

Quite the night, but God is still good...

I am in the middle of a night shift right now that has slowed down considerably in the past few hours. Goodness it was busy at first! I am in charge of 10 patients, which is fine, but a few of them have fevers, and others are just generally unwell.
My little 2 year old friend had an episode last evening, where I almost called the emergency response team. His lungs sounded terrible, and we tried to give him some medicine by nebulizer to open up his lungs, and did chest physiotherapy, but nothing was helping. He settled a bit and went to sleep during the nebulizer treatment. A few minutes after the neb was finished, I went over to check on him, and realized he wasn't breathing, and his lips were turning blue!!!! YIKES! At that moment, my coworker for the night has stepped out briefly and I was in the 20 bed ward by myself. We didn't have a "charge" nurse working tonight, so I was just about to call for emergent help when my lovely friend Ali walked around the corner. She's an ICU nurse, and a charge nurse, and just amazing! She helped me wake the baby up, call the doctor, and totally supported me through it all. God definitely sent Ali at just the right time. Nothing with this kid was really resolved by bedtime, because although his lungs sounded terrible, he was in no respiratory distress. We just kept his oxygen monitored continuously overnight, and miraculously when I listened to his lungs at 2 am, they were clear as a bell. God is good. I was really worried about my little friend because kids can go downhill pretty quickly. I think he'll be just fine.
No sooner had that episode been resolved, when another patient started to seizure. The doctors came and did a battery of tests, and can't figure out what's going on. We had to start an IV, put him on a monitor, put up side rails so he wouldn't fall out of bed, and give him some medicine. Now he seems completely fine. Strange night. This is again my blood buddy who is sick. It's been nice developing a relationship with him and his mom. I prayed with his mom this evening, and trusted him into God's hands. I really believe God heard those prayers, because he seems okay.
Would you keep my patient friends in prayer over the next few days?
God is constantly proving His faithfulness and goodness to me. I shared some stories from my past with my new friends that show God's goodness, and it really impacted them. We've named that night the "weight room experience" because we were working out at the time. God continues to work on areas of our hearts each day. I love the verse that says "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus". May God continue to make me into a vessel of his love and peace in this world to be used for his purposes.

Learning new languages

This evening I worked on the ward where the patients I've known for the longest are. The three boys who all had infected wounds on their right lower legs, all got skin grafts and all are on crutches now, are there. They are so much fun. They always greet me "Jeena, Jeena" - that's how they pronounce my name here. Almost everyone thinks that I'm saying "Janet" at first. I guess Jenna is not a common name around here.
My blood buddy is on the unit also. That's my new code name for him because he has a half litre of my blood coursing through his veins. SO cool! He was trying to teach me Kpelle again. I'll teach you what I learned.

These are the phrases he decided to teach me (I have no idea if I'm spelling correctly, this is just phonetics):
Pago Mamy? - Can I eat?
Meteme baba de la? - When you will be going?
Ee la se lai? - What is your last name?
Eeg nun la wombai - What is your fathers name?
Coomuna? - What news?
Balli muna pelle? - Where are you going?

These are the phrases I asked him to teach me, because I thought they would be a little more useful for me :)
Ba kulai munam pelle Canada - I am from Canada
Eela mbae? - What is your name?
Baong - good morning
Batuaw - hello (when the sun is hot - in other words, this greeting is used in the daytime only)
naoowa Jenna - My name is Jenna

I had another patient who helped me with important phrases in French for me as a nurse, such as "have you gone poo-poo today?" I'm serious, that's an important sentence in the nursing world!! Sometimes it's a very embarrassing question for me to have to ask, but it's important to be regular!

I've had a teenage girl for the past few days who has been hardly eating anything. It's really tough to know how to get someone to eat nutritious food when they completely refuse, and barely even acknowledge that you're talking to them. She doesn't like ensure, doesn't like porridge, didn't want bananas, wouldn't have a smoothie, wouldn't eat egg, hardly drank any water, and only wanted a bit of bread and tea. We finally got her to drink a bit of chocolate flavoured ensure and eat a bit of yogurt, but I think it'll be an ongoing struggle.

It was a good evening. I got to talk to one of my patients about reliance on God for strength for each day, which was pretty cool. God is SO good. I can't praise him enough!

Today a group of people from the ship were on their way to Nimba mountain for the weekend, which is a 9 hour drive, and they got in a head on collision (it was not our driver's fault). Praise the Lord that no-one was seriously hurt! I saw some pictures tonight, and the cars were definitely pretty smashed, so it's amazing that everyone is alright! Thank goodness the policeman was on our side, because they are often against white people for some reason. Thank goodness there was a nurse along to bandage wounds. Thank God for the generous people of Liberia who stopped on the side of the road to give up their fruits and vegetables and whatever they had to those who were standing in the hot sun at the accident scene for 8 hours. Honestly, God is SO good!

A side note: These pictures have nothing to do with the content of this message, but I thought they were awesome pictures of the sunsets we've been experiencing lately!