Church, the beach, etc.

I went to an African church yesterday morning. They had us stand up and introduce ourselves, and sit at the front of the Church. I felt quite welcomed. The music was upbeat and fun. There were a lot of children, and I really enjoyed hearing their young voices praising God. The sermon was good too – about not hiding from God, but confessing our sins and turning from them so we can be made new. After the service, we were served oranges, bananas and cookies. I talked to lots of children and adults, and a couple of them shared about their difficulties during the wartime. The pastor and his wife had to hide out in the bush for years and live off the land to avoid the fighting. The pastor’s entire family died while trying to escape the fighting by boat. Their boat capsized and all of them drowned. So sad, and yet these people trust in God for all things. They’ve had nowhere to turn except for God. They don’t blame him for the difficulties, but praise him instead. I think we can learn a lot from their deep, abiding faith in Christ.
This afternoon I went to the beach with some friends. It was the same beach with the brown, yucky water, but it was fun. It was a mostly sunny day and a few people got burnt. A good time was had by all.
Back at the ship, I watched a sunset from the dock while eating my dinner. We had an evening service with wonderful worship music. It was a good day. I was really exhausted and tried to sleep as long as I could today because I think I’m quite sleep deprived after all I’ve been doing lately. This next week I’m working a lot, so I can’t do a lot of stuff away from the ship. I’ll catch up on rest then. Funny to catch up on sleep on work days, but going off the ship is what makes me tired more so than being on it.
Oh, one more thing, the patient who needed my blood on Friday is now out of ICU and doing well. He was really happy to see me today. He’s so joyful! He’s always joking around with me. He is teaching me a bit of the Kpele language. Today I learned “Pago Mamy” which means, “can I eat?” That’s all I learned. He tried to teach me more, but most of the time just laughed at my horrendous pronunciation! I’m going to try to remember my one phrase tomorrow so that I can impress my new friend!