First Impressions of Mercy Ships

It’s been 10 days and I thought I would describe my first impressions with my five senses

Taste:

The lunch and dinner is provided by a cafeteria/dining room style and so far has been delicious!

The menu this week was:

Chicken pot pie

Spaghetti

Ham and cheesy scalloped potatoes atoes

Hamburgers

We may have had to buy a bottle of mayo for Elijah.

We make our own breakfast with the basics provided in our accommodations.

Ryan has received coffee and snacks during his first week of training. We did eventually break down and go get some extra vegetables and Whole Wheat bread from Walmart but I definitely enjoy not having to cook or grocery shop or wash pots and pans.

The boys and I have had the opportunity to try deliciously flavoured Shaved Ice and Frozen Custard!

Sight:

We have to watch out for creepy crawly critters like Fire Ants, Cicadas (weird looking large bugs), Scorpions and Snakes and Chiggers!

The Mercy Ships Centre grounds are 430 acres of beautiful trees and pathways and two small ponds.

I have joined a running group on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and usually we start out running in the dark because it is the coolest part of the day and a nice way to start the day. There are lots of spider webs to avoid running through in the bush. I’m excited not be running alone in an unfamiliar area.

Smell:

Sweet warm air.

We have really enjoyed the pool and due to the extreme heat we have been swimming sometimes twice a day just to cool off. The pool surprisingly doesn’t smell strongly of chlorine.

Feel:

Did I mention how hot it is here! 34-38 degrees Celsius. So I could potentially take a shower multiple times per day.

I’ve never seen my children sweat so much. Ryan and Elijah played 2 on 2 basketball in the gym with no A/C and they were just drenched.

Luckily the Fitness Centre has A/C.

Hear:

I love hearing the stories from the different families from different countries who are joining us for training. So many cool stories of trials and perseverance!

It was really nice to finally meet face to face with the Mercy Ships staff members with whom we had communicated virtually! They gave us lots of encouragement about our patience in sticking through this stressful process of innumerable changes thanks to COVID.

We have now run into another hiccup or bump in the process of postponing the On Boarding classes for a week due to a couple of positive COVID cases despite being immunized. It was a good reminder to me when someone mentioned that this was not a surprise to God. And even though this is now our fourth COVID wave, it still it takes me by surprise every time. I was also reminded to make the most of this time of waiting and asking God to reveal more of His wonderful attributes and His plans to us! So we continue to pray and are thankful for the little blessings that we do have during this time.

We are thankful that we have food provided for us and that we have power and A/C because there are places not that far away from us that are left without power after a hurricane or an earthquake. We are thankful for the beautiful gestures of kindness from the Mercy Ships staff as they try and make us feel welcome and special.

We are thankful for our wonderful new friends and thankful for our beautiful friends and family back home.

And Surprise!

I was also able to go with a group of ladies to Waco Texas (yes THE Waco Texas!) and see the results of how this city was revitalized by something cool and amazingly beautiful with the Magnolia Market at the Silos courtesy of Chip and Joanna Gaines. From what I understand, Waco was pretty devastated after the cult incident in 1993 and other tragedies and therefore had a certain stigma attached to that location. However, since the creation of the Magnolia Market, people have come from all over the US to see the beautiful shops and grounds that were created around the Silos by Chip and Joanna. I was just in awe of how beautiful everything was and of course wanted to buy everything but didn't but only because I have no space in my room on the ship for these beautiful items.

I thought about how the revitalization of Waco was a good analogy of what Jesus can do when he allow him to transform our lives and create something beautiful out of something that is considered tragic and horrific.

Now Go and Be Intentional!