So here we are, a month before we sail to south africa. All I keep thinking about is that I have four more months left of this grand adventure. Four months sounds so short compared to twelve! I have no clue what these next months are going to look like for me but I do know that I am already starting to get into the mind set of going home.I know that I want to go to college when I get home but I just don't have a clue which college I want to go to. I also know that if I want to get up and going right when I go home I will have to apply while I am here and then I will have two months to visit and decide. Two months in the life span of mercy ships is not long at all so it makes me a little nervious. I also have no idea what im going to do job wise and all that jazz. I think sometimes I can get a little carried away when it comes to thinking ahead. I know I need to do some planning but I also know that I MUST trust God when it comes to my life and I need to learn not to worry so much.

Want to hear a story?

There is the cutest little toddler you have ever seen on this ship, his name is Max. Max loves to run. So I decided to chase him last night. He kept yelling "you cant get me! you cant get me!" and then I caught him in my arms and was tickling him to death. I put him down and that of course, is when he said " Chase me Rachael! Chase me!" So, I proceded to chase him again. I was almost up to him when he fell right in front of me and I was going to squish him to death. So I did what I could by diving over him and landing with all my weight on my right knee and then toppling over. Max, got up with a big smile on his face and said " you cant get me Rachael!"and ran away.

Pain, Mucho Pain.

Then End

GoodByes

Living on a ship has not been easy but I can tell you that the good far outweighs the bad.

Tonight was a bad night.

The worst thing about living on this ship is the goodbyes. So many people come in to my life and then leave all too quickly. Tonight I said goodbye to the first one of my gateway family and also to a roommate. The thing about living in a cabin with ten girls is that even though sometimes I don’t want to be there when it’s loud and I’m trying to take a nap or when it gets really dirty because it’s such a small space and let’s face it, girls have a lot of stuff. But, I would not change it for the world. We truly are sisters. We are there when each other gets mad, we are there when one of us has guy trouble going on, we are even there to wake each other up in the morning when one of us (accidentally) sleep in. I have said so many goodbyes since I have been here and I will say so many more. But, it’s worth it. I love being here, I love this place where people come and go and even though you are only here a short time, you still get to know each other more than you ever would if you were somewhere else. This ship has bonding glue on it that attaches itself to you the minute you arrive. You share meals together, you work together, you live in the same place. You cannot hide who you truly are. In reality, I will probably never see most of these people ever again. But we will always have this in common, that we love God, and we chose to serve Him by coming to mercy ships.

Togo!

Yesterday we finally arrived in Togo!

It was so exciting, we were told that we were going to arrive a little bit after ten so we all dressed up to get ready to dock. I woke up and got dressed in a skirt and nice shirt and went to deck seven. A lot of people were dressed in African style ( which is brightly colored fabrics and head dresses).As we were getting closer and closer to the dock I could see a lot of people standing there and then when we got even closer I could hear the music! the church was there and they had a jazz band playing a worship song and some people were dancing and singing. Then when we got even further in, I saw a circle of people sitting and playing maraca's and then a few women inside the circle dancing. The dock was filled with so many beautiful people just watching us pull in and dancing and waving. This went on for about an hour or so. It was absolutely fabulous! They just really encouraged me and it made me feel really happy that I was finally in Africa again! In case you didn't know the ship has been in the canary islands for the past month doing some repairs. I was only in Benin for about three weeks , I was really not ready to leave so I'm sooooo very happy to be back!