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| This guy right here...he's pretty wonderful...and he's also the reason for all the upcoming change! |
Just when I think I have a grasp on
“the plan” it changes. I don’t know why that would surprise me anymore, but it
still does. Big changes are once again coming at me fast. I thought I was stepping
into the unknown when we had to leave Senegal over two years ago now…I thought
I was stepping into the unknown when I went back to the USA for my “forced
sabbatical year” which ended up lasting fifteen months…I thought I was stepping
into the unknown when I returned to the ship with a whole new crew and teaching
team in the fall…I thought I was stepping into the unknown when I transferred to
our brand new ship, the Global Mercy, in January. And I was! Those were all big
unknowns. And here I am again, stepping into a whole new world of unknown, but
this time it’s all because of a handsome, Swiss mechanic! I’ll get there, I promise!
Read on!
We arrived in Belgium to board our new ship, the Global Mercy, in January and we didn’t even make it onboard before my parents were both put into isolation in a hotel with covid. I quarantined for 48 hours in the hotel too before being released to board my ship!
But 48 hours later I was back in isolation for 10+ days in my cabin. I “attended” back to school night and started teaching remotely from my cabin. I spent my birthday in my cabin and was showered with cards and flowers and visitors who stood in the hallway at a safe distance and waved!
Belgium was full of weekend trips to Luxembourg,
Brussels, Waterloo, Bruges and biking to the Netherlands border. We also got to
host the queen of Belgium onboard! In Belgium I lived on Belgian waffles,
fries, and chocolate!
In February I got to sail for the first time on the GloMer. We had a little overnight sail up to Rotterdam in the Netherlands and arrived for our two week PR tours to the sight of wall to wall people lining the Erasmus bridge and the dock side waving and cheering. Tug boats shot off water canons as we entered and we did a 360 twirl so everyone watching could get a view od every angle of the ship.
Mom and I worked our normal jobs during the day and led tours by night! I’d finish teaching kindergarten at 3:20 and then run down to my room to change into my uniform and then down to the dock to start our tours. It was an exhausting two weeks, but so much fun! My acapella group got to sing in the VIP tent for the Mercy Ships board meeting. We hosted an Andrea Bocelli concert onboard and I got to be his escort down to the international lounge! We also hosted princess Anne onboard! In The Netherlands I lived on Dutch stroopwaffels, fries, and cheese!
In March we sailed home, I mean,
back to Tenerife. I always think I’ve left this place and yet I always come
back, and it really does feel like home now. The sail through the Bay of Biscay
was a rough one and it looked a bit like my classroom exploded in the rocking
and rolling. Kindergarten relocated to the café for most of the week so we
wouldn’t get squished between flying furniture in the kindergarten classroom.
Towards the end of March I had the
sweetest visitor! We sailed into Tenerife on the 21st and my guy flew
in on the 22nd (he wasn’t “my guy” at that point, but by the 23rd he was!). His name is Lukas, he’s from Switzerland and he was serving as the
transportation manager onboard the AFM in the fall when I got back onboard last
September. He loves Jesus with all his heart, he’s kind, sweet, funny, a great
conversationalist, curious, wonderful, and he LOVES helicopters. In fact, he
left Mercy Ships in November to go serve as a helicopter mechanic for three months
in South Africa. We continued talking and getting to know one another from December-March when we decided to officially be a couple. I knew that that’s what I
wanted pretty much from the first time we met and I was pretty sure God was
nudging me in his direction, but God and I just needed to give Lukas the time
he needed to get onboard with the plan as well, which he did when he came to
visit me in Tenerife!
So, that brings me back to the fact
that I am yet again stepping into yet another big unknown. Here’s what I do
know (at least, I think I do, but I also realize that in my life everything is
subject to change!):
-
This week we will sail the GLM to Dakar Senegal
and we will have both ships side by side for the first time ever! We will celebrate
and party because God is good and this is a moment we have been waiting for for
YEARS!
-
In twelve
days I will finish school here on the GLM and I will fly to Switzerland to
spend ten days with Lukas and his family.
-
In 23 days we will fly together back to the USA
where Lukas will attend Mercy Ships’ onboarding program in Texas this summer as he
has committed to another two years onboard. I will play around with my babies
in Dallas and go see Lukas on the weekends and then we will fly together back
to Senegal to board the Africa Mercy.
Here’s what I don’t know:
-
I don’t know what I will be teaching on the AFM
in the fall.
-
I don’t know who my roommate will be or what the
community will look like exactly in this crazy season. I know it will be quite
different from what I’m used to when the ship has been in field service in the past.
-
I don’t know
how to be a girlfriend or how to date while living onboard the AFM…
…but I’m about to find out!
