The Sail

This was a calm sail, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t have kiddos falling out of their seats or moments when it felt like we’d hit a whale as waves reverberated down the ship! This sail perfectly coincided with the first week of school. We sailed out of the Canaries last Sunday. There wasn’t much fanfare and not many people were waving from other ships like when we sailed out of Durban last time, but there was one very special man there. His name is Teodoro. He is 79 and from the Canaries. He comes every year (for the last 21 years) when the ship leaves the port and plays us out on his trumpet! He started out on our dock and as we sailed through the port (it takes about 40 minutes to get out to open sea) he drove to different spots to play so we could keep hearing him! Can you imagine how epic it felt to sail out to the sound of “amazing grace,” and “it is well,” and “how great thou art” on the trumpet?!? It was all fine and dandy and exciting until he started playing “onward Christian soldiers!” I about lost it! One of my littles kept asking, “are you crying?” Uh...yeah!!! I get to be in the Lord’s army, sailing toward the battle I am blessed to face this year. I get the privilege of being one of God’s Christian soldiers...it all of a sudden felt quite overwhelming and holy!

On Monday we had a teacher work day, which was essentially me attempting to work in my new classroom while waiting and waiting...AND WAITING for Kate to have her c-section and praying that the wifi would hold out so I could facetime when the new baby came!  It did!!!! Praise the Lord! And guess what?!? Charles has a little SISTER!!!! Kaylee Michelle White! After talking to Kaylee, I ran to the kindergarten room to tell the kindergarten teacher. I burst through the door and shouted, “It’s a girl!” My friend, Val, was not in there, but at her desk was one of our computer guys working on her computer who looked up confusedly and said, “uh…congratulations!” :0)

The moment Neill told me that she's a GIRL!

On Monday we had our back to school night so the kiddos could come see their new teachers and classrooms! The rest of the sail went by in a flurry of fun school activities such as visiting the Bridge and the engine room, as well as a host of fun sail activities including trivia night (which I hosted for the first time and learned that I should never again google questions about international sports for the sports category in an attempt to be culturally sensitive, because I will inevitably get something wrong and the contestants will begin rioting). We also had open mic night, worship on the bow, movie night, and sock golf!

Welcome to the 1st Grade Jungle!

Bridge Tour

Praying at the OR doors for the patients who will have operations in there

Engine Room Tour

Dinner on the bow

My sock golf team!

Two points if you hit the sock golf hole...TEN points if you hit the math teacher! :0)

 

We sailed into Guinea on Saturday morning! The evening before, at the crew briefing, we were told that one crew member from each country represented on the ship would get to hold the flag of their nation as we sailed in. Whoever got the flag first in the morning would get to wave it! I wanted so badly to get to be the one to wave the American flag from the deck of the Africa Mercy when we sailed in! I was up at 5am on Saturday morning to get that flag! It was very exciting to see all the flags of the different nations waving down the deck as we passed the islands and fishing boats full of people waving! About five minutes before reaching our dock space, the heavens opened and it started to pour! We scurried down to deck 7 where there’s an overhang and soon after that we got our first glimpse of our dock space, the advance team all cheering and waving, and a dance/drum troupe celebrating our arrival!

In the afternoon there was a big ceremony to welcome the ship into Conakry, which included dancing, drums, the arrival of the First Lady of Guinea, and lots of speeches in French! So, here we are! We have a beautiful view of the ocean on one side and a very colorful port on the other! This morning I set my feet on land in Guinea for the first time as a group of us walked out into the town and visited a market and ate shwarmas! It’s good to be on land again...even if it's land that is smothered in 83% humidity! :0)