It's a lot of rain.

The title to this blog is a line from one of the African songs that we sing along with our patients on the ward. And it is a fitting title for this day, as I can look out the window and watch the water streaming down the windows and shooting out of the gutters of the ship! It is pouring!! My plans for the afternoon have been washed out--literally--and so I am taking that as my cue that this may be the day to stay inside and appreciate the chance to once again touch base and catch up with my thoughts and with all of you that I love so much:).
This last week has held more adventures, as I continue to get familiar with caring for patients on this floating hospital, as I continue to figure out my way around the ship, and have had the chance to venture out to explore a little more of this country that we are here to serve and learn from. When I first arrived to the ship, I heard someone joke that they spend their weekends in Africa! I now know what they were talking about, as we, living on the mercy ship, ported in Monrovia seem to be a little world unto ourselves at times. The reality that those of us on the ship are currently living in better conditions than anyone in this war-ravaged country is a sobering one. It certainly raises more questions than it does answers, and quiets me when I find myself frustrated or feeling cramped by the closeness of community in this place.
This last week was much lighter on the working end of things than my first week here was. I had last Tuesday and Wednesday off, and took advantage to go to the market and explore a bit. People are friendly and welcoming, yet I still find going out to be quite the exhausting experience and adventure! So, I have found small doses to be best:). The markets are crowded and busy, the streets and drivers crazy, and the smells....well....abundant!:) I made a purchase of some purple material and took it to a tailor just across the street from the port. Soon I will have my first Liberian dress! I am very excited. People here wear all kinds of different things...from more traditionally African looking dresses (like the pictures from the dress ceremony) to very western looking clothing. There are many different tribes of people in Liberia, and I have not been able to figure out if a certain style or look is more common of a certain people group, or if it is simply more a matter of preference and social status. I'll have to get back to you on that one.
Thursday and Friday I was back to work again, and had the joy of seeing both the ICU patients that I had cared for upon my arrival, make the transition from the ICU to the ward! Praise God for their healing. I am still learning and seeing new things each time I work, but all in all the actual nursing care is much more basic than anything I am accustomed to back at home, leaving more time to interact with and get to know the patients some. Of course some days can be crazy, but isn't that just the way it goes??
Saturday, I got to tag along with the eye team as they went to a clinic opening in a town nearby. It was the completion of a project that had been underway prior to the ship coming to Monrovia. Mercy Ships simply came alongside this community in their efforts to make a vision they had a reality, and saturday the doors to this dreamed of clinic opened! It will be staffed and run by the Liberians; we were simply there for the opening, introducing the community to this new resource and providing a health fair of sorts. It was exciting to see some of the work occurring off the ship that will be an ongoing sustainable resource to people in the future.
Sunday I had the privilege of going to my first church service since I arrived! I will be working every other weekend, but I look forward to being able to attend church on my weekends off. It far exceeded all my expectations....I went to an amazingly worshipful joyfilled church, held just a few miles from where we are ported, in a thatched roof building with a cement floor. Their singing just about lifted the roof off that little room a couple of times, and you couldn't help but dance right along with the people as they sang and worshipped God. It was a privilege to worship with them, and I caught myself tearing up just with gratefulness to God for letting me be here. It is amazing when we finally let the Lord lead us....He takes us places we never knew we wanted to go, and upon arriving there, we can't think of anywhere else in the world we would rather be. Praying today that you are finding yourselves in such a place.
Much love to all of you!