What I did on Summer Vacation (part 1)

I love the Swedish Chef. He's great. He doesn't speak Swedish. He doesn't cook. But he's a Muppet, and he's funny.

That has nothing to do with this blog entry. I just thought I'd add it in there.

Last time I wrote, I was excited about leaving the country again. It was the beginning of summer, and I was praising God every time I remembered that I would not have to re-take Foundations of Nursing Practice. Come to think of it, I still thank Him every time I think about that class. It was horribly difficult for me, but the Lord brought me through it, and even managed to teach me some valuable lessons about trust along the way.

I survived the semester and joyfully packed my suitcase and proceeded to flee the country. "Let us flee, said the fly." So I flew. There was some slight confusion about my flight, but everything got straightened out and I arrived in the sunny Caribbean. I had to wait a while at the airport, but I enjoyed writing in my journal.

It has been too long now for me to write in too much detail, but I can say it was a wonderful blessing for me to be able to spend time on the ship this summer. The Logos II was run by a skeleton crew. It was scary when I first got there, but you get used to fleshless sailors after a while. Ha ha, I know you're laughing. Or at least smiling. Hopefully you understood it was an attempt, however flat, at humor. To get back to the subject, the Logos II usually has about 200 crewmembers from 50 countries. This time, we were down to 100 (and towards the end the numbers ebbed towards 60) from 25 different countries. There weren't as many people to make messes, but there weren't as many to help clean up, so everyone had to pitch in and help in other departments at times. It was great.

I made many friends, many of whom I probably will not see again, except on Facebook. It was wonderful to come together with so many people from different backgrounds and experiences and see how we could work together. There were disagreements, of course. A ship can't always have smooth sailing. But on the whole, we tried to make allowances for each others' faults and help each other through the tough days. And many days were tough. I worked in the Book Hold. The Hold team restocks the ship's book shop at the end of the day (and beginning of the next one). When the bookshop has 5,600 visitors in one day, there is an overwhelming amount of restocking to do. We would take the books from the Hold, pack them into plastic tubs, then load them into the freight elevator to go up to the deck. Those things were heavy! I got a good workout loading and/or unloading the books.

In addition to restocking, the Hold team receives and processes all the books that we get sent to us. The books are sent in 40 foot shipping containers packed FULL. These have to be unloaded by hand and sent into the Hold via a roller conveyer belt thing. Some books went straight to the deck, and those had to be handed from person to person in a chain that stretched fromt the container to the deck. When not lifting plastic tubs or unloading boxes, we were lifting boxes and piles of books as we sorted them and entered them into our inventory.

It was very physical work; my ring grew too loose for my ring finger and had to move to my middle finger. My shorts got a little looser as I sweated in the Caribbean heat. And it was hot. Hot. The Book Hold did not have air conditioning, and most of the time we couldn't use the fans because they were too noisy. I spent most of the summer with sweat dripping off my nose and chin. Though I hate hot weather, I was there working and LOVING IT!

Added to all this nice work, I tried to go jogging at least two or three times a week (more often in the beginning, but for the last month I was jogging with other people so we didn't go as often). So I crammed a year's worth of exercise into eight short weeks.

We had worship services, youth conferences, kids programs, and prision ministry teams. I was privileged to get to help lead worship a couple of times. I was MC for a couple of youth conferences, and I enjoyed it immensely. Prison ministry was scary at first, but by the time I left I was surprised to find myself enjoying it. I was involved with the Logos II sports ministry, which meant I got to play soccer quite a bit. (I miss playing soccer!!!)

If you've never been to one of the Operation Mobilization ships, there's no way to explain it in one sitting. It is thrilling. There are new places and people and experiences every couple of weeks; there is always something new to discover and explore, whether it's a port city, a ministry, or a personal friendship with someone from another country. It is also draining. The work is hard, the hours are long, and the work never seems to get quite finished. But in it all there is a satisfaction that the work means something; the books that are getting loaded into the elevator could change someone's life tomorrow. Knowing that God will not let His word return void is encouraging, even in the hard days.

Everything seems faster than normal on board, though the ship's top speed is less than 20 miles an hour. The pace of life is faster. Deep friendships form faster. And yes, I dare say it, love blooms faster (though this one doesn't apply to me, I've seen it happen!). People mature faster.

I could go on and on. But it's time for bed already, since I have clincal courses tomorrow.

More to follow....

Butterflies!

I miss seeing butterflies. Back in Georgia we had honeysuckle and some pretty red and yellow flowers that attracted butterflies by the dozens and even a few hummingbirds. But the butterflies I'm mentioning today are not outside, but inside. Yes, belly-butterflies usually associated with stage fright, though in my case are more connected to excitement.

I just packed my suitcase. But I feel like, "I just packed my suitcase!!!!!!!!" I am very excited. (!!!) I am almost ready to go.

I haven't let myself process the fact that I'm leaving yet. For so long I had to concentrate on school and tests and studying that I didn't want to distract myself by being excited about going to the Logos II again. It helped, if that's the right term, that I had one class that I was very worried about. It kept me concentrated on schoolwork. I just couldn't seem to get my bearings in that class; it was very hard, and I studied till my eyes bled from strain (okay, not quite, but almost!) but I just couldn't get anywhere. I failed more than one test, and I was worried. It took all semester, but gradually I realized that I was not trusting God. The reason I was so stressed was because I was worried about losing my scholarship and having to take the class over again and what if I failed it again? It all boiled down to whether or not I trusted God to get me through and that whatever happened next would be for my good and learning. It was very hard. Then I took the final exam and I felt that I had done horribly on it. I had to wait a week before I found out my grade.

I passed. Barely. And I got a B- in the class. I think I learned a good lesson, and I'm glad I didn't have to fail the class in order to learn it!

So now I'm really excited about leaving. Finals are all over, and I worked extra hours last week since my bosses are being very nice about letting me leave and come back in two months.

My suitcase is packed, in more than one use of the word; it was full, then I stuffed socks and underwear into every crevasse and cranny. So now it is really and truly Packed.

Maybe I'll keep my blog updated while I'm gone. Ha. Yeah right. Well, I guess it's possible.

I'm leaving tomorrow at 4:30am. Fun fun fun. Poor Mom has to drive me to the airport. We're just glad the airport is less than 3 hours away!

Well, the butterflies are fluttering again, tickling my ribs and reminding me that I have other things I need to be doing right now. I shall heed their call and get busy again. And really, it's almost as nice to have butterflies inside as to have them outside. :-)

A Startling Revelation....

I am a ditz. I can hear the collective gasp of shock (rising from the five people that have read my blog...), but it's true. I realized it on Saturday. Maybe I knew it before, but I kinda forgot, like blondes tend to do sometimes. :-)

Saturday was a nice day; I didn't have to study, since I'd been studying all week, and it was a lovely, snowy day. I love snow; it's lovely the way it drifts lazily past the windows, or gets swirled around in great gusts of wind.

Mom had a headache all day, but we braved the weather and went grocery shopping in the morning. We also went by the library. Mom said we didn't need to go in: we'd just drop the books in the "book suppository." Yuck!! "I think you mean 'depository,'" I said, still grimacing from the mental image of a book-shaped suppository. (if any readers do not know what a suppository is, I welcome you to do a Google search. NOT an image search, just word search!)

After we finished our shopping and book dropping (ha ha, our shoppings and droppings?), we came home. I worked on my scrapbook between loads of laundry. Mom had a little nap in the afternoon, and I sneaked into her bathroom and cleaned it so she wouldn't have to. She still had a headache when she woke up, and it was time for her to do Grandma's bath. So while Mom did that, I made spaghetti for supper. I was going to warm up the sauce in a pan, but then thought it would be hot enough if I put it in the hot pan after I cooked the spaghetti. Yes, I did remember to drain the spaghetti. I did not remember to put the biscuits in the oven first, though, so we had to wait a long time for them to be done, making the spaghetti and sauce even cooler. Even after all the food was on the table we had to wait a while for Dad and Grandpa to come to the table.

So we had barely warm spaghetti, some salad, vegetables, and yummy garlic cheesy rolls, served with pleasant dinner time conversation.

After supper I turned to Mom and opened my mouth to say something, when I caught myself. I started laughing. "What's so funny?" she asked quizzically.

I couldn't stop laughing as I told her, "I almost said, 'Thanks, Mom, for cooking such a nice supper!'" Yes, indeed, I almost thanked Mom for making a meal I had made myself. If that's not ditzy, I'm not sure what is.

No curry

Well, my new passport doesn't smell like curry, so I guess they're not outsourced to Pakistan or India. The new passport design is really pretty, with etchings of famous American monuments like Mt. Rushmore.

I still think blog is an ugly word

I don't know if I'm still getting graded on this, but I thought I'd put this up anyway. I don't think anyone ever reads this except for me, but maybe it can be a kindof journal. Or not.

I wonder if the government makes money off of passports. I mean, are the fees just a bit over what it costs for all the bureaucracy involved in the application? Or has that paperwork been outsourced to people in India who are working for ten cents an hour while the passport officials cackle with glee over their successful scheme? If my new passport smells like curry, I guess I'll have my answer.

So, I'm off to the Caribbean this summer, if all goes well. On a three month cruise, no less. A cruise where the main menu item is rice (fried, if I'm lucky*), and where I'll be working 8 or more hours each day in the sweltering temperatures. If I'm very very "lucky"*, I'll get a cabin where the air conditioning works, unlike last time I went on this type of cruise. I'll be getting good exercise, most likely, hauling books around. Or if they decide they want me in the Galley again, I'll be hauling bags of rice and potatoes, peeling and chopping mountains of onions, and scrubbing countless dishes and cooking utensils.

And I'll love it. At least, I did before. I'm hoping/planning to go to the MV Logos II this summer for it's third "final voyage to the Caribbean." I still have the t-shirt from the first "final voyage.." I think I'll take it with me. :-)

The great thing about the ship is that even though it's hard work and no one gets paid, everyone is glad to be there. Why? Because people who are there aren't there for the money, the beautiful scenery, or the good shopping. They're there because they want to serve the Lord however they can. And somehow, God honors their willingness to serve by giving "joy unspeakable and full of glory" in the middle of difficult circumstances. Of course, everyone there has bad days, just like people everywhere, but serving God rather than serving self helps a lot.

So, if anyone actually does read this, I'm raising support for my mission trip to the Logos II. I will need extra money for extra super strong sunblock.... or maybe I'll just buy housepaint and use that... :-)






*I don't believe in luck, so when I say lucky I am merely borrowing the colloquialism. I could say fortunate. I could say blessed, but some people misinterpret that....