de-gnoming, water survival and more friends

de-gnoming...comes from harry potter series (great books). all the magical people have gnomes in their gardens and they have to degnome occasionally (i guess they create all sorts of ruckus or something) so amy mentioned something about having a de-gnoming party once we're all on board...i guess we have to find some gnomes first!

water survival. this was the last two days of the class and of course included lecture, written and practical. the practical is the only bit that is really fun so i'll post a few pics from that. our practical check offs included flipping a life raft, getting into a life raft with just regular clothes on and also with a gumby suit (infinitely more difficult), donning a gumby suit in less than 2 minutes, a few manuevers like making a circle and caterpillar in the suits with other team members, swimming side to side in the pool and treading water for 1 minute. the gumby suits are for decreasing hypothermia. best to have them on before you have to abandon ship but not super maneuverable. plus, they have friction against the life raft so not only are you fighting weight, any water in the suit, the waves but you're fighting suit against raft. but, i guess if it's death by freezing or those minor inconvienences...

so, here are a few pics of water survival stuff

more friends...a lot of the pics are from the last week so you'll have to meet them in some of our toys we played with =)

this is kim...i chose this pic b/c it so captured her personality...she was always laughing, real belly deep laughs that cause others around to smile or laugh too.

next are andre and donna...they were recently married and donna was going thru the training, andre was helping facilitate. andretaught us a few african songs as well as some lingo, i look forward to getting to know him more on ship. donna is an absolute delight. she didn't talk a lot in class but i enjoyed our one on one conversations and can't wait to have tea dates with her on ship. she has such a great heart.

this is roseann here...she is from new york and is a firecracker! you can hear new york in her speech and she is so fun. she'll be working on the dental team so i can only imagine the fun they will have in the midst of work.

and below are marilyn (on left) and dorothy (on right)

marilyn was a schoolteacher once upon a time but will be making yummy starbucks on ship (we don't have to give up all our creature comforts!) she was quiet a lot during training but the one on one conversations were great.

dorothy is going on ship to be a science teacher in the academy...it was interesting to hear her take on some of what was said in class, don't just accept it but tear it apart to make sure it makes sense and fits with what she knows about the Father.

ripping a bandaid off

so, there are different ideas about which is more painful--pulling a bandaid off slowly (prolonged pain but not stinging pain) or ripping it off all at once (experience all pain quickly but then done). i got to say goodbyes both ways this weekend and i prefer the ripping. the gateway class was completed on saturday at lunch and amy, annette and i jumped in the car at 1:30 to get amy to the airport for her flight. since we still had to clean a bit for dorm checkout and pack a bit in the car, the goodbyes were very short. also, almost everyone will be on ship by the first week of october so we knew the goodbyes were short term. due to some unforeseen circumstances, i ended up back on the base on monday to drop annette off at the tyler airport and bring the farrell fam (and sam) back to dallas. these was a harder goodbyes--annette and i were together basically from saturday lunch until monday morning and the goodbye is for a longer time. and i spent hours with the farrells until it was time for them to go thru security and i won't be seeing them again right away since they still don't have a room assigned on ship. said bye also to sam who remarked that we have said goodbye a lot in the last few days (hopefully i will have one more chance to see him before he and i leave dallas). these goodbyes were harder.


i still have a few more gateway posts (will try to finish off this week--still introducing some friends and also about the water safety exam) but for now, i'm "smarting" a bit from goodbyes so i will just tell you about the four girls in my photo who just got names last time (and the family since sarah was one of the just names)...


this is the farrell family (mom-sarah, dad-tommy, tom in sarah's lap and joshua in tommy's lap) even now i can hear joshua saying "mummy"....he is by far my favorite british boy (no offense tommy and sam and tom) and running up for a cuddle. i can also hear tom saying "miriam, over here, miriam" he had a serious boy crush on her. he was a lot of fun as well, always wanting everyone to come over to "his house". tommy gave me a much different perspective on clapping =) and was such fun. his wife sarah has such a sweet heart. she was quiet unless she was in a smaller group but had a great laugh and smile. i hope they end up on the ship soon b/c i'm going to miss them!




in this photo is sam (the nanny) and myself along with miriam (between sam and i) and amy (on sam's right).
sam already got his compliments but i will add one other, his heart is full of others, he is always thinking of others, giving to others, seriously one of the kindest men i know.

miriam has a great sense of humor, she was able to take a not well thought out comment with a good nature and then turned it around quite hilariously a few minutes later. (remember the ride in the boot?) and she is great at not speaking when maybe something shouldn't be spoken! and generally just great to be around.

amy is the youngest of our group that spent the most time together but she was very mature. i really couldn't see the age difference that often (maybe that means i'm immature!) she was also very sensitive to seeing what was going on with others and checking on them. and she mentioned something about a "de-gnoming" party on ship?!?!??!



and this is carmen (the other name only)...she was one of my roommates and she and tayler were hilarious togther. she also had great thoughtful responses in our lecture times

rescue me...

so, this week is BSST week of training--basic safety and survival training. what that means is that over the course of 5 days i will have to learn how to fight fire and actually fight one, learn cpr and first aid, learn survival techniques and learn water rescue...full week! we have longer hours this week and more physical than the last three weeks of mostly sitting.

monday was fire lecture day ending the day with getting kitted out in fire gear. tuesday very early (but i wish we had done even earlier to miss some of the heat) we went down to the barn and did timed trials of getting into our gear...boots already in pant legs so you can just jump in and pull them up. neoprene head cover under the jacket, fully buttoned. face mask (SCBA) around neck, compressed air tank over the head onto the back, face mask on, neoprene cover over, air hose attached, helmet on, gloves on...done. all in 2 minutes. (we did get to split it into basic gear on in 1 minute and breathing gear on in 1 minute.

then, it was on to work. we had to don full gear only twice...once with the neoprene head cover backwards to simulate smoke non-visibility and locate and drag a "victim" to safety, and the other to actually go in to a container with a fire in it and use the hose to spray down the smoke and cover the floor. the other three checkoffs were fighting two fuel fires in different manners and an electrical fire.

it was blasted hot! i only got really freaked out after it was over and i had "fought the fire" and i was freaking a bit while i tried to get my gear off. this is me in my gear, i will add more pics from the day later.

please pray for our safety, strength and health this week b/c we are tired.

also, please pray for the "manny" sam as he has the kids for longer periods of time this week and they are tired of not being with mummy and daddy all day so not minding as well. and sam and the kids are just tired in general.

challenges and more friends

so these week was quite challenging for me. the class lessons were about changing our worldview from one derived from culture, family, etc to one which truly reflects the heart of God. b/c His heart is applicable to every culture and every generation. it doesn't change. we've written off much of His Word b/c our worldview says it is no longer applicable...does that mean that the Creator God, who is omni-everything, didn't see today and the cultures that we live in, that He is surprised by now? then that would make Him less than He is. it doesn't mean i am saying we are to go back to the sacrificial law b/c Jesus' death and resurrection fulfilled that. just that He is not surprised and His Word is still applicable no matter where we are in the world. it was interesting to have basic assumptions challenged and then to see how God's heart is better expressed. i am hopeful that each day as He molds me, i will better live Him.

so, more new friends...

below is joan...she has such a beautiful smile. she is quiet but can be quite fun if you get her going. she is one of four other ladies that i share a room with.

this is dr. dave and helen. they work in the mercy ships land-based clinic in sierra leone. helen has such a beautiful spirit, a beautiful smile and hears the voice of God. dave dances and sings out his joy. i hope when i am older i am a fraction of how cool and merciful and passionate they are!

this is jenny (shower curtain john's wife). she has such as sweet heart. i can't wait to work alongside her on the ship (well, kind of...she is the asst director of the OR nurses while i will be on the ward) we had a great time celebrating her on her birthday yesterday.

this is angela...she is fierce and independent and fun and passionate. she can crochet a handbag faster than anyone i know!

below is daniel...100% D in the DiSC analysis. the only person who i know that doesn't mind confrontation. he has a great heart in spite of this confrontation thing! =)

beautiful frustration

so i was seriously frustrated when i found out the april gateway class was cancelled. in fact i complained to God "i'm just trying to do what You asked, why is it so hard?" within 24 hours He had given me perspective and i accepted this new timing. in staying a few months more, i was able to attend my cousin denise's wedding and will get to be in my best friend emily's wedding before i leave for liberia. and if i had been in a different class, i wouldn't have met these dear new friends. as i have previously blogged, if home is where the heart is then my home is spread all over (canada, california, northern ireland, new mexico, tennessee, texas, prague, oklahoma, michigan and other areas that aren't coming to mind easily right now). and now my heart belongs to even more dear ones so now home extends to england and south africa and holland and germany and east africa and australia. what a beautiful frustration.

here are some of my new friends. more friends as the blogs go on.

you already met sam the nanny.

meet tayler who has a beautiful heart, a great smile and so much fun. she is my bunkmate!

in this photo is sarah (sam's sister) on the left, amy, me, carmen, miriam

and this is annette from germany...she can pull off a cowboy hat better than this texan! and she has such a sweet spirit.

and finally (for today anyways) this is john who is my new hero all because of a shower curtain. my estimation of him before yesterday was already 100% but now is easily 210%!

silence and rodeos

our gateway week finished off with a silent retreat on saturday. we were told it would be 6 hours of silence in a state park in east texas in the middle of the summer. i was looking forward to the alone time and the silence (having done a silent retreat in the past) but not the heat. i went into it without expectation and that may have been my problem. on my previous retreat i went in with specific expecations and He changed all of them as the time progressed. so this time, i went in without any so that He could do whatever. so perhaps i set it up for His silence as well. i found a boulder with a perfect hollow in it for sitting and sat down there by the lake and opened His Word and my heart. and just silence. it was a good quiet time but no real serious revelations like many of my classmates and not like the last retreat i did. the time didn't extend to the full six hours but many of my classmates had great thoughts of wisdom during their time. i don't begrudge them that and i appreciated hearing them as we debriefed at the end of the time. i just wasn't expecting silence.

last night most of the class went to a rodeo in mesquite. despite having lived in texas most of my life, i had never been to a rodeo before. after the evening, i have no desire to ever go again. it seemed cruel to the animals as well as we had one guy that got stepped on and could have had a serious injury. i was appalled. at least the company was good. we had a great time driving up with amy, myself and miriam in the backseat laughing hysterically about lots of nothing. and added in sam, sarah and carmen for the trip back with what surely must be made up games by sam to pass the time.

i didn't get to bed until 245 this morning and i am tired today but as the day goes i am getting more awake. crazy!

the nanny (and wallyball and odd phrases)

so, the nanny...HIS name is sam. he is the brother of one of my classmates and came with her family to watch tom (4yrs) and joshua (1 and 1/2 yrs). they are from the u.k. he seemed a bit dodgey ;-) to start but is really quite a good egg. he does a great job keeping tom and joshua entertained while we are in class all day and then keeping the rest of us entertained when we are out of class. =) he has great charisma coupled with a wicked sense of humor (and of course that fab british accent). he also has a great heart which comes thru in just about everything he does like making sure those who do not want to be left alone are not and holding doors and including everyone in just about everything. lest he get a swelled head from reading this, he does tend to be a bit bossy (maybe it is from working with kids but i don't need managing! hehe).

wallyball (and parudo). wallyball is volleyball played in a raquetball court. you can play off of all the walls except the opponents' back wall/ceiling. it seemed a bit sketchy to me when i heard about it but it is so much fun. i've even continued to play despite an injury to my thumb on saturday night when one of daniel's wicked serves bounced off the back wall to bend my nail halfway back. when we aren't playing wallyball, we're often in the family dorm playing any number of other games...speed scrabble, nertz, farkel, parudo or others. this game is a dice game sam taught us and while fun i'm quite sure i still really don't know what i'm doing.

odd phrases....so nobody here seemed to know what a good egg was. emily and i actually discssed not this particular phrase but some of the random phrases of animal names we use to discuss people...old goat, odd duck, cool cat, strange bird, eating like a pig, etc. so where did that phrase come from (specifically good egg in this instance) check out the following link here but the main website is www.phrases.org.uk (always good if you're looking for a phrase origin).

rear-view mirror

"you cannot drive a car by looking in the rear view mirror"

this week we are discussing living on purpose. one of the quotes that really struck me is "although we understand our lives backwards, we must live our lives forward." and then the above car quote. so, how do you live your life on purpose, not getting bogged down in the past, not getting imprisoned by your comfort zone but being willing to jump out of the nest and fly? it is hard at times for sure. it is scary to risk. it is almost as scary to remain stagnant and not to grow, even if you fail. david said in the psalms, "when i am afraid, i will trust." sometimes i don't live this...i am afraid and rather than trusting the Sovereign Creator of the whole universe Father i do not trust. at other times, i do. this adventure for sure has been a trusting. (and there are days i do not do well with it at all)

now, something else that i have found is that God will pursue us and push us until we either willingly jump or He pushes us out of our nest to test the wings He gave. dt 32:11 "like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them...The LORD alone." i for one am quite thankful that He loved me enough to pursue me but loves me more still to challenge me and grow me into something more beautiful.

so, forward living it is.

i know i promised i'd talk about the nanny and i need to talk about wallyball (esp as i have participated most evenings) but most likely the next post.

happy 4th

yesterday in the community meeting at mercy ships, the chaplain (who is not american) spoke a bit about the 4th. one of my american classmates said after the meeting that she has never felt more american. i, however, never feel as much american when i am surrounded by people from other countries. i don't dislike being american (some of the things we think and do yes), i am grateful to have grown up here but i do like to know others from all over the world.

God is super cool. we've had two days of wow moments in class. yesterday, we all wrote our own version of psalm 136. (i'll add the one i did in 2005 at the bottom of this post if you care to read it, i seemed to be more mature then than now or at least better at expressing my walk in that form) anyways, back to class. tommy and sarah, a couple from the uk, were sitting at separate tables and both came up with similar psalms. then today, john and jenny, a couple from here in the states, were in separate groups during prayer time. each was given the same word from another in their respective groups (be strong and courageous). isn't God amazing!

so, here's my psalm for those who want to read it. it was written in nov 05
Give thanks to the LORD , for He is good. His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the LORD of lords: His love endures forever.
to Him who alone does great wonders, His love endures forever.
who created all that is seen and unseen, His love endures forever.
who washed the world in colours so beauteous, His love endures forever.
who filled the air with sounds wondrous— His love endures forever.
the chirp of the birds, the chattering of squirrels, His love endures forever.
the mighty roar of lions, the mournful call of wolves, His love endures forever.
the tumbling sounds of rivers and breaking sounds of waves. His love endures forever.
Give thanks to Him who saw me in my wretchedness, His love endures forever.
and loved me in spite of it, His love endures forever.
for He called me Beloved, His love endures forever.
for He made me beautiful, His love endures forever.
for He died to make me His own, His love endures forever.
for He rose again to establish hope, His love endures forever.
for He is my strength, His love endures forever.
for He is my peace and comfort, His love endures forever.
for He grants wisdom, His love endures forever.
for He allures me to the desert to win me back to His love, His love endures forever.
for He has mercy upon me, His love endures forever.
for He restores to me the joy of His salvation, His love endures forever.
for He gives me the treasures of darkness, His love endures forever.
for He walks with me in light, His love endures forever.
for He has been good to me all the days of my life. His love endures forever.

ps. next time i'll tell you about the "nanny"!

if and relevance

don't get used to back to back blogs but before i crash tonight i thought i would give a quick update. also, if and relevance are two separate things

if--we were playing speed scrabble last night (thanks to kelly strong for teaching me the game!!!!) . i think 9 players with two sets of letters. one of my classmates was trying to fit in her last letter to attach to the only open spot a "f". she said, is "fi" a word and i said i don't know but "if" is! we all got a laugh at her expense but she was quite good natured about it.

relevance--one of the books we had to read pre-class is titled "An introduction to the Old Testament Template". sounds boring, right??? it was a great read! i highly recommend for any believer. it was amazing to read as the author showed how the Old Testament plan God set out for israel to follow when setting up in the promised land is still relevant today. not exactly as stated in the OT but the principles if utilized today could still change our world for the better. one of the things the author said and then has been reiterated by one of the lecturers here is that "God is not surprised at how things have changed in the world since His Word was written." and yet, His Word is written to be used throughout time until His return. i really had never thought of it in quite those terms but it is good.

i guess that's all, i think i'm going to brush my teeth and go to bed.