Mercy Ships Day One – And then some…

Dear Friends and Family,
Greetings from Togo, West Africa! The past few days have been almost dreamlike in how well and easily our trip has gone. Thank you for your prayers as there were so many spots where we anticipated that things could have been frustrating or complicated.


We had a lovely three days in Paris getting over our minor jet lag. We even spent a fair amount of time wandering around the city since we both felt pretty good despite the time change. This was quite remarkable for me as I've had many a migraine after overseas travel so we were very thankful for our good health. It would have been a shame to waste the gorgeous weather we enjoyed in Paris as we marveled at the cloudless blue skies that greeted us each morning. What did surprise us was how late the sun rose each day! It was actually well after 8am before we saw even a glimmer of sunlight! Much higher latitude here in this part of Europe as compared to where we live in San Diego!


While in Paris Peter received an e-mail from Brussels air offering us the opportunity to check our bags in the night before our plane and if we did we would be allowed a bit more weight. Since one of our bags was over 50 pounds we jumped at the chance plus the added peace of mind of getting to the airport the night before and not worrying about early morning traffic in Paris. What a wonderful surprise! So, the following morning we only had to check ourselves and hand luggage in and we were set. We had a short hop to Brussels where we met others heading to the ship. We were the only newbies it seemed so we learned some of the inside scoop from those returning after their Christmas break as well as others that were starting yet another trip with Mercy Ships. Our next delightful surprise came while waiting to board. Peter's name was called and lo and behold - we were selected for an upgrade!! Since we had not even applied to upgrade this was an amazing bonus that we were enormously grateful for. All those frequent flier miles and special airline status designations really came in handy! Our eight hour flight was now just an extended barcalounger adventure.


Several crew members from the ship were at the gate to pick us up and since Lome, Togo is a rather small place the trip from the airport to the ship was only about 20 minutes. Apparently the previous mission in Sierra Leone was much more arduous and travel took several hours to go just about anywhere.


We were so excited when we got to the ship and given our room that we proceeded to unpack all four of our huge bags. Next great news - everything arrived completely intact! Note to self: socks, underwear and 20 skeins of yarn make for perfect packing material.


In a future post I'll include pictures of our sweet little suite. Not only do we have a decent sized desk unit, we have small kitchenette, our own bathroom, a loveseat couch, queen sized bed AND a window that looks out over the dock! The floor is carpeted and we've got more than enough storage for all the stuff we've brought.


We've run into many of the folks that we met from the three day class we took in Texas so it's nice to see people we already know. We've also met a few other people that we'll be working with and it seems that there's a lot of effort to build community here. Of course, the nicest thing is that Peter and I are here together so we have someone to go to things with and experience all this newness together. We have a few meetings to go to this afternoon where I'm sure we'll learn more about what we'll be doing and how we can help the hospital get ready to take on patients. Until then I think we'll be just keeping our eyes open, taking notes and seeing where we can help. I also think there will be a lot of opportunity for us to grow closer to each other and to God as we seek His will for what we're here for and how we're to help this mission and His people. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. I can't remember the last time I was so at peace about where I was or what I've been doing. We're just so excited to see what He has in store for us here.


Thanks so much if you've bothered to read all the way to the end. I look forward to hearing from you. Please keep in touch while we're so far away.


Love, Ann and Peter




Addendum: Jan 19^th – day three on the ship


Peter's been yammering at me to get this entry posted but the internet has been a smidge of a challenge thus far. That we have the internet in Africa is wonderful, of course, but there are always limitations one must work around. We have a cable connection in our room which works well but gets slow during peak times – like in the evening when everyone wants a piece of the bandwidth. My Galaxy only works via Wi-Fi so that means I need to go off to the central communal area where the store and café are to get online. Also not arduous, but a bit less convenient. Since I took pictures of our cabin on the Galaxy getting the pics to the blog has slowed me down a bit. Last night I got a tutorial on downloading pictures from my camera to the laptop so we're back in business. I think I'll also finally get around to posting the long lost pictures from Andy's college graduation and Peter's retirement now that I have the tools.


Here are the pictures of our cute little cabin that we've thus far found quite roomy. 
At this point our biggest adjustment is to go with the flow of the local day to day operations. Since we are used to being in charge this has been somewhat of a change. Peter has been put to work already, and is currently working in the crew clinic and was on call yesterday. It will probably be awhile before we get off the ship and go into town since he is the call doc this weekend, too. We have a few meetings coming up in the next few days so we should get more plugged into what's going on where. I had an orientation with my team leader today regarding the upcoming huge patient screening everyone is getting ready for. It's the first time they've had a doc on the screening team so they are adjusting the flow format to put me to use. 

So - a marathon reading session. Sorry it took so long.  Blogging is also a learning process for me and I'm glad I've got the added free time to work out the quirks.  Especially the picture foibles!  Any tricks or suggestions to improve my blogging prowess are also warming welcome. 

Hope this entry finds all of you well and happy. Looking forward to hearing from you all from across the many miles.
Ann and Peter