wednesday

Today was Wednesday.

Today, the Africa Mercy had a guest.  Her Royal Highness Anne, Princess Royal, visited the ship today.  Daughter of Queen Elizabeth II, Anne was on an official visit to Sierra Leone and chose Mercy Ships as one of the local charities to visit.  As the ship was abuzz this morning, I learned that Glenys already met Princess Anne nearly 25 years ago.  You may recall that Glenys is our Ophthalmic OR Team Coordinator, a native New Zealander, and a career medical missionary in Africa.  I shouldn't have been surprised, but as it turns out, Glenys met the princess while working in a bush hospital in Zambia in the 1980s.  I joked with her that this may be her only chance at a royal reunion and when Anne stopped by the OR entrance, they were able to reunite!  It was not your normal Wednesday morning.

Today was Beans' birthday.  Beans, also known as Harriet, is serving as a palliative care nurse.  Not only does Harriet have to do standard nursing duties, she has to drive throughout Freetown, provide care to her terminally ill patients (often children), and cope with the emotional stress that this entails.  She is truly incredible.  We celebrated her birthday by eating dinner outside on deck, complete with cake, cards, and gifts.  It was a great way to relax and enjoy each other's company and ring in Beans' 29th year.  If you are reading, Happy Birthday Beans!

Today, we worshiped.  I recently joined a guy's Bible study that has been truly great.  A few weeks ago, we discussed the want for a time of open, intentional, unstructured worship.  What we came up with was 7@7.  Last week was our first and tonight was our second.  7@7 stands for Deck 7 at 7pm.  We get together on the ocean-facing outdoor Deck 7 area and just come before the presence of God.  Someone on a guitar, another on a djembe drum.  At least one person shares a scripture that has been on their hearts.  The whole thing is open-ended: people can pray, share thoughts, encouraging moments from the week.  You can sit, stand, lay down, stare out at the stars.  We have had a nice-sized group each week (15-20ish) and personally, I leave feeling filled up and nurtured.  The only way I can describe it is "good."  Good on so many levels.

Today, we played Horses.  Also known as the Really Nasty Horse Racing Game.  The abridged explanation is this: a board game; six horses race around a track, jumping hedges, etc.; place you bet on a horse, yours or someone else's; play "Really Nasty" cards, causing your opponents to fall of their horse, lose spaces, etc.; win money by betting on the winning horse; winner is the one with the most money at the end of six races.  Lots of shouting, pleading, and dirty tricks.  It's a ton of fun.  And it's on my Christmas list.

Today was a good day.