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| Because Cinnamon toast should always be eaten with friends |
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| Work on A ward is rough |
Of all the potential problems
related to living on a ship, community living is probably the one aspect that
worried me the most as I prepared to leave my independent, private life and
move into a tight knit community where “my own space” is not a phrase often
heard. Community living has had its challenges. Being sick 7 times since June
(the toilet seems so far away when you live on the top bunk), spending 20
minutes looking for a private place to practice my part for my A Capella group and
then finding out people still heard me anyway, finding out that just because we
are mostly all Christians sometimes there will still be people who are harder
to get along with and learning to be ok with that and love them anyway,
navigating all the different cultures interwoven among the crew, these are all
issues that I deal with, being a part of this crazy community I am starting to
call home.
Yes, there are some challenges, but
the rewards of living in community are so much greater than those challenges. It’s
nice living in a community where saying “I’m struggling today” is ok, and all I
have to do is walk out my door and I’ll run into someone who can be an encouragement,
give me godly advice or just be able to relate because they feel the same way.
Only in this community has my lunch ever been interrupted by a friend asking me
to stop and pray for her because she was having a bad day, and no one at the
table thought the request was weird or awkward. There is a strength that comes
from living and working with others whose goals are the same as yours. We may
have been brought to the ship by different means, we may have different ideas, we
may have different levels of maturity, different talents and skills, but all of
us are here because we felt a call and are acting on that call to serve the forgotten
poor. I have never seen the Body of Christ so beautifully displayed until I
arrived on the Africa Mercy.
On board the Africa Mercy there can
be crew from anywhere between 30 to 40 different nations at a time. You would
think that with so many different types of people from so many different cultures,
coming from nearly every continent around the globe, the differences would
prove too much, but the opposite is happening. Mercy Ships has been able to establish
a new culture, a ship culture. We don’t give up our culture as we walk up the
gangway, but we do learn to understand and even appreciate other cultures. “It’s
not wrong it’s just different” is a phrase every Mercy Shipper can say in their
sleep. We learn to distinguish preferences which may change due to our cultural
worldviews verses principles which are vital to our Christian walk. Grace is
given more easily than accusations, and asking questions to clarify a person’s
intentions can almost always mend a perceived offence.
Nothing exaggerates this new
community living more than the holiday season. On one hand, it’s hard to be in
a new environment away from family and the traditions that accompany being at
home. Nothing has made me more homesick than the thought of missing out on
those special holiday moments. At the same time holidays on the ship are some
of the best community moments I have shared. From the pot luck style Thanksgiving
the Americans threw (crashed by a few Brits) to celebrating the Dutch tradition
of Sinterklass with cookies left in our shoes and presents for the kids, the
ship comes together during the holidays to share traditions with each other. It’s
a beautiful time.
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| Sinterklaas arriving to the Africa Mercy. His sleigh doesn't work without snow so he was picked up from the airport and driven in |
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| Sinterklaas with his many helpers |
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| The Scandinavian Santa Lucia tradition |
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| Australian Carols by Candlelight |
Earlier this month I experience just how supportive the community on this ship can be. At 2 am on December 18th I was awoken with news that my paternal grandfather had very suddenly and unexpectantly passed away. Even at 2 in the morning it just so happened that one of my coworkers from A ward passed by as I sat on the stairs outside my room crying. She stopped to comfort me which woke my roommate who soon joined her to support me and pray for me. I don’t know what I would have done at that moment without them. In the days that followed I was surrounded by my ship family. I received many words of encouragement, hugs, prayers and people’s time. Between 3 of my friends I was never left alone on that first day following the news. When I returned to work the next day my team leader and coworkers prayed for me. One of the ship chaplains helped me find plane tickets home so I was able to fly home for the funeral. Their support gave me strength. During that time, while I was at my worse, I was able to trust that my God was still in control and that he would give me the strength I needed as I needed it because He was already doing just that via the strength, support and love that was being poured over me by my community.
God arranged the
members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where
would the body be? As it is,
there are many parts, yet one
body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the
head to the feet, “I have no need of you…. But God has so composed the body,
giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the
body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer
together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body
of Christ and individually members of it.
1Cor 12:18b - 21 & 24b - 27
I am currently at home with my
family. I will be returning to the ship just after the new year. While I have
enjoyed being with my family, I am ready to get back to my work in Benin and
the community that is waiting for me.
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| My Grandfather doing his favorite thing: working in his garden. |
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| Family pic wearing just a few of my grandfather's many hats. He never left the house without one. |
Author's Note: While I am currently serving with Mercy Ships the ideas and opinions expressed here are my own. Mercy Ships has not reviewed nor do they endorse the content written within this blog.
