Community

Because Cinnamon toast should always be eaten with friends 

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.

Sinterklaas arriving to the Africa Mercy. His sleigh doesn't work
               without snow so he was picked up from the airport and driven in

Sinterklaas with his many helpers

The Scandinavian Santa Lucia tradition 

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.  

My Grandfather doing his favorite thing: working in his garden. 

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.