Goats and Sheep

Last week someone spoke to us about goats and sheep, how sheep are creatures that need to be led and shepherded. They are unhappy outside the flock and are slow learners that tend to fall into the same pits several times before they learn to avoid them. This is what God is comparing us to: Sheep.

But he never makes the comparison in a way as to disparage or scorn us. What he wants to say is that we need each other, we often make the same mistakes and we do need someone to help us find our way. And He wants to be our shepherd. It is his desire and his heart to help us make wise decisions and to lead around all the potholes in the road and prevent us from falling into the ditches we've found ourselves in far too often. But the shepherd does not only help his flock to stay out of trouble, he also leads them to water, speaks to them and tends to their needs. And not only does he care for all of his sheep, but he has declared several times that he especially cares for the weak sheep, the broken ones and the ones that have been ill-treated and neglected. That is my shepherd, one I am proud to belong to.

Sometimes I behave more like a goat though. I get stubborn and hard to lead. I'll run off to go climbing a rock and I'll gore others who get too close or appear to compete over the same space. When I finally get tired of the climbing and the fighting I can hear the gentle whisper of the shepherd calling me to leave the scene and to come and stay close to him, allowing him to clean up the wounds, feed me and teach me. That is usually when I realise I'm a sheep after all, slow to learn and constantly making foolish mistakes. When you are with someone with a gentle spirit and a loving heart it doesn't take long before you realise that you have a long way to go...

But even a slow learner is teachable, and thankfully, this shepherd is a creative teacher with a lot of patience.

All Love

Welcome to Ward B

I work on ward B, an oprthopaedic ward treating kids aged from a few weeks old up til the age of 15. The surgeries and treatments these kids come in for can be very complicated, and I don't think I realised how extensive some of our surgeries can be. At the moment we're treating a lot of kids from Sierra Leone who had their first operation in 2011, now coming back for more surgery. When you're dealing with comlicated untreated conditions, you realise 10 months isn't a very long time. Being a nurse, working with children is quite different from working with adults. Adults are more reasonable when it comes to keeping still during wound care; they rarely kick and scream whenever you try and take a dressing down. Also, for most adults looking away is enough to survive needles, and me having to wipe away tears is a rare occasion. Adults aren't as easily comforted with stickers and balloons though, and it takes a lot longer for their tears to turn into laughter. Holding these kids in my arms, making them laugh at my silly dance moves and knowing I get the honor of helping them through a difficult but significant part of their lives, it leaves me with a warm fuzzy feeling inside... even if it brings the sweat out carrying casted kids up the stairs from deck 3 to deck 7, and sometimes my arms go a bit numb from holding them for a long time (at that point it's a good idea to put them down). Whenever their faces lit up as they see me, I bet my own face shines 10 times brighter. It's my pleasure and a big honor to work with these children and their families.

All Love

The Big Provoker

I don't like cheesy stuff. And I don't mean edible cheese, I love that kind of cheese! I'm talking about cheesy songs, films, sermons etc. The kind that make you cringe inside, full of clichés they try their best to push our emotional buttons, and my response is a bit like a cat's response to being sprayed with water. Another thing I'm not particularly fond of is when people think that the more complicated words they use or the more loud and enthusiastic their speech is, the more we will listen and appreciate whatever message they try to send out. These things can annoy me, and God is very well aware of it.

To my point. 

God is probably the biggest provoker I know. "You don't like cheesy films? I'll use one to speak to you. You don't like this loud preacher? Well suck it up and listen cause I'm gonna use him to tell you something."

I hate it and I love it. I've become more careful not to say "never", because I have a feeling that God's response would be "Really? Let's see, you said you'd do anything for me..?" If it wasn't for God giving me a message I would've never had a rose tattooed to my body, you can trust me on that one. Its way too girly! He made me love challenges, because with each challenge my trust in him grew deeper. I'm looking forward to him provoking me, because if he didn't I think I'd become too proud and judging.

So if I ever provoke you; I'm sorry, I learnt it from my Father...

All Love

Dubreka Waterfalls

Yesterday a few of us had a day off work and decided to make the most of it. I went with 3 other nurses to one of the beautiful waterfalls outside the city. We started off on a bus, then transferred into a taxi, African style where you cram as many people as possible into one vehicle. The taxi wasn't able to bring us all the way to the falls though and we had to get a few boys on motorbikes to drive us there. Health and safety is not as big in Africa as it is in England, and so the only protection we had were the clothes on our bodies and flip flops. I have to admit I was a bit nervous in the beginning, especially since the bike I was on kept breaking down. We had to stop and get some new parts on the way, and by that time the others were long gone. My driver told me not to worry though, the bike had been working fine the previous day, and I decided to follow his advice and just go with the flow. We went on a dirt road, through knee-deep streams, over rocks and through deep pot-holes. It was quite an exhilarating ride! And when we arrived, boy did that waterfall look great! It was a stunning scenery and we all went for a swim despite advice to stay out of fresh water. I thoroughly enjoyed the sun and the water, a bit like being in a natural jacuzzi. And the best thing was that we had the return journey on the bikes to look forward to! A couple of breakdowns, beautiful mountains in the background and a driver trying to impress me by driving with no hands, quite an experience. I also managed to burn my leg on the exhaust during one of the break-down-breaks. I'll take it as a lesson for next time! 

Andrea enjoying the water

The bike in the back was my ride

All in all it was a great day and I really appreciated getting away from the dirty city and the intense life onboard the ship. Now, back to work!

All Love

Screening Day Video

The media team put together a short video from our screening day, this is the result...

All Love

Fishing in the Rain

It is Sunday evening and me and Tori decided to grab our fishing rods and head out fishing. Outside the port a man grabbed hold of my arm and refused to let go. It was quite an awkward situation and so we decided that taking a taxi would be a good way to get rid of our unwanted follower. We quickly found a kind taxi-driver, jumped in and slammed the door shut in the face of our persistant friend and took off toward the pier. When we arrived at our destination the taxi driver asked us what we were up to, and when we said we were going fishing he told us we had chosen a bad spot as there were too many bad boys around that area. So he took us to a safer pier for free and told us to call the police if we got any more trouble. He took off and when we looked around we found ourselves surrounded by fishermen returning from a day at sea. We set our rods up and began dreaming of swordfish and hammerheads whilst the fishermen unloaded their small fishingboats. It was a beautiful evening, but what started off as a lovely sunset soon turned into dark clouds. It wasn't long until the rain came; it came suddenly and it came heavily! There was nothing we could do, there wasn't even time to put on a poncho, and so we decided to embrace the rain - and we enjoyed it thoroughly! After some time when we could no longer see any dry patches on our clothes and we couldn't make out the float in the water unless lit up by lightning, we decided to head back. It was a lovely walk back to the ship; through big puddles with cozy lit up shacks along the roadside, people socialising with friends and neighbours under canopies, lots of small tv's showing football games. When we finally got home, oh how lovely that cup of tea tasted. It was a great evening, but next time we'll try and catch some fish...

All Love

Resting Under His Wings

One of the things that have really struck me lately is how much God emphasises rest, and how good we are at ignoring that call. Lately I've realised my need to take regular time off to be alone with God. Sometimes it's five minutes with a cup of tea in the morning, other days it's lingering at a beautiful sunset. This evening I escaped up to deck after our meeting had finished, falling asleep on a wooden deckchair whilst being covered by a light drizzle. I didn't say much, neither did God. Sometimes words are superfluous and prescense is all that's needed. I was reminded of words already spoken, when God said come to me and find rest. Many times He has invited us to find shelter under his wings, and this evening I felt his wisper calling me to rest whilst he kept watch. Just like a mother swan covers her young with her feathers, so God wants to cover us and keep us safe. I was free to slumber knowing I was safe under his watchful prescense, like a young covered by white feathers. Rest is not another task that we need to fit into our calender, adding even more stress to our lives; it is God's gift to us, a safe haven where we can place all our concerns under his care, allowing him to carry us under his wings. It's a good place to be, esecially in times where worries are many and not far between...

All Love