Off to Matoto

Yesterday was my day off, so my friend Jenny and I decided to adventure. And boy, was it an adventure. She had heard about the market in Matoto, which happens to be near where my uncle lived as a missionary during my childhood. The two of us hopped on the bus for 3,000 guinea francs each (about 40 cents) to Matoto, which took about an hour and a half. At first the bus was comfortable, but with every stop the smell got fouler as more and more people piled in. We stood almost the whole way there. Two different people talked to us in English as we attempted the bit of French/Susu/Pullar we knew.

We stepped off the bus at the market, and dove into the madness. It was exciting and terrifying time to be in a completely strange place. We ended up buying lots of fabric, place mats, and some bread and cheese for the bus ride home. I love adventuring because it makes me generally less afraid of speaking the language and diving into normal life here. The lady that we bought the placemats from happened to be wearing a North Carolina t-shirt and I just had to get a picture with her. She and her co-worker absolutely loved getting their picture taken. On our way out of the market, a day worker from the eye team recognized my Mercy Ships t-shirt and took us directly to a bus back to the port, helped us by our tickets, and found us an actual seat on the bus. Such a blessing, and such a fun day.


The galley has been a bustling place. We've lost a few people (people come and go all the time), and I feel like I'm feeling more like a major part of the team. Starting next week, I will be the cold side team leader, or the crew member in charge of the salad bar and cold foods. It will be challenging, but good experience. Hopefully I will be an asset as I will be here until the end of the outreach. That's another piece of news: I've decided to stay until the ship leaves Guinea on June 2nd. The Lord completely changed my heart and view on that idea and I know it's His will. It's already been confirmed that I'll be staying and I have been blessed with enough funds to stay on the ship until then.

Hopefully most of you were able to watch the Mercy Ships segment on 60 minutes last week! We were able to watch some clips a few days afterwards. Everyone crammed into the International Lounge (or chapel) and listened intently and cheered loudly when they saw someone they knew. Some of the reporter's questions and responses also made us giggle about living in such close proximity. But the majority of everyone here was proud of the way the organization came off as a whole, and we appreciated their thoughtful questions and how they included and even probed about our faith and motivation.

Here are a few pictures of the trip to Matoto. Have a blessed week!

a look into the galley

Bonsoir! (My French is slowly but surely coming along...)

I realized that I have hardly talked about my job here on the ship. The galley is on deck six of the ship, right above the dining room, where three meals are served a day and where everyone dines. After a 7:15 breakfast, I head to the Galley and put on my apron, Mercy Ships hat, and non-slip shoe covers.

Everyone on my team is African except for a Canadian, a Dutch girl, and myself. Everyone else comes from all over the coast-- Nigeria, Togo, Benin, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. There are five crew members, or those of us that live on the ship. The rest of the team lives in Conakry and come to the ship daily to work. Typically the day workers come from where Mercy Ships was previously docked and followed the ship to Guinea. They get compensated, but they work incredibly hard and deserve every bit of it. The whole team was welcoming and kind-hearted as I entered the picture. The atmosphere is energetic and lively and music is always playing. My team leader is Ghislain, from Benin. He laughs a lot, is always DJ-ing the ipod, and sings his heart out while cooking. For the past four weeks I have been chopping vegetables, slicing deli meat, washing over-sized, greasy dishes, or doing whatever anyone asks of me. I have two days on, two days off, and then I work every other weekend. Another full team works the other days of the week.

I have gone through times of feeling useless and unhelpful in the galley as everyone works fluidly and well together and I'm the young, white girl who is constantly burning herself and dropping dishes. The culture differences also is difficult. Culture is on much deeper and personal level than I realized and trying to decode orders from across the room in strong accents over loud music is far from easy. But I'm not fed up with it, and the friendships I've made on my team keep me going.

On Wednesday I had an evening French lesson run late and was twenty minutes late to cleanup. Ghislain asked me if I was okay as we were finishing up the dishes. I told him that I felt like I was continually disappointing him and was sorry for that. He grabbed my wet hand and said, "You are young, you are my daughter, and you will learn the ropes." Encouraged, and equally impressed with his English expression, I felt enpowered to keep doing my best.

The galley has a lot of similarities to the kitchen at Cono, where I worked in for over five years. Those many prep and clean up crews have paid off! I feel like I can make up for my clueless moments by getting a head start on the next task.

Thank you for all your prayers and support, everyone! I truly can feel the prayers. :) Have a blessed week!