Christmas Vacay.

Apparently time keeps ticking even when we wish it would slow down....

The week before Christmas, Samuel and I both took some time off to visit places around where we live that we hadn't had a chance to go to yet. So we grabbed some friends, rented a car, and off we went!

Our first stop was the PheZulu Village, where we visited traditional Zulu huts and saw a dancing presentation of an engagement/marriage ceremony, learning about tribal customs.



Next we returned to the Midlands for some candle dipping and chocolate shopping, as well as a trip to the Natal Lion Park, where we touched elephants and hung out in a cage with lions!





We also took a trip to Crocodile Creek....unbeknownst to us, it is actually a meat and skin farm, which kind of took the fun out of the trip. However, we saw baby crocodiles being hatched (Miriam even hatched one!) and a feeding of the adult crocodiles, and ate some smoked crocodile to top off the day.

There were other fun things sprinkled in there, like McDonald's breakfasts, mini golf, movies, eating at our favorite spots, and Christmas shopping.

Christmas came and went. We had a lovely Greek Christmas Eve dinner here at Appelsbosch, complete with carols and candles and with eggnog and baklava for dessert. Christmas day we opened presents with the Farrells, Miriam, Tim, and Steph (our close friends that were here for Christmas) before heading off to the ship for some community time. We had a yummy brunch of pastries and fruit, a short Christmas service, and a large Christmas braai of beef, sausage, and fish - not your typical Christmas food, but good all the same. We spent the evening with friends, reminiscing about Christmas traditions in our home countries.

Now we are preparing for the next leg of our vacation. Samuel's family arrives today, and on Monday we are all off on a 2-week vacation which will include a safari game drive, a hippo boat tour, and lots of quality family time. At the end of those two weeks, my dad is coming for 5 days as well! We are quite excited by all of this and will probably be out of contact the entire time....so,

Happy 2011!! We hope you have a safe and blessed time celebrating with family - we know we will!!

Love,

The Slennetts

Christmas time is here.

Our first married Christmas!! :)

Has it really been over a month since our last post? First it seemed like there was nothing new to post about, then life was crazy busy and there was no time! But, school is now out for Christmas break and so I finally have the time to look back and see the things that have happened over the past month. Unfortunately, I've realized that I was too busy to remember to bring my camera most places, so I've had to rely on pictures from other people.

So. Where to begin?

School. On Thanksgiving we had our monthly spirit day, this time it was Holiday Day - dress as any holiday! We had some pretty creative costumes, from baby Emma being Cupid for Valentine's Day to Miss Angie wearing a box decorated with leaves for Arbor Day. I went traditional and dressed as an Indian for Thanksgiving - Mr. Calvert and Mr. Farrell went as pilgrims to complete the theme.



The next two weeks were extremely crazy busy. We were wrapping up units, taking tests, and quickly trying to fit in Christmas activities even though it was only the first week of December. Miss Angie and I took the kids to the ScienCenter and McDonald's for a field trip, and we had an Academy Sports Day as well, complete with a gymnastics demonstration - I was quite impressed. It was great to see them show what they've been learning outside of my classroom.


Photo by Carol Tanzola

The last week of school was dedicated to the school play, The Fear Not Factor. The children attended dancing, singing, and acting workshops, as well as participated in a backstage crew such as sets, costumes, or media. The little ones got a bit of a break by doing an activity with me each morning. On Friday night, the students performed the musical, and they did an amazing job. They were so cute! The finale was performed in sign language, with the high schoolers wearing all black with white gloves that were highlighted by black lights. The elementary school joined them half way through. It was incredible.




Saturday was spent packing up the whole Academy into a container to be loaded onto the ship in January. After two days of meetings this week, school is officially over until January 17! And it is a wonderful feeling :)

Galley. Samuel's cooking team has expanded greatly lately, letting him work with some friends, which has made his job much more enjoyable for him. They spend a lot of time together, both during work hours and on their off days. It's been great to see him so happy in his job :) He has also been doing a lot of work lately to officially take over the Sales Manager position in January. He will be in charge of ordering things for the Ship Shop and Snack Bar/Cafe - something I am very excited about!

Community. Things in general have been lively lately. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal prepared by our galley staff (Samuel happened to be working that day, his team did a fantastic job!) and decorated by one of our chaplains. It was a very intimate dinner with the crew and was a good time.

It is technically summer here (though the weather doesn't seem to be aware of that), but that hasn't stopped us from our normal Christmasy activities! There have been a Christmas craft night, cookie decorating (I'm still not sure why a fellow teacher and I agreed to bake cookies for the whole crew and organize crew cookie decorating in the middle of Academy Play/Report Card week, but looking back it was worth it though it drove me absolutely crazy at the time), and Christmas tree decorating complete with homemade eggnog and fudge (I admit, I did little to no decorating and mainly focused on consuming the eggnog). Next week we're making gingerbread houses and having a special Christmas eve dinner. It hardly seems like it could be Christmas time already, but I am glad to be celebrating with my Mercy Ships family.

The Rock.

One of the most exciting things for me when we came to South Africa was the prospect of finding a church with which to get connected. We have attended church in West Africa several times, but many times it's long services (3 hours is normal) in unbearable heat, and usually one of the group is asked to get up and speak. It's also usually in another language.

Here in Durban, however, we knew it'd be easier to get connected with a church. And we were right. For some time now, we have been regularly attending a church in Umhlanga called The Rock. The first weekend in October, we were in Umhlanga looking for another church when we passed The Rock at 9:56, and it was advertising a 10am service. Deciding that we probably wouldn't find the other church in 4 minutes, we decided to take a chance and stop. As it turned out, it was The Rock's first ever 10am service, and the people were extremely welcoming and friendly. We have been going there pretty much every week and it is fun to get to know some of the people and to have them interested in us and our ministry. They are a very worship-based and Bible-based church, which I absolutely love. They also have a passion for seeking the lost and showing God's love to the undesirable people in their community - a lot like us! I really look forward to church there every Sunday and always leave feeling spiritually renewed.

I am just so thankful that God has blessed us with a church home during this time! To the people of The Rock - you are a true blessing!

Marine World.

On Friday the elementary school took a field trip to the uShaka Marine World in Durban. We had a guided tour of the aquarium, learning about different fish and sharks as well as seeing the dolphin show. We ended the day by spending some time playing on Africa's largest jungle gym! As our students rarely have anything to actually play on (in West Africa they have some flat dock space, and here they have the Amphitheater, but no actual play structures), they enjoyed running around and climbing in and out of the different tubes. The whole thing was shipwreck themed, complete with a giant sand pit and a pirate treasure cave in which the kids played hide and seek. There was also a Lego building section. Needless to say, it was obvious they all enjoyed the playground much more than the aquarium :) All in all, it was a fun (albeit exhausting!) day for both kids and adults.

Power the Vision.

If you are interested in the work that is happening to the Africa Mercy right now, you can follow the ship's blog:

Power the Vision

It has the whole history of dry dock so far, and will be continually updated on the progress of what is happening. It also explains why this is happening, and could give you some prayer point ideas for the ship's technical crew during this time.

Braais and Camping.

Last Friday night was an exciting night for the Academy students. It started out with our galley preparing a wonderful braai for the entire crew. A braai is a South African barbeque. The chicken and potatoes were delicious (and I’m told the beef and sausage were excellent as well) and a braai is something to which we all look forward. And it was cooked by my handsome husband and our friend Tim!



After the braai was over, the Academy students headed down to the football pitch and set up tents for our very first Academy campout. It was organized by our PE teacher, Ben Calvert, and the high school students who took the outdoor class for our student life program were able to help out. After worship around the campfire, we made s’mores (yay!!) and then the students played games on the field with Mr. Calvert and Miss Nikki. Then it was lights out! Unfortunately, all the tents were taken by families so the teachers had to sleep in their normal beds for the night :) Too bad!

Benin.

If you follow other Mercy Ships blogs, then you have probably seen this BBC article.

Please, please pray for Benin. Cotonou was our home for 10 months in 2009 and it holds a very special place in our hearts. We have friends who are there amidst the flooding and devastation. It breaks my heart to try and imagine what Cotonou must look like now....

Benin: UN to send thousands of tents amid major floods


Two thirds of the country is under water

The UN refugee agency is to start an emergency airlift of tents to the West African nation of Benin this week, amid the worst flooding there in decades.

Some 3,000 tents will be flown in from Denmark to provide shelter for some of the estimated 680,000 people affected.

Two-thirds of Benin has suffered from months of heavy rain, and about 800 cases of cholera have been reported.

It is the worst flooding to hit the country - one of the poorest in the world - since 1963.

Areas previously thought not to be vulnerable to flooding have been devastated and villages wiped out.

"There are huge areas that are covered in water so people are living on the tops of their houses, because people try to stay near their homes," Helen Kawkins of the Care aid agency told the BBC.

The flooding has sparked major health concerns, with drinking and bathing water contaminated by human waste which has overflowed from latrines.

The number of cases of cholera are rising daily, with more than 50 reported in the largest city, Cotonou, alone, Care says. Dozens of people have died as a result of the flooding in the past few weeks, officials say.

People who have lost their homes have sought shelter in medical facilities, putting pressure on the country's health system.

The UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) says an appeal for funds and aid is being planned.

The rain is continuing to deluge Benin and forecasters say there is no sign yet of it abating.

Read the original BBC article here.

The Midlands.

After a rough week of being sick and lots of work to be done, we were both very excited to go away for the weekend to the Midlands. Friday afternoon, we drove off with the Farrells, Miriam, and Tim about an hour and a half into the heart of Kwazulu-Natal to our little cottage called The Dwarf Chameleon. We had a wonderful weekend of going out to dinner, being able to drive in the dark, and staying up late relaxing with friends.

The view from our cottages

On Saturday, we all split up for the day. The Farrells went to the lion park, Tim and Samuel went golfing (something they had been looking forward to for many days!!), and Miriam and I checked another African country off our lists. We traveled up the Sani Pass into the country of Lesotho, where we experienced fabulous views, bread in the local village, and SNOW!!! We ate lunch at the highest pub in Africa, the Sani Top Chalet (it was delicious - but maybe because it was very cheap and the soup warmed our extremely cold bodies!) before beginning the descent back down in the fog. It was a great trip though it did mean many hours in the car.

The Drakensberg Mountains, where we were headed!

Sunday was a very relaxed day visiting Howick Falls. Sarah and I perused the craft markets and enjoyed some scones while everyone else went mini-golfing. After a quick stop at a farm for some wine tasting for Tim, Miriam, and Sarah (I spent my time keeping the dogs away from the little boys, who were terrified of them!), we headed reluctantly back to Appelsbosch.








It was a great break from our normal lives - I am very excited for the next time we can get away!

Sharks Board.

Today the elementary school took our first South African field trip to the tide pools in Ballito and the Umhlanga Sharks Board (h's are pronounced 'sh', so Umhlanga is pronounced 'Umshlanga' and the Hluhluwe game reserve is pronounced 'Shlushluwe'. Ha!). We said we were going rain or shine, so when we woke up to cloudy skies, away we went! The trip got off to a rocky start but ended up being a nice day out. The kids enjoyed playing in the tide pools (despite the drizzling skies and the fact that all the teachers were bundled up and freezing!) and running around. After lunch and some ice cream, we headed off to Umhlanga to the Sharks Board, the organization that makes the regulations about shark nets and maintains them in the Kwazulu-Natal province. We learned all about the types of sharks in the area, why there are shark nets and saw their effectivness (though I admit I still don't quite understand how they work when the sharks can swim above, underneath, and around them....). Then we saw a dissection of a ragged tooth shark! That was quite the experience. The shark skin is smooth one direction and coarse the other direction. Now I can say I have touched a shark! Hopefully it will be the last :) The kids all handled it really well and I was quite proud of their behavior the whole day.

Recruiting.

Well, as it stands right now, at the end of the current school year 7 (possibly 9) of the teachers will be leaving. That means that, of the full time staff, only three people are already committed for the 2011/2012 school year.

If you are a teacher, are intrigued by what I do, and have thought to yourself, I wish I could do something like that, too!, then here's your chance. Why not? What's stopping you? There are 100000000000 reasons not to do something, but you only really need one good reason to do it. And trust me, as frustrated as I get working here sometimes, I am reminded of many, many good reasons to be here each and every day.

For more information about becoming an Academy teacher, see here.

Long Weekend.

Every so often (usually every 6 weeks or so), Mercy Ships gives all non-essential crew (so pretty much everyone but the galley and dining room staff, plus the engineers and ward nurses if we are in a field service phase) the day off on a Friday for a 3-day weekend. In the Academy we have a bad habit of working every ship holiday, but I was finally able to enjoy my first one of the year this past Friday. Unfortunately, Samuel was scheduled to work in the galley over the weekend, so we stayed behind in Appelsbosch while we waved goodbye to the 2/3 of our crew that went away.

I have to admit that I was really disappointed that we weren't going anywhere. Appelsbosch isn't the most exciting place, especially when there is no water or internet. Friday morning started off with having no water - again - and I knew I was going to have to just grin and bear it. To top things off, I had come down with a cold extremely suddenly on Thursday night, and as a result was feeling quite drained of energy and generally unwell most of the weekend.

However, it ended up being a very enjoyable weekend. Ben, Miriam, and I convinced Sam to switch around the meal schedule for the weekend, and we all went in Friday afternoon to help prepare an extensive meal for the 30 or so crew that would be around. We had a blast planning the menu and dancing around to the music in the galley. That night we feasted on baked potatoes (complete with homemade bacon bits, compliments of Ben, but none of us will ever complain about the fact we don't get things like that on a regular basis ever again! They took an incredibly long time to make!), fajita chicken, and various fruit and vegetable salads concocted by Miriam and myself.

The reason we did this was so that Samuel could join us for an outing on Saturday! Ben, Miriam, Samuel and I left bright and early Saturday morning to drive about an hour to Albert Falls, a nature reserve and campsite. We spent a few hours driving around their small game reserve. Though we did not manage to track down the giraffes, we got up close and personal with some zebras (that was my highlight!) and various types of deer and antelope, as well as spotting some buffalo and warthogs. While it wasn't the greatest of outings, the company made it more than fun.





Sunday was very relaxed, Samuel was working and I spent the day just recovering my energy and having a very lazy day, which I was very thankful for.

All in all, it was a good time. Now life is returning to normal. I am back to teaching but Samuel had a fun time at the farm yesterday with Sarah and his nephews, I'm sure he will blog about that soon :)

Yes, we are still alive despite our lack of posting. It's just that, well, nothing really exciting ever happens here, so there doesn't seem like much news to post about! Though our friend Murray has finally returned, and Tim comes back tomorrow, so I'm sure we will be having some more exciting adventures soon :)

PS

To see a lot more pictures of our campus here in Appelsbosch, please visit the Peet family blog. They have several posts of pictures of the campus, plus a post showing the inside of the ship under construction!

Our New Home!

Well, it’s certainly been a while! I apologize for the extreme delay in blog posting – our internet isn’t always very reliable, and the laptop can only be used if it is plugged in, so we can only really spend a lot of time on the internet when there is a plug available in range of the wireless.



We are officially living in South Africa! Two weeks ago, we loaded up 2 moving vans full of LOTS of personal and business items and off 150 of us went in convoy 1.5 hours north of Durban to our new home in Appelsbosch. It is such a small town that people in the bigger towns around it don’t know where it is! However, the province (Kwa-Zulu Natal) is gorgeous, and it really is a blessing to be able to watch the sun set in brilliant reds and golds between hills and to be able to see the stars shine brightly at night.



We are living in an old university campus that has been shut down for 11 years. There are communal bathrooms in each dorm, we all eat in a giant dining room, we buy treats at our little tuck shop, and the wireless is in the big communal amphitheater, so we see everyone there too! Basically, as a community we are doing everything together all the time. We live in a hallway with a few of the families (including 2 of my students!), and it is fun to be able to interact with people I don’t normally interact with on the ship, but I am getting closer than I ever imagined possible with some of my students – you can’t help it when they’re brushing their teeth next to you in the morning and see you heading to the shower at night! Living like this is a bit difficult (especially since the children go to bed earlier than we do, and everything echoes very loudly in the dorms, so we have to be quiet after 8pm or so), but it could always be worse, and we are thankful to be living next door to the Farrells – it makes borrowing things from them so much easier :)



I now have a very large classroom! The walls seem very bare even though I have put up far more things than I ever would on the ship simply because my classroom there has very little wall space. My students are loving the fact that we have different areas in the room for different things, which gives them a bit of a chance to move around and separate things in their mind a bit. All of the children are coming in with bruises and scrapes from the amount of time they spend playing outside – I swear, they are running from the moment they wake up until the minute they fall in bed! It truly is wonderful to see them enjoying themselves so much, even if they do end up with the occasional tick or two that must be removed. Though the great outdoors doesn’t excite me quite as much, I am very much enjoying having fresh milk to drink at each meal :)




At the moment the phones are still being installed (though rumor has it there will only be 6 phone lines) so the best way to get in touch with us is via our blog or email. Though we can’t check it very regularly (both of us have limited internet access at work, and the wireless just barely stretches to our dorm room so we can’t always get it there either), we will do our best to keep in contact with everyone.

This past weekend I took the opportunity to go to Durban for church and a day out. It was a really nice day getting to know a bit more about life in South Africa. It is so different than West Africa! And yet, many elements are the same. You still get bombarded by 8 or 9 people who want to sell you sunglasses if you merely glance in their direction, but they don’t really appreciate it when you try and barter with them – Ben and I learned that the hard way! Though we only explored a bit of the beach of Durban, it was nice to be out of the countryside even if just for a few hours.

Yesterday was quite an exciting day here at Appelsbosch as we celebrated the wedding of two of our crew members! Alex is from the UK and Sharon is from the US (sound familiar….?), so they decided to hold a small intimate wedding here in South Africa. Many, many hours of hard work was put in by many crew members to make a very special day for both of them. It was a lovely wedding and a great day of bonding for our community. Samuel was a groomsman and enjoyed applying his expertise from our own wedding into this one :) Congratulations, Mr. & Mrs. Williams!! :)




I hope everything is going well back at home – we’d love to hear from you guys! We feel a bit disconnected from the rest of the world here, so please feel free to send us a note anytime!

Amy

Land Ahoy!

Recently, we rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and we are so close to the coast that there are mountains in view! It is a very welcome and exciting sight after being at sea for so long...and we still have a few days to go! We will hopefully be walking on dry land by the end of the week. The water is very smooth again (thank you, Lord!) and we are back to enjoying lots of sealife and very cold air. We have switched time zones twice from Togo, so we are now one hour ahead of England and seven hours ahead of US Central time. Makes communication difficult, but it could be worse.

This weekend computers and other facilities will be turned off and taken down on the ship in preparation for our impending move. In South Africa, we are not sure of the internet situation (we are hoping for enough bandwidth to Skype! That would be great!!) but we do know there is limited phone usage (and I've been told that a mom who calls her daughter on the ship, which is a US phone number, buys a phone card for the equivalent of 8 US dollars and gets about 45 minutes of talk time, so that will probably only be a special option...). So I'm not really sure what contact will be like after this weekend.

We hope you are all enjoying the gradually cooling weather back in England and the States...the one thing I truly miss the most is watching the leaves turn in the fall and enjoying all of the fall festivities. But at least in a month or two we will get to experience at South African spring :)

Much love,

Amy & Samuel

Cleaning Up

Here is a story, a little insight into the lives of the VVF women whose lives we help to change....

“ We could cry all day because we go back to the same misery. We have no more hope .”

These are the heart-wrenching words of a few despairing women, who came to the Africa Mercy for vaginal vesicular fistula (VVF) surgery. Not all surgeries are successful. At times, several procedures may be required to repair the injury, and sometimes there is nothing else that can be done. These women were preparing to return to their homes as they came, with no money, no hope, and constant urine leakage.

“ They were so full of hope… and they used all their money to get to Kara where the Mercy Ships vehicles picked them up and brought them here , ” says Ellen De Pagter, Hospitality Center Education Coordinator.

She conferred with Adjete Wilson, a day volunteer, whose mother, Antoinette, teaches soap making. “ They spend so much money on soap to keep their clothes clean and sweet smelling,” said Ellen . Antoinette agreed to present a program to teach the departing women how to make soap. Each received a litre and a half of the clear liquid to take home, plus enough money to buy the equipment and products to make the soap in order to start a small business. This would give them the opportunity to start a small business and have an ample supply of soap for themselves.

She also offered to open the presentation to any of the other women with VVF, who were waiting for their surgery dates. Almost all of them were very interested in learning how to make soap and have a business of their own.

The women packed the education room at the Hospitality Center, where Antoinette shared her recipe for soap making in great detail, giving opportunities to stir the batch with her wooden paddle. If acid is not used, the soap can be used on the skin. She advised the women to keep children away from the mixture, if they use the acid. They were also given a printed list of instructions and ingredients which was laminated for greater durability.

After the program, Adjete gave the departing women a basic course in business finance, stressing the importance of using the money to buy the equipment that will produce an income for them. From then on, the soap will bring profits.

Ellen also gave each woman a small wooden box with instructions to put a portion of the income into the box each time a bottle of soap is sold. The box must be broken to remove the money.

“Save up the money to buy something important,” she told them.

One of the women said, “I wondered why God ever brought us here . I thought God had forgotten us.”

But after seeing the program, a few of the women were anxious to pair up to make the soap together. Another woman went out and bought everything she would need to make the soap at home.

“ This is the first step ,” she said. “I can start now.”

Ellen was satisfied to see the women had made such significant progress.

“ They have new hope again ,” she said.

Written by Elaine B. Winn
Photos by Liz Cantu, Video by Joanne Besse

Sailing, Day 9...

Well, we have hit the big waves now! “Big” is a relative term, of course – rumor has it that we are hitting about 3 meter waves from the side, which means the ship rolls quite a lot (for those of you that don’t know, the Africa Mercy is formerly a Danish rail ferry and is designed to right herself rapidly when she is rolling, so instead of a gentle rocking from side to side like on cruise ships, it is a quick snap from one side to the other). Not much sleep was had last night as things were continually shifting and occasionally falling in our cabin and in neighboring cabins (which we can hear through the wall). I breathed a sigh of relief this morning when I got in my classroom and saw minimal damage – however, after devotions, we went to our room and I couldn’t open the door! After passing my kids off to another teacher, I discovered that 2 of the desks in my room (all of my desks are heavy wooden 2-person desks) had fallen over and were holding the door closed. After some shoving timed with the rolling of the ship, I managed to get the door open but had to get another teacher to help me lift the desks up – I would get them halfway and then the ship would roll and knock them back over! At least the kids are in good spirits though many of them have said they didn’t get much sleep either.

It’s going to be a fun day.

Perspective

Being on the ship, living in Africa - it changes you. It impacts you in ways you don't even realize until you go home and back to the life that used to be so familiar - and yet, it seems foreign after being gone for so long.

I have recently read a series of posts from several shipmates that express my thoughts perfectly. It started with Haley's post about trying to readjust to living back in the States; it was continued by Tim and Hannah's blog about being home for a short vacation, and today I read a great post by Kelly as she prepares to return home.

These are all real challenges, emotions, and fears that I face whenever I am home, and also whenever I think about our time with Mercy Ships eventually coming to a close. Thankfully I still have a bit of time to process all of my time here before it's time for us to go, but it's still something I think about frequently.

For those of you who are interested, the sail is still going wonderfully smooth, though we have been informed that tomorrow the big rolls will start. If I have a good opportunity, I will see if I can take some video and eventually upload it here if we ever get a wireless connection strong enough.

Amy

In the Great Big Blue.

Without a doubt, the best part of sailing is when an overhead page comes announcing some type of sealife around the ship. Everyone then runs (sorry, walks quickly, there is no running onboard....) to decks 7 or 8 to try and catch a glimpse.

Up until yesterday - our 5th day of sailing - there had been no overhead pages about whales or dolphins, though some had been spotted on the first day. But yesterday, a whale was announced on the port side. Samuel and I had just left our cabin to go up to deck 6 anyway, so we hurried up to get to deck 7 and joined the masses. Unfortunately, nothing appeared, and people started wandering away. It wasn't until there were only about a dozen people outside when all of a sudden, what we thought were whales (but on closer inspection of the pictures it has been identified as probably a Risso's Dolphin) started jumping out of the water. There were several of them and it was very neat to see!!



Thanks, Shelly, for the awesome pictures!

Amy

Shellbacks!

Sarah informed us yesterday that we were still (slimy) Pollywogs, but I am happy to report that as of early early this morning, by order of King Neptune, we are both (trusty) Shellbacks! That's right, the Africa Mercy crossed the Equator into the Southern Hemisphere while most of her crew slept. Apparently line-crossing ceremonies take place in all sorts of vessels (Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, Royal Navy, etc). I know that there was talk of some sort of ceremony, but that was before we knew we would be crossing the Equator in the middle of the night so I am not sure if anything actually happened or not.

You can see the traditional certificate for becoming a Shellback here.

Amy

Water, Water Everywhere...

We are sailing! The Africa Mercy departed Lome, Togo this weekend and we began our long sail to Durban, South Africa. So far it's been a quite smooth sail, which I am very thankful for, though we are told it will not last. Already we have seen several whales which is exciting (though I admit we missed the first batch). I am very much looking forward to all of the potential sealife as there are several varieties of whales, dolphins, and sharks we could see as we near South Africa.

Please pray for a safe and smooth voyage, as well as minimal cabin fever.

Amy

Hitting the Ground Running...

We have been back onboard for 2 weeks now and it seems like life never stopped! Already Amy is in her second week of teaching and Samuel is busily preparing the food stores for our impending sail. In about a week we will be leaving the dry lands of West Africa for the cooler climates of South Africa! By September, we should be arriving in Durban, South Africa, where we will spend a few days unloading the ship and relocating about 150 crew two hours north to an empty college campus in Appelsbosch. Though it is very remote and very basic, we are extremely blessed to have found a place that is willing to house all of our crew and to accommodate our schooling needs!

This year Amy is teaching the Grade 2/3 combined class (Years 3 & 4) with a total of 6 students, 5 of them being boys! The first few days have been very fun, though quite a change from last year's Grade 3 class. On Thursday, an elementary resource teacher will be arriving to help out the entire elementary school, but she will be working closely with Amy in helping to teach some of the Grade 2 classes. Having her as an addition to the staff will allow the other elementary teachers to focus more on accreditation processes, which are hoped to be finished this school year!

This week leading up to sailing holds a lot of painful goodbyes for us. Several good friends are leaving, some for vacation and some for good. Though it is a regular part of our Mercy Ships experience, the goodbyes never get any easier; if anything, they become more potent as the people who have been a constant in our lives for the past year, the ones who have stood by us as we said tearful goodbyes to other good friends, are now leaving us too. We rest in the comfort of knowing that our awesome God binds us together though oceans may separate us. Plus - Mercy Ships is a very unique bond that cannot be broken. So Canada better watch out, because the Slennetts will be frequenting it in the future :)

Ephesians 3:20
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Amy

Were here

So yes its true, were back on the ship a married couple.

The journey was good, and was nice to get back not too late :)

The days since we have arrived back on the ship have been spent trying to sort out all our stuff (Amy has boxes of goodness knows what!!!) and both trying to catch up with work. Amy because school starts this coming monday and Samuel because we are sailing soon and the stores need to be ready so stuff doesnt go everywhere!

So today has been a little more relaxed and we even have plans to play some games with our best friends on the ship tonight which will be nice since they leave soon :(

So we will be back blogging more soon, maybe some pics of our new cabin when its clean enough to show to the world :)

Love to all

Samuel

Slennett's we are!

So we are now both officially Slennett's

I have been one all of my life and have very much enjoyed it! My wife Amy however is a new comer to the name, and since she has the rest of her life with it im sure she will love it just as much as me (thats if she doesn't already!)

So were on honeymoon now, so im just stopping by to say to everyone we are well and will be blogging away very soon!

Love from

Samuel and Amy Slennett

Re-United

So after 5 weeks apart Amy and myself have been re united, in a new environment!

We are just outside Chicago at Amy's parents house.

While Amy has still been on the ship up until late last week i have been in England for 3 weeks and this the past 10 days were spent in Kansas city with one of my best friends Aaron, who got married to his beautiful bride Kellie this weekend. I had the great honor of being the best man at their wedding and its really was a wonderful time!

So my first day or so in Chicago have been really great to see not only Amy, but to get to know her family better. Its been my first chance to meet Amy's brother and we have a plan in place to watch the England and USA football games together on Wednesday day which i am very much looking forward to :)

So just 19 days ... i think Amy has said that at least 3 times today ... i think she is excited ... so am i :)

So yup this blog i guess will be even more official when we are both slennett's :)

Much love to all

Samuel

Getting close to Mr and Mrs

So its under 50 days now until the big day :)

Will try and put a few updates on here before then, but after the wedding we will be going full steam at our blog to update you all of our first years experience of being married and serving in Africa with Mercyships.

Mercy Ships is a global charity that has operated hospital ships in developing nations since 1978. Mercy Ships brings hope and healing to the forgotten poor by mobilizing people and resources worldwide, and serving all people without regard for race, gender, or religion.