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